The 2014 Board of Directors
Elizabeth Goodwin Welborn was raised in the southern, coastal town of Houma, Louisiana. She attended Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama where she graduated with a BA in International Business and was a recipient of the Ignatius Award as Outstanding Woman Graduate. Her experience includes work in various fields, including: interning for Rep. William Tauzin in Washington, D.C., studying Spanish abroad in Guatemala and Costa Rica, volunteering as a campaign executive for the United Way for South Louisiana, working, traveling and living in the U.S., South America and Asia for over eight years in the telecommunications industry, working for four years in the wine industry while she was concurrently a student of the Diploma Program with the London-based Wine and Spirit Education Trust in Napa, CA. Elizabeth currently manages her husband’s medical offices, has two children, remains active as a volunteer and supporter of various non-profits in the environment and arts and was the founder of For the Bayou in 2009.
Page Perry is an environmental attorney in San Francisco. Page received her B.A. in International Relations with an environment and development focus from Stanford University in 1999. She then spent a few years traveling and working in Europe and Africa and then Lake Tahoe and San Francisco. In 2003 she moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane Law School and pursue her interest in environmental law and given the timing, had the opportunity to live in New Orleans both before and immediately after Katrina. She received her J.D. from Tulane Law in 2006, with a certificate of specialization in Environmental Law. During law school, Page developed a passion for the wetlands of southern Louisiana and the complex history of the region, not to mention an equal passion for the culture and diversity of the Gulf Coast. Page also spent a summer clerking for the U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental & Natural Resources Division, Environmental Defense Section in Washington, D.C. In 2006, Page returned to San Francisco and shortly thereafter discovered For the Bayou, and has been an active participant in the organization ever since.
Merriman Mathewson, was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, where most of her family still resides. When she was in high school, her father became President of the “SAVE OUR LAKE” Foundation in New Orleans; she vividly remembers the news cameras and ongoing fight between the oil and gas industry and the foundation as they tried to preserve the wildlife of Lake Pontchatrain. She attended the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she studied literature and science while working for Greenpeace. After moving to SF from New Orleans in 1998, she worked in insurance, then OpenTable.com and Tryllian, while volunteering for various non-profits. Within 60 days of Katrina, she organized a benefit with other hospitality folks which raised over $75,000. She has been active in For The Bayou since it’s inception in 2009 as well as various other environmental, education and arts-based non-profits. She lives in the city with her husband, Eric, and 3 sons, Powell, Swain, and Larkin, and tries to get ‘back home’ (New Orleans) as often as possible.
Nicole Jackson, a San Francisco native, has over twenty years of experience in the hospitality industry. Her enthusiastic personality, savvy communication skills, and business acumen have led to her success in hotel management, event management and grassroots fundraising.
In 2010, Ms. Jackson worked with Bay Area based non-profit, For The Bayou, to help produce the first annual Bay For The Bayou fundraising event, benefitting South Louisiana wetlands restoration efforts in response to the BP Gulf Oil Spill disaster. The event hosted more than 500 attendees and raised over $26,000. As well, in 2009, Ms. Jackson spearheaded a social media campaign to raise emergency funds benefitting local Bay Area jazz and classical pianist Frederick Harris. The grassroots effort raised over $16,000 in under two weeks.
Her education includes an A.S. in Hotel and Restaurant Management, B.S. in Activism and Social Change, and an MBA in Sustainable Enterprise.
Brad LaBauve: Brad is a proud Cajun and native of Lafayette, Louisiana. In 2010, he was introduced to the organization while attending the State of The Coast Conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Upon his return from the conference, impressed with For The Bayou and its mission, Brad joined the organization. In 2011 he was elected to the FTB Board of Trustees. Brad holds a BA in Strategic Management and his MBA in Sustainable Enterprise from Dominican University of California. His research focused on Green Business, Economics, and Environmental Stewardship. Brad continues to actively participate in the execution of wetland restoration projects through FTB partners. As he has traveled to various wetland locations, in Louisiana, and participated in these projects, he has witnessed first hand the valuable efforts of this extraordinary organization and the role it plays in helping to increase public awareness of the opportunities and challenges along the Louisiana coast.
Erica Bell was born and raised in a poor but strong, close-knit neighborhood in South Minneapolis, MN, among neighbors who spoke many languages and came from many cultures. While completing a BA in Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Minnesota, she spent time studying, working and volunteering in rural communities in Guatemala, the Amazon region of Ecuador, and small towns, cities and islands off the coast of Venezuela and in Brazil. After college she worked for Planned Parenthood and Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance, and learned of the importance and effectiveness of strong non-profit work. In more recent years she has worked as a green coffee importer. Erica served on the International Women’s Coffee Alliance Events Committee for several years, planning and arranging large events, including a Board and Committee retreat, for which she recruited Global Fund For Women’s Founder and former president, Ann Firth Murray, as a keynote speaker. In 2007 she was recruited to serve on the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s Conference Committee. In 2010 Erica earned an MBA in Sustainable Enterprise from Dominican University of California.
2014 OFFICERS & CHAIRMAN
President, Page Perry is an environmental attorney in San Francisco. Page received her B.A. in International Relations with an environment and development focus from Stanford University in 1999. She then spent a few years traveling and working in Europe and Africa and then Lake Tahoe and San Francisco. In 2003 she moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane Law School and pursue her interest in environmental law and given the timing, had the opportunity to live in New Orleans both before and immediately after Katrina. She received her J.D. from Tulane Law in 2006, with a certificate of specialization in Environmental Law. During law school, Page developed a passion for the wetlands of southern Louisiana and the complex history of the region, not to mention an equal passion for the culture and diversity of the Gulf Coast. Page also spent a summer clerking for the U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental & Natural Resources Division, Environmental Defense Section in Washington, D.C. In 2006, Page returned to San Francisco and shortly thereafter discovered For the Bayou, and has been an active participant in the organization ever since.
CFO , Jill Keagy: Jill works with a variety of philanthropies here in the Bay Area. She is a former advertising executive for Microsoft and is now a proud mom and volunteer with For the Bayou and Room to Read.
Chairman of the Board, Elizabeth Goodwin Welborn was raised in the southern, coastal town of Houma, Louisiana. She attended Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama where she graduated with a BA in International Business and was a recipient of the Ignatius Award as Outstanding Woman Graduate. Her experience includes work in various fields, including: interning for Rep. William Tauzin in Washington, D.C., studying Spanish abroad in Guatemala and Costa Rica, volunteering as a campaign executive for the United Way for South Louisiana, working, traveling and living in the U.S., South America and Asia for over eight years in the telecommunications industry, working for four years in the wine industry while she was concurrently a student of the Diploma Program with the London-based Wine and Spirit Education Trust in Napa, CA. Elizabeth currently manages her husband’s medical offices, has two children, remains active as a volunteer and supporter of various non-profits in the environment and arts and was the founder of For the Bayou in 2009.
Founder
Elizabeth Goodwin Welborn: elizabeth@forthebayou.org
Founding Members
Linda Seabright, Lana Scott, Stacy Williams, Patrice Petersen, Suzanne Landry Holzman, Tully Forester, Jill Keagy, Jerome Fournier, Heather Piper, Renee Brunner Gold, Amy Coleman, Alexandra Tyndall, Page Perry, Puneh Sohrabpour, Hank Babin, Chris Pulaski, Merriman Matthewson, Laura Quinilty Osumi, Evie Simon, Elizabeth Goodwin Welborn