Executive Director

Jessica has a passion for the urban forest, and her research has focused on developing and enhancing current urban forestry practices in order to better manage the urban interface. Growing up in New Jersey and spending her college years walking through Atlantic white cedar bogs, she wanted nature to be a daily experience, not a destination. Jessica has worked at the intersection of science communication and creation of long-lasting urban forestry policy. She has a doctorate from Rutgers University and is a certified Project Management Professional. She previously worked at Casey Trees as the director of science and policy, overseeing community science, mapping, policy, partnerships, and land conservation. She currently serves as the chair of the conference program committee and the nominations and elections committee for the International Society of Arboriculture. She fell in love with the Sacramento Tree Foundation’s holistic vision of urban forestry and prioritizes the organization’s goal of urban forestry from seed to slab, creating and cultivating an equitable urban forest through education and stewardship of trees in the Sacramento region. In her free time, you can find her reading, outside with her partner and two pups paddle boarding on the river, or hiking.