A supporter of Return to Freedom Wild Horse Sanctuary for 10 years, Charlie joined Return to Freedom’s Board of Directors in 2012. As Chair of the Finance Committee, Charlie is committed to help facilitate the creation of Return to Freedom’s larger Conservancy.

Since 1975 Charlie Eckberg has served in prominent real estate management positions where his leadership, knowledge, business and fiduciary acumen facilitated successful tenures. For nearly a decade Charlie served as a Senior Trust Real Estate Officer for Security Pacific Bank and Bank of America where he had fiduciary responsibility for hundreds of unique properties that were subject to probate or held in trust by the financial institutions. As General Manager of the Hollister Ranch Owners’ Association, Charlie’s accomplishments established an early and enduring foundation by which the Association continues to address its responsibilities regarding the 15,000-acre rural residential community.

A Senior Vice President for Investec Real Estate Companies from 1994 to 2009, Charlie managed the planning and the entitlement of environmentally progressive residential and commercial developments. His expertise enabled several significant real estate developments in consideration of complex environmental and land use issues.

Charlie sits on the Board of the Sea Breeze Power Corporation (a publicly traded Canadian corporation developing wind farms and high efficiency transmission lines in Canada and the Western United States).

For nearly 30 years Charlie has advocated society’s conversion to renewable energy technologies, and has held Officer and Director seats on the Boards of various nationally and internationally recognized Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Charlie represented landowner and environmental interests in crafting and promoting land use protection policies for over 100,000 acres of the Gaviota Coast.

A 10-year member of the Dean’s Council of the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management at the University of California Santa Barbara.

In 2009, Charlie established Metta Energy, a consulting company promoting renewable energy strategies for universities, communities, and large-scale commercial projects. Notably, in 2012, Metta Energy successfully facilitated the 1 megawatt ‘solarization’ of the movie studios where James Cameron’s Avatar 2 and 3 will be produced.

During 2012, Charlie consulted on governmental affairs and served as Vice President of Sustainability for Safecig, a start-up company that was keen on re-shoring manufacturing from China. He additionally joined the Board of Directors of Return to Freedom, the American Wild Horse Sanctuary located in northern Santa Barbara County.

Charlie Eckberg received bachelor degrees in Economics and Political Science from UCSB. In 1992 he was honored as a Local Hero for his community activism and leadership in establishing Earth Day as a Santa Barbara institution.