Board of Directors
GREENPEACE FUND, INC.
BOARD MEMBERS, 2004-2005
David Chatfield (Chair) has worked with environmental organizations for nearly thirty years. Currently, he is the Director of Californians for Pesticide Reform, a coalition of 135 organizations addressing the health and environmental impacts of pesticides. Previously, he was California Director of Clean Water Action. David worked for Greenpeace for ten years in various roles, including Chair of the Greenpeace board, Pacific Southwest Regional Director and Senior Development Associate. He also served for eight years as Friends of the Earth's International Director, and worked for the American Friends Service Committee and UFW before that. He is currently President of the EarthShare of California Board and serves on advisory committees for Greenaction, Political Ecology Group and League of Conservation Voters in California.
Karen Topakian has worked in the areas of community organizing and nonviolent social change for over fifteen years. She worked as a campaigner in the Nuclear Free Seas Campaign at Greenpeace in San Francisco for four years. Currently, she is the Executive Director of the Agape Foundation, which provides start up grants to small organizations in the areas of peace and social change. She also performs organizational consulting for forty peace and justice organizations.
John Willis has extensive experience with Greenpeace, having worked as a Campaigner for Greenpeace Canada (1981 - 1988), a Project Coordinator for Greenpeace International (1988 - 1995), and as National Campaign Director for Greenpeace Japan (1995 - 1996). In the early 1980s, he developed the original Great Lakes Campaign ('Water for Life') in conjunction with Greenpeace USA activists, and was prominent in the anti-nuclear movement and the campaign to stop acid rain. At Greenpeace International he oversaw the successful Greenpeace effort to halt nuclear industry expansion into Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia. And in Japan, John trained a new team of campaigners working on French nuclear testing and toxics.
Since returning to Canada, John has been a Senior Consultant with Strategic Communications, a leading Canadian consulting firm that specializes in fundraising and campaign mobilization for advocacy groups, labor unions, and public service organizations. John was elected to the Greenpeace Canada Board of Directors in 1996, and was made Chair of the Board one year later. As Chair and Trustee for Canada, John has guided the successful selection and hiring of a new Executive Director, introduced measures to enable effective oversight by the Voting Membership, and promoted an improved system of electing the international Board.