Our Board and Executive Director
Lori Davis - Executive Director/Board President
Lori Davis is the founder and president of Sanzuma, a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing access to healthy food sources for students and their families in the Bay Area’s northern peninsula.
Lori had a successful career designing kitchens and baths when she developed a desire to make a long-term social and environmental difference in her community and beyond. She always considered herself an environmentalist and sought to minimize the negative impacts of the design and construction process on the environment. Because of this, Lori went back to college in 2009, graduating with scientific honors from UC Berkeley with a B.S. in agrobiodiversity and a minor in cultural food systems. After completing her continued education, Lori developed the idea for a solar oven program in 2012, where ovens were delivered to small villages in remote regions of Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Mexico. The ovens enabled villagers to cook food, purify water, and earn an income without relying on wood, electricity, or propane.
As the program expanded, she found that similar food system challenges existed in Marin County. Being true to Sanzuma’s mission, “your health should not be a reflection of your economic status,” she turned the organization’s efforts to the development of a Farm-to-Cafeteria program. Since 2013, she led the conversion of many local school gardens into producing farms, pairing this with nutrition classes and educating the students and their families on growing their own food.
Her passion for this organization is equal to her desire to ensure good nutrition is accessible to everyone, regardless of their economic status. This stemmed from losing her entire family to heart disease, including her only sibling. She deeply desires to see her community and have access to and knowledge of healthy foods.
Lori currently resides in Marin with her husband, two dogs, two goats and chickens! On the weekends, you can find her in her home garden, hiking with her herding dogs or cooking delicious meals.
Tamara Hull - Treasurer
Tamara is a CPA who enjoys helping non-profits get off the ground, move forward and succeed. She is president of the board of MarinLink; president of the board of Marin Sonoma Concours d’Elegance, treasurer of the Golden Gate Chapter of the BMW Car Club of America, treasurer of the Rotary Club of Terra Linda and the Rotary Club of Terra Linda Foundation, treasurer of Book Bank USA, treasurer of the Marin Women’s Political Action Committee as Treasurer (which involves FPPC reporting). Tamara serves on the City of Larkspur Measure B Citizens Oversight Committee, ensuring that a sales tax is mostly used to improve Larkspur’s roads.
Tamara has served on several nonprofit boards over the last 30 years, including the Sierra Club Marin Group, Sustainable San Rafael, Sustainable Marin, and the Gallinas Watershed Council, and as President for the 16 th District of the California State PTA, which included sitting on the California State PTA Board of Managers. Tamara served over 3 years as an environmental representative on the Marin County Hazardous and Solid Waste Joint Powers Authority Local Task Force (AB 939). Tamara served on the Santa Venetia Community Plan committee. Tamara co-founded and served on the boards of the BMW Car Club of America Foundation, the Venetia Valley Education Foundation, and the NASA Car Control Clinic. Tamara has also served as a campaign treasurer for several local, state and national campaigns.
Tamara has over 35 years of accounting experience, and over 30 years of tax experience, focusing on small businesses, individuals and non-profits. After years of working for small businesses, Tamara obtained her Bachelor of Science degree from the Walter A. Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley, with an emphasis
in Accounting. Tamara loves helping clients, especially helping them solve seemingly complex business, accounting, and tax problems, and cleaning up "messes".
Tamara volunteers as a racing official for several amateur racing organizations. Tamara provides pro bono tax, accounting and consulting services to many local nonprofits and has been a featured speaker on nonprofit tax and accounting issues with MarinLink University.
Tamara completed the Environmental Forum training, and is a graduate of class number 35. Tamara also enjoys participating in, and organizing, classes, workshops and forums about non-profit and environmental issues.
Tracey Hessel - Secretary
A pediatrician by day, Tracey Hessel is excited to work with Sanzuma providing the Marin community with resources to eat and live a healthy lifestyle.
Tracey moved to Marin County with her family in 1985 as a teenager. She pursued her undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and completed medical school and residency at UC San Francisco. Between her schooling, she worked for a year on public health projects in Nicaragua.
In 2020, she completed the UCSF Champion Provider Fellowship, where she partnered with the Marin County Parks and Marin Health and Human Services to develop a Park Prescription program, connecting families to local parks and open spaces as a way of promoting health and wellness. During this time, Tracey began working with Marin County Healthy Eating Active Lifestyles Steering Committee where first she discovered the work being done by Sanzuma.
Since completing her education, Tracey has worked as a pediatrician at the Marin Community Clinics. In addition to providing direct patient care, she serves at the Associate Medical Director of Pediatrics, where she works to improve the quality of care, increase services, and develop partnerships with community organizations to strengthen the safety net for children and families. In addition to serving on the board of Sanzuma, she also serves on the board of Head’s Up, the San Rafael City Schools Foundation, which is dedicated to providing equitable access to enrichment to students across the district.
“I am excited to serve on the board for Sanzuma. I’ve been so impressed with the impact the organization has had on our community – through education, connecting our children with where their food comes from, and by making fresh, healthy food available in our local schools. My admiration increased when Sanzuma stepped up to support families hit hardest by the pandemic. I am honored to be able to work with an organization for which wellness, education and equity are integral parts of everything they do.”
Hugh Murphy - Chair
An accomplished architect, Hugh Murphy is the president of VMI Architecture. After 15 years with Fredric C. Devine Associates, Hugh joined VMI Architecture in 1998, partnering with his wife Noushin, and becoming president in 2012. Hugh continues to run the eleven-person architectural firm in Marin.
Hugh serves on Sanzuma’s board as a Marin resident passionate about Sanzuma’s mission to increasing the availability of freshly grown foods for the local community. In addition to serving on the board for Sanzuma, Hugh also serves on the board for the Rotary Club of San Rafael Harbor.
Born in Washington, D.C. to a military family, Hugh has lived in Maine, North Dakota, Hawaii, Germany, Japan and Northern California. Receiving his Bachelor of Architecture from Cogswell College in San Francisco and his architectural state license, Hugh has called Marin home since 1977.
Lucy Hoeber -- Chair bio coming soon
Lucy Hoeber - Chair
Lucy Hoeber
Lucy was born and raised in a small coastal village in Papua New Guinea (PNG), living off the land and sea. She helped her mom and grandma grow food for the family. In PNG 90% of the population live in villages and rely solely on garden-grown food.
Lucy graduated Mendi School of Nursing, and worked for two years as a nurse in PNG. After getting married, she moved to the US and earned an AA degree in Architecture at the College of Marin.
Lucy is an avid and very skilled gardener. Staying true to her up bringing, she still grows much of the food her family needs in her small backyard organic garden. She not only grows food crops, but also the plants needed to create an organic and natural pest management system.
She and her husband live in Mill Valley and have raised two children.
Lucy is on the board for PNGinUSA, a non-profit established to help the communities in PNG with improving health, education, and social issues.