Board of Directors
Meet the Eureka Recycling Board of Directors
CHAIR
Tim Brownell currently serves as Director of Operations at the Monterey Regional Waste Management District (“District”) in Monterey County, CA. The District’s mission is to turn Waste into Resources and to facilitate their member municipalities to achieve and exceed diversion goals prescribed by the State of California. The District operates a landfill, a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) for SS Recyclables, MSW and C&D debris, a Yard-waste Composting yard and an Anaerobic Digestion facility, as well as the Last Chance Mercantile (reuse retail outlet). Prior to joining the District, Tim has served as a co-founder and co-president of Eureka Recycling in Minneapolis, MN, the Executive Director of Recycle Ann Arbor in Ann Arbor, MI, as well as Recycling Program Manager for Sunset Scavenger in San Francisco, CA
VICE CHAIR
Nicole Bassett is a leader in circularity, Nicole co-founded The Renewal Workshop, a circular business that is leading the apparel and textile industry towards circular business models through product life extension and recommerce. In March 2022, the global logistics company Bleckmann acquired The Renewal Workshop and Nicole now leads their Circularity strategy. Prior, Nicole applied her passion for environmental responsibility and human rights in consumer products. She has served as Director of Sustainability for prAna, Social Responsibility at Patagonia and Head of Human Rights at Specialized Bicycles. Nicole received her Master’s in Environmental Studies with a focus on Business Strategy and Sustainability from York University in Toronto, Canada.
BOARD SECRETARY
Amanda LaGrange has a background in corporate finance, small business marketing, and executive leadership and brings a unique approach to supporting impact-driven organizations as they grow and scale. Amanda’s work is grounded in her belief that business can be a solution for injustice. When not deep in data analysis or sharing new brand-building strategies, Amanda loves being a proud Auntie, a Hoosier-turned-Minnesotan, and a new dog-mom.
TREASURER
Chris Vanecek has been working in finance at nonprofits since 2013. He graduated with an MBA from Bainbridge Graduate Institute (now Presidio University) with an emphasis in finance. He is especially excited by working with social enterprises that are working to provide a more fair economy. He has been the Director of Finance at Repowered (formerly Tech Dump) since 2019. Chris is excited to bring his experience with non-profits, social enterprises, and recycling to Eureka.
Lynn Hoffman is a former Co-President of Eureka Recycling where she directed the organization’s policy, advocacy, education, and human resources departments and initiatives. While at Eureka, she developed innovative city-wide and targeted education initiatives and led research and engagement projects such as Eureka’s multi-year multifamily recycling study and resulting tool-kit, which has been used in municipalities across the country.
Joaquin Mariel is the Chief Commercial Officer at Balcones Recycling.
As the leader of Balcones’ business development team, Joaquin is on a mission to bring the company’s expertise and commitment to recycling to more communities in the southern United States. Joaquin previously served as the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Vice President of Operations, and General Manager of the Austin divisiont. His combination of operations experience and passion for enhancing the MRF’s role as the pioneer of the circular economy, makes him what some in the business like to call a “true believer,” a moniker that he wears with pride. Joaquin is an Alumni of the University of Texas where he received a BA in English. He loves cooking, camping, and hiking with his beloved children. As a retired rugby player, he still maintains dreams of a comeback career but is mostly now a fan and Oldboy for local Austin club, Huns RFC.
McKenna Morrigan is the waste prevention and product stewardship policy advisor for Seattle Public Utilities. In this role, she advocates for state and local policies to advance Seattle’s vision of zero waste and support the development of an inclusive and equitable circular economy. Previously, McKenna was a senior associate at Cascadia Consulting Group, where she led research and evaluation projects for local and state governments related to recycling programs, policies, and markets. McKenna holds a master’s degree in environmental policy from the University of Washington Evans School and a B.A. from Brown University.
Lara Page serves as the Eureka Recycling Board’s Secretary. Lara is an attorney at the firm of Stinson Leonard Street who practice is concentrated on the financing of affordable housing projects, renewable energy projects and construction loans. Lara also has significant experience in complex corporate and financial structuring and restructuring, private equity fund administration, entity formation and governance and other corporate transactional matters. She attended Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, and she earned her J.D. from the Hofstra University School of Law.