Our Team

Our small, dedicated team brings different areas of expertise and life experiences to the shared mission of The Commons, connected by a shared commitment our Sonoma Valley communities.

Staff

Julian Ecker Mackie,
Executive Director

Julian Mackie is a Sonoma County native who brings a combination of public, private, and nonprofit experience to his role as Executive Director.

Julian began his career in consulting, managing projects across the public and private sectors, before moving into education technology, where he partnered with leading technology brands and workforce development organizations to launch some of the world's most popular job training programs.

His commitment to affordable housing runs deep, from his undergraduate thesis to neighborhood organizing and advocacy. He recently completed his Master's at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy, where he founded the campus's first cross-graduate housing organization, moderated conversations with leading researchers and elected officials, and conducted research focused on housing challenges in Sonoma Valley.

Julian has long believed that solving the housing crisis requires both rigorous policy knowledge and the ability to bring people together. He now channels both into the work he believes matters most: ensuring Sonoma has the affordable homes its workers, families, and seniors deserve.

  • I was born and raised in the same house on Bennett Valley Road, where I experienced the magic of the Sonoma mountains firsthand until my family sold in 2020. That stability gave me a deep appreciation for what a consistent home provides.

    That appreciation deepened when I left for undergrad in Southern California in 2011 and witnessed the destruction the Great Financial Crisis had wrought on the Inland Empire - my freshman year 94% of home transactions in the area were foreclosures. This shaped my academic focus on equality of opportunity and the mechanisms that unlock potential for communities left behind. I came to see housing as the foundation of that work.

    I initially pursued education technology as a tool to expand opportunity, but was drawn increasingly toward housing advocacy, working with my neighborhood association to facilitate more and varied housing types. Seeing the enduring crisis and its acute impact on my hometown, I enrolled in Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy to pursue affordable housing and local government full time.

    My fiancée and I are fortunate to own a home in town, but many of my peers are not. I see how a lack of housing choice ripples across an entire community, from educational opportunity to the fundamental fabric of neighborhood life. My goal is simple: anyone who wants to live in Sonoma Valley should have a real chance to do so.

Maria Saldaña Membrila,
Housing Programs Manager

Maria Saldaña Membrila has spent the past year and a half working at Sonoma Valley Collaborative, helping advance the Housing Affordability Roadmap and bringing together community partners to address housing challenges in Sonoma Valley. She will also be working as the Housing Programs Manager with Sonoma Valley Commons, supporting efforts to create more homes and opportunities for local residents.

In addition to her nonprofit work, Maria is a farmworker housing advocate and consultant who works directly with farmworkers and their families throughout Sonoma County. Through her research, outreach, and advocacy, she helps connect residents to housing resources and works to identify practical solutions to the region's housing needs. Born and raised in Sonoma County, Maria is passionate about ensuring that the people who live and work in the valley can afford to stay here, raise their families, and continue contributing to the community they call home.

  • Outside of work, I love building things. Woodworking, welding, and construction have become some of my favorite hobbies.

    For the last five years, I dreamed of building a tiny home of my own, and three years ago I finally decided to make that dream a reality. What started as a personal project became something much bigger. Like many young people, I found myself facing a housing market that felt increasingly out of reach. Homeownership seemed impossible, rents kept rising, and I wanted to find a way to create stability for myself.

    So I decided to build my way out of housing insecurity and invest in my future one piece at a time. Today, with a growing family and a baby on the way, that dream means even more than it did when I started. My hope is to complete my home within the next year and a half and enjoy a space that I built with my own two hands. None of this would have been possible without the support of my family and the many people who have shared their knowledge, time, encouragement, and labor along the way.

    This home may have started as my dream, but it has truly become a community effort.

Board of Directors

Donna Dambach, President

Donna Dambach has called Sonoma home for 14 years, drawn by the community's beauty, pace, and spirit of volunteerism. A retired biotechnology and pharmaceutical executive with 25 years of R&D leadership at firms including Genentech and Bristol-Myers Squibb, she now channels that expertise into community service. Donna volunteers with the Sonoma Ecology Center, Cancer Support Sonoma, and Farm to Pantry, and serves on the City's Planning Commission, bringing a scientist's rigor and a neighbor's heart to affordable housing.

Josh Dickinson, Secretary

Josh Dickinson brings an uncommon combination of analytical rigor and community commitment to Sonoma Valley Commons. A trained environmental engineer, he holds degrees from Notre Dame, Johns Hopkins, and the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. After 15 years in environmental consulting and nonprofit work, Josh founded Zip Code East Bay in 2012, focusing on real estate in service of community. He is drawn to the complex problem-solving that equitable housing requires and the lasting relationships it builds.

Rich Wallach, Treasurer

Rich Wallach has dedicated over 40 years to community development across the for-profit, nonprofit, and public sectors. He joined Burbank Housing in 2019, leading efforts in development finance and affordable housing pipeline development. A LEED-accredited professional with an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, Rich brings deep expertise in financing and building affordable communities, including years of work in Chicago. He is a strong advocate for regulatory fairness and sustainable, equitable housing solutions.

Janet Connors

Janet Connors is a Senior Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager at Summit State Bank, with a career focused on commercial real estate and housing construction lending. She holds an MBA in Finance from the University of San Francisco. A longtime Sonoma resident, Janet is deeply engaged in the local community, having served as Past President of the Bay Area Mortgage Association and on the boards of Sonoma County Alliance, Community Housing Sonoma County, and the RED Housing Fund. Her financial expertise and community roots make her a valued voice for affordable housing in the Valley.

Robin Stephani

Robin Stephani is a licensed California architect with 28 years of experience spanning architecture, development, and construction, with a focus on housing. She serves as Executive Director of the Renewal Enterprise District and as Development Director for Homes for Sonoma. Her Architecture firm 8th Wave primarily focuses on residential projects with a strong interest in resiliency, multi-generational and ADU projects across the North Bay.

Darryl Berlin

Darryl Berlin has spent 30 years working across the construction trades and housing ecosystem, driven by a passion for equitable, dignified housing. A co-founder and Board President of CommonSpace Community Land Trust in Sonoma County, he brings expertise in construction project management, natural building, and grassroots community organizing. A graduate of CoHousing Solutions' Development Project Management program, Darryl merges hands-on building craft with a deep commitment to ecological stewardship and housing justice for communities impacted by displacement and systemic racism.