Meet the Board
The CDAA Board of Directors is a volunteer group of alumni and faculty and student representatives that provide leadership in support of the CDGG program and its alumni. Guided by the association’s mission and vision, the Board works to strengthen community, expand professional networks, and raise funds to support current students and programs.
Each year we bring together alumni, faculty, and master’s students through networking, mentorship, and events like our spring mixer.
The Board consists of up to six members and meets approximately four times per year. Alumni board members serve two-year terms and faculty and student liaisons serve one-year, renewable terms. Officer roles rotate on staggered terms to ensure continuity.
If you are interested in serving on the Board, or leading an event, participation is open to all CDAA members and we welcome your support!
President: Evan Schmidt
Evan Schmidt is CDAA President and Chief Executive Officer of Valley Vision, a regional civic leadership organization advancing equitable economic, environmental, and community outcomes across California’s Capital Region. A proud UC Davis alumna with dual master’s degrees in Community Development and Geography, Evan has built her career at the intersection of research, community engagement, and collaborative problem-solving.
Over the past two decades, Evan has led and supported initiatives spanning economic development, land use, workforce systems, and environmental sustainability. At Valley Vision, she has guided regional strategies such as inclusive economic development planning, workforce pipeline initiatives, and large-scale public opinion research to inform policy and investment decisions. Her work has helped align cross-sector partners—from government and industry to education and community organizations—around shared priorities to improve economic mobility, expand opportunity, and advance sustainable growth.
As Board President, Evan is committed to strengthening connections across the UC Davis Community Development alumni network, elevating the field’s impact, and fostering a shared sense of purpose among practitioners working to advance equitable and sustainable communities.
Vice President: Tara Zagofsky
Tara Zagofsky is CDAA Vice President and an alumna of the Community Development master’s and Geography PhD programs. She has spent more than two decades mentoring emerging and seasoned leaders across California and in over 20 countries, with a focus on building high-performing teams to address complex social and environmental challenges.
In Spring 2025, Tara instructed the UC Davis class, CRD 250: Professional Skills for Community Development, a core requirement in the master’s program focused on developing real-world professional skills through a collaborative project. The class researched, designed, and supported the launch of our alumni association.
A special thank you to these students: Elliott Froissart, Ishmael Sweeney, Rissa Slaughter, Aida Omrani, Sadaf Sinambari, Adrianna Champagne-Zamora, Caroline McMullen, and Jennifer Rodriguez-Alonso.
Faculty Liaison: Jonathan London
Jonathan K London is an educator, researcher, and community-builder with over 35 years of experience in participatory research, rural community development, and community engaged planning. He has degrees in environmental studies (Brown University), city and regional planning, and rural sociology (UC Berkeley). Jonathan’s research and teaching addresses conflicts and collaboration in natural resource and environmental policy, with a particular emphasis on environmental justice. He has conducted action research on issues ranging from water justice to pesticide policy, sustainable community and regional planning, community air monitoring, and forest management. He also co-teaches a study abroad course on participatory rural development in Nepal. Jonathan was the founding director of the UC Davis Center for Regional Change and now co-directs the Community Engagement Core of the UC Davis Environmental Health Science Center where he connects researchers and community leaders for collaborative research to understand and reduce environmental health inequities.
Finance Director: Ruby Bal
Ruby Bal is CDAA Finance Director and Executive Analyst at the Student Health and Wellness Center at UC Davis. She is an alumna of the Community Development Master’s and Human Development Bachelor’s programs, and is currently finishing her Master’s in Public Health at UC Davis.
After a decade of working in holistic student support, Ruby witnessed the challenges students face in balancing their academic pursuits and basic needs, particularly as it relates to nourishing themselves. These experiences sparked her interest in basic needs and community wellbeing, leading her to the Community Development and Public Health programs at UC Davis. She’s spent the last five years working in the areas of food security, food access and community health.
As a CDAA Board member, she hopes to participate in cultivating stronger connections among Community Development prospective students, current students, faculty and alumni.
Student Liaison: Kathleen Carter
Kathleen is a Masters Student in the Community Development Graduate Group. She has worked as an educator for the University of California Cooperative Extension teaching adults and youth nutrition, gardening, and physical activity education in a rural county in California. Her work in policy, systems, and environmental change initiatives has led to the development of a first of its kind farm to school project, and her interests lie in youth development, community engagement, local food systems, fostering partnerships, and cooperative extension as a system.