ADULT Advisors

Bruce Karney - Los-Altos/Mountain View Team advisor

Bruce is a retired marketing and education professional living in Mountain View with his wife Twana, the former Director of Acterra's Green@Home program. In 2007, he led a city-wide group of 119 homeowners who purchased solar panels at a 35% discount because they all bought from the same company (SolarCity). He subsequently joined SolarCity when it was a small startup to lead group purchasing programs in other cities. Bruce retired from the solar industry in 2012 and is now a full-time environmental activist. He advises SVYCA's Los Altos-Mountain View CAT.

He is also the Chair of Carbon Free Mountain View (CFMV), a grassroots group of environmentalists who were key to building the political support around Santa Clara County for the creation of the Silicon Valley Clean Energy Authority. He and CFMV also played a key role in the adoption of ever-stronger Reach Codes in 2019, 2022 and 2025 to ensure that new buildings would be all-electric. CFMV's current focus is to persuade the City Council to end the flow of piped natural gas by 2045.

Kaushik Tota - Tri-City Team advisor

Kaushik, a founding youth member of SVYCA and the first co-lead of the Sunnyvale Youth Climate Action Team, strives to address the climate crisis through community engagement, policy action, and technological advancement. Over the past 8 years, he has been involved in climate education and advocacy efforts focused on awareness and elevating the voices of youth. He has worked at the intersection of technology and sustainability in the public sector, private sector, and in academia. Kaushik graduated from the California Institute of Technology where he studied computer science, business, and environmental science.

chuck Piercey - Tri-City Team advisor

As Product Management Lead at U.S. Digital Response, Chuck supports governments and nonprofits to deliver critical public services. His work reflects a commitment to leveraging product innovation, project management, and sales management expertise to address public needs efficiently and effectively.  

With a career spanning leadership roles in product and business management, Chuck works to drive meaningful change through technology, particularly in addressing critical societal issues such as climate change. Guided by a mission to enable collaboration and innovation, he is dedicated to helping projects that serve communities and foster sustainability.

Vanessa Shin - Santa Clara Team advisor

Vanessa Shin is passionate about advocating for climate leadership on the local level. She brings experience and enthusiasm for climate action plan implementation and community outreach. She graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in environmental science. Vanessa is also the President of SVYCA’s board.

Amanda Bancroft - Team advisor

Amanda Bancroft is the Lead Sustainability Specialist at NASA Ames where she consults on environmental policy, facility conservation measures, and organizing Green Team meetings. Prior to that role she led the 350 Silicon Valley chapter of San Jose which entailed educating and empowering residents to advocate for climate action at the city level. Amanda has over 5+ years in the solar marketing sector and is a strong advocate for deploying renewables. She received her degree in Environmental Studies with an emphasis in Sustainability and Social Justice at San Francisco State University. She is ecstatic to be supporting SVYCA's mission to empower youth and young adults to combat climate change through education and policy initiatives!

Dashiell Leeds - Nature Based Solutions Team advisor

Dashiell Leeds is the Conservation Organizer for the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter. With a focus on stopping gas pipelines, Dashiell has fought for climate laws in many Bay Area Cities. Along with many other dedicated activists, he supported San Jose’s gas prohibition in new buildings  as well as all-electric new-building codes and Climate Action Plans in over a dozen cities. He loves forests and is passionate about protecting streams and wetlands. He is also a vocal advocate for bird-safe design and policies to reduce light pollution.

Kristen Lyn - Cupertino Team advisor

Kristen has 20 years experience in professional accounting as well as more than 10 years of supervisory experience and budget development responsibility. She worked at Deloitte for 4 years and helped 4 IPO companies for years afterwards. Additionally, Kristen was a Cupertino School Board Trustee, CUSD designated representative for SSC School Boards Association, Treasurer for Asian Pacific Islander School Board Members Association and CFO for Shin Shin Educational Foundation. Currently, Kristen is the Head of Revenue (Earnings) in a Public company. She is also the Co-President of Asian American Parents Association.

Sean Mendelson - Campbell Team advisor

Sean is very passionate about climate activism. He is a Producer and interviewer for the Everyday Climate Champion podcast. He is a member of the Community Advisory Committee in Campbell, working to enact a bold Climate Action and Adaptation plan for the city at the beginning of 2026. Sean is a children’s music developmental advocate. He has his own licensed Music Together center called Teacher Sean’s Music Factory, which is an international, quality research-based, children’s music program center. He is also a playwright. In 2022, he licensed his musical, “Axoloris: The Musical” through Concord Theatricals for world-wide distribution. This teen-based futuristic climate sci-fi climate activist musical was picked for the 2024 UIL Texas Theatrical Competition. Over 1000 theatrical students across the state competed in categories associated with the production. Sean has performed as Sean’s Music Factory, a children’s music artist, since 2013. He tours the Bay Area and has released five children’s albums. He has a handful of environmental songs. As a music producer, he works hard to reduce the carbon footprint during the manufacturing process. The process to replace traditional petroleum for LPs is calledBioVinyl or Bio-attributed.

Alhad Dighe - Santa Clara Team advisor

Alhad is a public sector sustainability professional in San Mateo County, where he manages regional energy efficiency programs and supports initiatives to transition buildings away from fossil fuels. With a career dedicated to local government climate action, he has previously held roles in research, policy analysis, and program coordination with regional clean energy agencies and planning collaboratives across the Bay Area. A proud Banana Slug, Alhad studied environmental studies and biology at UC Santa Cruz. He enjoys cooking, hiking the East Bay hills, and is a novice archer.

Harriet Harvey-Horn - Los Gatos/Saratoga Team advisor

Harriet is a retired engineer and marketing executive who has been active in climate advocacy in the Bay Area since 2018.  Inspired by the climate leadership of former Vice President Al Gore and the action-oriented engagement model of the Climate Reality Project he founded, Harriet's journey in climate advocacy began when she became a Climate Reality Leader in 2018.  Since then, she has mentored over 150 climate leaders, delivered climate talks across the country, and served on the leadership teams of both Bay Area chapters. In addition to her role with SVYCA, Harriet also currently serves on the boards of the Climate Action California Foundation and the Mother Water Fund, as well as the leadership team of the Climate Reality Project Bay Area Chapter. She holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Texas Tech University and MBA from Santa Clara University.  A fifth generation Texan who has lived her entire adult life in California, Harriet brings a well-rounded, perspective to her efforts to engage others in climate action.  She lives in Los Gatos in a fully-electric home powered by solar and battery storage, and gets around happily, safely and sustainably in her full-self-driving EV.  

College Advisors

Jayden Wan - San Mateo College Advisor

Jayden Wan is a student at Stanford University studying Civil Engineering and a LEED Green Associate with the U.S. Green Building Council. He currently mentors SVYCA's San Mateo County Team, having served as Co-Lead between 2022 and 2025. Jayden also served as SVYCA's 2024-2025 Youth Co-Director, working to strengthen organizational consistency and ease of knowledge transfer between generations of student leaders.

Daphne Zhu - San Jose College Advisor

Daphne Zhu is a student at Duke University and previously served as an inaugural Youth Co-Director of SVYCA from 2024-2025. She has also served as a co-lead of the San Jose Team from 2023-2025, and co-founded and co-led the Nature-Based Solutions Action Team in 2024. Daphne is passionate about climate education, environmental justice, and ecosystem preservation, and continues to fight for climate action and climate-friendly policies at Duke University.

advisors-At-Large

Tara Sreekrishnan - Co-Founder, Advisor

Tara currently serves as Deputy Chief of Staff to California State Senator Dave Cortese. Tara is currently a member of the Board of Education in Santa Clara County. Her community work includes serving on the Friends of Deer Hollow Farm Board of Directors, the Silicon Valley Clean Energy Customer Advisory Group, and the Bay Area for Clean Environment Board of Directors.