Staff

CRS Executive Director Teresa Barnett has a passion for providing teachers and students with support and resources. Her professional background includes journalism, editing, and photography, and she has served as founding board member and president of SchoolCARE, a non-profit organization which has raised and distributed over $2.3 million to support education in Albany since its inception in 2001. She has also served as program manager for the WriterCoach Connection program of the Community Alliance for Learning, placing volunteers in classrooms in Oakland, Berkeley, and Albany.

Her connection to science began over 15 years ago running elementary school Family Science nights, and presenting planetarium shows using space science materials from the Lawrence Hall of Science. She has a particular interest in efforts to integrate the teaching of science and writing, which CRS has learned is a priority for teachers.

Community in the Classroom Program Manager Heidi Williamson studied science at the University of Wisconsin and has worked on science education ranging from nanotechnology exhibit design and outreach to research on teaching and learning. In addition to her science communication experience, Heidi is skilled at Web design and database management.

Teacher Services Manager Corinn Brown has taught science in classrooms and science museums, and has managed projects and volunteers in museums and for CRS.

Consulting Team

Nicki Norman co-founded CRS in 1997, drawing on her background in managing environmental regulatory projects and teaching classroom science enrichment. She now acts as a consultant to CRS in the areas of Resource & Professional Development and serves on the Board of Directors.

Grantwriter Lisa Wahl began working with CRS in 2006 and has assisted with both science and funding resource development. Her background includes 20 years as Executive Director at a series of 3 nonprofits and a Master's degree in education.

Adjunct Educators Susie Bellone and Sherry Johnson bring many years of elementary science and environmental education experience to their roles.

Hugo Evans and End2End Tech provide expert data and technology consulting services along with Web/e-mail hosting for CRS.

Nancy Morton provides skilled accounting support for CRS.

Board of Directors

Robert Bergman is Gerald E.K. Branch Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Bergman is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  He has long been interested in developing nontraditional teaching methods and has participated in National Science Foundation sponsored programs to restructure the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. 

Susan Henderson is the Executive Director for Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, Inc., a national law and policy center dedicated to protecting and furthering the civil rights of people with disabilities. At DREDF her work includes directions of the Children and Family Advocacy and the Media and Disability Programs.  She also serves on the board of the Ed Roberts Campus, a collective of non-profit agencies collaborating on the construction of a universally-designed building in Berkeley, CA.

Anne Jennings, Secretary, co-founded CRS with 15 years of non-profit management and administration at the Exploratorium, where she administered teacher training programs, managed the volunteer program, and exhibit development and installation projects.   

Susan Kattchee, President, is the Environmental Services Manager for the City of Oakland. Ms. Kattchee has 25 years of experience in the field of waste reduction and recycling and 20 in local government. Ms. Kattchee previously worked for StopWaste.Org to develop the Irecycle@school program bringing high quality 4Rs education to ten school districts and over 37,000 Alameda County students. Ms. Kattchee also serves on the National Recycling Coalition board of directors.

Nicki Norman co-founded CRS after six years assisting teachers to connect with science enrichment resources and teaching science curricula in K-5 classrooms in Berkeley.  She has 20 years of experience designing, funding, and managing complex environmental and regulatory projects involving diverse constituencies.

David Pontecorvo, Treasurer, provides consulting services for foundations, individual donors, nonprofit organizations and public agencies to help them increase their effectiveness and create community change. Prior to establishing his consulting practice, David served as Director of Programs for the East Bay Community Foundation, where he oversaw the Foundation's competitive and donor-advised grants programs and managed initiatives in arts education, management assistance, environment, and health. Previously, he was Program Director of La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley. David has extensive experience working with diverse stakeholders and speaks fluent Spanish. He has a degree in Environmental Studies from UC Berkeley.