3x Olympic Soccer Player
GreenLaces’ Board of Directors
Natalie Spilger
Founder / CEO
Michael Zuckerman
Director of Sustainability
Alex Spilger
Director of Eco-Intergity
Director of Product Management
Deejae Johnson
Brent Locks
GreenLaces’ Green Your Game! is a program of International Humanities Center, a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code.
© Copyright 2008-2009, GreenLaces. All Rights Reserved
CFO/COO
Haley Ciborowski
Board of Advisors
Brandi Chastain
Board of Advisors
Mike McClay
Director of Technology
Natalie Spilger is a professional soccer player for the Chicago Red Stars and the CEO and Founder of GreenLaces.org.
Her status as a professional athlete, coupled with her work at GreenLaces has made her an environmental leader in the athlete community. She has been an inspirational speaker at schools, was a featured panelist at “Jocks and Treehuggers” with NFL player, Dhani Jones and SI Writer, Alex Wolff, appeared on Chicago sports show “Monsters in the Morning” and was Chicago Athlete Magazine’s Green Athlete of the Year in 2009. Most recently Natalie was honored at the UN Headquarters in New York her initiative with GreenLaces and highlighted as one of sixty-three athletes around the world in the book “Champions for Change”. She also was a recent attendee at the exclusive “Summit Series” for young entrepreneurs.
Natalie captained the Stanford Womens Soccer team and graduated from Stanford University with her Masters’ in Construction Engineering Management in 2005 just two quarters after receiving her BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Natalie briefly worked as an Energy Engineer for EMCOR Energy Services.
Brent leads GreenLaces’ finance and operational functions. He is currently an MBA Candidate at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, where he is focusing on entrepreneurship. In a previous life, Brent was a Manager in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ M&A Transaction Services group, where he performed financial due diligence and advised clients on potential acquisitions and divestitures. He received his license as a Certified Public Accountant in 2007. Brent graduated with highest honors from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in business management economics.
Brent is passionate about education, sports and the environment. He spent his time at UCSC as a supplemental instructor for students struggling to meet minimum academic standards and, for the past six years, has been heavily involved with Junior Achievement of the Bay Area. Brent grew up underwater, beginning swim lessons at 6 months old and swam competitively until college. He is in love with the game of baseball, which he played throughout his childhood, and has coached numerous little league baseball and recreational softball teams.
Brent currently lives in San Francisco with his wife, Jillian, who was the catalyst in his eco-awareness. She studied business and environmental science policy management at UC Berkeley and is extremely passionate about cooking and eating local, sustainable food.
Mike directs the online presence of Greenlaces.org. He is currently a Lead Software Engineer for travel website Hotwire.com, overseeing the rental car vertical and helping shape organizational best practices. Mike graduated with honors from UC Berkeley with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Before working with Greenlaces, he was involved with NGO Wokai.org and helped build the organization's initial web platform.
Mike is passionate about conservation and the protection of our natural environment. He is an Eagle Scout, and loves spending time in the outdoors, away from the hustle and bustle of San Francisco, where he currently resides. In his spare time he enjoys rock climbing, snowboarding, and trying to get his friends to go backpacking.
Alex is Principal & Founder of GreenStep (www.greenstepeducation.com), a company focused on educating members of the building community on how to successfully implement green building design and construction practices on projects. He has worked on over three-dozen diverse green building projects and taught green building workshops through organizations such as local chapters of the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Sustainable Building Advisors Program and the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business among others.
When not advising on green building projects or facilitating workshops, Alex can be found swimming in the San Francisco Bay, biking through the Marin Headlands or playing guitar on his deck in Sausalito where he makes his home.
Currently, Michael serves as the Director of Sustainability at the Zen Compound - an entrepreneurial complex that includes a nightclub, restaurant, recording studio, antiquities museum and a healing center. The intention of the space is to increase awareness for social and environmental issues, including sustainability and global warming. Michael is responsible for investigating and implementing green initiatives, including solar panels, vertical gardens, recycling materials and working closely with PG&E to ensure energy efficient building best practices.
In the summer of ’06, Zuckerman participates in the Consensus Building Institute’s program at the Desert Eco-Lodge in Mitzpe Ramon, Israel. The program brought together Bebouin nomads, Israeli soldiers and American ecologists to promote using green building techniques in order to enable the Bedouins to employ sustainable solutions that retain their lifestyle and culture while living within the modern borders of Israel/ Prior to the Zen Compound, Michael worked with Vanguard Venture Partners where he worked as a business consultant with start-up technology companies. In 2003, Michael came to San Francisco as a Project Manager for Pacific Building and Design, a high-end, residential, green building general contractor.
Michael graduated with a BS in Computer Information Systems from Indiana University and is an avid rock-climber and mountaineer. He feels passionately about integrating athletics into our urban infrastructure and frequently “urban climbs”, “urban backpacks” and goes “buildering.”
Deejae Johnson is in his fourth year as head of the UHS Soccer Program, serving as head coach of both the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams. Deejae holds a USSF B License, NSCAA Advanced National Diploma, English FA premier badge and Dutch KNVB diploma. In ‘07, Deejae was a member of the Cal North Olympic Development staff working with the Boy’s U-19 team that placed 4 players on the national pool.
Deejae was a 4-year starter at the University of Vermont, leading the team in scoring senior year while being named All-Region. Deejae’s post-college playing career included stints with the San Francisco Bay Seals, the Cape Cod Crusaders, the New Hampshire Phantoms and the Vermont Voltage. He coached high school teams in Vermont and led his boys’ team to that state title. Prior to joining UHS, Deejae was a member of the Cal coaching staff for both the men’s and women’s teams.
Deejae is a graduate of the University of Vermont and has a masters in Sports Psychology from the Kennedy School of Professional Psychology in Orinda, Ca. He is the director of SoccerInsight that runs school vacation skill development camps and programs.
Brandi Chastain has been a staple in women’s soccer over the past 2 decades. In 1998, at the age of 19, Brandi made her national team debut which has led her to represent her country in 3 Olympics and 3 World Cups. Her media exposure sky-rocketed after her winning penalty kick celebration against China in the 1999 Women’s World Cup. The even would land Brandi in People Magazine’s 25 most Intriguing People (’99) and a ranking of #97 on the Street & Smith’s 100 most powerful people in sports (’99).
Brandi was instrumental in forming the Women’s United Soccer Association, and led the San Jose CyberRays to the inaugural WUSA Founder’s Cup Championship in 2001. Brandi is a new mom and currently lives in San Jose with her son Jaden, step-son Cameron, and her husband, Jerry Smith.
Brandi currently plays with the Sacramento Storm, a team that Spilger joined in early ’08, before heading to Sweden. The two quickly learned that they were both passionate about the environment and decided that Brandi was an essential player in the GreenLaces’ team.
Haley Ciborowski has a degree from U.C. Berkeley in Conservation & Resource Studies with an emphasis in sustainability. She is currently working towards a Masters in Nonprofit Administration at USF and working as the Bay Area Regional Manager at a local San Francisco environmental non-profit, running corporate giving campaigns that support over 80 statewide and national environmental organizations.
Haley has had the opportunity to travel and do research in several international locations, including publishing original research on land-use and socioeconomics in East Africa, and environmental testing in Central America. She began her own non-profit doing international sustainable community development in 2005. That organization now serves 22,000 indigenous people, runs a number of health-related businesses and programs, and provides healthcare volunteer programs for Bay Area pre-medical students.
Haley brings a depth of non-profit experience and contagious enthusiasm to the GreenLaces team.
THE GREENLACES TEAM
