POST appoints two new directors, one from Pescadero

The Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) has appointed two new members, Charlene C. Kabcenell of Portola Valley and Larry Jacobs of Pescadero, to its Board of Directors.

Charlene Kabcenell is a retired vice president of Oracle Corporation.

Larry Jacobs is president and CEO of Jacobs Farm/Del Cabo, Inc. Established in 1980 by Jacobs and his wife, Sandra, Jacobs Farm grows organic culinary herbs, edible flowers on 200 cultivated acres in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 15, 2005

Peninsula Open Space Trust Appoints Two New Members to Board of Directors

Menlo Park, Calif. — The Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) has appointed two new members, Charlene C. Kabcenell of Portola Valley and Larry Jacobs of Pescadero, to its Board of Directors.

Charlene Kabcenell is a retired vice president of Oracle Corporation. She serves on the Community Foundation Silicon Valley’s advisory council and distribution committee and as vice chair of grantmaking for the Silicon Valley Social Venture (SV2) Fund, where she sits on the board of directors. In addition, she serves on the advisory council of the Women of Silicon Valley Fund and on various boards for her alma mater, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Ms. Kabcenell was born and raised in Hawaii. She moved to California in 1979 after graduating from MIT with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering. She and her husband, Derry, are avid scuba divers and certified instructors. They have long admired POST for its local land conservation work.

“Given our love of the outdoors, POST was an obvious organization to get involved with,” said Kabcenell. “If you support open space and live on the Peninsula, you know about POST. They try to strike a balance between appropriate development and open space, and come up with win-win solutions.”

Larry Jacobs is president and CEO of Jacobs Farm/Del Cabo, Inc. Established in 1980 by Jacobs and his wife, Sandra, Jacobs Farm grows organic culinary herbs, edible flowers on 200 cultivated acres in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties.

The Del Cabo half of the business was started in 1985 to assist small-scale farmers in Mexico by teaching organic growing practices and connecting the farmers to markets in the United States, Canada and Europe. Today, Del Cabo represents approximately 500 family farms from the tip of the Baja California peninsula to Ensenada. Del Cabo produces a full range of organically grown vegetables year round and is known nationally for their specialty cherry tomatoes.

Jacobs, a native of the San Fernando Valley, earned his bachelor’s degree in soils and plant pathology from California Polytechnic State University. He spent four years as co-director of a small non-governmental organization working with indigenous communities in Guatemala before returning to California and settling in Pescadero in 1980. He also chairs the San Mateo County Agriculture Advisory Committee.

"One of the reasons we moved here was because the area was surrounded by pristine views and undisturbed, undeveloped areas," said Jacobs. "The type of work POST is doing is critical to maintaining the nature of what’s here. I don’t think we’d have this coastside if it weren’t for the forward-looking people doing what they do at POST." He added, "With POST, there is a real opportunity to protect open space as well as farmland. The two can go hand in hand. We want to preserve this land and its potential for agriculture for future generations. Once you put a hotel on it, it’s gone."

“Charlene and Larry each bring exciting strengths to POST, and we’re pleased to welcome them on our Board,” said POST president Audrey Rust. “Charlene’s active leadership in community affairs and Larry’s knowledge of local agricultural issues and his background as an innovator in organic farming will complement the wealth of experience we already have on our Board.”

POST is a leading private, nonprofit land trust dedicated to preserving the beauty, character and diversity of the San Francisco Peninsula landscape. Since its founding in 1977, the organization has been responsible for saving nearly 55,000 acres as permanent open space and parkland in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Included in that total are 14,259 acres of coastal land that POST has protected in the last four years through its $200 million Saving the Endangered Coast campaign.

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For further information contact Kendra Muscarella at 650-854-7696 or [email protected]