At California Strategies, LLC, Marybel Batjer helps clients develop solutions and strategies that solve problems and make public policy work more effectively for the private and public sectors.
She assists clients with needs in a myriad of government departments and agencies focused on policy areas such as water, transportation, internet technology, taxation, energy, gaming, procurement, digital access, real estate, retirement and climate change, including decarbonizing the economy and wildfire mitigation. Her extensive budget experience includes overseeing several entities with multi-billion-dollar budgets and provides key insights throughout government structures from legislation to implementation. Often, clients look to Batjer for strategic counsel by tapping her ever expanding network of close relationships with government leaders and executives that she has nurtured throughout her many decades of public service.
Her career of interesting positions has spanned through the private and public sectors: from the Pentagon to the White House to state houses in two states. She has deep knowledge in highly regulated industries including gaming and has served as chief regulator of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) overseeing privately held utilities in California.
Prior to joining California Strategies, LLC, Batjer served as President of the CPUC and led the organization through multiple unprecedented statewide emergencies related to the acceleration of climate change and the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic. She worked to improve wildfire mitigation and Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events and accelerated and improved critical customer protections such as banning utility disconnections during the COVID-19 pandemic. She advanced key internal and external social justices initiatives and oversaw changes to Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s governance structure as a requirement for approving their Reorganization Plan to exit bankruptcy.
Before her time at the CPUC, Batjer was the inaugural Secretary of the California Government Operations Agency, which supervised the reformation of the state’s civil service system; modernized the IT procurement process and restructured the Board of Equalization by creating two new state entities: the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration and the Office of Tax Appeals. Further, she oversaw the planning and secured funding for three new state office buildings; and restructured the Department of Motor Vehicles.
As the Vice President of Public Policy and Corporate Social Responsibility at Caesars Entertainment Corporation she developed corporate strategy during a leveraged buyout, the industry’s largest merger and acquisition at the time. Additionally, she developed and implemented corporate social responsibility programs to promote corporate social investments, and managed legislative priorities, strategy, and relations.
Batjer is committed to ESG (Environmental Social and Governance) efforts as demonstrated by her roles managing corporate social responsibility, green energy initiatives, and fair labor practices. She has deep expertise in restructuring organizations, managing human capital and DEI, and navigating regulatory processes. Batjer has overseen business entities related to utilities, taxation, retirement, information technology, data management, real estate, and procurement.