Who We Are

Debbie Mytels (she/her) retired in 2019 from her position as Associate Director at Acterra, a Palo Alto-based non-profit environmental education organization, and she is devoting most of her time now to community education and action about climate change. While at Acterra, Debbie initiated the Green@Home residential energy efficiency program, which trained over 500 volunteers to visit people in their homes to install energy-saving devices. This program served over 3,500 Silicon Valley residents over seven years, reducing annual CO₂ emissions by an estimated 6 million pounds, and raised over $1.4 million in funding. She also founded the “Be the Change” leadership training program, which, during six years, trained over 150 emerging leaders who are today filling many positions of responsibility in local government, business, and community organizations. In 1990, she founded Acterra’s Business Environmental Awards program, which offered recognition to Bay Area companies for 30 years.

As a full-time climate activist, she is now involved with several non-profit organizations, including Peninsula Interfaith Climate Action (which she founded in 2014), Fossil Free Buildings for Silicon Valley (where she co-chairs the outreach team), and the 350 Silicon Valley Palo Alto team. In addition, she serves on the board of Smart Yards Education, an organization promoting sustainable landscaping, and she also volunteers as an Outdoor Activities Docent with the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District.

In her 33-year career as an environmental professional, Debbie filled leadership roles with various other organizations, including Foundation for Global Community, Canopy, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, and the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club.  She also served six years as Executive Director of the Peninsula Conservation Center, one of the precursors of today’s Acterra.

An experienced grant writer, meeting facilitator, and community organizer, Debbie enjoys meeting people and connecting them with others who can advance their life’s purpose and improve society for everyone.

Debbie earned a B.A. with honors in Social Psychology at UC Berkeley and studied journalism at Stanford. She lives in Palo Alto with her husband, Thomas Atwood, a retired tech writer. Her hobbies include singing, gardening, hiking, bike riding — and going to meetings! She has three grown children and five grandchildren — and it’s for their sake and (in the words of architect Bill McDonough) of “all children of all species” that she is working to protect Earth’s climate.

Jeff Dale (he/him/his) is passionate about facing the dire climate change threat to help create solutions and drive behavioral changes to make a difference for future generations.  Currently, Jeff is a Vice President for Field Operations for Positive Coaching Alliance, where he oversees operations for PCA’s Central Territory, including operations in Colorado, Texas, Illinois, and Minnesota.

Before joining PCA, Jeff worked as a strategic adviser to Jim Collins, author of the international bestseller Good to Great, and gained unique insight into the practices of building great organizations. Jeff holds a BA in World Political Economy from Colorado College and an MBA from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Jeff is married with 2 daughters and enjoys running and biking in the foothills of Colorado.

Jim Thompson (he/him/his) is the founder of THIS! Is What We Did. He started Positive Coaching Alliance at Stanford University in 1998 to create a movement to transform the culture of youth sports to develop Better Athletes, Better People. PCA conducts more than 3,500 live workshops across the country each year for youth sports leaders, coaches, parents, and athletes and has led a sea change in public awareness that positive coaching is the key to getting the best out of youth athletes and helping them become a Triple-Impact Competitor®, an “Elevater,” who tries to elevate self, others and every situation he or she finds themself in.

Jim received an MBA from Stanford University, where he was Director of the Public Management Program, named during his tenure as the nation’s top non-profit business management program. He has written nine books including: Positive Coaching, The Double-Goal Coach, Shooting in the Dark: Tales of Coaching and Leadership, Elevating Your Game and The Positive Sport Parent.

Jim was named an Ashoka Fellow in 2004 and received the “Ethos Award” (Ethics of Sport) from the Institute for Sports, Law and Ethics in 2011, and the “Game Changer in Sports Award” from Character.org in 2018. He has taught courses in coaching, leadership, and sport & spirituality in Stanford’s Continuing Studies Program. Jim loves poetry and teaches a weekly online Spiritual Poetry class.

Jim and his wife, Sandra Hietala, are founding board members of Recovery Café San José, a healing community for homeless individuals traumatized by homelessness, mental illness, and drug abuse.  Their son, Gabriel Thompson, is a writer on social justice issues, including Working in the Shadows: a Year of Doing the Jobs (Most) Americans Won’t Do.

He is now relentlessly focused on answering The Ultimate Question: “What did you do to fight the climate crisis?” He developed the concept of Climate Change Literacy and started the nonprofit, THIS! Is What We Did, to combat the most dangerous threat in the history of humanity.

Ralph King (he/him/his), is a grassroots organizer with Silicon Valley Climate Action Now and a documentary filmmaker whose recent films promote climate activism for 350.org, the Sierra Club, and others.

In 2005, he founded Hawkview Pictures, an independent film production company, and made the 2013 PBS primetime special, Extreme By Design, about Stanford University students who make low-cost products for the developing world. King previously spent 25 years as a print journalist and was twice nominated by Wall Street Journal editors for the Pulitzer Prize.

Tom Cassutt (he/him/his) has made investments in more than one hundred and fifty private companies and is the owner and CFO of American Security Products, a leading manufacturer of high-security safes. American Security Products has been recognized for reformulating its manufacturing processes to have zero discharge of wastewater. From 1984 to 2011, Tom was the owner and Co-President of Nelson Nameplate Company, a manufacturer of membrane switches and product identification based in Los Angeles, California. Due to Nelson’s efforts to reduce the use of toxic chemicals in its manufacturing process, its factory floor was chosen by CalEPA and Governor Schwarzenegger as the signing location of bills AB1879 and SB509, the most comprehensive chemical regulation legislation in the United States.

Prior to joining Nelson, Tom was the Controller of Bristol Corporation, the parent company of ten manufacturing companies, from 1978-1984. He has served on the boards of American Security Products, Columbia Sanitary Products, Dynamic Growth Dental, EZ Shipper Racks, Nelson Nameplate Company, Scottish American Insurance Services, Positive Coaching Alliance, and THIS! is What We Did.

Tom received his Bachelor’s degree in Physics in 1982 from the University of California, Irvine, where he was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate. He received an MBA in 1986 from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller scholar and the recipient of the Alexander A. Robichek Award, given to the top student each year in finance.