Board of Directors

Nizar Abdallah, MBA, PhD, Board Vice-Chair, is Engineering Director at Actel Corp. He was Co-Founder and Executive Director of a European scientific applications start-up and professor of Computer Science at a French engineering school. He is also external co-director of an international program organized by UNESCO for researchers and engineers in developing countries. His MBA is from Presidio Graduate School, his PhD from Pierre & Marie Curie University in Paris, France.

Eva Auchincloss was Associate Publisher of a women’s sports publishing company and Founding Executive Director of the Women’s Sports Foundation, as well as a principal of Auchincloss & Turner. A delegate to the U.S. Olympic Committee, she has served on numerous boards, including the Foundation of the California Bar Association, the Junior League, Lifeplan Center, Lifeprint Career Center and the International Diplomacy Council of San Francisco. She is a graduate of Vassar College.

Eric Cetnarski is the current student member of the board. He has been the Operations Lead of the Telecom Practice Group of San Francisco. Prior to that, he was a Public Relations Consultant, Corporate Communications Manager for Hyperion Solutions and Communications Manager for Junior Achievement of New York. A former Americorps Supervisor, he earned the BA degree in Journalism from Northeastern University and expects to complete the Presidio MBA program in 2012.

Robert Friese, JD, was a Founding Partner of Shartsis Friese LLP and the founder or co-founder of three operating companies. Named one of The Best Lawyers in America, he was formerly with the Securities Exchange Commission. Long active in civic affairs, he is Board Chair of San Francisco Beautiful and has served as Vice-Chair of Worldwatch Institute. A graduate of Stanford University with a JD degree from Northwestern, he also studied in graduate schools in Switzerland and Germany.

Richard J. Goode, Jr, MBA, is Senior Director of Sustainability for Alcatel-Lucent, having established the first office of Climate Change and Sustainability at a Fortune 500 company. He has also served as Director of Business Development for AT&T Co. A summa cum laude graduate of the University of Massachusetts, he graduated first in his MBA class from Nichols College in Dudley, MA and earned the Executive Certificate in Sustainable Management at Presidio Graduate School.

Lee Gotshall-Maxon, JD, is a partner with Allen Matkns Leck Gamble & Mallory, LLP. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute, International Bar Association and San Francisco Planning & Urban Research Association. He has served as Board President of both the Volunteer Center of Marin and Central City Hospitality House, also as a board member of San Francisco’s Legal Aid Society. He is a cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College with the JD degree from Hastings College of the Law.

Richard M. Gray, PhD, Board Secretary, holds the BA Phi Beta Kappa from Bucknell University, the MDiv degree summa cum laude from San Francisco Theological Seminary and the PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. He was with N.W. Ayer, a national advertising agency, for 16 years, and was Ayer’s Detroit Creative Director. As founding president of World College West, he raised $13 million in 15 years to establish the college and build its environmentally designed 200-acre campus.

William F. Leimbach is a Financial Management Executive and Consultant with the Reznick Group, an accounting and auditing firm serving renewable energy clients. A retired audit partner with Deloitte & Touche, he has had 32 years’ experience in a Big Four public accounting firm, 23 years at the partner level. A graduate of Bucknell University, he holds the MBA degree from Colgate Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. He was also a captain in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Amy McCombs, MA, has broad-based experience in the information media, financial service, higher education and nonprofit sectors. She has been president and CEO of Chronicle Broadcasting, also president and CEO of Heald College in San Francisco. She holds the MA in Journalism and BA in Journalism and Political Science from Missouri University. She has participated in the Senior Executive Program at Stanford and National Broadcasters General Management Program at Harvard University.

Susan Orenstein, MBA, is a graduate of Presidio Graduate School in Sustainable Management. An experienced journalist with such publications as The New York Observer, she was Senior Writer for Business 2.0 and a Feature Writer for The Industry Standard. A magna cum laude graduate of Yale University, she has completed significant communications work for the Gap Foundation and has edited stories for the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Teresa Pahl, JD, Board Treasurer, heads the Business & Corporate Section at the Hanson Bridgett law firm. She has served as a judge of the Social Venture Network Innovation Award and has been a member of the Board of Governors of the Lawyers' Club of San Francisco as well as the National Association of Women Business Owners. She received her Bachelor's degree from the University of California Berkeley and her law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Toni Rembe, JD, is president of the van Loben Sels Foundation. A senior advisor/retired partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pitman LLP, she has served on the boards of AT&T Inc., AEGEON, Potlatch, Transamerica, Pacific Telesis, Safeco and APL Ltd. She advises the Rock Center at Stanford, is past chair of ACT in San Francisco and past president of the Commonwealth Club. She was an undergraduate at Geneva University in Switzerland and the University of Washington, where she also received her law degree.

William A. Shutkin, JD, is President & CEO of Presidio Graduate School and ex officio board member. Attorney, educator and social entrepreneur, he has served as Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute and led several organizations linking community development and sustainability. Author of the award-winning book, The Land That Could Be: Environmentalism and Democracy in the 21st Century, he is a graduate of Brown University and the University of Virginia Law School.

Steven L. Swig, JD, Board Chair, is a graduate of the University of Oregon and the University of Santa Clara School of Law. Formerly with the Law Office of Joseph Alioto, he was Partner and Managing Director of Titchell, Maltzman & Mark; Executive Vice-President of Swig, Weiler & Dinner Development Co.; and Counsel with Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin. He has served on many boards including the University of Oregon, the A.C.L.U. and A.C.T.