Sequoia founder and President Debie Montana is an experienced wildlife ecologist, regulatory specialist, and Project Management Professional. With over 20 years of experience in environmental consulting, she combines a background in restoration, terrestrial and fisheries biology, and avian ecology with extensive knowledge of environmental permitting through federal, state, and local agency processes, to provide effective solutions to environmental compliance and conservation challenges.

Certified in Project Management by the University of California at Davis, Debie brings extensive program and project management experience in both the private and public sectors. Debie has overseen and directed large multi-disciplinary teams of environmental specialists on hundreds of large-scale projects and programmatic environmental compliance efforts, developing streamlined programmatic approaches, evaluations, and technical quality assurance processes. These projects regularly involve the preparation of baseline environmental documents in support of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and state and federal Endangered Species Acts. She oversees the preparation of permit applications, resource management plans, mitigation monitoring plans, and endangered species surveys. During her time working as a program manager for Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s (PG&E’s) Electric and Gas Transmission Division, Debie managed a portfolio of over 300 capital and expense projects, totaling more than $180M in annual budgets.

Since founding Sequoia in 2011, Debie has built a robust team of cross-trained biologists, enabling the firm to quickly mobilize qualified staff to any location throughout the Western United States. She provides strategic project oversight and quality assurance and manages corporate operations and fulfillment of the firm’s contractual obligations while keeping the firm grounded in its foundational values and culture. Debie has built lasting relationships with clients, stakeholders, and regulatory agency staff, which has helped our clients to achieve their environmental compliance goals and made us a key partner in their success.