Emeryville Center of Community Life

About Alesha Kientzler, Ph.D.

Alesha Kientzler, Ph.D. is Principal of Kientzler Consulting, LLC. Founded in 2007, this strategic consultancy is dedicated to helping transform organizations into high-performance, values-centric enterprises in which all stakeholders thrive.

As an organizational vision and strategy expert, Alesha has extensive experience in creating integral environments that optimize human performance centered by a unique concentration on the interface between people, purpose and place. She has a passion for developing, implementing and assessing programs and initiatives aimed at enhancing individual well-being and organizational health, and has spent more than 20 years applying her expertise across a variety of industries, including: healthcare, wellness, destination medicine, spas and resorts, recreation and leisure, technology, and academia.

Alesha brings an intuitive and collaborative approach to her work. She is adept at facilitating teamwork amongst individuals, groups and organizations to collectively generate a practical, forward-looking vision and turn it into reality with clear-cut strategies for implementation. She excels at “connecting the dots,” synthesizing input to yield innovative and successful outcomes and creating consensus, buy-in and enthusiasm.

Prior to establishing Kientzler Consulting, LLC Alesha spent 11 years as a Health and Wellness Educator at Canyon Ranch Health Resort in Tucson, Arizona. She later served as the Director of Fitness, Wellness and Recreation at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah, pioneering a new 85,000sf Health, Wellness and Athletic Center along with a new academic program: Human Performance and Wellness. She also held the position of Executive Director at the St. Helena Center for Health in Napa, California, during which time she contributed to the overall design and “patient experience” for the Martin O’Neil Cancer Center. Additionally, Alesha was Director of the Consulting Center for Excellence at the interdisciplinary planning and design firm, MKThink, in San Francisco, California.

Alesha holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Arizona, with an emphasis in teaching, learning and human development across health, wellness, recreation, and athletic contexts. She has been accredited with a range of training and instructor certifications, including yoga, personal training, spinning, and aquatics. Professional affiliations have included the American Council on Exercise; the American Educational Research Association; and the Society for College and University Planning.

Alesha is deeply committed to nurturing her own health and well-being by prioritizing regular exercise, mindful eating, meditation and quality sleep.

About Victoria Garza, M.A., M.F.A.

Victoria is Principal and Chief Creative Director of TorchThink, a consultancy firm that specializes in the integration of organizational strategy and information design. With 18+ years of experience in innovation methodologies, she brings a unique perspective to the “art of working,” that champions the employee experience as a critical component to businesses that want to thrive in the 21st century.

Victoria has worked for large consulting firms such as PwC’s Experience Center and Capgemini’s Accelerated Solutions Environment, and understands the high stakes world of competition and the business reality that organizations, both large and small, face in the marketplace. She rounds out her experience with cutting-edge consulting firms such as Collective Next, The Difference, and Kientzler Consulting LLC, all of which are on the forefront of strategic innovation. It’s in this arena where she has had the opportunity to integrate strategy with information design—which is the art of translating highly complex concepts and information into impactful communications that will help people (from all levels of an organization) be more productive and more engaged.

Most organizations are realizing the profound impact that communication has on all aspects of the their business and leaders understand the greater challenge of communicating effectively to maximize employee engagement during critical transformation and change. Victoria’s experience has allowed her the opportunity to work across all industries and sectors from health care (Kaiser, Anthem, and MedStar) to energy (Oxy and Sempra) to high tech (HP, Apple, Symantec, and Google)—with the overarching goal of creating clear and creative communication solutions that reach a broad audience.

Victoria holds an M.A in Media Theory, History and Criticism and an M.F.A in Film and Television Production from New York University. She resides in Los Angeles, California.

About Meg Jordan, Ph.D., RN, CWP, ACC

Meg Jordan, Ph.D., RN, CWP, ACC, is Professor of Integrative Health and Chair of Integrative Health Studies and Human Sexuality at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She is a clinical medical anthropologist, advanced practice RN, and certified health coach, specializing in integrative and behavioral health and has lectured and published extensively in integrative health and behavioral change.

Dr. Jordan is former Past President of the National Wellness Institute, teaches advanced health coaching to fellows at the Center for Integrative Medicine, University of Arizona, and as adjunct faculty for the Institute of Functional Medicine’s coaching academy. She has brought her model of health coaching to India and China. She received a grant from the Aetna Foundation to bring Integrative Wellness Coaching to public housing residents and the homeless.

Author of several journal articles and books, Dr. Jordan has published The Fitness Instinct, and How to be a Health Coach: An Integrative Wellness Approach, and the forthcoming Adventures of a Global Medicine Hunter. Her peer-reviewed journal articles on coaching and psychotherapy and emerging national standards for education and training of health coaches for lifestyle improvement have been described as seminal in the field. She is founding Editor in Chief of American Fitness Magazine, former Director of Integrative Practice at Health Medicine Institute, a Executive Board member of the International Consortium for Health and Wellness Coaching, the Health Medicine Institute, and a committee for the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine. She is a recipient of various awards including Circle and Leadership Service Award, the Healthy American Fitness Leader Award from the White House and Jaycees, and AHA awards as a cardiac rehabilitation supervisor, nation’s first hospital-based wellness center in Los Angeles.

Dr. Jordan is former health commentator for NBC Today, West Coast CNN, KTVU-TV, and host of Global Medicine Hunter® radio and Global TV in Canada. She was on the first California Governor’s Council for Physical Fitness and Sports working with Arnold Schwarzenegger to establish grassroots community initiatives for wellness and fitness.

Her hobbies include racing sailboats, kayaking, hosting lively salons, and hiking in Northern California with friends, family, and her great animal companions.

About Jennifer Berthelot-Jelovic

WELL AP; LEED AP BD+C & Homes; USGBC LEED & WELL Faculty

Jennifer Berthelot-Jelovic, is the President and CEO of A SustainAble Production, LLC (ASAP). ASAP is a woman owned, full-service, sustainability and WELLness consulting firm based in Los Angeles, CA. ASAP provides an array of holistic consulting services including sustainable, regenerative, resilient and healthy design & construction for single buildings, communities and entire cities; LEED certification; and WELL certification. As a Sustainability, LEED, and WELL Consultant; Jennifer has extensive experience with the USGBC’s various LEED rating systems. Jennifer is OSHA 30 certified, a LEED AP BD+C, LEED AP Homes, and LEED Faculty.

Jennifer also works in Wellness Real Estate™, implementing the various WELL Building Standard certifications. Jennifer was one of the first Provisional WELL AP’s in the World, a member of the first group of WELL APs, and one of the first WELL Faculty in the world as well. As a WELL Consultant, Jennifer has worked on various WELL Pilots and Projects. Jennifer was a Peer Reviewer for v1.0 of the Standard and continues to be a contributor to the development of the WELL Building Standard, its updates and addenda. Jennifer is one of 4 experts featured on the International WELL Building Institute’s (IWBI) website and is featured in their global education and marketing films. As a global expert in the WELL Building Standard, Jennifer has had the unique experience of being a Consultant to Delos and IWBI, as well as working with WELL on 50+ of projects around the country and world. Jennifer works with Global companies around the world as they explore the WELL Standard for their projects and portfolios.

Jennifer is a leader within the USGBC-Los Angeles Chapter, the USGBC National Movement, the WELL Movement, and in the fields of green building and wellness in general. She plays a vital role in instituting and applying sustainability and wellness practices and procedures within ASAP, Delos and IWBI, USGBC, within clients’ projects, and the greater community. Jennifer is on the Board of the USGBC-LA Chapter and was the Secretary and Vice Chair from 2012 to 2015. She is also the Vice-Chair & Founding Member of the San Fernando Valley Branch of the USGBC-LA Chapter. Jennifer is a much sought after public speaker; teaching about LEED, as well as the WELL Building Standard and its implementation. Jennifer provides tours of her innovative LEED and WELL projects to groups from around the world.

In her previous role as Owner’s Representative at Shangri-La Industries and Director of Sustainability at Shangri-La Construction; Jennifer was instrumental in securing the world’s first LEED Platinum certification for New Construction for an aviation facility through her work on Hangar 25 in Burbank, CA. Hangar 25 was awarded the title of “Greenest Aviation Facility In the World”. Jennifer also successfully facilitated the LEED certification of 302 E Carson located in Las Vegas, NV. This LEED Gold Core & Shell project was Nevada’s first LEED Gold office retrofit, marking an important milestone for the City and State. Jennifer also orchestrated the LEED Platinum certification of Citadel Environmental Services, Inc.’s Corporate Headquarters under LEED for Commercial Interiors. This was the first LEED Platinum Commercial Interior office space in the Tri-City (Glendale/Pasadena/Burbank) area. One of Jennifer’s most renowned projects is Step Up On Vine, a Platinum certified LEED for Homes Multi-family, permanent supportive housing project for chronically homeless, mentally ill individuals in Hollywood, CA.

Jennifer is also a Principal at EARTH + associates (E+a), a unique team of inter-disciplinary, sustainable design experts committed to changing the way we develop, build, and occupy spaces to create a more sustainable and healthy future. E+a holistically fuses regenerative and ecological design principles, rigorous systems- engineering-based analytics and optimization, and emerging resilience, health and wellness advances to create leading edge projects which achieve the highest levels of sustainability. E+a strives to go beyond current “Net Zero” goals to create projects with tangible POSITIVE results: + People Positive + Planet Positive + Energy Positive + Water Positive + Carbon Positive + Cost Positive.

E+a ‘s mission is to create deeply sustainable, affordable and healthy projects that restore the relationship between people, the built environment and natural environment, and to leave an earth on which our children and grandchildren can thrive. E+a’s Principals are all nationally and internationally recognized sustainability leaders and bring together extensive experience in architecture, engineering, planning, sustainability, wellness, development, international development, construction, communications and business management. E+a brings this expertise together as a unique team with a common goal of developing deeply holistic sustainable projects.