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Staff

Malinda Dickenson

Legal & Executive Director

Malinda Dickenson

Legal & Executive Director

Malinda Dickenson is PCF’s Legal & Executive Director and directs PCF's legal work and strategy. Ms. Dickenson represents PCF before the California Public Utilities Commission, before other state and local agencies, in the courts, and in the local community. Prior to joining PCF, Ms. Dickenson founded her own law practice focused on land use, environmental, real estate, civil rights, and consumer protection matters, where she handled one of the first successful climate change CEQA cases in California. Over the past twenty-five years, Ms. Dickenson has advocated before administrative, legislative, and judicial decision-makers on behalf of local governments and other public agencies as well as private clients. Ms. Dickenson successfully presented the petitioners’ oral argument before the California Supreme Court in their challenge to the CPUC's 2022 Net Energy Metering decision, winning a unanimous Supreme Court opinion enforcing the standard for judicial review of CPUC decisions.

Andrea White

Staff Attorney

Andrea White

Staff Attorney

Andrea White joined PCF as a Law Fellow after graduating from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in May of 2023 with Certificates of Specialization in Environmental Law and Energy & Clean Technology Law, and was promoted to Staff Attorney upon her admission to the State Bar of California. Ms. White advocates before the CPUC and supports PCF's litigation in the courts. She graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Environment & Sustainability and minors in Anthropology, Archaeology, and Climate Change from Cornell University in 2020. While in law school, Ms. White was a Senior Articles Editor and Executive Editor for Ecology Law Quarterly, which published two of her articles in the journal including one which was a comparative analysis of how French and German courts enforce their greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals as compared to the United States. Ms. White performed pro bono work for the student organizations Environmental Conservation Outreach and Clean Energy Leaders in Law, advocated for the rights of a Native California Tribe as part of the law school's Environmental Law Clinic, interned at the Great Rivers Environmental Law Center in St. Louis, and clerked for the Environmental Defense Center in Santa Barbara.

Board of Directors

Lori Saldaña

President

Lori Saldaña

President

Lori Saldaña joined the board of The Protect Our Communities Foundation in 2021 and serves as President. Ms. Saldaña is a lifelong San Diegan. In 2004 she was elected to the California Assembly and served as Speaker pro Tempore and as a member of Elections and Redistricting, Rules, Veterans Affairs, Judiciary, and the Water, Parks & Wildlife Committees. She was appointed to the Assembly Ethics Committee, to investigate complaints within the legislature.

Ms. Saldaña retired from teaching in 2020 and continues to volunteer in community activities and maintain a garden to support native wildlife. She graduated from San Diego State University with degrees in education, and has held a variety of volunteer, appointed, and elected positions with a focus on environmental protection, resource protection, and sustainability.

Ms. Saldaña served as a Mayoral and Presidential appointee, working on water quality issues and infrastructure development. From 1999-2003 she was President Clinton's appointee on the Border Environmental Cooperation Commission (BECC), which has invested billions in water, air quality, and transportation infrastructure along the US-Mexico border. She taught at the University of California San Diego and was a Research Fellow in Environmental Policy at the UCSD Center for US-Mexico Studies.

Her research article-"From Litigation to Legislation: Challenges to Binational Water Infrastructure Development in the San Diego-Tijuana Border Region" - was accepted for publication in the 2003 Journal of Environment and Development.

Bill Powers

Secretary

Bill Powers

Secretary

Bill Powers, P.E., is a long-time board member, serves as Secretary, and provides The Protect Our Communities Foundation technical expertise as an energy expert. A registered professional engineer, Mr. Powers has extensive knowledge and experience in the fields of energy and environmental engineering, air emissions control, and regional energy planning. As the owner and principal of Powers Engineering, Mr. Powers works with clients throughout the United States and Latin America, providing expert testimony and analysis, strategic planning, and equipment testing for public sector and private industry clients.

Mr. Powers has authored technical studies on a variety of energy-related topics, including: distributed generation-based strategic energy plan for the San Diego and Bay Area regions, gas turbine air emission controls, power plant cooling systems, and integrated strategic energy and environmental planning in the California – Baja California border region.

He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Duke University and M.P.H. in Environmental Sciences from the University of North Carolina.

Mark Hughes

Treasurer

Mark Hughes

Treasurer

Mark Hughes joined the Board of The Protect Our Communities Foundation in 2024 and serves as Treasurer. Mr. Hughes graduated from Kansas State University in 1978 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Mr. Hughes’s professional experience includes working as a field engineer starting up coal-fired utility-scale power plants and package boilers, as a power plant efficiency engineer at a Kansas investor-owned utility, working for a fluidized-bed boiler manufacturer, and as principle controls designer and as a marketing manager for a gas turbine manufacturer.

Mr. Hughes gained a technical understanding of climate change in the late 1990s, which led him to install solar panels and transition to an all-electric home and electric automobiles, and later to begin volunteering with climate advocacy groups in San Diego.

Mr. Hughes' professional background and expertise in power plant operations efficiencies and emissions efficiencies uniquely informs his judgment that the financial incentives inherent to California's investor-owned utility structure are unnecessary to and detract from the efficient and cost-effective provision of electricity. In his retirement, he and his wife dedicate part of their time helping the Monarch butterfly pull back from the edge of extinction.

Dianne Jacob

Member

Dianne Jacob

Member

Dianne Jacob, joined the board of The Protect Our Communities in 2022. Ms. Jacob is a third generation San Diegan, graduating from San Diego State University with a degree in education. After teaching for several years, she focused her efforts on raising her son and running the family's Angus cattle operation in the Jamul area of San Diego County. During that time, Ms. Jacob served on the school board for 17 years, became involved in school board work at the local and state level, and finally served as president of the California School Boards Association in 1987.

In 1992 the voters elected Dianne to the position of San Diego County District 2 Supervisor where she served for 28 years before being termed out in 2021. As the longest serving San Diego County Supervisor, Ms. Jacob led the development of the San Diego County Fire Protection District; co-authored the county's Multiple Species Conservation Plan and preserved over 100,000 acres of open space; led the effort to open the Santa Ysabel Nature Center; worked to improve over 400 miles of trails including public access along the San Diego and San Dieguito Rivers; launched the Alzheimer's project; and championed the development of hundreds of youth recreational facilities.

For that work as well as other accomplishments, Ms. Jacob has received dozens of awards. Ms. Jacob continues her work in San Diego as a member of the board of The Protect Our Communities Foundation and advising other boards and organizations throughout the county.

Denis Trafecanty

Member

Denis Trafecanty

Member

Denis Trafecanty is a co-founder of The Protect Our Communities Foundation and previously served as board chair. The Foundation benefits from Mr. Trafecanty's three decades of business and financial experience as a Certified Public Accountant and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Trafecanty has served as the Chief Financial Officer for a variety of public and private companies with annual revenues up to $460 million.

He is currently the co-owner of Vitalityweb.com and a Principal at Accountants Direct and was the Managing Partner for the San Diego practice of Tatum, LLC. Mr. Trafecanty has been an ultra-marathoner for decades, successfully completing eighteen 100-mile runs and over 125 organized runs of 26.2 miles or longer. He has long shared his passion for running by coaching hundreds of young track & field and cross-country athletes. Mr. Trafecanty holds a B.A. in Accounting from Loyola Marymount University.

John Simpson

Member

John Simpson

Member

John Simpson joined the Board of The Protect Our Communities Foundation in 2025. Mr. Simspon received his undergraduate education from San Diego State and his law degree from the University of San Diego. Taking an interest in the benefits available to the public which could be obtained in the development of multi-family housing, Simpson's litigation efforts since 1986 have centered on assisting local builders in delivering affordable homes.

Simpson operated a law firm for over 20 years which represented contractors and other businesses which support the building industry targeting practices which made homes less affordable. As a consultant to a San Diego builder, Simpson participated in the creation of SB 800, the right to repair act. This landmark legislation made significant strides in protecting the rights of homeowners in getting builders to address warranty claims.

Consultants and Experts

PCF leverages best-in-class consultants and subject-matter experts to augment internal capacity and deliver exceptional technical and legal capabilities.

The Protect Our Communities Foundation is a California Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation organized exclusively for charitable, educational and public purposes under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

4452 Park Blvd., #309 San Diego, CA 92116

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