Election 2026: Strawberry Rec draws rare race for four-year seats
Four candidates are running for three four-year seats on the Strawberry Recreation District board Nov. 3, a rare contested election in a district that has long struggled to find anyone willing to serve.
Chair Peter Teese, a board member since December 2010, is seeking a fifth term. Fellow incumbent Sohrab Saghezchi, a Mill Valley dentist appointed to the board in December 2022 is standing for election to the seat for the first time. The only challenger is David Morgenthaler, a Strawberry father who spent nearly five years in sales and business development at Salesforce.
The fourth candidate, incumbent Sarah Waterfield, declined to comment and did not sit for a portrait.
Election 2026: The Strawberry Recreation District four-year candidates at a glance
Election 2026: Read complete coverage at thearknewspaper.com/election2026
The board voted unanimously Aug. 18 to reject a Marin County civil grand jury recommendation capping special-district members at two consecutive four-year terms, with Teese arguing the district almost never has a contested election and that a limit could empty a seat with no one waiting to fill it. Both of its races are contested this year.
Two other candidates, incumbent Doug Twillman and newcomer Aliza Hawkins, are running for the board’s single two-year seat.
The independent special district serves the unincorporated Strawberry community of about 6,000 residents. Under the board and General Manager Nancy Shapiro, it runs year-round programs, classes, memberships and events and oversees parks, including the dock at Harbor Cove Park. According to the district, property taxes supply only a fraction of its funding from local property taxes — 3.5 cents per dollar of basic tax paid to Marin County, or roughly 15% of its annual revenue. The rest, about $3 million, comes mostly from fees for classes, facility rentals and memberships.
The district hired playground company GameTime in July under a $2.4 million contract to build a playground on grass between the tennis courts and baseball fields at Strawberry Park. A revised quote and a separate bid for a restroom pushed the total past $3 million on Sept. 8, and the board told the company to come back under its $2.5 million ceiling. The playground is expected to open in 2027.
David Morgenthaler: Newcomer wants teen programs and new classes
Morgenthaler, a father, sales professional and lifelong musician, said he wants to expand offerings for teenagers and introduce classes such as foreign languages and music.
“I’m trying to think outside the box for how we can serve more of the community,” he said.
The 41-year-old has lived in Strawberry since 2021 with his wife, Alexis, and their three children: Flynn, 5; Riley, 4; and Julian, 17 months. He said his family’s life in Strawberry has largely revolved around the recreation district.
“(Strawberry Recreation) is in many ways the most accessible, beating heart of the community,” he said.
Morgenthaler grew up in Palo Alto and earned a degree in music-industry studies at the University of Southern California in 2016. He worked in sales and marketing, including nearly five years at Salesforce, where he handled business development and sales for the company’s Heroku platform. Earlier he worked as a lifeguard, after-school instructor and location manager at the Aspen Music Festival. He is a member of the Strawberry Neighborhood Association and has been active locally on the issue of Flock Safety automated license-plate readers.
Morgenthaler said he expects Strawberry’s population to grow, pointing to the redevelopment of the former Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary site, which Marin County supervisors approved in June and which will bring hundreds of homes, a senior-care facility and a graduate school. He said that will place greater demands on local recreation programs.
“I think that (the district) is on a good track in general, but I think that the needs of the community are going to evolve and increase,” he said. “And what I would love to see is a way to both grow the offerings … in terms of the diversity.”
A key interest for Morgenthaler is teen programs. As a teenager growing up in Palo Alto, he attended the nonprofit Riekes Center for Human Enhancement in Menlo Park, which had a gym, nature programs and a small music studio. That is where he recorded his first album at 16, sparking a lifelong passion for music. Strawberry, he said, could have that kind of impact on teens.
“It served a vitally important role for me as a teenager,” he said. “Having a place to land where there is some amount of supervision and yet also you can figure yourself out and how you fit into the larger community.”
He said he also wants the district to expand after-school programs.
He emphasized that his proposals are not fixed plans and said he would approach the board with humility about the district’s constraints but that he wants to see more people involved.
“I want every member of the community to have some reason to feel excited about going to (Strawberry Rec),” he said.
Sohrab Saghezchi: Incumbent dentist emphasizes fiscal responsibility
Saghezchi said his priorities would include transparency, fiscal responsibility and keeping a strong connection between the district and the community.
Saghezchi, 44, has owned Mill Valley Dental since 2014. Marin County supervisors appointed him to the district board in December 2022 after longtime member Jeff Francis chose not to run and no one filed for the seat. He said Shapiro asked him directly to join after noticing how involved he and his family were at the district.
Saghezchi grew up in Saratoga and moved to Strawberry in 2016 with his wife, Elli Abdoli, a government ethics attorney who sits on the Mill Valley School District board. The couple has three children: Cameron, 12; Sean, 10; and Mina, 7. Two attend Strawberry Point Elementary School, while the oldest attends Mill Valley Middle School. He studied biology at the University of California at Davis and San Jose State University and earned his doctor of dental surgery degree at the University of the Pacific’s Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry in San Francisco.
He said his kids gave him firsthand experience with the district and its programs before he joined the board.
“It’s always good to have people that have a horse in the race,” he said.
The playground, especially, is top of mind, he said.
“I think just making sure that (the district) is connected with the community and making sure that we’re listening to the community and obviously with this big project with the playground, we want to make sure that it’s something everybody is going to be proud of,” he said.
Saghezchi described Strawberry as a close-knit community with strong schools, active parent-led events and a welcoming atmosphere. He said his family was drawn to the area after hearing positive reviews from his dental patients.
“We literally will not leave Strawberry because we love the community so much,” he said.
Peter Teese: Longest-serving member wants to finish the playground
Teese, 62, said he first volunteered at the suggestion of a neighbor who was serving on the board. At the time, he said, the district was focused largely on retaining employees, paying bills and addressing basic maintenance needs at its aging recreation center.
“Once we got things kind of turned around … it started getting really fun to be on the board because it became about building things and creating a better place,” he said.
If reelected, Teese said his top priority would be the playground, which he called especially important because it would give children a free recreation option.
“There should be more programs that are either low cost or no cost for kids,” he said. “I think this really answers that.”
Other priorities include developing an outdoor performance and gathering space near the recreation center’s elevator and improving the pool facilities, including the changing rooms and membership amenities.
Teese, an early advocate for the playground, said the coming term would probably be his last.
“I really want to see the playground project through,” he said.
Teese is Western sales director for U.S. News & World Report and has spent most of his career selling advertising for news organizations. He and his family have lived in Strawberry for nearly 24 years. He is married to Leila Chism and has two adult daughters, Nicola and Alexandra.
He said the current board is unusually engaged, with all five members regularly attending meetings.
“You have the capacity to impact your community, even in just some small way,” he said. “It’s a privilege to be able to do that.”
Sarah Waterfield: Incumbent seeks a full term after two years
Waterfield, a parent and businesswoman, joined the board in December 2024 after running uncontested for a shortened two-year term.
She took over the seat from Christian Michael, who beat her out for the appointed interim spot on the board in April 2024. Michael remained on the board, however, after he ran uncontested for the four-year seat belonging to incumbent Pam Bohner, who chose not to run for reelection after serving for 12 years.
In a brief phone call last month, Waterfield declined to comment on her candidacy, then declined to be photographed for The Ark’s election coverage. Reached by email last week, she declined to be interviewed for this story.
Waterfield, 51, grew up in New Jersey and graduated from Harvard University, where she majored in history and literature, before attending Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. She has worked in corporate strategy for more than 25 years. She told The Ark in 2024 that she was the senior vice president of global brand strategy at Ultragenyx, a Novato-based pharmaceutical company.
Waterfield moved to her Reed Boulevard home, just a half-mile walk from the recreation district’s East Strawberry Drive headquarters, in summer 2019 with her husband, Michael, and their two children, Cassie and Max.
Waterfield has volunteered with the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco and been active at Strawberry Point Elementary, where she has helped with the school’s book fair and movie night and worked as a crossing guard. She previously volunteered with the Cygnet Society, a society of arts and letters for young people who are incarcerated.
Reach Belvedere, Strawberry and public-safety reporter Tyler Callister at 415-944-4627.