Our Board and Executive Director
Lori Davis - Executive Director
Lori Davis is the founder and president of Sanzuma, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing access to healthy food sources for students and their families in the Bay Area’s northern peninsula.
Lori had a successful career designing kitchens and baths when she developed a desire to make a long-term social and environmental difference in her community and beyond. She always considered herself an environmentalist and sought to minimize the negative impacts of the design and construction process on the environment. Because of this, Lori went back to college in 2009, graduating with scientific honors from UC Berkeley with a B.S. in agrobiodiversity and a minor in cultural food systems. After completing her continued education, Lori developed the idea for a solar oven program in 2012, where ovens were delivered to small villages in remote regions of Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico. The ovens enabled villagers to cook food, purify water, and earn an income without relying on wood, electricity, or propane.
As the program expanded, she found that similar food system challenges existed in Marin County. Being true to Sanzuma’s mission, “your health should not be a reflection of your economic status,” she turned the organization’s efforts to the development of a Farm-to-Cafeteria program. Since 2013, she led the conversion of many local school gardens into producing farms, pairing this with nutrition classes and educating the students and their families on growing their own food.
Her passion for this organization is equal to her desire to ensure good nutrition is accessible to everyone, regardless of their economic status. This stemmed from losing her entire family to heart disease, including her only sibling. She deeply desires to see her community and have access to and knowledge of healthy foods.
Lori currently resides in Marin with her husband, two dogs, two goats and chickens! On the weekends, you can find her in her home garden, hiking with her herding dogs or cooking delicious meals.
Tamara Hull - Treasurer
Tamara is a CPA who enjoys helping non-profits get off the ground, move forward and succeed. She is president of the board of MarinLink; president of the board of Marin Sonoma Concours d’Elegance, treasurer of the Golden Gate Chapter of the BMW Car Club of America, treasurer of the Rotary Club of Terra Linda and the Rotary Club of Terra Linda Foundation, treasurer of Book Bank USA, treasurer of the Marin Women’s Political Action Committee as Treasurer (which involves FPPC reporting). Tamara serves on the City of Larkspur Measure B Citizens Oversight Committee, ensuring that a sales tax is mostly used to improve Larkspur’s roads.
Tamara has served on several nonprofit boards over the last 30 years, including the Sierra Club Marin Group, Sustainable San Rafael, Sustainable Marin, and the Gallinas Watershed Council, and as President for the 16 th District of the California State PTA, which included sitting on the California State PTA Board of Managers. Tamara served over 3 years as an environmental representative on the Marin County Hazardous and Solid Waste Joint Powers Authority Local Task Force (AB 939). Tamara served on the Santa Venetia Community Plan committee. Tamara co-founded and served on the boards of the BMW Car Club of America Foundation, the Venetia Valley Education Foundation, and the NASA Car Control Clinic. Tamara has also served as a campaign treasurer for several local, state and national campaigns.
Tamara has over 35 years of accounting experience, and over 30 years of tax experience, focusing on small businesses, individuals and non-profits. After years of working for small businesses, Tamara obtained her Bachelor of Science degree from the Walter A. Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley, with an emphasis
in Accounting. Tamara loves helping clients, especially helping them solve seemingly complex business, accounting, and tax problems, and cleaning up "messes".
Tamara volunteers as a racing official for several amateur racing organizations. Tamara provides pro bono tax, accounting and consulting services to many local nonprofits and has been a featured speaker on nonprofit tax and accounting issues with MarinLink University.
Tamara completed the Environmental Forum training, and is a graduate of class number 35. Tamara also enjoys participating in, and organizing, classes, workshops and forums about non-profit and environmental issues.
Jeanne Friedel - President
Jeanne Friedel has more than 30 years of experience working within Marin communities building community events and improving public spaces. She spent 17 years working with the Sausalito Art Festival as the volunteer coordinator and operations director dealing with a work force of more than 1,200 volunteers and managing the logistics and operations of the multimillion-dollar award winning festival. Jeanne has also worked with the City
of Sausalito managing their city-wide events including the Caledonia Street Fair and Jazz by the Bay. While there, she increased sponsorship funding of the event and worked with the City’s Public Works Department to revitalize Gabrielson park.
Through her membership with Rotary, Jeanne has a large presence in the community with leadership roles including President of the Rotary Club of Terra Linda 2015-2016 and a second term scheduled or 2022-2023, Community Services Director 2016-2019, Membership Co-Chair for the Rotary District 5150 serving 46 clubs with 1850 members, and Chairman of the Steering Committee for a joint Rotary Club and the Center 4 Domestic Peace helping to develop needed bed space for families coming out of domestic violence.
Jeanne is heavily involved in the Larkspur community, where she was appointed by the Mayor of Larkspur to the Ad Hoc committee to develop the Master Plan for a new Community Center. She is founder of the Larkspur Rec’ing Crew, a nonprofit organization, that helps fund youth programs for children in need within the community. She also is a founding member of the Commons Foundation, the official fundraiser arm of the City of Larkspur tasked with raising $10 million to design and build a new library for the city. Jeanne is currently serving her fourth term as commissioner for the City of Larkspur Parks and Recreation, having served twice as the Chair helping to complete the City Parks Master Plan.
Some of Jeanne’s other community involvement includes working with the Marin County Guide Dogs for the Blind in 2009 raising more than $1 million dollars for their campus learning center and working with the San Rafael Chamber producing their four major fundraisers all supporting business to business growth for its members.
Jeanne currently works for Scot Candell & Associates managing a boutique law firm in Marin, serving as their Operations Director and Human Resources Manager. In 2021, she took on the operation and human resources of CB Labs in Novato, a cannabis testing lab. In this role she has been responsible for general operation and management of all relations with the City of Novato as well as state and federal regulations.
Jeanne earned her event credentials from the International Events and Events Association, achieving their highest degree, Certified Festival and Event Executive (CFEE). She also holds her certification from San Francisco State University in Event Management. In 2021, Jeanne Received her Human Resource Management Specialist certification and has been accepted into the Society of Human Resource Management program for 2022-2023.
Tracey Hessel - Secretary
A pediatrician by day, Tracey Hessel is excited to work with Sanzuma providing the Marin community with resources to eat and live a healthy lifestyle.
Tracey moved to Marin County with her family in 1985 as a teenager. She pursued her undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and completed medical school and residency at UC San Francisco. Between her schooling, she worked for a year on public health projects in Nicaragua.
In 2020, she completed the UCSF Champion Provider Fellowship, where she partnered with the Marin County Parks and Marin Health and Human Services to develop a Park Prescription program, connecting families to local parks and open spaces as a way of promoting health and wellness. During this time, Tracey began working with Marin County Healthy Eating Active Lifestyles Steering Committee where first she discovered the work being done by Sanzuma.
Since completing her education, Tracey has worked as a pediatrician at the Marin Community Clinics. In addition to providing direct patient care, she serves at the Associate Medical Director of Pediatrics, where she works to improve the quality of care, increase services, and develop partnerships with community organizations to strengthen the safety net for children and families. In addition to serving on the board of Sanzuma, she also serves on the board of Head’s Up, the San Rafael City Schools Foundation, which is dedicated to providing equitable access to enrichment to students across the district.
“I am excited to serve on the board for Sanzuma. I’ve been so impressed with the impact the organization has had on our community – through education, connecting our children with where their food comes from, and by making fresh, healthy food available in our local schools. My admiration increased when Sanzuma stepped up to support families hit hardest by the pandemic. I am honored to be able to work with an organization for which wellness, education and equity are integral parts of everything they do.”
Mayra Perez - Chair
Dr. Mayra Perez is the Superintendent of Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District (CRPUSD) since July 1, 2020.
Prior to accepting the role of Superintendent, she worked in San Rafael City Schools where she was the Deputy Superintendent of Instruction, Innovation and Social Justice. During that time, Dr. Perez oversaw the instructional and teaching program for San Rafael City Schools, with a goal of ensuring equitable and high academic outcomes for all students, while enhancing systems and structures to support the instructional needs of school sites. She also directed the English Learner (EL) programs and development of the Local Control and Accountability Program.
Before her tenure at San Rafael City Schools, Dr. Perez served the San Gabriel Unified School District, where she held a variety of positions over 16 years, including Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services. In her education career she’s been a teacher, Title I specialist, assistant principal, principal and program administrator.
In 2019, she was awarded a Spirit of Marin award for her volunteer work with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Marin and in 2018 was named a recipient of North Bay Business Journal’s Latino Business Leadership Award for being among the most outstanding Latino leaders, innovators and visionaries in the North Bay. Dr. Perez is proud to serve on the board of Sanzuma connecting students, parents and educators with ecology and food access education.
Dr. Perez earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. She earned her master’s degree in educational administration and her Doctor of Education from the University of Southern California. She is bilingual/biliterate in English and Spanish.
Hugh Murphy - Chair
An accomplished architect, Hugh Murphy is the president of VMI Architecture. After 15 years with Fredric C. Devine Associates, Hugh joined VMI Architecture in 1998, partnering with his wife Noushin, and becoming president in 2012. Hugh continues to run the eleven-person architectural firm in Marin.
Hugh serves on Sanzuma’s board as a Marin resident passionate about Sanzuma’s mission to increasing the availability of freshly grown foods for the local community. In addition to serving on the board for Sanzuma, Hugh also serves on the board for the Rotary Club of San Rafael Harbor.
Born in Washington, D.C. to a military family, Hugh has lived in Maine, North Dakota, Hawaii, Germany, Japan and Northern California. Receiving his Bachelor of Architecture from Cogswell College in San Francisco and his architectural state license, Hugh has called Marin home since 1977.
Lucy Hoeber - Chair
Lucy Hoeber
Lucy was born and raised in a small coastal village in Papua New Guinea (PNG), living off the land and sea. She helped her mom and grandma grow food for the family. In PNG 90% of the population live in villages and rely solely on garden-grown food.
Lucy graduated Mendi School of Nursing, and worked for two years as a nurse in PNG. After getting married, she moved to the US and earned an AA degree in Architecture at the College of Marin.
Lucy is an avid and very skilled gardener. Staying true to her up bringing, she still grows much of the food her family needs in her small backyard organic garden. She not only grows food crops, but also the plants needed to create an organic and natural pest management system.
She and her husband live in Mill Valley and have raised two children.
Lucy is on the board for PNGinUSA, a non-profit established to help the communities in PNG with improving health, education, and social issues.