Our Team

Carlos Campero

Executive Director

Carlos Campero is the Executive Director of City Plants. He began his career at the Los Angeles Conservation Corps as a part-time Youth Leader and eventually became the LA Corps Compton site Director. Carlos grew up in South Central Los Angeles and developed an appreciation for trees and the impact trees have on our environment and overall well-being. He continues to be an advocate for our Urban and Natural Forests.

Carlos is a Certified Arborist with 25 years of experience in the tree industry. He is also a member of the California Urban Forestry Advisory Committee, which reports to CAL FIRE, a graduate of the Municipal Forestry Institute, a Member of the CalReLeaf Network, The Arbor Day Foundation—Alliance for Community Trees, and a member of the Core Leadership Team of the Green Communities Leadership Institute. Carlos also serves on his church advisory board, is a Deacon, and is an Adult Sunday school teacher.

His passion for increasing the Los Angeles tree canopy equitably across our richly diverse neighborhoods perfectly aligns with our mission to grow a greener future for Los Angeles by engaging Angelenos to plant and care for trees throughout the City.

Elizabeth Jauregui

Operations Manager

Elizabeth Jauregui grew up in the heart of Los Angeles in Boyle Heights. Raised in a diverse community, she understands firsthand the impact and importance of trees in low-canopy neighborhoods. She is a loving mother of two children and enjoys event planning, music, and adventuring throughout the city with her two little cubs.

With a background in commercial banking for more than 10 years, Elizabeth handles finances for the City Plants program, grant administration, and program operations. She acts as a liaison between the City Plants program and LADWP, and she enjoys working with community groups to organize tree adoption events throughout the City of LA. Elizabeth is invested in growing a green Los Angeles for the next generation. Elizabeth is a graduate of the Municipal Forestry Institute, class of 2017.

Cristina Basurto

Community Organizing Manager

Cristina Basurto grew up in a 3 square mile city in Southeast Los Angeles, where 97% of the population is Hispanic/Latinx, and the afternoons were filled with the sounds of the novelas playing on tv and children’s laughter in the street. When her children were young, she would take them to tree planting volunteer events. She credits these volunteer events for giving her children their voice and helping them connect to the world around them. Her passion for urban forestry came from seeing the social and health benefits trees brought her children on the autism spectrum. She wanted to help other families that lived in park-poor, and low-canopied communities like hers also benefit from trees.

Cristina is ISA Certified Arborist, a Street Trees Seminar Board Member, and has worked in urban greening for the last 17 years. She has supervised crews and led community groups in Southeast, South, and Central Los Angeles in planting and caring for trees in historically underserved low-canopied neighborhoods. In the spring of 2021, she mentored four of local leaders in the Tree Ambassador – Promotor Forestal pilot program. Currently, she works with the City Plants team on developing and implementing new and innovative community engagement programming to plant and care for trees along streets and on private property in historically disinvested neighborhoods. She is passionate about connecting grassroots efforts and learning from the communities around her to equitably grow Los Angeles’ urban forest.

Jimmy Perez

Program Coordinator

Jimmy Perez was born and raised in the City of Los Angeles. Growing up in an underrepresented community, Jimmy became aware of the lack of environmental science in public education. This inspired him to participate in organizations working with communities on environmental issues. In high school, Jimmy interned for the Baldwin Hills Greenhouse Program and taught the importance of planting native plants to both elementary students and their parents.

Jimmy attended UC Santa Cruz and earned a BA in Environmental Studies. In the summer of 2017, Jimmy began working as City Plants’ Program Assistant. He now ensures that the program runs efficiently and effectively by assisting constituents and handling administrative tasks. In his free time, Jimmy enjoys hiking one of the beautiful trails found in the Los Angeles National Forest.