Our Team

Assistant Project Manager

Allie Shields

Allie has spent the past 11+ years telling captivating, engaging stories through writing, producing, and project managing tv shows, web content, and social media management. Allie’s projects have aired on places like Bravo, HGTV, History Channel, TRVL, and more. Allie works passionately to further the reach and engagement of mission-driven companies, especially those working to address the climate crisis.

Project Associate

Arisa Cleaveland

Arisa is a project associate with degrees from Case Western Reserve University in Economics and Environmental Studies. She has assisted in event planning, outreach efforts, and digital marketing. She has also analyzed and reported on survey and digital ad results.

Sr. Project Associate

Claudia Vasquez

Claudia has helped staff community events, conducted telephone and in-person surveys, helped with developing public education and outreach materials, reports, and presentations. She has also designed and produced high-quality PowerPoint slides and other presentation materials as appropriate, utilizing innovative graphics, animation software, and video to clearly express the content of complex presentations and engage participants.

Project Coordinator

Denisse Tapia

As a graduate from California State University Long Beach, Denisse has garnered a lot of experience in outreach and community engagement. She has a Bachelors’s in Business Management and is knowledgeable in marketing, project management, and event planning. Currently, she manages one of SGA’s largest social media accounts and runs successful Facebook Ad Campaigns. She’s also a go-to for Spanish translation. Denisse has a passion for lowering her environmental footprint and she brings that passion to every project she’s a part of.

Web Developer

Drew Matamales

With more than a decade as a web developer and over fifteen years in marketing, Drew has a knack for creating unique online experiences and technology solutions, and a passion for doing things right. Focusing on accessibility, quality, and longevity, Drew builds attractive and modern websites that are easy to administer and fun to use. His work is centered around open standards like HTML5, CSS 3 and JavaScript, and he specializes in deep customization of Content Management System (CMS) frameworks, such as WordPress and Drupal. Drew is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara with a bachelor’s degree in Film and Media Studies, a musician, and an avid technology enthusiast.

Senior Technical Expert

Gabriela Hanna

With a theoretical background in sustainable design and 5+ years of experience as a web programmer, Gabriela intimately understands the intersectionality between community based social marketing and digital technology. She has helped novice entrepreneurs, early-stage startups, and reputable creative agencies, grow their business with long-term success. From designing ad campaigns to building websites to crafting brand guidelines, Gabriela has also mentored high school students interested in STEM and volunteered at hackathons.

Human Resources

Jun Kabigting, SPHRi, MA, MBA, MS

Jun is a credentialed human resource (HR) professional with more than 20 years of progressive experience across the entire HR value chain of recruit, retain, development, and release. He is an HR generalist, consultant, and business partner with in-depth and practical experience in talent acquisition, strengths-based talent management, leadership development, total rewards, payroll management, performance management, coaching, culture audit, and organizational development, change, and effectiveness. Jun wants to help transform the world of work to enable people and organizations to achieve breakthroughs in performance, profitability, efficiency, and well-being.

Senior Graphic Designer

Katie Gala, MPH

Katie is a public health-focused strategic graphic designer and project coordinator with more than a decade of experience in reaching a wide variety of audiences through print, digital, and other mediums. She has a passion for environmental causes and researched climate change in the Philippines as part of her coursework while obtaining a Master of Public Health degree at Loma Linda University, where she also worked as a communications manager. Prior to moving to the Golden State, she worked in magazine publishing and advertising in Chattanooga, TN after receiving her BS in Mass Communication in 2011

Creative Director

Ly Nguyen, MFA

Ly has a strong advertising and marketing background with a proven track record of success as a creative strategist. He has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and served as the Creative Director for many years at Omni Advertising, the #1 advertising agency in South Florida. He has developed original ideas and concepts which he then converted into fully conceptualized print, TV, radio, and digital campaigns. He deftly combines creative strategies with analytics to create innovative marketing strategies. His audio and video production experience allows him to efficiently organize and direct commercial shoots and production.

Project Manager

Michelle Struthers, MPH

Michelle is a self-starter with five years of management experience in the social service sector. She is a consensus builder with a demonstrated ability to drive change and a commitment to lifelong learning. Her expertise is in program development, research and evaluation using Efforts-to-Outcomes (ETO), SAS, SPSS, Microsoft Office applications, and other specialized data management software and applications.

Technical Expert

Nanami Yoshimura, MBA

Nanami is a well-rounded marketer with hands-on experience in digital marketing, Asian American marketing and project management. Prior to joining SGA, she was an account manager at a multicultural marketing agency, where she helped various Japanese and other Asian companies promote their products or services. She is passionate about environmental conservation, and wants to utilize her solid marketing background to solve challenging issues. She is a Tokyo native and a proud graduate of CSU, Long Beach, where she earned her Master’s degree in Business Administration and Bachelor’s degree in Design.

Video Editor/Producer

Pablo Fonseca

Pablo is an experienced producer, videographer, editor, and visual effects artist. He can produce, direct, shoot, and edit short and long form videos. He has over ten years of experience with Adobe Creative Suite: Premiere Pro, After Effects, Media Encoder, Audition, Photoshop, and Illustrator. He is also proficient with Cinema 4-D for 3-D, Final Cut, and Avid. He has developed videos and animations for the City of Irvine, California Dept of Food and Agriculture, and San Mateo County Environmental Health Services.

Assistant Project Manager

Paige Rosenberg

Paige is an Assistant Project Manager for public outreach and education campaigns and conducts client, team, and budget management as well as oversees task implementation. Her educational background of degrees in Society and Environment and Media Studies from UC Berkeley has poised Paige to utilize her mind and heart in her work, built on years of admiration for our natural world and desire to support communities that experience environmental injustice.

Paige joined SGA as an intern and has enjoyed learning about the various facets of SGA’s projects and developing a keen understanding of what each team member can contribute to support successful results. Her genuine passion for SGA’s work drives her motivation to go the extra mile for projects, lead with thoughtfulness, and get results to create positive behavior change. 

Project Manager

Tara Dales, MFA

As an experienced Project Manager, Tara has successfully developed and executed effective marketing, communication, and public education campaigns for a wide variety of clients. She is capable of communicating, concept development, strategizing, and implementing 360 marketing campaigns across a variety of initiatives including but not limited to videos, brand, and organizational initiatives to drive awareness, increase engagement, and foster behavior change.

Project Administrator

Samantha Concetti

As one of SGA’s first employees, Samantha has been instrumental in ensuring projects are administered correctly. From managing account receivables to even conducting outreach, her duties and assignments have been integral to project success. She is a problem solver, using her broad skillset to help SGA resolve many project and client issues.

Project Director

Stephen Groner, PE

Stephen Groner, P.E., is the founder and president of SGA. Prior to starting SGA in 1998, Stephen, with his engineering background, worked for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works as a project manager. This experience gives him keen insight into understanding the intricacies of managing government projects, as well as the importance of public engagement and education to gaining approval and acceptance of a project. Through his work, Stephen has helped shape and implement many of the major pollution prevention and community outreach programs in California.