California Trout is pleased to welcome five new members to our Board of Directors! Steve Baloff, Kesley Gallagher, Milton Reynolds, Greg Ruppert, and Dr. Stephanie Carlson are joining our now 24-member diverse group of people who all have at least one thing in common: a dedication to CalTrout’s mission. The Board is involved in every aspect of our operation – from fundraising, to strategic planning, to conservation. We are extremely lucky to enjoy the guidance and participation of this committed group.

Now let’s meet the new members:

Steve Baloff

Steve is a Managing Director at Advanced Technology Ventures since 1996. ATV invests in information technology, life sciences, and clean tech early-stage companies. Prior to this, he founded and served as CEO of Worldview, a successful travel information service and creator of Travelocity.com. Steve has served on numerous boards in both the private and public sectors. Steve is a graduate of Harvard College and received his MBA at Stanford. He is a native Californian, the father of three young men, and lives with his wife Debbie in Atherton. Steve has been a life-long outdoorsman and fly fisherman.

Kesley Gallagher

Kesley is a Global Operations Director Amgen Inc., a leading biotechnology company; she oversees the manufacture, supply, and life-cycle management for over $2B in product. Kesley holds a Master’s Degree from the University of Southern California School of Pharmacy and a Bachelor’s Degree in Biology/Chemistry from Bowdoin College. She was born in Perth, Australia, but has called Southern California her home since the early ‘90’s. Kesley is a lifelong fly angler with a keen interest in conservation. She holds numerous fishing world records, is pro-staff for several fly-fishing equipment manufacturers, and a tarpon tournament grand champion. When she isn’t on a river, beach, or flat to fly-fish, she can be found in the Santa Monica mountains hiking and birding.

Milton Reynolds

Milton is a San Francisco Bay Area based career educator, author, equity and inclusion consultant and activist. His activism has been devoted to disrupting systems of racial injustice with a focus on juvenile justice reform, law enforcement accountability, environmental justice, youth development, educational transformation, and disability justice. His efforts are devoted to creating a more just world in which all people are valued and treated with dignity.

Milton’s publications include a chapter in Seeing Race Again: Countering Colorblindness across the Disciplines, Handbook of Social Justice in Education, and one in the recently released Leading in the Belly of the Beast.

Greg Ruppert

Greg is an Executive Vice President at FINRA, a Congressionally-authorized Self Regulatory Organization responsible for protecting investors and ensuring market integrity. Prior to joining FINRA, Greg was a Senior Vice President and the head of Financial Crimes Risk Management at the Charles Schwab Corporation. Greg began his career in the FBI and served over 17 years as a Special Agent in both investigative and leadership roles, including serving on the Enron Task Force, as well as in international postings as the Legal Attaché in Berlin and establishing the FBI’s offices in the Netherlands and at Europol. Greg previously served on the board of GirlVentures, a Bay Area non-profit that inspires girls to lead through outdoor adventure, inner discovery, and collective action. Greg is a native Californian and obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of the Pacific (UOP) and his law degree from UOP’s McGeorge School of Law. Greg is currently a Professor of Practice for UOP’s Masters in Data Science program. Greg is married with two daughters.

Dr. Stephanie Carlson

Stephanie is a professor of fish ecology at UC Berkeley, where she currently holds the A.S. Leopold Chair in Wildlife Biology. She earned her BS from UC Davis and PhD from the University of Washington. She was an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Santa Cruz before joining the faculty at UC Berkeley in 2008. Carlson’s research focuses on responses of California fish and freshwater biodiversity to environmental variation and change, including drought, fire, and floods.