Neil has served on the RCD Board since 1998, and he has worked in natural resources all of his professional life. He received his B.S. in Biology from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, M.S in Botany from UC Santa Barbara, and Ph.D. in the interdisciplinary Wildland Resource Science program from UC Berkeley. His working career has included land-use planning, environmental impact analysis and mitigation, natural resource management, property management and land acquisition. He held a variety of positions in the Bay Area and was the Natural Resource Manager for the City of San Luis Obispo upon retirement.