Sophia Sholtz

Grants & Administrative Officer

As the Grants and Administrative Officer for the Regional Water Management Foundation (housed within the Community Foundation), Sophia works in tandem with local partners to help sustainably manage the groundwater in Santa Cruz County. Her primary duties involve grant management and reporting, board support, and administrative oversight of the small but mighty RWMF team.

Sophia moved to Santa Cruz to go to university at UCSC and fell in love with the area. When she graduated with her degree in Applied Physics, she accepted a position managing labs in the physics department so that she could stay just a little bit longer. Over the years, she moved up through the ranks until she landed in the Executive Vice Chancellor’s office doing operations management, which involves a little bit of everything. Sophia’s favorite duties in her previous positions have always concerned financial analysis, creative problem solving, and project management.

Sophia centers her life around her deep-seated desire to make the world a better place, starting at home. In both her personal and professional life, she’s found the most satisfying work is that which impacts and engages her local community, which is why she is so excited to work under the Community Foundation’s umbrella. In her free time, she fosters with the Santa Cruz SPCA, donates blood every 8 weeks, and takes classes at Cabrillo. She also loves spending time outdoors with her fiancé, Parker, and their two foster-failed cats, Giles and Oz.

“I cannot do all the good that the world needs. But the world needs all the good that I can do.” – Jana Stanfield