Jennifer Ly is currently the Environmental Justice and Land Use Manager at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Trained as an urban planner, she previously held planning roles at the City of Long Beach and City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation. Jennifer’s experience in local government began at the City of Richmond, where she had the opportunity to work in the City Manager’s Office helping develop and implement the City’s progressive program for sustainability and health equity. It was during her time at the City of Richmond that she became inspired by Urban Tilth. Jennifer earned a Master in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley. In her free time, she enjoys martial arts, the outdoors, and eating noodle soup.

Nate Shaffran serves as co-Director of Lending for Community Vision, a non-profit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), where his team finances community-serving nonprofits, inclusive small businesses, and affordable housing development. He joined Community Vision with over 15 years’ experience in development lending and social enterprise, with a focus on food and agriculture. He previously worked for a decade with the social impact lender Root Capital, launching the organization’s African operations and building a portfolio of over $30M and a staff of 30+ African professionals. A native of Richmond, CA, Nate holds an MS in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, and BAs in Economics and Political Science from Swarthmore College.

Erwin Lee Acox, Jr. With more than 20 years of experience working with executive leaders in complex organizations, Erwin L. Acox, II is a diversity, equity & inclusion expert focused on transforming organizations from the inside out. Based in San Francisco, Erwin is Director of Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at Tides. In addition to crafting and implementing sustainable DEI practices, he advises organizational leaders, through culture shifting, for positive employee experiences. His DEI practice focuses on getting to the root causes of organizational inequities to provide sustainable approaches to creating workplaces where employees feel valued and respected for their humanity and contributions. Previously, Erwin has led system-wide diversity and inclusion efforts for the Illinois Department of Transportation, where he supported nearly 6,000 employees through culture shifting, while also shifting contracting practices to be more equitable and inclusive of women and BIPOC. He has also coached leaders on discovering and understanding the impact of their actions on the workforce, especially how they could lead to negative impacts on women, and People of Color. His areas of expertise are diversity and inclusion strategy and implementation, employee relations, coaching, training development, and transforming toxic cultures to human-centered. Originally from the Southside of Chicago, he LOVES house music, Chicago pizza, hot dogs sans ketchup (mustard, relish and sport peppers only), and chilling with his family and friends.