SCRAP Board of Directors

Dianne Platner President
Dianne came to SCRAP over 20 years ago when looking for classroom supplies for her third-grader. Now her daughter is a SCRAP Scrounger for school supplies, and Dianne is the board president. SCRAP is the perfect confluence of Dianne’s interest in art, education, the environment, and kitsch. She is the Senior Mangaer of Design and Production at Berrett-Koehler Publishers and  lives with her husband and two chickens in Noe Valley.

Paul Fresina Vice President, Operations
Paul has been on the board since 2002 (he has also served as treasurer and secretary. Paul first learned of SCRAP when he worked for the City’s Solid Waste Management Program and city staff organized a field trip to SCRAP. A frequent shopper and local handyman who dabbles in upholstery and pretends to be an artist, Paul joined the board when he was the director of the artist in residence Program at Recology (“the dump”) in San Francisco. He was also a manager in the hazardous waste dept at Recology.

Jack Gold Vice President, Board Governance
“I value SCRAP for its compelling yet simple mission of creative reuse, its great community of supporters, and its cavernous depot in San Francisco’s Bayview district.” A Bay Area resident since 2008, Jack enjoys exploring areas outside San Francisco. He also maintains close ties in Providence, Rhode Island, particularly in the Armory District where his cat Apollo Salvatore resides.

Colleen Mulvey Vice President, Community Relations
Colleen Mulvey found SCRAP through the artist community at the San Francisco Art Institute while she was in graduate school there. SCRAP is a great resource for both emerging and established artists to find inspiration in materials while minimizing their footprint. She continues to support SCRAP through Board service and acts as the Vice President for Outreach. Her mission is to spread the SCRAP word of creative re-use to artists, educators, and the curious. Come hang out at the warehouse to learn more.

Matt McGraw Treasurer
Matt has always been interested in practical solutions to all societal issue, especially green and conservation issues. He believes that the basic mission of SCRAP is a straightforward, non controversial and 100% agreed upon paradigm for reducing waste, improving the pipeline in the creative arts, reducing costs for institutional systems like the SFUSD. Matt is the founder, CEO and Board Member of a medium sized (3-5MM) professional services organization and board member of a publishing firm which focuses on a community based mission.

Larisa Dwonczyk Secretary
Larisa, is a Career Services Advisor at The Art Institute of California, and also assists at Clean Water Action. An avid runner, Larisa has completed 5 marathons (3 in the year 2010) and 11 half marathons. Larisa holds a JD from Harvard Law School.

Becky Barton
Becky is a Human Resource Professional with progressive experience maximizing employee engagement through Performance Management.  She is a trained HR Generalist and has worked in the Professional Services, Non-Profit and Contingent Staffing Industries.  She resides in San Francisco with her husband and son and enjoys giving new life to furniture and interior objects in her spare time.

Michael Bongiorni
Michael writes “The importance of developing a vibrant arts community meshed with key principles of sustainability are factors that have always interested me about SCRAP’s role in San Francisco. As our arts community becomes more aware of its responsibility to lessen waste SCRAP takes its position as leader in this field.  I can also bring my experience as an educator and not-for-profit manager to SCRAP.”

Jeanna Chavetta
Jeanna is a 6^th grade Spanish Language Arts Teacher at Buena Vista Horace Mann K-8 School, Jeanna is a Phi Beta Kappa alumna of Wesleyan University, with a history of teaching Spanish, and promoting bilingual education in SF public schools.

Dianne Heiler
Dianne discovered SCRAP in early 2008 when trying to responsibly dispose of uniquely designed packaging components for her green-minded employer and felt an immediate kinship with its creative reuse crusaders. She promptly attended a recruitment event and joined the board of directors, serving as the Governance Chair and on various committees until her recent bitter-sweet relocation to the East Coast. She’s originally from New York but considers San Francisco her adopted home. When not working as an independent consultant on a variety of package engineering projects or teaching at San Jose State University, she dabbles in photography, creative writing and interior design. She is a rabid world traveler and takes pride in doing what she can to offset and minimize her own personal impact on the environment.

Cathy Huang
Cathy is a CPA and partner at Lindquist, von Husen & Joyce LLP and brings her financial and audit expertise to SCRAP.

Robin Schidlowski
Robin’s current efforts include assisting San Francisco and other Bay Area cities in developing and implementing landfill diversion programs and strategies. She finds the most interesting part of her work is facilitating a different way of thinking about waste and pushing the paradigmatic shift toward responsible business, institutional, and personal practices. Robin holds a B.A. in Spanish Language and M.A. in Interdisciplinary Social Science, both from San Francisco State University.

Many thanks to former board members for their years of dedication and passion:

Claire Pilcher
Claire has been a lawyer since 1973.  She was President of the Public Utilities Commission and a Commissioner on the Board of Appeals as well as Executive Director of the Board of Appeals.  She was Co-Chair of Open Space Committee and Founded Friends of Noe Valley in 1971. Claire was honored as a neighborhood leader in 2002.

Louise Sampson
An active member of the SCRAP Board for over ten years, Louise brings experience to her role as the former Vice President, Council of Jewish Women. She travels extensively, shares her love of San Francisco’s cultural institutions with friends and family, and currently chairs a committee to define terms of board service.

Joan von Briesen
Joan is passionate about art and SCRAP, and secretly (well, not so secretly anymore) about not throwing good things away.  She has an artist’s unorthodox view of what is good, and it’s broad and eclectic. Joan loves SCRAP because of its purpose but also because it has terrific and surprising stuff, she can take things to it (she collects things someone might be able to use and can’t seem to control herself in that area. Someone took the trouble to produce these things, and it seems wasteful to throw good things away.  People do it all the time, but she disapproves!).

Nina Youkelson
Nina was director of Noe Valley Nursery School, a parent cooperative, for 37 years. And though it may not seem possible, this school was the best she had ever attended. It taught her tolerance, appreciation of all kinds of people and left her with an abiding, passionate love of children’s art. She was born in Brooklyn NY in 1935 and went to the High School of Music & Art. Nina has been on the SCRAP board from the beginning of time.