Staff
Erin Coutts (she/her) | Executive Director
Erin Coutts is the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability (LARC). Housed at UCLA, LARC is a network of local governments, regional agencies, non-profit organizations, businesses, utilities, and academics working together to advance climate mitigation and adaptation efforts in the LA region. Erin is focused on convening local and regional climate leaders to help them to maximize limited resources and determine the best courses of action for the region.
Before moving to LA in 2018, she worked at Tufts University, where she also completed a master’s degree in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning. She helped the City of Cambridge earn a five-star rating through the STAR Communities comprehensive sustainability assessment. She is thrilled to continue working with cities to prepare the LA region for the impacts of climate change. You can reach her at ecoutts@ucla.edu.
Erin Bergren (she/her) | Director of Special Initiatives
Erin Bergren is LARC’s Director of Special Initiatives. Erin’s expertise lies in climate adaptation, water resilience, and stakeholder engagement. At LARC, Erin is the project manager for LARC-HEAT and other key strategic initiatives, and she works closely with network partners to build healthy, sustainable communities.
Her previous projects addressed local greenhouse gas inventories, hurricane recovery, and wildfire response with a focus on building resilient community infrastructure responsive to future needs. Erin has a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and worked throughout the US as well as Central America and the UK. Erin is a fourth-generation LA resident who loves our region from the top of Mt Baldy to the bottom of the La Brea Tar Pits.
Mason Lehman (he/they) | Climate Research and Network Coordinator
Mason graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Environmental Science and has a background in justice-centered research and activism. Mason’s previous experience includes assessing equity, diversity, and inclusion in sustainability through UCLA’s Sustainability Action Research Program and interning as an environmental planner in Los Angeles. Mason has been with LARC for three years and supports Network Meetings, maintains the 2024 Legislative Tracker hosted by the Alliance of Regional Collaboratives for Climate Adaptation (ARCCA), and facilitates a variety of LARC initiatives, including the CPUC DER Energy Data Working Group. View all of Mason’s experiences on his LinkedIn Profile.
Lynn Hur (she/her) | Campaign & Communications Coordinator
Lynn Hur graduated Summa Cum Laude from UCLA in June 2022. She began her work with LARC while completing her senior capstone and continued on as a Research and Communications Intern after graduation. Her work with LARC includes content development and community outreach for LARC’s 2022 & 2023 Extreme Heat Campaign. Her passions lie in creating sustainable, intergenerational, equitable, and creative public spaces with BIPOC and immigrant communities.
Anita Theng (she/her) | Student Intern
Anita is a fourth year majoring in Psychology and minoring in Public Health at UCLA. Anita joined LARC in Fall 2023, and her work includes updating LARC’s Extreme Heat Campaign and content development for the Clean Energy Education Campaign. She has a background in campaign work and an interest in climate action and research. Anita hopes to explore careers in public health, specifically environmental and community health sciences.
Yua Watanabe (she/her) | Graphic Designer
Yua graduated from UCLA (2024) summa cum laude with a B.A. in theater, studying scenic and production design. She started her work with LARC in 2022 as a campaign designer for the initial kickoff of the Extreme Heat Campaign PSA. She has continued to design future iterations of the Campaign in 2023 and 2024, partnering with LA Department of Public Health, LA Metro, UCLA Health, and LA City Climate Emergency Mobilization Office (CEMO), amongst many other community and local organizations. Currently, she is based in Manhattan, New York, working as a freelance graphic designer and assistant scenic designer on and off Broadway.
Stephanie Pincetl (she/her) | Faculty Director
Stephanie Pincetl is a Professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and Founding Director of the California Center for Sustainable Communities at UCLA. Dr. Pincetl conducts research on environmental policies and governance and analyzes how institutional rules construct how natural resources and energy are used to support human activities. She is expert in bringing together interdisciplinary teams of researchers across the biophysical and engineering sciences with the social sciences to address problems of complex urban systems and environmental management. Pincetl is the Faculty Director of the Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability (LARC). She was instrumental in making the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA its institutional home.
LARC College Corps Fellows
Suzan Kesbeh (she/her) | Fellow
Suzan is a fourth-year at UCLA majoring in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations and a minor in Public Affairs. She is excited to join LARC as a College Corps fellow for the 2024-2025 school year. Her previous experience includes legal internships, civic engagement projects, and basic needs coordination. Suzan is passionate about advocating for social justice and human rights and plans to become an attorney.
Josselyn Sandoval (she/her) | Fellow
Josselyn is a College Corps Fellow joining the LARC team for the 2024-2025 school year. Josselyn is a second-year pre-public affairs major at UCLA. After graduating, she hopes to become a lobbyist, where she will work closely with policy and nonprofts that advocate for her communities’ rights. Josselyn is involved on campus through work with UCLA Residential Life, the UCLA Store, and a fellowship with the UCLA External Vice President. She loves going to Disneyland, is the eldest child, and has two dogs and is originally from Fresno, CA!
LARC Leadership Council
Thank you to our former Leadership Council Members:
Jacob Lieb, LA Metro
Jonathan Parfrey, Climate Resolve
Natalie Hernandez, Climate Resolve
Pam O’Connor, LA Metro Board Member/Santa Monica City Council
Paul Backstorm, LA Metro
Robert Lempert, RAND
Steve Baule, Office of Sustainability, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
Adam Smith, Southern California Edison
Elizabeth Rhoades, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
Beth Jines, City of Los Angeles
Gary Gero, Chief Sustainability Office, County of Los Angeles
Heather Repenning, LA Metro
Howard Choy, Office of Sustainability, County of Los Angeles
Ignacio Fernandez, Southern California Edison
Jacki Bacharach, South Bay Cities COG
And many others who have supported LARC since its inception in 2009.