Debbie Mytels is a longtime Bay Area environmental leader and community organizer.

She served as Executive Director of the Peninsula Conservation Center (PCC) from 1988–1994, playing a key role in developing programs on recycling, water conservation, and environmental education. The Peninsula Conservation Center Foundation (PCCF), founded in 1970, was an early hub for Bay Area environmental organizations. It provided office space, hosted public programs, and established the peninsula’s largest pre-Internet environmental library. During Debbie’s time, the PCCF partnered with Bay Area Action to launch the Business Environmental Network, and the Downtown Environmental Action Project which pioneered commercial recycling in Palo Alto.

The PCC was BAA’s nonprofit fiscal sponsor for the organization’s first two years.

Post BAA

Debbie’s 33-year environmental career includes leadership roles with organizations such as the Foundation for Global Community, Canopy, Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, and the Sierra Club’s Loma Prieta Chapter.

In 2014, she founded Peninsula Interfaith Climate Action. She also actively works with Fossil Free Buildings for Silicon Valley, 350 Silicon Valley, and serves on the board of Smart Yards Education. Debbie is known for her grant writing, meeting facilitation, and connecting people in support of environmental causes.