Meet Our Team

Heather Golden Jensen is the principal owner of Golden Ag Assistance LLC. Ms. Golden Jensen provides detailed technical assistance regarding current agricultural issues and regulatory compliance advice for her agri-business clients. Ms. Golden Jensen also holds a California real estate license. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Ag Land Trust since 2016 and is the Secretary of the Trust.

David Gill is the Founder and Co-owner of Rio Farms, a major California agricultural concern headquartered in the Salinas Valley. Mr. Gill oversees the current operations of over 14,500 acres of specialty vegetable crop production. Mr. Gill has served on the Ag Land Trust Board of Directors since 2008.

Louis Frizzell is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and financial planner and has been licensed in the State of California for over four decades. His practice includes advising numerous farming concerns and farmland owners in Central California. Since joining the Ag Land Trust Board of Directors in 2007, Mr. Frizzell has been the Treasurer of the Board of Directors and helps to manage the Ag Land Trust’s finances, including serving as the chief liaison for audits.

Laurence London is an independent consultant and the owner of Fitotec Consulting, LLC. Mr. London’s company specializes in bioremediation of wastewater, soils, and lagoons. Mr. London is also a California Pest Control Advisor and Certified Crop Advisor with sustainable category. He formerly was an organic inspector covering agri-business entities in the United States and Mexico. Mr. London was a former Adjunct Professor and Director of Agriculture Innovation and Technology at Hartnell College which has campuses throughout the Salinas Valley. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Ag Land Trust since 2020.

In 1984, Marc Del Piero became the founding President of the Ag Land Trust Board of Directors and currently is its full time CEO and Managing Director. A native of Monterey County and the fourth-generation son of a California farming family, Mr. Del Piero served on the Monterey County Board of Supervisors from 1981-1992, served as the Attorney Member of the California State Water Resources Control Board from 1992-1999, and was an Adjunct Professor of Water Law at Santa Clara University School of Law (his alma mater) from 1992-2011.

Aaron Johnson is the Senior Attorney and Shareholder at Aaron Johnson and Associates, Attorneys-at-Law. His firm is headquartered in Salinas, California. With decades of experience in Monterey County, Mr. Johnson has an expansive law practice specializing in land use and real property law, business transactions (including complex agri-business issues), corporate strategies, and family law. A member of the Board of Directors since 2011, he has served as the President of the Board.

Anker Fanoe is the President and CEO of Pacific Valley Bank. Mr. Fanoe holds a degree in Economics from the University of California – Santa Barbara. A native of Monterey County and a banking professional with nearly three decades of senior executive experience, he has been actively involved as a leader in the lending industry and regularly addresses the needs of many of the largest agri-business concerns in Central California. Mr. Fanoe has served on the Board of Directors of the Ag Land Trust since 2020.

Mike Novo served as a senior land use planner for local governments on the Central Coast for over 33 years. He holds a degree in Geography from San Francisco State University. For nearly a decade, Mr. Novo served as the Monterey County Planning Director and was responsible for all land use decisions within the unincorporated areas of Monterey County’s 3,771 square miles. Mr. Novo has focused on agricultural land preservation and protection as one of his passions since becoming a planner. He served as a founding Board Member of the San Benito Agricultural Land Trust. Mr. Novo joined the Board of Directors of the Ag Land Trust in 2020.

Richard Nutter served as Agricultural Commissioner for Monterey County from 1971 to 1998 and is recognized throughout California as an expert on agricultural issues, farmland protection issues and issues related to pesticide regulations. Mr. Nutter has been on the Ag Land Trust Board of Directors since 1993, previously serving as Board President.

Robert “Bob” Roach began work for the Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner in 1987 as an Agricultural Inspector and subsequently became responsible for programs regulating pesticide use enforcement, plant quarantine, F&V standardization, and Monterey County Certified Organic and Weights and Measures activities. He retired in 2018 as the Assistant Agricultural Commissioner. Mr. Roach has broad knowledge of Monterey County agriculture and extensive experience with county land use issues and policies related to agriculture. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from Stockton State University in New Jersey and later received his Executive Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Golden Gate University. Before coming to work for the County of Monterey, Bob worked in the private sector as the manager of a wholesale tropical foliage and garden plant nursery, manager of a vineyard, grower for a landscape tree farm and as the owner of a landscape maintenance and pest control business in Northern California. Mr. Roach has served on the Board of Directors of the Ag Land Trust since 2019.

A lifetime resident of the Pajaro Valley, Mr. AmRhein spent 40 years in the strawberry industry and was President of the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau.

He retired as Vice-President of Naturipe Berry Growers, Inc., the oldest Strawberry marketing organization in California.

In 1984, Marc Del Piero became the founding President of the Ag Land Trust Board of Directors and currently is its full time CEO and Managing Director. A native of Monterey County and the fourth-generation son of a California farming family, Mr. Del Piero served on the Monterey County Board of Supervisors from 1981-1992, served as the Attorney Member of the California State Water Resources Control Board from 1992-1999, and was an Adjunct Professor of Water Law at Santa Clara University School of Law (his alma mater) from 1992-2011.

Camille Polson is a native of the Salinas Valley and a graduate of California State University – Monterey Bay with a B.S. in Business Administration. Ms. Polson has worked at the Ag Land Trust since 2017 and was appointed the Director of Finance and Property Management for the Ag Land Trust in 2023. Additionally, Ms. Polson currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Monterey County Film Commission and is an active member of California Women for Agriculture.

Madison Creech formerly served as one of our student interns at ALT. A native of Turlock, CA., her family has been involved in agri-business ventures for generations. Madison has now graduated from California State University-MontereyBay. She graduated with a B.A. in Environmental Studies with a Concentration in Sustainable Communities and a Minor in Environmental Health Policy. She has remarkable computer and mapping skills that will help ALT better serve our partners on the Central Coast. Madison hopes to further her education by obtaining various degrees to strengthen her knowledge of local agriculture issues, and she enjoys spending her free time with family and traveling.