Meet Our Team
Staff Members
Deb Kramer
Executive Director and
Board Member
Deb is the Executive Director and has been involved with Coyote Creek since 2014. As a community organizer, she has drawn thousands of people to the Coyote Creek cleanup events, worked closely with many community organizations and agencies, such as Audubon, Open Space Authority, City of San Jose, and Save Our Trails. Professionally, she was project manager in environmentally-related fields, from water, energy, and waste to now watersheds. Deb is a former board member of Save the Bay, and an alumnus of Cal Berkeley with a degree in Environmental Science. Her favorite past times are hiking, backpacking and gardening.
Rebekah Cotton
Business Manager
Rebekah is the event coordinator and business manager for Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful. She recently returned to Cincinnati, Ohio where she worked in events and catering. She brings with her enthusiasm for process creation for efficient event management and execution. Rebekah is passionate about environmental causes, especially recycling and lowering waste. Joining KCCB is her first step towards a new career path in helping local communities protect and preserve natural habitats. In her free time, she likes to go swimming, hiking, grow vegetables, or spend time with her growing family.
Néstor De la O Vargas
Event Assistant
Néstor is the Event Assistant for Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful. His major is Biology with a minor in Biochemistry but he makes time to educate himself about the broad ecosystem and casually uses iNaturalist to learn about plant species around his neighborhood. He believes that the Creek is important for the environment and the diversity that it offers to San José so he wants to do his part in helping to protect it. Right now, Néstor is interested in the role of pollinators in the environment and their relationship with plants so he hopes to run some statistical analysis using iNaturalist’s public data soon! Néstor’s hobbies involve jogging in Coyote Creek, studying Arabic, and watching movies with his old high school buddy.
Alexandra Hisen
Media Coordinator
Alexandra is the Media Coordinator and has been working with KCCB since 2022. She is a recent Graphic Design and Advertising graduate from SJSU and is originally from Sonoma County. She has previously worked with nonprofits, including the local College of Adaptive Arts. She also worked with organizations that support women worldwide, including SJSU VDAY and Encouraging Women Across All Borders (EWAAB). At San Jose State, she was a part of the Dwight Bentel Hall Marketing and PR Agency and worked on multiple projects running social media, event planning, and designing graphics. Alexandra's favorite pastimes are painting and drawing and reading a good book.
Annette McMillan
Volunteer Coordinator
Annette is the volunteer coordinator for Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful. She has been enthusiastic about protecting the environment since her teens. She believes open spaces and natural waterways allow us to connect to ourselves and the earth in ways that only nature can provide. As a recent San Jose State Environmental Studies graduate, she educates people about the importance of protecting our creeks and open spaces through creek cleanups and as a BioBlitz docent.
Jeweliette Pearson
Volunteer Coordinator
Jeweliette (she/her) is a Volunteer Coordinator for KCCB. Her interest in the outdoors was sparked by an early appreciation for the animals and plants she observed as a child while exploring in the marshlands of Alviso. Her lifelong desire to help save animals led her to becoming an Environmental Studies student with a minor in Environmental Restoration at San Jose State University where she is currently working on her B.S. degree. She completed Grassroots Ecology's 2023 Summer Naturalist internship and their 2023/2024 Habitat Restoration internship.
Aja Yee
Event Coordinator
Aja is the Event Coordinator for Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful. Her love for the environment was fostered by her upbringing in Monterey, CA. Aja has been involved in environmental education her whole life, starting with being a docent at the Monterey Bay Aquarium when she was a teen, to currently being a volunteer educator at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. She also works for the San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society as the Peninsula Programs Coordinator. Aja’s hobbies include tidepooling, rock climbing, and traveling.
Board Members
Chuck Cantrell
President
With a career spanning over 30 years, Chuck has made significant contributions as a strategy consultant and executive. When Chuck’s not exploring new places, he’s fighting for a great cause - the environment. Becoming a Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful board member is integral to that fight.
Chuck started the service phase of his career when he accepted an appointment by Mayor Sam Liccardo to become a San Jose Planning Commissioner. He later took his talents to the San Jose Conservation Corps as Director of Development. He loves helping young people thrive and protect our environment. Chuck is on a mission to make the world a better place.
Chuck is a single dad who’s raised three kids all by himself! He’s taken his close-knit family on a journey around the US and to 11 countries. Chuck’s amazing partner Claudia joined his family in 2013 to join in the traveling caravan.
Costanza Rampini
Secretary
Dr. Costanza Rampini is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Studies at San José State University (SJSU). Her research focuses on human adaptation to environmental change, specifically people’s capacity to adapt to climate change impacts and to recover from extreme events. Her work has focused on communities in Northeast India and in Santa Cruz, California, who are especially vulnerable to coastal and riverine flooding. Through her research, Dr. Rampini aims to inform sustainable development and climate adaptation efforts on the ground, and to ensure that they benefit the most underprivileged communities. Dr. Rampini has been teaching at SJSU since 2016, and her classes cover topics such as climate change, sustainable development, environmental justice, water policy, and environmental research methods.
Clinton Pickering
Treasurer
Clinton is a banker with Heritage Bank of Commerce, the largest Community Bank in the San Francisco Bay Area. Also, Clinton is an active Certified Public Accountant. Since he has lived most of his life along the Calaveras Foothills in East San Jose, he has actively trained for triathlons on the Coyote Creek Trail. Clinton and his son enjoy spending quality time together at Coyote Creek’s various parks learning about nature.
Thaddeus Dickens
Board Member
Thaddeus Dickens is a Program Manager on the Talent Acquisition Team at NVIDIA. With nearly a decade of recruiting experience, Thaddeus devotes his time and energy to driving organizational change and best practices that promote inclusion for all applicants. A veteran of the United States Air Force, Thaddeus learned early on the importance of serving and giving back to communities through volunteerism and leadership development. His other interests include networking, traveling, and angel investing. As an avid sports fan, Thaddeus enjoys traveling to sporting events with his son to keep up with their favorite teams.
Allison Wang
Board Member
Allison is an operations manager at a local healthcare company, previously working on the clinical care team before taking on an administrative role. She was born and raised in the Silicon Valley, but only really began to appreciate the significance and beauty of the San Francisco Bay Bioregion as a young adult (one silver lining of the pandemic). Allison is now a UC California Naturalist and is fervently making up for lost time, volunteering with local environmental groups to conduct bird surveys and perform native plant restoration. Her hope is to inspire and encourage others to tread the path of environmental stewardship as well.