About EFC9

EFC9 is a university-based Center working for healthier communities through cleaner business, by advancing the environmental industry and promoting pollution prevention, source reduction and energy efficiency.

Our mission is three-pronged:

1. To encourage business to adopt source reduction, pollution prevention and energy efficiency,
2. To encourage consumers to choose green products and services, and
3. To help communities promote cleaner business.

To that end, working with both the private and public sectors, EFC9 pursues its mission through numerous tools including:

• Green business development
• Business incubation
• Finance programs & directorie
• Industry surveys & guides
• Technology transfer
• Local economic development
• Conferences & Workshops
• Charrettes
• Research publications and reports, and
• Hands-on assistance to small business.

EFC9 is also part of a nine-member network of Environmental Finance Centers throughout the United States. Each EFC is associated with a local University and pursues its own environmental goals. EFC9, affiliated with Dominican University of California and is the only Finance Center dedicated to resolving environmental issues in the private sector. All EFC Executive Directors sit on the Environmental Finance Advisory Board which advises the USEPA Administrator on issues pertaining to environmental finance.

EFC9 Relocates to Dominican Univeristy

From the Marin Independent Journal
Jim Staats

A new "green" master's of business administration program at Dominican University helped bring an Environmental Finance Center to the San Rafael campus, as well as a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant to run the center.

The $222,000 federal grant will help support several environmental initiatives to be run out of the new center, which relocated to the campus on May 1, according to school officials.

The Environmental Finance Center is part of a nine-member network of centers throughout the United States and is funded in part by the EPA. Each center is associated with a local university. Dominican's center serves Region 9, which includes California, Hawaii, Arizona and Nevada.

Sarah Diefendorf, the center's executive director who oversees a staff of five, said Dominican "seemed like the absolute best place" to relocate the center, which has been at California State University, East Bay (formerly California State University at Hayward) since 1994.

"We probably were never the best fit at Hayward," she said. "It's really related to the university bringing in the green MBA. It's just a good time to move over."

The school's "green" MBA program is scheduled to begin this fall, with instruction of traditional business principles with an emphasis on sustainability.

Diefendorf said the funding received is part of an annual seed grant distributed evenly across the nationwide centers.

"It's never a guarantee year to year," she said.

Diefendorf said the center's new campus site, along with Dominican's new MBA program, will benefit the center in its study of business sustainability at all Bay Area universities.

Projects conducted through the center include tribal waste reduction, efforts to promote environmentally friendly behavior in the television industry, a statewide biodiesel roundtable, a proposal to establish a Center for Sustainability at the university and more.

Staff Biographies

Sarah Diefendorf is Executive Director of the Environmed furntal Finance Center for Region IX (California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii), which works closely with USEPA to promote cleaner business. Some of her efforts in this position include coordinating county and state Green Business Programs throughout the region, preparing a Clean Air Investment Fund pilot program for the US/Mexico border and developing a series of conferences and roundtables on the use of toxic flame retardants in the electronics anniture industries. She is also working with the State of Arizona to reduce hazardous air emissions in the Phoenix area, and the State of Hawaii to help hotels reduce their use of toxic chemicals.

Prior to this position, Ms Diefendorf was a senior associate for the Alameda Center for Environmental Technologies, where she helped establish an environmental business incubator, and she has worked in the environmental field for over 17 years.

In 2000, she founded the Women's Environmental Network, which now claims almost 1000 members in the Bay Area. Ms Diefendorf is also an Expert Witness for the USEPA National Environmental Finance Advisory Board, and she is a project reviewer for USEPA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. In addition, she is a member of the steering committee for the Western Regional Pollution Prevention Network, former President of the San Francisco League of Women Voters and is currently on the national board of the League of Women Voters US. Ms. Diefendorf is also an international Voter Services and Grassroots Democracy Trainer for the National League of Women Voters and works with organizations in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe.

Sarah received her Master's degree in Environmental Geography and is currently writing the final chapters of her Ph.D., which focuses on the environmental industry in California, both through Cambridge University, England.

Susan Blachman, Associate Director, EFC9
Susan Blachman has over 25 years experience working in the environmental field. At EFC9 she has overseen projects associated with pollution prevention and resource conservation in a variety of industries. Her EFC9 project work has included collaborating with the US EPA and the California Integrated Waste Management Board to encourage the television industry to act environmentally and incorporate environmental messages in television shows, developing and expanding green business recognition programs in Arizona and California, promoting wetcleaning, an environmentally beneficial alternative to dry cleaning, helping establish the nation’s first vocational wetcleaning program in a state prison, and organizing Environmental Business Opportunities Conferences throughout US EPA Region IX as well as charrettes, conferences and sessions on environmental and economic development themes.

Ms. Blachman has a master's in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. During her graduate studies she was selected to participate in the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis of Austria’s Young Scientists Summer Program and after receiving her Master’s in Public Policy and spent one year in the U.C. Berkeley Professionals in India Program.

Ms. Blachman serves as the co-chair of the Golden Gate Pollution Prevention Committee, sits on the board of the Womens’ Environmental Network, and was recently appointed to the City of Berkeley Solid Waste Commission. She is fluent in Spanish.

Victoria Vasquez, Senior Project Coordinator
Ms. Vasquez is EFC9's Senior Program Coordinator responsible for financial management and reporting; her responsibilities include grant management and coordination, fiscal reconciliation, internal auditing and accounting. In addition she provides administrative support to EFC9 charrettes and training programs.

Before joining EFC9 Ms. Vasquez served as a senior merchandiser for Kraft Foodservice and Pillsbury Corporation and was instrumental in negotiating and developing vendor contracts and relationships. Ms Vasquez was a partner in a small export company in Southeast Asia, residing in Thailand, and South Korea. For three years, Ms. Vasquez served her country as a member of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Ms. Vasquez attended University of California, Santa Barbara majoring in business administration.

She sits on the Board of Directors of the Women's Environmental Network (WEN).

Jim Nicholas, Director, Technology and Arts, EFC9
Jim Nicholas attended San Francisco State's, Internet Design and Technology. Mr. Nicholas was also a graduate of Bay Area Video Coalition's MediaLink Program.

Prior to this position, Mr. Nicholas was an Environmental Planner at Environmental Science Associates, Inc. Mr. Nicholas was responsible for reviewing, writing, editing and production of environmental impact reports (EIRs) including summary, project description, alternatives and required CEQA sections on proposed development projects, analysis of public services and utilities, cultural resources and land uses as needed or required under State guidelines.

Besides maintaining EFC9's web site, Mr. Nicholas recently created and built the GreenScene web site, which is a project of EFC9. Other recent projects include redesigning a web site for a small non-profit, Wellnetwork.org. In addition to this he designed a site for an Africian Sarfari, sites for artists working in other mediums, as well as his own projects, which are used to further his skills, which can be found under pixelcolor.info. Mr. Nicholas also designed the logo for Making a Plan, a Postive Resource Center workshop.

Prior to this, Mr. Nicholas worked as an activist in a number of community based organizations in the student community, Isla Vista, adjacent to the UCSB campus. This work included Administrator for Isla Vista Parks Department, Executive Administrator for the Isla Vista Community Council and Municipal Advisory Council. Mr. Nicholas was also President of the Isla Vista Community Federal Credit Union for two years and was part of the organizing committee that created the Isla Vista Fud Coop.

Mr. Nicholas is a graduate of the Univerisity of California, Santa Barabara, with a BA in Sociology. Mr. Nicholas completed an Environmental Planning Certificate in 1987 and a Multimedia Certficate in 2000. Both Certificates were completed at San Francisco State University.

Karri Winn,
With 19 years of combined experience in academia, business, social profits organizations and working overseas on issues related to sustainability and improving the health of human commities and the living planet, Kari has achieved a high level of expertise in the sustainability field. Since 2002 she has served as the Program Director for the Green Festival, the largest public sustainability event in the US drawing upwards of 40,000 attendees in a weekend and featuring 400 green businesses and 125 speakers. Karri works as a freelance consultant with various clients on social purpose business initiatives. She spec ializes in systems thinking, holistic decision making strategies and evolutionary leadership. Karri has an MSci in Community Development from UC Davis and an MBA in Sustainability Management from Bainbridge Graduate Institute.

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