Speakers for VX2013

Tom Soto
Founder
Latimer Partners, LLC
Biography

Tom Soto

Founder
Latimer Partners, LLC

I am a long-time investor in the impact sector. I was born & raised in East LA County & Pomona, California to two of the state’s most well-respected Latino Civil Rights leaders. My father was Assemblyman Phil Soto, the first Latino elected to the state legislature in 1962. My late mother was Nell Soto, my dad’s campaign manager & the mother to their six children. She was a long-time advocate supporting farm worker rights, the environment and labor. She too served the last ten years of her life as a member and leader in the California State Senate.
 

I have owned four PE funds, and now manage our family investment office, Latimer Partners, LLC with my husband of 18 years, Todd Soto. I’ve stood at the dovetail of energy, tech, cloud-based and IoT platforms, renewable energy, and over many Fourth Industrial Revolution-driven platforms where technology contributes to improving the human condition using AI, fintech, and blockchain, all while challenging LP’s and tech platforms to embrace diversity, equity and inclusion. Between contributing to climate change initiatives; Clean Air Act Standards and forcing the removal of diesel from municipal procurement processes across the country and the need to decarbonize our economy, this all to promote a political process and regulatory framework needed to establish a clean economy driving the planet into a future of prosperity and abundance.

I am the former Chairman of the New America Alliance, the national Latino business initiative seeking to increase access to capital for diverse fund managers; I am a founder and Vice Chair of the LA Clean Tech Incubator and Trustee of the California Science Center and Trustee of the NRDC. I'm also an appointee to the California Lithium Valley Commission. After selling my fund, Craton Equity Partners to TCW in 2013, I was the Managing Director of Alternatives at the $198b fund and was an Investment Committee Member of TCW Alternatives. Under mine and my colleagues’ leadership, the TCW alternatives platform grew from $300m in AUM to $10.3b in three years. I am a former member of the board of trustees of the Redwood Mutual Fund, owned by Aspiration where I am a former Sr. Advisor, the country’s fastest-growing online bank and financial services platform.

I am a two-time appointee of President Clinton and was the Team Lead for The Executive Office of the President’s Transition Team for the White House Council on Environmental Quality for President-Elect Obama and a founding member of the Executive Council for Clean Energy for Biden. We live in Los Angeles, with our thirteen year old son.

Dave Ramslie
Senior Sustainability Programs Manager
City of Vancouver
Biography

Dave Ramslie

Senior Sustainability Programs Manager
City of Vancouver

Dave Ramslie is the City of Vancouver’s Senior Sustainability Programs Manager. In this role Dave is responsible for overseeing the development of programs and policies that address Vancouver’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions targets and the ongoing development of Vancouver’s Green Building Strategy. Dave’s work on green building standards and land use policy has won national awards from the Canadian Institute of Planners, and from the Canadian Green Building Council, for Government Leadership in Green Building. In 2012 Dave was recognized by the International Living Future Institute with their Public Sector Leadership award in recognition of decade of work on urban sustainability issues.  

Some signature projects include:

  • Developing Canada’s first municipal energy efficiency financing program,
  • Developing Vancouver’s green building code,
  • Authoring Vancouver’s carbon neutral buildings strategy.
  • Developing Vancouver’s electric vehicle charging by-law
  • Creating Vancouver’s green rezoning policy and passive design guidelines
  • Developing the policy frame work for large site redevelopment that included district energy

Dave formally served on the Board of Directors for the Cascadia Regional Green Buildings Council. He also lectures throughout the Northwest on Urban Sustainability issues and helps develop sustainability curriculum for local universities and colleges. 

Mickey Kantor
Partner, Mayer Brown LLP
Former US Secretary of Commerce
Biography

Mickey Kantor

Partner, Mayer Brown LLP
Former US Secretary of Commerce

Mickey Kantor concentrates his practice on corporate and financial international transactions. He has extensive experience in market access issues, as well as the expansion of client activities in foreign markets through trade, direct investment, joint ventures, and strategic business alliances.

Prior to joining Mayer Brown, Mickey was the United States Secretary of Commerce (1996-1997) and the United States Trade Representative (1993-1996). He has been called “arguably the finest trade negotiator in the world” (Chambers Global 2006) and is said to be “blessed with fantastic political insights and connections” (Chambers USA2007).

He was recognized in The International Who's Who of Business Lawyers-Trade & Customs 2009. Among them any awards and honors he has received are the following: the Order of the Southern Cross Award by The Government of Brazil, 2001, the William O. Douglas Award by the Constitutional Rights Foundation, the Thomas Jefferson Distinguished Public Service Medal from the Center for the Study of the Presidency, the Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award from the Hugh O'Brien Youth Foundation, and Elihu Root Distinguished Lecturer, Council on Foreign Relations.

Jonathan Naimon
Founder/Managing Partner
Light Green Advisors
Biography

Jonathan Naimon

Founder/Managing Partner
Light Green Advisors

Mr. Naimon is the founder of Light Green Advisors (LGA), a sustainable asset management company, which manages climate change funds for institutional investors including one of California’s public employee pension funds.  LGA has advised a series of environmental funds and trusts for investors in Europe and the US that utilize the firm’s “best-in-class” model for resource efficiency and sustainability.  In 2011, the Chinese government adopted the emissions rates metrics pioneered by LGA in the late 1990s to gauge its climate efficiency progress.

Mr. Naimon has particular expertise in solar finance, having advised Sun Edison on the development of its third party tax equity finance model. Sun Edison, now part of MEMC, is among the top owner & operators of solar projects in the US and worldwide.   Prior to founding LGA, Mr. Naimon held both management and technical positions at a think tank (IRRC) acquired by MSCI, Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), ICF International, and the Energy & Commerce Committee of the US House of Representatives.  Mr. Naimon has served as a visiting professor on sustainable finance at the Norwegian School of Management in Norway and taught cost benefit analysis at Carnegie Mellon University Heinz School. He has a MS in Environmental Management from the University of North Carolina and a BS in Biology and Cognitive Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Bob Foster
Board Member
EPCOR Utilities
Biography

Bob Foster

Board Member
EPCOR Utilities

Bob Foster has spent more than 40 years in the energy policy arena in California.  He began his career working on energy efficiency for the State Senate and then led the energy efficiency program for the California Energy Commission.  He then joined Southern California Edison working his way up in the company, eventually serving as its President from 2002 to 2006.  After retiring from SCE, he ran for and was elected Mayor of Long Beach, Ca., serving for 8 years from 2006 to 2014.  He also served as Chair of California’s Independent System Operator (CAISO) from 2011 to 2014.  He now operates Prometheus Advisors, providing consulting on energy, water, entitlements, and public policy issues. He serves on the boards of EPCOR in Edmonton Canada, the American Transmission Company in Milwaukee, and Port Solutions in Los Angeles.  Bob is an ardent baseball fan and in 1983 coached a team from Sacramento to the Little League World Series in Williamsport Pa.

Richard Maullin
Chair
California ISO Board of Governors
Biography

Richard Maullin

Chair
California ISO Board of Governors

Richard Maullin is a founding partner (1981) of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates. (FM3), a public opinion research and strategy company.  He was the California Deputy Secretary of State from 1971 to 1974, and he served as Chairman of the California Energy Commission from 1975 through 1979.  Dr. Maullin is currently the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the California Independent System Operator Corporation which operates California’s electricity markets and the electric grid.  From 1980 to 1985, Dr. Maullin was President and Chief Executive Officer of MCR Geothermal Corporation.  Dr. Maullin was also a member of the Social Science Research Staff at the RAND Corporation from 1965 through 1971, specializing in Latin American politics and economics.

Richard Maullin was born in Los Angeles, California and received his bachelor’s (with honors 1962), master’s (1964) and PhD (1972) degrees in Political Science from UCLA.  He has recently retired from FM3.

Marzia Zafar
Director, Policy & Planning Division
California Public Utilities Commission
Biography

Marzia Zafar

Director, Policy & Planning Division
California Public Utilities Commission
Michael Montoya
Director, Grid Advancement, Advanced Technology
Southern California Edison
Biography

Michael Montoya

Director, Grid Advancement, Advanced Technology
Southern California Edison

 

Michael R. Montoya is the director of Grid Advancement for Southern California Edison’s Transmission and Distribution. The Advanced Technology group, previously Engineering Advancement, was created in November 2004 to evaluate, test, demonstrate, and analyze technologies for implementation on SCE’s grid. Under Montoya’s leadership, Grid Advancement teams investigate advancements in power systems modeling and analysis, transmission and distribution automation, distributed energy resources, home area networking, communications and security, infrastructure improvements, asset management, and a variety of devices and systems to make the electric grid more reliable, safe and affordable.

Mr. Montoya has made many contributions throughout his 37-year career at SCE. Prior to heading research, development and demonstration at SCE, Montoya was director of TDBU’s Project Management Organization and director of Grid Operations, Protection and Controls. During his tenure at SCE he served in both technical and managerial capacities.

Montoya earned his undergraduate degree in business administration from the University of La Verne and certificates in I.T. Essentials for Business Leadership from Pepperdine University and Sustaining the Innovative Organization from the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

James Goldstene
Executive Officer
California Air Resources Board
Biography

James Goldstene

Executive Officer
California Air Resources Board

James N. Goldstene is the Executive Officer of the California Air Resources Board.  The Board has 11 members appointed by the Governor and is responsible for promoting and protecting the public health and ecological resources of California through effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and considering the effects of its actions on the state’s economy.  To achieve this goal, the Executive Officer oversees the development and implementation of regulations and policies adopted by the Board and represents the ARB before the Legislature and in a wide variety of state, regional, national and international forums.  The California Air Resources Board has more than 1300 employees.

Goldstene was appointed Executive Officer in October 2007. Since then the Board has passed major rules to reduce diesel emissions from trucks, construction equipment and ships. It also adopted a comprehensive plan to reduce global warming pollutants under AB 32, California’s pioneering climate change legislation, and developed a range of measures and regulations to implement this plan, including the groundbreaking Low Carbon Fuel Standard and the establishment of a greenhouse gas emissions-trading program.  In 2008 the Obama administration adopted California’s standard for greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles as the standard for the entire nation. Currently, ARB is working with the U.S. EPA and the Department of Transportation to develop more stringent standards for vehicles from model year 2018 to 2025.

Prior to his appointment as Executive Officer, Goldstene served first as a specialist to coordinate the Board's involvement in California's Smog Check program. Later, as Senior Advisor to the Board's Office of Climate Change, he was also responsible for providing policy guidance and direction for the implementation of AB 32.

Prior to joining the Board, Goldstene served as Deputy Chief at the California Department of Consumer Affairs' Bureau of Automotive Repair, the agency responsible for regulating automotive repair dealers and running the state's Smog Check program.  His career history also includes key management positions with the Bureau of Barbering and Cosmetology, the State Contractors License Board, the California Pollution Control Financing Authority and other financing authorities in the Office of the State Treasurer. Goldstene served as Lieutenant Governor Leo McCarthy's environmental advisor in the early 1990s.

Goldstene also serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Clean Air Agencies and is currently co-chair of the Western Climate Initiative Executive Committee.

Goldstene holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Government from California State University, Sacramento, where he served as part-time faculty in the Government Department for many years.  As part of his graduate studies, he completed a year studying in the Department of Politics at the University of Bristol in England.  Goldstene taught American government and political theory at California State University, Sacramento for many years.

Louis Romo
Vice President, Business Development
JFE Engineering America
Biography

Louis Romo

Vice President, Business Development
JFE Engineering America

Mr. Romo is currently responsible for all business development for JFE Engineering America including diverse technologies such as waste to energy, produced water treatment, waste heat generation, electric vehicle chargers and steel bridge construction. With a strong background in international business Mr. Romo has created sales and market strategies for each of JFE’s target markets.

Mr. Romo has helped create various startup companies in the green tech industry serving as business development lead.  He was involved in the creation of Calnetix, a Southern California engineering company focusing on high tech clean energy technologies, and VYCON an energy storage flywheel technology company.  With expertise in the design of magnetic power systems Mr. Romo has also served as Vice President of Engineering and Director of Business Development for Integrated Magnetics a leading Southern California manufacturing group.  As an Electrical Engineer designing high speed motor and generator systems for Allied Signal Aerospace (now Honeywell), he was the Program Manager responsible for the electrical power systems group.

Osamu Onodera
Director
Japan New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, Silicon Valley
Biography

Osamu Onodera

Director
Japan New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, Silicon Valley
David Stickler
NRG Energy Services
Biography

David Stickler

NRG Energy Services

 

David Stickler directs distributed generation strategy at NRG Energy, Inc. a Fortune 300 company that is at the forefront of changing how people think about and use energy. In addition to 47,000 megawatts of generation capacity, NRG’s retail electricity providers serve more than two million customers. David has over 30 years of experience in the power industry that started in US Navy in nuclear power plant operations. He received a BS in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University and an MBA from Penn State’s Smeal College of Business.

Gary Doer
Ambassador
Canadian Embassy to the United States
Biography

Gary Doer

Ambassador
Canadian Embassy to the United States
David Jacot
Director of Efficiency Solutions
LADWP
Biography

David Jacot

Director of Efficiency Solutions
LADWP

David Jacot, P.E., is the Director of Efficiency Solutions for the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP). LADWP operates the largest public power portfolio of energy efficiency programs in the nation, comprised of a broad array of energy resource acquisition and market transformation programs serving LADWP’s customers and trade ally networks. 

In this role, David oversees all aspects of LADWP’s offerings and strategies designed to overcome market barriers to the comprehensive adoption of energy efficiency by LADWP’s customers, as well as the integration of energy efficiency with other distributed energy resources to facilitate LADWP’s transition to 100% renewables. David also oversees the integration of electric, gas, and water efficiency programs through a nation-leading joint program partnership with the natural gas utility serving Los Angeles, the Southern California Gas Company. Finally, David manages LADWP’s energy and water efficiency labs, hand-on demonstration facilities, and emerging technology assessment and commercialization efforts at the La Kretz Innovation Campus, home of the world-renowned Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator.

David has a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma, and a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from California State Polytechnic University - Pomona, as well as 20+ years of experience designing high performance building systems, modeling building energy usage, and managing cost-effective and investment-grade energy efficiency programs.

Frank Harris
Manager of Corporate Environmental Policy
Southern California Edison
Biography

Frank Harris

Manager of Corporate Environmental Policy
Southern California Edison

Frank Harris is the Manager of Corporate Environmental Policy at Southern California Edison. In this capacity he manages SCE’s greenhouse gas policy activities and represents SCE before the California Air Resources Board, the California Public Utilities Commission, and the California Energy Commission. Additionally, he is responsible for evaluating environmental and energy legislation and regulation, providing policy recommendations to SCE management and coordinating and communicating SCE policy recommendations to external stakeholders. Dr. Harris holds B.A. degrees in Economics and Finance from the University of Texas at Dallas and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Irvine where he specialized in Energy Policy and Public Choice.  His most recent publication “California Dreaming: The Economics, Politics, and Mechanics of Meeting California’s Carbon Mandate” was included in Generating Electricity in a Carbon Constrained World

Esther Feldman
President
Community Conservancy International
Biography

Esther Feldman

President
Community Conservancy International
Harry Atwater
Director
Resnick Sustainability Institute at Caltech
Biography

Harry Atwater

Director
Resnick Sustainability Institute at Caltech

Dr. Harry A. Atwater is the Founding Director of the Resnick Sustainability Institute at the California Institute of Technology and Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science. He is the founder of venture-backed solar energy companies Alta Devices and Caelux, and also currently directs the DOE Light Material Interactions Energy Frontier Research Center at Caltech. Dr. Atwater's research interests include photovoltaics, solar energy conversion, optical metamaterials and nanoscale optical phenomena. He has over 400 papers in journals, conferences and technical magazines, and 30 issued patents.  He is recipient of the 2012 Eni Award for Renewable and non-Conventional Energy and the 2012 Green Photonics Award of the SPIE.

He has Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and has served as a faculty member at Caltech and Harvard. 

Terry O'Day
Chief Operating Officer
In-Charge Energy
Biography

Terry O'Day

Chief Operating Officer
In-Charge Energy

Terry cofounded In Charge Energy in 2019. It is the infrastructure leader in electrification of transportation fleets in the United States, and the preferred infrastructure partner of Ryder TruckRental, which serves over 65,000 customers in the U.S. Terry currently advises Macquarie Capital, a division of theAustralian multinational independent investment bank and financial services company that is the world's largest infrastructure asset managerwith $495 billion in assets under management. Previously, Terry led North American strategy for innogy e-MobilityUSa division of the $40 billion per year German energy company.There, he participated in acquiring the leading U.S. electricvehicle fast charging hardware company and a customer-facing software application with over 700,000 regularusers

Previously, Terry led the Western region forEVgo, the nation’s largest public fast charging company for electricvehicles (EVs), taking that company from its first public fast charging installation in 2011 to more than 1,000 chargers nationwide and overseeing an investment program of over $140 million. He led partnerships with major automakers, energy companies and state governments, including a $122.5 million agreement with the California Public Utilities Commission

Earlier in his career,Terry founded four companies with Edison International in energy, security services, and electric vehicle charging and the first car rental company in the United States to offer only electric vehicles to the general public, serving fifteen airports in six states and more than 500,000 customers withover 850 cars.Terry also served as Executive Director of Environment Now foundation, a strategic, entrepreneurial, activist leader in California. The organization founded dozens of activist environmental organizations protecting air, land andwater quality in California and Mexico. In 2007, Terry cofounded Move LA and developed LA County’s Measure R, which over 67% of voters approved in 2008 and is contributing over $40 billion to transit investment countywide.

Terry currently serves as Mayor Pro Tempore for the City of Santa Monica and was first elected in November 2010. The city of 95,000 residents hasa daytime population of over 300,000, with 2,300 employees and a $700 million annual budget. Terry led a six-year process to update the City’s General Plan, which became the leading example ofenvironmental land use planning in the state, reducing projected per capita greenhouse gas emissions from land use by 31 percent in 25 years. He led the city’s policy to transition away from imported water, relying instead on sustainable, local water supply and the conversion of over 200 transit buses from natural gas to electric fuel. He has served in community leadership positions in California and Mexico; including Waterkeeper Alliance, Coro Southern California; The USC Center for Sustainable Cities, Environmental EntrepreneursCoalition for Clean Airand the Metropolitan Water DistrictTerry has an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and BA with honors from Stanford University.

Tom Whitton
Director of Business Development
PyroGenesis Canada Inc.
Biography

Tom Whitton

Director of Business Development
PyroGenesis Canada Inc.

Mr. Whitton obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from McGill University in 1991.  He began his career pursuing mandates in applied research, process engineering, and production management with ICI Explosives, Noranda, and Recyclex.  In 2001, Mr. Whitton joined PyroGenesis, where he occupied several roles in production, contract management and business development, principally with the company’s Advanced Materials division.  With the sale of this division in 2004, Mr. Whitton was transferred to Raymor Industries, becoming Director of Business Development, with responsibilities for growing the company’s powders and nanotechnology businesses along with presenting the company to the investment community in Canada and the US.  After a year-long stint as the powders division’s Director of Operations,  Mr. Whitton returned to PyroGenesis in 2009 to his current role.  At PyroGenesis, with his background and experience in engineering, operations, technology and business development, Mr. Whitton helps lead the company’s efforts in growing their plasma-based waste-to-energy and metallurgical technology businesses.  Mr. Whitton was an original elected board member of Ecotech Québec, the province’s new clean technology cluster, and continues to participate in the organization’s Regulatory and Fiscal Framework study group.  Mr. Whitton is also currently a sitting City Councillor for Deux-Montagnes, a suburb of Montreal, having been elected in 2009.

Doug Failing
Executive Director of Highway Projects
Los Angeles Metro
Biography

Doug Failing

Executive Director of Highway Projects
Los Angeles Metro

Doug Failing serves as the Executive Director of the Highway Program for Los Angeles County Metro where he is responsible for Delivery of the nearly $8 billion Measure R Highway Program. Failing was chosen by the Los Angeles Times’ West Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in Southern California. Failing earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from Michigan Technological University in Houghton and Caltrans as a Junior Civil Engineer.

Paul Clark
Director
Climate Change & Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC)
Biography

Paul Clark

Director
Climate Change & Emissions Management Corporation (CCEMC)
Peter Gross
Vice President, Mission Critical Systems
Bloom Energy
Biography

Peter Gross

Vice President, Mission Critical Systems
Bloom Energy

 Peter Gross, leads the Mission Critical Systems group at Bloom Energy, the leading manufacturer of solid oxide fuel cells.  Peter is recognized as a thought leader in the mission-critical information and infrastructure design realm, has published numerous technical papers in the field, and is a frequent speaker at international events. His focus centers on mission-critical facilities, high-reliability design, energy and sustainability.  Peter has more than 25 years’ experience in the engineering and design of power systems as applied to data centers, trading floors, command and control centers, and telecommunication and broadcasting facilities.

Peter has been at the forefront of many innovative concepts that have contributed to the data center industry evolution, such as the HP modular, pre-fabricated FlexDC product and he was co-awarded a patent for Direct Current power distribution topology. He is presently focused on transforming the data center architecture through the use of fuel cells.

Panama Bartholomy
Director
Building Decarbonization Coalition
Biography

Panama Bartholomy

Director
Building Decarbonization Coalition

Forging partnerships among varying disciplines and stakeholders, Panama Bartholomy has managed and facilitated the creation and implementation of some of the largest climate and energy programs in the United States. Panama’s work focuses on finding policy and program solutions for communities facing energy efficiency, renewable energy, land use and climate change challenges. Panama combines frontline experience with state and local government policy and has dealt extensively in the regulatory and utility arenas.  

Previously, Panama was the Advisor on Energy and Natural Resources to California Assembly Speaker John A. Perez where he oversaw the State of California’s energy and environmental legislation and budget. He earlier served as Deputy Director of the California Energy Commission’s Efficiency and Renewables Division and advisor for Chairmen Douglas and Pfannenstiel, worked for the California Conservation Corps on vocational environmental education, and ran the Sustainable Schools program for the Division of the State Architect. Panama served on the City of Sacramento Planning Commission and the County of Sacramento Environmental Commission, and is a former board member on the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and past president of the Northern California Chapter of the USGBC.

Thomas Day Jr
Chief Sustainability Officer
United States Postal Service
Biography

Thomas Day Jr

Chief Sustainability Officer
United States Postal Service

Thomas Day was named Chief Sustainability Officer in June 2011. He leads the USPS effort of being a sustainability leader by creating a culture of conservation throughout the Postal Service and leading the adoption of sustainable business practices. Prior to serving in this role, he was Senior Vice President, Intelligent Mail and Address Quality (2007-2011) and Senior Vice President, Government Relations (2005-2007). From 2001-2005, he was Vice President, Engineering.

Day is a third generation employee who entered the Postal Service as a management associate in the Northeast Region in 1984 following five years’ service as an officer in the U.S. Army. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering in 1978. He represented the Postal Service as a Sloan Fellow at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, where he earned a master of science degree in management in 1996.

Phoebe Yee
Vice President of Design
Related California
Biography

Phoebe Yee

Vice President of Design
Related California
Cecilia Estolano
CEO & Founder
Estolano Advisors and CEO of Better World Group
Biography

Cecilia Estolano

CEO & Founder
Estolano Advisors and CEO of Better World Group

Cecilia V. Estolano is a leading expert on contemporary urban planning issues, with experience in economic and workforce development, land use, environmental policy, and urban revitalization. She has worked directly with public, private, institutional, and non-profit clients to plan, finance, design, implement, and operate policy-driven programs and projects that promote sustainable solutions tailored for each community.

Cecilia is a former Chair of the Regents of the University of California and has served as President of the California Community College Board of Governors. She received an A.B. from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges, an M.A. in Urban Planning from UCLA, and a J.D. from UC Berkeley. Prior to founding Estolano Advisors in 2011, Cecilia served as CEO of CRA/LA, practiced land use and environmental law while Of Counsel and an Associate at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, served as Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. EPA during the Clinton Administration, and served as Environmental Policy Advisor to former L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley. In addition to her work at Estolano Advisors, she became the CEO of Better World Group, an environmental strategy firm, in 2018. 

Robert Weisenmiller
Chairman
California Energy Commission
Biography

Robert Weisenmiller

Chairman
California Energy Commission

Chair Robert Weisenmiller was appointed as member and Chair to the California Energy Commission in January 2011 by Governor Jerry Brown and re-appointed in January 2015. He fills the Engineer/Scientist position on the five-member Commission. Commissioner Weisenmiller brings more than 30 years energy experience to the Commission including expertise in electricity and gas markets and California regulatory policies. Chair Weisenmiller has served as an expert witness in more than 100 state and federal regulatory commission proceedings and has authored numerous publications on electricity and natural gas markets.

Before his appointment, Chair Weisenmiller, a co-founder of MRW & Associates, used his expertise to assist businesses, financial institution, regulatory commissions, and public agencies in strategic planning, policy development, analyzing energy markets and regulations, rate design and implications of utility mergers.

Chair Weisenmiller's career also included a previous period of public service with the Energy Commission as Advisor to Commissioner, Manager of the Special Projects Office, and Director of the Office of Policy and Program Evaluation in the period between 1977 and 1982. Chair Weisenmiller holds a Doctorate in Chemistry and a Masters in Energy and Resources from University of California Berkeley and received his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Providence College.

Frances Spivy-Weber
Board Member
State Water Resources Control Board
Biography

Frances Spivy-Weber

Board Member
State Water Resources Control Board

Frances Spivy-Weber was re-appointed as the Public Member of the State Water Resources Control Board on March 1, 2009.  She serves as Vice Chair of the Board and is the Board liaison to the Los Angeles, San Diego, Central Coast, and Lahontan Regional Boards and the Ocean Protection Council Steering Committee.  She represents the Secretary of CalEPA on the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission.  

Prior to joining the Board, she was the Executive Director of the Mono Lake Committee for almost ten years; International Programs Director of National Audubon Society for almost ten years.  Fran has served on numerous state and regional water advisory groups and task forces, including the Bay-Delta Public Advisory committee, co-chairing its Water Use Efficiency Subcommittee; State Water Plan 2005 Advisory Committee; California Landscape Task Force 2005; State Water Recycling Task Force 2003; Governor’s Advisory Drought Planning Panel 2000.

Ms. Spivy-Weber has served as convener and on the Board of the California Urban Water Conservation Council, co-convener of the Southern California Water Dialogue, and on the Boards of the Water Education Foundation, California Council of Land Trusts, and Clean Water Action/Clean Water Fund.  Fran has a BA from the University of Texas in history and political science and an MA from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.  She has four years of graduate coursework in biology from Sacramento and San Francisco State Universities.

Hector De La Torre
Board Member
California Air Resources Board
Biography

Hector De La Torre

Board Member
California Air Resources Board

Hector De La Torre is the Executive Director of Gasol Foundation US, a national nonprofit dedicated to children’s health and wellness. He is also Chair of the board at LA Care, the largest public nonprofit health plan in the United States, and a trustee at his alma mater Occidental College in Los Angeles.

De La Torre served in the California State Assembly from 2004 to 2010, representing the largely Latino 50th District in Southeast Los Angeles County. He chaired the Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, the Rules Committee and helped create and chaired the Accountability and Administrative Review Committee during his tenure.

De La Torre was the Executive Director of the national non-profit Transamerica Center for Health Studies.

Prior to his service in the Assembly, he served as Mayor and as a member of the South Gate City Council, Judicial Administrator in the Los Angeles Superior Court, chief of staff to the Deputy Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration, and a teacher at Edison Junior High in South Los Angeles.

De La Torre graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Diplomacy and World Affairs from Occidental College and attended the Elliot School of International Affairs at The George Washington University. He lives in South Gate.

Tony Salazar
President, West Coast Operations
McCormack Barron Salazar
Biography

Tony Salazar

President, West Coast Operations
McCormack Barron Salazar
Bert Dezzutti
Senior Vice President
Brookfield Properties
Biography

Bert Dezzutti

Senior Vice President
Brookfield Properties
Dean Wiberg
Biography

Dean Wiberg

David Peterson
Director, Fleet Solutions
ChargePoint, Inc.
Biography

David Peterson

Director, Fleet Solutions
ChargePoint, Inc.
David leads ChargePoint’s Fleet Solutions team focused on developing market-leading products and services for managing and operating light, medium and heavy-duty electric vehicle fleets. 
 
David joined ChargePoint from Nissan where he led electric vehicle market development and charging infrastructure strategy. Prior to Nissan, David was an investment analyst based in Shanghai providing M&A advisory for Benelux-China joint ventures, as well as a project finance consultant to governments and private clients across Asia and the Middle East. 
Jonathan Weisgall
Vice President, Government Relations
Berkshire Hathaway Energy
Biography

Jonathan Weisgall

Vice President, Government Relations
Berkshire Hathaway Energy

Jonathan Weisgall is Vice President for Government Relations for Berkshire Hathaway Energy Company, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. He joined CalEnergy (Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s predecessor company) in 1993 as Vice President for Legislative and Regulatory Affairs. 

Weisgall also serves as Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies and vice chairman of the Geothermal Rising’s Policy Committee. He is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, where he has taught a seminar on energy issues since 1990 and recently received the Charles Fahy Distinguished Adjunct Professor Award as outstanding adjunct professor of the year. He has also guest lectured on energy issues at Stanford Law School, Haverford, and the Johns Hopkins Environmental Science and Policy Program and its School of Advanced International Studies. He was a member of the Lithium Valley Commission and has been named one of the top Washington, DC corporate lobbyists by The Hill since 2004.

Weisgall graduated from Columbia College and from Stanford Law School. He previously practiced law in Washington, D.C. at Covington & Burling, has written several law review articles, and has published articles in Legal Times, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy, Johns Hopkins SAIS Review, and The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Weisgall is also the author of Operation Crossroads:  The Atomic Tests at Bikini Atoll (U.S. Naval Institute Press, 1994) and the executive producer of “Radio Bikini,” which was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary in 1988.
 

Paul Helliker
Deputy Director, Delta and Statewide Water Management
California Department of Water Resources
Biography

Paul Helliker

Deputy Director, Delta and Statewide Water Management
California Department of Water Resources

Paul Helliker was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown in October, 2012 to the position of Deputy Director, Delta and Statewide Water Management.  In that role, Paul oversees DWR's Bay-Delta Office, FloodSAFE Environmental Stewardship and Statewide Resources Office, Division of Environmental Services, and the Inter-State Water Resources Manager.  Paul has worked in environmental and resource management programs for 26 years, with experience at the federal, state and local levels.  Prior to joining DWR, Paul served for eight years as the General Manager of the Marin Municipal Water District, where he also served as chair of the Bay Area Water Agencies Coalition (composed of the major wholesale and retail water supply agencies in the Bay Area), and chair of the regional water management group responsible for the Bay Area Integrated Regional Water Management.  Paul also served under Governor Gray Davis as the Director of the California Department of Pesticide Regulation from 1999-2004, and in other executive and management positions prior to 1999 at CALSTART, the California Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  Paul holds a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, and a master’s degree in Environmental Engineering, all from Stanford University.

Arthur Leahy
CEO
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro)
Biography

Arthur Leahy

CEO
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro)

Arthur T. Leahy is CEO of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). Metro is the third largest public transportation agency in the United States with an annual budget of $4.2 Billion and more than 9,000 employees with an operating fleet of over 2200 buses and 5 rail lines with annual rider ship exceeding 400 million boardings.

Leahy is heading one of the nation’s largest public works programs through Measure R that will, literally, change the urban landscape and shape the future of Los Angeles for generations to come.

He began his career 40 years ago as a bus operator.  Having worked through the ranks, he rose to lead 3 major transportation agencies. He was recently recognized by his peers in Metro Magazine –a trade publication as being one of the country’s most influential leaders in the transit industry.

Leahy earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from California State University, Los Angeles (CSLA) in 1974 and a master’s degree in public administration from USC.

Chris Hill
President & CEO
Electric Mobility Canada
Biography

Chris Hill

President & CEO
Electric Mobility Canada

Chris Hill is the President  & CEO of Electric Mobility Canada, Canada’s leading voice for industry members providing electric-powered solutions to the economic and environmental issues in the transportation sector.  This not-for-profit association has 125 members in the automotive industry, energy utilities, research and development centres, universities and end-user fleets.  Electric Mobility Canada is presenting its 5th annual conference, the largest EV event in Canada, in Ottawa in October 2013.

Chris has an MBA from the University of Toronto and has received several awards for his work in implementing low emission automotive technology.  He lives in Mississauga, Ontario.

Earl Blumenauer
Congressman, Oregon's 3rd District
US House of Representatives
Biography

Earl Blumenauer

Congressman, Oregon's 3rd District
US House of Representatives

Earl Blumenauer was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and has been a life-long resident of Oregon's 3rd Congressional District.

Through his years as a local official in the Oregon Legislature, Multnomah County Commission, and Portland’s City Council, Earl developed a national reputation for his advocacy of public transportation, land use planning, protection of the environment, and school funding.

Elected to Congress in 1996, Blumenauer has been a champion for cleaning up America’s most polluted sites and has introduced legislation to reinstate the federal Superfund tax. He is also a leader in public lands protection, in particular for protecting Oregon’s crown jewels such as Mt. Hood and the Columbia River Gorge. He is the former Vice Chair for the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and has strongly defended the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, as well as EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases in the fight against climate change. Blumenauer has also led an initiative to reform federal flood insurance policies by protecting environmentally sensitive and disaster prone areas from development, and modernizing the policies of the US Army Corps of Engineers.  His environmental priorities are geared towards helping the federal government be a better partner to local communities in improving and sustaining the health of our land and water.

Blumenauer currently sits on the Ways and Means Committee. 

Bill Bogaard
Mayor
City of Pasadena
Biography

Bill Bogaard

Mayor
City of Pasadena

Bill Bogaard is the in his fourth term as Mayor of Pasadena, after taking office in 1999 as the City’s first directly elected mayor.  The subsequent time has been an active period in the City’s history, including the arrival of the Gold Line light rail system; development of new housing; construction of a new convention center; establishment of new arts institutions; and reform of the public schools.  He serves as chair of Pasadena Bioscience Collaborative, a technology enterprise incubator, and the Pasadena Emergency Services Council.  He is a member of the Gold Line Foothill Construction Authority, and is President of the League of California Cities.

Mayor Bogaard graduated from Loyola Marymount University and the Michigan Law School.  He practiced law in Los Angeles, and then joined the First Interstate Bancorp until its merger with Wells Fargo & Co. in the late 1990’s.

Gary Lee Moore
City Engineer
City of Los Angeles
Biography

Gary Lee Moore

City Engineer
City of Los Angeles

Gary Lee Moore is the City Engineer of the City of Los Angeles, leading a world-class organization of 800 professional engineers, architects, surveyors and technical support staff dedicated to sustaining and transforming Los Angeles into the world’s most livable city. As the general manager of the Bureau of Engineering, he is responsible for the City’s vast network of public infrastructure, which includes the planning, design, and construction of all public facilities, management of billions of dollars of voter-approved public bond funds, and the delivery of cross-sector local government programs that serve millions of  residents and businesses in diverse neighborhoods and industries. With more than 27 years of public service, Mr. Moore is an accomplished executive and professional engineer, who is responsible for an annual operating budget of more than $140 million and 430 active projects totaling nearly $2.1 billion. Since he began his tenure as City Engineer in 2003, Mr. Moore has been responsible for the completion of 1277 projects totaling more than $3.8 billion.

Bob Savage
Director, Climate Change Secretariat
Alberta Environment
Biography

Bob Savage

Director, Climate Change Secretariat
Alberta Environment

Bob Savage has spent majority of his career in government working in the field of integrated resource management and land use planning in Alberta.  Over the past 10 years, he has focused on climate change policy where he was a lead in the development of Alberta’s greenhouse gas regulatory system, the offset system  and the establishment of the Climate Change and Emissions Management Fund and Corporation.  Currently, Bob is the Director of Alberta Environment’s Climate Change Secretariat, where he is responsible for the implementation of Alberta’s Climate Change Strategy, including both greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation policy. 

Bob’s education has been focused on land use planning and resource economics and he holds an MBA in project management.

Mike Wallace
Chief Decarbonization Officer
Persefoni
Biography

Mike Wallace

Chief Decarbonization Officer
Persefoni

Mike Wallace is an internationally recognized expert with nearly 30 years of experience in sustainability, ESG reporting/compliance, and managing social and human capital issues. He currently serves as the Chief Decarbonization Officer at Persefoni, a carbon accounting technology company, where he oversees strategic partnerships to help with the integration and application of Persefoni’s climate accounting and management platform (CMAP). Prior to joining Persefoni, Wallace was a partner at the global sustainability consultancy, ERM where he counseled clients on corporate responsibility and sustainability solutions and helped shape several strategic partnerships for ERM. In that role, Wallace also served as the Interim Executive Director for the Social & Human Capital Coalition, a multi-stakeholder project of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). His work included overseeing the establishment of the overall governance structure, technical council and global network that drove the creation of the Social & Human Capital Protocol, which was officially launched at GreenBiz 2019 by the founders WBCSD, Nasdaq, and Microsoft. Prior to ERM, Wallace was a director for the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), where he worked on foundational initiatives such as the International Integrated Reporting Council (IRRC), the European Commission proposal on corporate ESG reporting, and the UN Sustainable Stock Exchange Initiative (SSEi) on ESG listing guidance.

Chun-cheng Piao
Senior Manager, Ph.D., Environmental Technology Laboratory
Daikin Industries, Ltd
Biography

Chun-cheng Piao

Senior Manager, Ph.D., Environmental Technology Laboratory
Daikin Industries, Ltd

Dr. Piao joined Daikin Industries, Ltd, after he got his doctoral degree, since 1992. He mainly worked at Daikin research lab, and involved in many projects, such as development of fundamental thermodynamic properties of HFCs refrigerant, evaluation and development of natural working fluids air-conditioning system, feasibility study of latent/sensible heat separate air-conditioning system, feasibility study of micro co-generation system, etc. Recently, he is more interested in introducing outside advanced technologies into Daikin’s technology portfolio, to make an innovation in HVAC, an established traditional industry. 

Bill Abolt
Sustainability National Practice Leader
Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure, Inc.
Biography

Bill Abolt

Sustainability National Practice Leader
Shaw Environmental and Infrastructure, Inc.

 

Bill Abolt is a Vice President of Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure and leads its Sustainability, Energy & Carbon Management National Practice. Prior to joining Shaw, he served as Environment Commissioner, Director of the Office of Budget and Management and Chief of Management, Office of the Mayor, for the City of Chicago, where he was responsible for developing Chicago's strategy to become one of the greenest cities in the United States.

Mr. Abolt has over 28 years of experience managing complex energy, environmental and public issues including energy planning, sustainability program design, multi-stakeholder budget processes and enterprise-wide analysis of critical infrastructure and electrical system performance. As a part of his responsibilities at Shaw, he manages and directs specific consulting projects for corporate and public clients including but not limited to assignments involving renewable energy, energy efficiency, green infrastructure and sustainable design.

He is a member of the Green Ribbon Committee of the Chicago Climate Action Plan, the Midwest Advisory Council of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Civic Consulting Alliance Leadership Council and has served as an adjunct instructor in Public Policy and Administration at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and Northwestern University.

Gary Petersen
Partner and Co-Founder
Environmental Problem Solving Enterprises
Biography

Gary Petersen

Partner and Co-Founder
Environmental Problem Solving Enterprises

Gary Petersen is a partner in Environmental Problem Solving Enterprises, which he co-founded in 1997. The firm specializes in advancing environmentally preferable products and services, including the development of renewable energy and fuels, emerging green technologies, and sustainable design and development. He is a national leader on recycling and sustainability issues.  As founder and president of Ecolo-Haul Recycling (1972-1988), he built a regional network of nearly 60 recycling centers serving much of southern California. He established Los Angeles´s first curbside recycling program in 1972 and was the first citywide recycling contractor for Los Angeles and Santa Monica from the mid-1970s into the late 1980s.   Ecolo-Haul Recycling was later acquired by Waste Management Inc., and Mr. Petersen served as a vice-president and director of environmental affairs for the company's Recycle America program from 1988 to 1997. Mr. Petersen has advised local, State, and federal agencies, corporate entities, businesses, and environmental organizations.  He was a member of the task force for the Greening of the White House.  He is Chairman of the Board of Green Seal and co-chairs the Corporate Board of the Environmental Media Association (EMA).  Mr. Petersen is a co-founder of the California Resource Recovery Association and was a founding member of the National Recycling Coalition. He was appointed as the environmental member of the California Integrated Waste Management Board in 2005 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and served until 2008.

Enrique Zaldivar
CEO
Baldwin Park
Biography

Enrique Zaldivar

CEO
Baldwin Park

Enrique was at the helm of LA Sanitation & Environment (LASAN) as the Director and General Manager for over eight years. He was originally appointed in 2007, and then reappointed by Mayor Garcetti in September 2013.  LASAN is one of the largest agencies in the City of Los Angeles with nearly 3,300 employees and an annual revenue budget of over $1.1 billion. Through Mr. Zaldivar's leadership and management, LASAN oversees important environmental and infrastructure programs such as the City's Clean Water program, one of the largest in the world with its iconic flagship Hyperion Water Reclamation Plant; the Solid Resources program, which has achieved one of the highest recycling rates in the nation at 76.4% and climbing, and includes the recently implemented recycLA Franchise Initiative; and the Watershed Protection program, which is among the most innovative in the country with its use of green infrastructure for achieving water quality objectives for urban stormwater runoff, while delivering on multiple other benefits like open space, urban habitat support, and water supply. 


Under Enrique's leadership, LASAN has had some very significant accomplishments of great benefit to the City at large, such as:

  • The adoption of the Low Impact Development Ordinance (LID), which brought in the expanded participation of the private sector for achieving stormwater quality and capture;
  • Successfully implemented the Single-Use Plastic Bag Ban Ordinance; 
  • Laid the policy groundwork for the adoption of the Solid Waste Private Hauler Exclusive Franchise Initiative; 
  • Made a persuasive case to the Mayor, City Council and the ratepayers for the approval  of a 10-year Financial Rate Plan for the City's Clean Water Program, providing financial stability and efficiency to one of the most critical  infrastructure programs of the City; 
  • Placed LASAN at the forefront of the larger City's strategy for water sustainability through its recycled water and watershed protection programs in alignment with Mayor Garcetti's Executive Directive No. 5 and City Council Policies;
  • Established a full-service Customer Care Center with 24/7 coverage to address customer requests at any time, in recognition of the fact that LASAN is a 24/7 operating agency and fully integrated with the MyLA311 system;
  • Successfully made the Solid Resources Program a Full Cost Recovery service as a quasi-Enterprise Fund with full accountability to the  ratepayers;
  • Implemented the brand new Clean Streets Initiative (CSI) through the leadership of the Mayor and City Council, with the ultimate goal of making  every corner of Los Angeles a clean, livable, and sustainable environment; 
  • Established a productive and collaborative Joint Labor/Management process across the entire organization where work issues get addressed and just as importantly, a process where innovation and work efficiency are fostered and promoted. 


Originally from the state of Zacatecas, Mexico, Enrique graduated from Azusa High School in the City of Azusa, attended UCLA long enough to have Bruin blood in him, and calls himself a proud Bronco from Cal Poly Pomona where he graduated as a Civil Environmental Engineer in 1985. He has also done graduate studies there and now serves as the Vice Chair of their College of Engineering’s Dean’s Leadership Board. Enrique is active in several organizations and serves on several of their Boards, including the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), and others. He also serves on Cal Poly Pomona's School of Engineering Dean's Leadership Council where he has also been inducted into the Hall of Fame and honored as a distinguished alumni. Enrique has been honored by several organizations for his environmental leadership stewardship, including the Los Angeles Conservation Corps (LACC), Friends of Ballona Wetlands, Heal the Bay, Community Conservation Solutions, and others.  Enrique also has an interest in furthering the relationship between the U.S., Mexico and Canada by sharing industry best practices and technical exchange missions between the three countries.

Enrique started his career with the City of Los Angeles in 1985 straight out of college as an associate engineer. Twenty-two years later, he became the General Manager of LA Sanitation and Environment.

Enrique and his wife, Brenda, have three children: Enrique Jr., Alonzo, and Carina.

 

Catherine Dunwoody
Executive Director
California Fuel Cell Partnership
Biography

Catherine Dunwoody

Executive Director
California Fuel Cell Partnership

Catherine Dunwoody is the executive director of the California Fuel Cell Partnership. She has led the organization since 1999 when it was announced as a fuel cell vehicle demonstration program. Today the CaFCP is globally recognized as a leader in promoting hydrogen fuel cell vehicle commercialization. Catherine leads the CaFCP’s team of industry and government members in their collaborative planning, technical and outreach activities. She has long championed the cause for clean air and a better environment, having started her career at the California Air Resources Board in the mid-1980’s as a laboratory chemist, then managing teams responsible for stationary source testing and implementing clean vehicle regulations. In 2011 Automotive News named Catherine as one of the “Electrifying 100” most influential players in the move to electric drive vehicles. Catherine graduated with highest honors in Biochemistry from the University of California, Davis. 

Janet-Marie Smith
Senior VP Planning and Development
Los Angeles Dodgers
Biography

Janet-Marie Smith

Senior VP Planning and Development
Los Angeles Dodgers

Renowned architect and urban planner Janet Marie Smith was named the Dodgers’ senior vice president of planning and development on Aug. 6, 2012. Smith is overseeing upgrades and enhancements to Dodger Stadium.    This post reunites Smith with Dodger President, Stan Kasten.  Smith worked for Kasten in a similar position to create the Atlanta Braves’ Turner Field and the Atlanta Hawks’ Philips Arena.  

Smith is probably best known in the baseball world, for her work on the influential Oriole Park at Camden Yards.  Smith worked for the Orioles from 1989-94 as vice president of planning and development during the design and construction of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Opening in 1992, Camden Yards immediately became the standard-bearer for a new wave of traditional baseball parks that have been built in subsequent years. Smith played an instrumental role in the design of the ballpark, creating a state-of-the-art unique facility that blends with the urban context of downtown Baltimore while taking inspiration from baseball parks built in the early 20th century. 

Prior to joining the Dodgers, Smith worked for the Baltimore Orioles as vice president of planning and development from September 2009 to August 2012. In that role, Smith directed renovations and expansion of the Orioles’ new spring training facility in Sarasota, Florida as well as upgrades and enhancements to Oriole Park at Camden Yards to celebrate the park’s 20th anniversary.

From 2002 to 2009, Smith served as senior vice president of planning and development for the Boston Red Sox, overseeing the preservation of historic Fenway Park and leading the program that placed this significant ballpark on the National Historic Register. 

From 1994-2000, Smith held the position of president of Turner Sports and Entertainment Development, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, and was the vice president of Planning and Development for the Atlanta Braves. Her work in Atlanta helped transform the 1996 Olympic Stadium into Turner Field, home of the Braves, and she also oversaw the development of the Philips Arena, home of the NBA Atlanta Hawks and NHL Atlanta Thrashers.

Smith also worked as senior advisor of planning and design with Baltimore-based Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse on many of their development and rehab projects from Nashville, Tenn. to Providence, R.I., including concept planning for the renovation of the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, Calif. She was also part of the THINK team, one of the final two teams in the competition for the World Trade Center site in New York City in 2002. 

In 2012, the Boston Baseball Writers honored Smith with a Special Achievement Award for her work at Fenway Park. In 2011, she was named in the Inaugural Class of the Sports Business Journal “Game Changers: Women in Sports Business.”

Before working in sports, Smith worked on urban development projects including Pershing Square in Los Angeles and Battery Park City in New York City, where she served as coordinator of Architecture and Design.

Smith holds a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from City College of New York and a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Mississippi State University. She is an associate member of the Urban Land Institute, American Institute of Architects, and the American Planning Association. She also serves on the board of directors for Berklee College of Music in Boston and the advisory board for the University of Michigan Sports Management Program. 

A native of Jackson, Miss., Smith resides in Baltimore with her husband, Bart Harvey, and their three children.

Lei He
Director
UCLA Clean Energy Research Center
Biography

Lei He

Director
UCLA Clean Energy Research Center

Dr. Lei He is a professor at UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and the founding director of clean energy research center, Los Angeles. The center is a US-China EcoPartner awarded by the Department of State.

Dr. He obtained several technical awards from ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). He also has consulted a number of IT companies including Cisco, Hewlett-Package, and Intel, and was a founding technical adviser to two VC-supported software startups. He is now the chief scientist for Pride Power Systems and DB New Energy.

Ron Nichols
President
Southern California Edison
Biography

Ron Nichols

President
Southern California Edison

Ronald O. Nichols is president of Southern California Edison (SCE). He is responsible for external affairs, compliance, power production and procurement, and other operations. Nichols has more than 35 years of experience in the electric and water utility industry. He has been a strategic and operational advisor to utilities, state and local government, power suppliers and the financial community on complex energy and utility matters throughout the United States, particularly in the West. Previously, Nichols was senior vice president of Regulatory Affairs and Nuclear for SCE, overseeing regulatory policy and affairs, regulatory operations and environmental affairs. Prior to joining SCE in 2014, Nichols served for three years as General Manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), where he provided leadership for the utility in supplying reliable and competitively priced water and electricity while continuing to maintain and implement environmentally conscious policies and priorities. Previously, Nichols was a managing director at the energy practice of Navigant Consulting, an international consulting organization with over 2,000 employees. From 1980 to 1997, before his position at Navigant, he was a co-founder and Senior Vice President of the energy and water utility consulting firm, Resource Management International, which was headquartered in Sacramento with offices throughout North America and in Europe and Asia. Prior to starting his energy and water utility consulting career in 1980, he held positions with the California Department of Water Resources and the California Energy Commission. Nichols is a graduate of the University of California, Davis with a degree in agricultural economics and business management.

Randy Hoyle
Senior Vice President and Head of Wind and Solar Development
Terra-Gen Power
Biography

Randy Hoyle

Senior Vice President and Head of Wind and Solar Development
Terra-Gen Power

Mr. Hoyle leads Terra-Gen’s wind and solar development initiatives.  Over the past three years his team has successfully developed and constructed 1,320MW of wind energy composed of nine projects and represents a $2.8 billion investment in California.  In 2011, Terra-Gen was recognized as the #1 wind developer in the United States based on installed capacity during the year.  Prior to joining Terra-Gen, Mr. Hoyle was Managing Director at Edison Mission Energy, the unregulated affiliate of Edison International, responsible for business development activities related to a national wind energy platform. From 1994 to 2005, Mr. Hoyle was employed by NextEra Energy Resources, the unregulated affiliate of NextEra Energy, Inc. (formerly FPL Group). He last served as Director, Development accountable for originating and developing an industry-leading wind franchise in the southern Mid-Continent region. Previous to that assignment at NextEra, he provided leadership in natural gas development, mergers and acquisitions, and financial analysis roles. Mr. Hoyle earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Miami (FL) and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in Finance from Iowa State University.

Joel Levin
Vice President, Business Development
Climate Action Reserve
Biography

Joel Levin

Vice President, Business Development
Climate Action Reserve

As the Climate Action Reserve’s Vice President of Business Development, Joel Levin is responsible for strategic development of the Reserve and has overseen its development from inception to its current status as the recognized environmental standard for carbon offset projects in the United States. He is the Reserve’s primary liaison to the business community and is a frequent and popular speaker on the Reserve’s programs and other climate change topics.

Joel has served as staff to the California Market Advisory Committee and the California Climate Action Team. Prior to working at the Reserve, Joel worked at Feeva Wireless in Berkeley and APX in Santa Clara. He has also served on the Capitol Hill staff of Senator Timothy E. Wirth (D-Colorado).

Joel holds an M.B.A. from U.C. Berkeley and an M.A. in International Economics from the Johns Hopkins University.

Kevin Ratner
President
Forest City
Biography

Kevin Ratner

President
Forest City
Mark Ridley-Thomas
Supervisor, 2nd District
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Biography

Mark Ridley-Thomas

Supervisor, 2nd District
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors

Since he was overwhelmingly elected in 2008 and reelected in 2012 and 2016 to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Mark Ridley-Thomas has distinguished himself as a strong advocate for more than two million Second District residents. He presently serves as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, President of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission and a member of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

He has promoted the District’s interests on a variety of fronts, including transportation, job creation and retention, and local hiring. In the area of health policy, Supervisor Ridley-Thomas has overseen the construction of the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital, as well as a network of cutting-edge health care facilities throughout the District. He has facilitated the use of technology and encouraged an integrated approach to wellness that includes mental health care and a prominent role for school-based clinics. His advocacy has helped secure an equitable share of funding for public-private partnership health clinics in underserved areas.

Prior to his election to the Board of Supervisors, Supervisor Ridley-Thomas served the 26th District in the California State Senate where he chaired the Senate’s Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development. He served as Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus in 2008 and led the Caucus in unprecedented levels of cooperation and collaboration with counterparts in the Latino and Asian-Pacific Islander Legislative Caucuses.

Mark Ridley-Thomas was first elected to public office in 1991 and served with distinction on the Los Angeles City Council for nearly a dozen years, departing as Council President pro Tempore. He later served two terms in the California State Assembly, where he chaired the Assembly Democratic Caucus. His legislative work addressed a broad range of issues with implications for economic and workforce development, health care, public safety, education, budget accountability, consumer protection and civic participation.

He is widely regarded as the foremost advocate of neighborhood participation in government decision-making. By virtue of his founding of the Empowerment Congress, arguably the region’s most successful 24-year experiment in neighborhood-based civic engagement, he is considered the founder of the Neighborhood Council movement.

Ridley-Thomas’ political career was preceded by a decade of service as executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles, which followed a brief but successful five-year stint as a high school teacher.

The Supervisor is a graduate of Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles and earned a baccalaureate degree in Social Relations with a minor in Government and a master’s degree in Religious Studies with a concentration in Christian ethics from Immaculate Heart College. Supervisor Ridley-Thomas went on to receive his Ph.D. in Social Ethics from the University of Southern California focusing on Social Criticism and Social Change.

He is married to Avis Ridley-Thomas, Co-Founder and Director of the Institute for Non-Violence in Los Angeles. They are the proud parents of Sinclair and Sebastian, both Morehouse Men. Sinclair recently earned an MBA degree at USC’s Marshall School of Business, works in the investment banking industry, and resides with his wife Shaunicie, an attorney, in San Francisco. Sebastian is a member of the California State Assembly representing the 54th District, which includes Southwest Los Angeles, Culver City, Century City and Westwood.

Doug Kim
Director of Advanced Technology
Southern California Edison
Biography

Doug Kim

Director of Advanced Technology
Southern California Edison

Doug Kim is the director of Advanced Technology, Southern California Edison’s technology evaluation organization. This Transmission and Distribution Business Unit group operates as part of the Engineering and Technical Services division and is responsible for SCE’s smart grid development, which includes advanced grid technologies, energy storage, electric transportation, and the integration of energy smart consumer products.

Before taking the helm at Advanced Technology, Mr. Kim led SCE’s Plug-In Electric Vehicle Readiness efforts to ensure SCE’s grid and services are prepared to support the integration of the many new electric vehicles being marketed by automobile manufacturers.

Prior to leading the PEV Readiness group’s activities, Mr. Kim served as general manager for Edison Carrier Solutions, a business unit of SCE that provides large capacity fiber optics-based broadband services to local and long distance telephone, alternative telecommunications service providers, wireless carriers, cable television, and internet access companies.

Kim began his tenure at Edison International (EIX), the parent company of SCE, in 1996 where he was engaged in the company’s strategic planning and new business development. He also served as an internal consultant for many of EIX’s operating units. Mr. Kim went on to manage a variety of SCE organizations where he led the assessment of new business opportunities, development of strategies, and detailed business plans.                                                                                                                          

Mr. Kim earned a Master of Business Administration degree from UCLA and his Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA.

Doug Sereno
Director of Program Management
Port of Long Beach
Biography

Doug Sereno

Director of Program Management
Port of Long Beach

 

Douglas J. Sereno, P.E., has been the Director of Program Management for the Port of Long Beach, California since August 2007 where he oversees the Port’s 5-year, $4.5B capital improvement program.  Significant current projects under his direction are the $950M Gerald Desmond Bridge replacement, the $1.2B Middle Harbor Redevelopment Program and the $600M Pier G Redevelopment Program.  Doug holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.  He is a Registered Engineer in the State of California and is credentialed as a Envision Sustainability Professional by the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI).

Doug is involved in sustainable infrastructure initiatives with ASCE’s Coasts, Oceans, Ports and Rivers Institute (COPRI) as the chairman of its Sustainability Committee and as the secretary of the ASCE - LA Chapter’s Sustainability Committee.  He serves on ASCE‘s Subcommittee on Sustainable Infrastructure Certification that is developing an international certification standard for the Sustainable Infrastructure Professional, ASCE’s  Committee on Sustainability as a member of the Strategic Communications Committee and ISI Envision Infrastructure Rating System Leadership Credits Sub-Committee.  He was the initial chair of the Port’s Sustainability Task Force and is a founding member of the Joint West Coast Ports Technical Committee for the Development of Sustainable Design and Construction Guidelines. He is an active member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Water Environment Federation and the U.S. Green Building Council, LA Chapter.

Adam Sulkowski
Associate Professor of Business Law and Sustainable Development
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Biography

Adam Sulkowski

Associate Professor of Business Law and Sustainable Development
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Adam Sulkowski specializes in research and teaching in the fields of sustainable business, corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability reporting, and law. He received his JD and MBA from Boston College and was a manager for several years before becoming a full-time professor. Since then, Prof. Sulkowski has authored over 30 published works of scholarship and his research has been cited by MSN, The Times of India, Inc. magazine, and Science Daily. He led MBA students in producing the first sustainability report in the world by a university that attained an A level of compliance with the world’s preeminent standard, the GRI’s G3.1 standard.  Most recently, this report became the first by a university to attain the A+ level of compliance with the G3.1 standard, and Sulkowski's students produced the first sustainability report by a city (Fall River, MA) and small town (Dartmouth, MA) in the United States to use the GRI's standard - these reports are the first in the world by municipalities to report on enough metrics to qualify as A level.

Richard Katz
Commissioner
Los Angeles City Planning Commission
Biography

Richard Katz

Commissioner
Los Angeles City Planning Commission

Richard Katz was elected to the California State Assembly in 1980, serving continuously for 16 years. As Democratic Leader in 1995, Katz led the Party to majority status by winning 43 seats in the 1996 elections. California’s term limits law prohibited Katz from seeking re-election.

For 10 years, Richard Katz served as Chair of the powerful Assembly Transportation Committee. He created the Congestion Management Plan, requiring cities and counties to measure and mitigate impacts of land use decisions on their streets, highways and transit systems.

Katz was California’s lead negotiator for the landmark Colorado River Agreement between the State of California, the Federal Government, four California Water Agencies, and the six Colorado River Basin States, furthering his expertise as a negotiator on issues of statewide significance.

Katz had already played a pivotal role in renegotiating $30 billion worth of California’s Energy contracts and developing California’s Transportation Blueprint for the 21st Century, which the voters approved as Proposition 111 in 1990.

In June of 2005, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa appointed Katz to serve with him on the Governing Board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where Katz served for 8 years. In 2008, the Mayor appointed Katz to the Metrolink Board after the horrendous Chatsworth accident, “to make sure this never happens again.” Katz served on the Metrolink Board for 7 years, focused on safety issues and leading the effort that resulted in Metrolink being the first railroad in the country to implement Positive Train Control (PTC) a state of the art life saving satellite based technology.   

When Mayor Garcetti was elected in 2013, he appointed Richard Katz to the Los Angeles City Planning Commission, where he continues to serve.

Richard Katz is the owner of a successful public policy/government relations firm, Richard Katz Consulting (RKC), Inc. He currently serves as the Chairman of the Valley Economic Alliance and on the Boards of Heal the Bay and the Jordan farmer Foundation.

A native of Los Angeles, Richard Katz lives in Studio City with his eight year-old son Mitchell Robert.

 

Hampik Dekermenjian
Senior Vice President
CDM Smith
Biography

Hampik Dekermenjian

Senior Vice President
CDM Smith

Mr. Hampik Dekermenjian is a Senior Vice President with CDM Smith.  He is responsible for managing CDM Smith’s public sector business in Southern California and Arizona.  Mr. Dekermenjian has over 20 years of experience working with cities and municipalities in the areas of water resources, stormwater management, water and wastewater treatment, and municipal strategic planning.  He has been part of the leadership team in southern California in developing stormwater compliance strategies and TMDL implementation plans.  He has also been involved in numerous stakeholder outreach initiatives, focusing on reaching consensus in the development of these strategic plans.  He holds a Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in environmental engineering and a Master of Business Administration; the latter two from the University of Southern California.

Cherif Youssef
Technology Development Manager
Southern California Gas Company
Biography

Cherif Youssef

Technology Development Manager
Southern California Gas Company

Mr. Youssef is the Technology Development Manager for the Southern California Gas Company.  Mr. Youssef has 35 years of experience in the energy industry with past responsibilities in Marketing, Human Resources, Operations and Engineering.  He is responsible for managing a $10 million per year R&D program. This program is focused on developing and demonstrating new products and technologies to help customers use energy more efficiently, meet their environmental regulations, use renewable energy and use alternative fuel vehicles.

 

Mr. Youssef has a Bachelor and Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California.

Varun Sivaram
Philip D. Reed Fellow
Council on Foreign Relations
Biography

Varun Sivaram

Philip D. Reed Fellow
Council on Foreign Relations

Varun Sivaram is the Philip D. Reed fellow for science and technology at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, a nonresident fellow at the Columbia University Center for Global Energy Policy, and a member of the advisory boards for the Stanford University Woods Institute for the Environment and Precourt Institute for Energy. Forbes named him one of the 30 under 30 in Law and Policy, Grist selected him as one of the top 50 leaders in sustainability, and Klout ranked him as one of the top 5 global thought leaders on solar energy. He is the author of the book, Taming the Sun: Innovations to Harness Solar Energy and Power the Planet (MIT University Press, March 2018). 

Dr. Sivaram also serves as strategic advisor to the office of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Reforming the Energy Vision, and he was formerly a consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he counseled Fortune 500 companies on adapting to the modern competitive landscape in energy. Prior to this role, he served as senior advisor for energy and water policy to the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, and oversaw the city’s Department of Water and Power. 

Dr. Sivaram’s work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial TimesForeign Affairs, the Journal of Applied Physics, the Journal of Physical ChemistryNatureNature EnergyNature Climate ChangeScientific American, and Issues in Science and Technology. He has also given talks around the world, including at the Aspen Ideas Festival and World Economic Forum. A Truman and a Rhodes scholar, he holds degrees from Stanford University in engineering physics and international relations, with honors in international security. Dr. Sivaram holds a PhD in condensed matter physics from St. John’s College, Oxford University, where he developed third-generation solar photovoltaic coatings for building-integrated applications. He lives in Washington, DC.

Tony Lucente
Director, Business Transformation
Nissan America Latina
Biography

Tony Lucente

Director, Business Transformation
Nissan America Latina

Experienced Senior Consultant with in-depth Business Transformation, Corporate Real Estate, Project and Change Management skills and an exemplary record of achievement.

Retired Senior Corporate Real Estate strategy executive for Nissan Americas based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with responsibility for Nissan's Business Transformation practice for the Latin America Region including operations in 30+ countries. More than 30 years of international experience including corporate real estate, facilities, transportation & fleet management, corporate security, organization design and business process outsourcing program management. 

Exceptional results-oriented leader with proven strategic and operational abilities. Strong record of success in developing, launching and managing local, regional and global programs. Applies multifaceted tool set, innovative approaches and outstanding multicultural team building talents to enhance enterprise-wide business performance resulting in sustainable growth and profits. Superior verbal and written communications proficiency, vendor management and P&L management skills. Extensive community and civic affairs experience.

Specialties: Corporate Real Estate Strategy, Global Project and Change Management, Communications, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Six Sigma based organization development and Business Process Reengineering.

Jan Perry
Councilmember, 9th District
Los Angeles City Council
Biography

Jan Perry

Councilmember, 9th District
Los Angeles City Council
Christine Kehoe
Commissioner
California Transportation Commission
Biography

Christine Kehoe

Commissioner
California Transportation Commission

Christine Kehoe was appointed to the California Transportation Commission on January 11, 2016 by the Speaker of the Assembly, Toni Atkins. Christine is the former Executive Director of the Plug in Electric Vehicle Collaborative where she started service in January 2013. Previously, Christine served 19 years in elected office including four years in the California Assembly and eight years in the State Senate. During her twelve years in the State Legislature she distinguished herself with a strong legislative record and her ability to build consensus among her colleagues.

Christine served as the chair of the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications and she also chaired the Senate Committee on Appropriations for four years. She was a member of the Transportation and Housing Committee, Natural Resources and Water and Environmental Quality committees among others. She was a Senate member of the California Plug-In Electric Vehicle Collaborative (PEVC) until she left office in November 2012.

Christine’s legislation in both houses consistently focused on the public benefit of expanding and strengthening California’s policies for renewable energy, energy efficiency, alternative fuels and vehicles, resource protection and water quality and conservation.

Christine was first elected in 1993 to the San Diego City Council and served there until 2000. From 1997-2000 she was a member of the California Coastal Commission. She lives in San Diego with her spouse Julie Warren.

Matthew Harris
Senior Director, Executive Office
San Diego County Regional Airport Authority
Biography

Matthew Harris

Senior Director, Executive Office
San Diego County Regional Airport Authority
Fran Pavley
Former Senator, 27th District
California State Senate
Biography

Fran Pavley

Former Senator, 27th District
California State Senate

Senator Fran Pavley was most recently the State Senator representing the 27th District of California, In 2000 she won election to the California State Assembly, serving three terms, or six years. She was elected to the state Senate in 2008. Currently, Senator Pavley represents about 900,000 people in the 27th Senate District, which includes parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Senator Pavley was the chair of the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee and was a member of the: Energy, Utilities, and Communications committee, Environmental Quality, Budget and Fiscal Review committee, and Governance and Finance and Legislative Ethics committee, among others.

During her 14 years in the Legislature, Senator Pavley received national acclaim for her work on three historic pieces of climate legislation that established California as a worldwide leader in promoting clean energy and reducing climate pollution. Most recently, she was the author of SB 32, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Sept. 8, 2016. It sets a target for California to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030. Senator Pavley also passed critical legislation regarding ending unregulated hydraulic fracturing, regulating greenhouse gas emissions from automobile tailpipes, and requiring rigorous safety testing at all wells before gas injection can resume at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage field.

Jordanna Rubin
Client Program Manager
Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure
Biography

Jordanna Rubin

Client Program Manager
Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure

Ms. Rubin is a client program manager for Shaw’s Sustainability Services National Practice Program. She holds a Masters in Public Administration, with a concentration in Environmental and Energy Policy, and a certificate in Conservation Biology from Columbia University in New York City.

Mrs. Rubin has a diverse professional background in environmental management and resource conservation. She has managed projects that developed and implemented sustainability programs, green infrastructure and high efficiency design, environmental stewardship reports and capital planning, energy strategies and audits, industry benchmark assessments, and GHG inventories.  Mrs. Rubin has been involved in several green conferences and workshops, presenting infor­mation on ARRA funding opportunities, sustainable and green infrastructure design, and strategies for program implementation to city, county, state officials, and other stakeholders.

Prior to joining Shaw, Ms. Rubin was the Environ­mental Resources Manager for the City of Miami Beach, FL. She was responsible for the management of all environmental projects and education programs and served as a liaison to local and state environmental regulatory agencies. Mrs. Rubin was the project manager for the design, engineering, and construction of over 15 public works construction projects, including South Beach’s “Beachwalk”.

Ms. Rubin served as Co-Chair of the Florida Green Building Coalition, Local Government Committee for over 5 years and is a member of numerous organizations including: USGBC, the C4 Central Coast and the Association of Environmental Professionals. 

Susan Kennedy
‎Founder & CEO
Advanced Microgrid Solutions
Biography

Susan Kennedy

‎Founder & CEO
Advanced Microgrid Solutions

Before starting a groundbreaking energy storage company, Susan served for two decades at the highest levels of state and federal government, most recently as chief of staff to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, cabinet secretary and deputy chief of staff to Governor Gray Davis and communications director for U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. She served from 2003-2006 on California’s Public Utilities Commission, regulating the state’s investor-owned electric utilities, telecommunications providers and private water companies. 

In her numerous government roles, Susan was at the center of many of California’s groundbreaking environmental policies, including the carbon reduction mandate and cap-and- trade program under AB 32, the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard, auto emission standards and Renewable Portfolio Standard. She coordinated the State’s emergency demand response efforts during the energy crisis of 2000-2001 and as a member of the PUC she authored what was then the largest energy efficiency program in utility history.

Susan’s company, Advanced Microgrid Solutions, is on the leading edge of a complete transformation of the electric grid.  Using advanced energy storage systems, AMS is creating the first fleet of Hybrid Electric BuildingsÒ in the world, turning portfolios of commercial and industrial buildings into virtual power plants for Southern California Edison.  In 2014 her company won the first major contract in the world to use these advanced energy storage technologies on a large scale to replace capacity from the retired facility at San Onofre nuclear facility.  AMS is consistently listed as one of the top clean tech companies to watch in the US.

She holds a B.A. in Management from Saint Mary’s College of California.

Robert Jernigan
Regional Managing Principal
Gensler
Biography

Robert Jernigan

Regional Managing Principal
Gensler
As Co-Managing Principal for the Southwest Region, Rob is responsible for Gensler offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, Newport Beach, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Denver; and he also serves on Gensler’s Board of Directors and Management Committee. Known to peers and clients as an accomplished architect, practice leader and collaborator, Rob is committed to design innovation, technical quality and a belief that we are only as good as the people we mentor to succeed us. Rob’s technical expertise spans more than 32 million square feet of built projects that have reshaped city landscapes worldwide. A strong proponent of community service, he has shepherded Gensler’s gServe program, which encompasses the firm’s community outreach activities and socially conscious design efforts. Rob is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a member of the Urban Land Institute, and he serves on the Boards of the Design Build Institute of America’s Southern California Chapter and the Los Angeles Business Council. In 2012, the AIA California Council awarded Rob its Presidential Citation for changing the face of architecture in Los Angeles.
 
Jim Kelly
Director
S&C Electric
Biography

Jim Kelly

Director
S&C Electric

Jim Kelly retired from Edison International (EIX) on July 1, 2011, after almost 38 years of service with the Company.

Prior to his retirement, Mr. Kelly was the senior vice president of Transmission & Distribution for Southern California Edison, responsible for the operation and maintenance of an electrical grid comprised of over 12,000 miles of transmission and 100,000 miles of distribution lines spread across a 50,000-square-mile service area.

Mr. Kelly was also president of Edison ESI, a subsidiary company that operates one of the largest electrical and mechanical repair facilities in the U.S..

Kelly was previously the vice president of Engineering & Technical Services, responsible for planning, engineering, and designing SCE’s electrical grid, as well as research and development, safety and training. Mr. Kelly was one of the early pioneers of the Smart Grid, developing a roadmap for a smarter, safer, more reliable and more environmentally responsible electric grid. Among many other awards and honors, Jim was selected as the IEEE’s “Leader in Power” in 2009.

Kelly also previously served as the vice president of Regulatory Compliance and Environmental Affairs, and has in-depth experience with environmental regulation, permitting and licensing.

Since his retirement, Jim has advised or directed a number of firms in the energy space. 

Jim earned a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Long Beach, and a master’s degree from California State Polytechnic University.  He holds teaching credentials in several subjects and has taught at a number of colleges and universities throughout his career.

Joe Edmiston
Executive Director
Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy
Biography

Joe Edmiston

Executive Director
Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy

Joseph Edmiston was appointed Executive Director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy by Governor Jerry Brown in 1979. Under his leadership, the Conservancy has preserved over 60,000 acres of public parkland within and surrounding the Los Angeles Metropolitan region, in a zone extending from the edge of the Mojave Desert to the Pacific Ocean. From north to south, these areas drain into the Santa Clara River, Calleguas Creek, numerous smaller coastal watersheds in the Santa Monica Mountains, and the Los Angeles River and Rio Hondo. Joe has lectured extensively on environmental planning, park development, and urban land use. He and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, have been the recipient of numerous national awards including, most recently, the highest honor of the National Planning Association, the Daniel Burnham Award.

Su Wei
Director General, Climate Change Department
China's National Development and Reform Commission
Biography

Su Wei

Director General, Climate Change Department
China's National Development and Reform Commission

Mr. Su Wei, Director General of the Department of Climate Change, National Development and Reform Commission 

A veteran on climate change, Mr. Su Wei has been working in the Department of Treaties and Law, Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more than 20 years until Nov. 2007 and is well-known on the international arena for his professionalism as a chief negotiator on climate change. On his new position as Director General of Department of Climate Change, NDRC, Su Wei is involved in leading and coordinating China’s efforts in combating climate change, both domestically and internationally, and is a key member on national climate change policies and international negotiation strategies. 

Eric Garcetti
Mayor
City of Los Angeles
Biography

Eric Garcetti

Mayor
City of Los Angeles

Eric Garcetti is the 42nd Mayor of Los Angeles. His "back to basics" agenda is focused on job creation and solving everyday problems for L.A. residents.

Garcetti was elected four times by his peers to serve as President of the Los Angeles City Council from 2006 to 2012. From 2001 until taking office as Mayor, he served as the Councilmember representing the 13th District which includes Hollywood, Echo Park, Silver Lake, and Atwater Village -- all of which were dramatically revitalized under Garcetti's leadership.

Garcetti was raised in the San Fernando Valley and earned his B.A. and M.A. from Columbia University. He studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford and the London School of Economics and taught at Occidental College and USC. A fourth generation Angeleno, he and his wife, Amy Elaine Wakeland, have a young daughter. He is a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy reserve and is an avid jazz pianist and photographer.

Paul Sellew
CEO
Harvest Power Canada Ltd. and Harvest Power, Inc.
Biography

Paul Sellew

CEO
Harvest Power Canada Ltd. and Harvest Power, Inc.

PAUL SELLEW is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Harvest Power Canada Ltd. and of Harvest Power, Inc. Paul has been a leader in the organics industry for more than 25 years. In 1982 he founded Earthgro, Inc., which grew to be the second largest producer of compost-based lawn and garden products in North America. He has also founded and led International Process Systems, Inc. (composting technology provider), Allgro, Inc. (compost marketing firm), Environmental Credit Corp. (carbon credit creation and trading), and Backyard Farms (hydroponic greenhouse tomato producer). Paul graduated from Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Felicia Marcus
William C. Landreth Visiting Fellow
Stanford University Water in the West
Biography

Felicia Marcus

William C. Landreth Visiting Fellow
Stanford University Water in the West

Felicia Marcus is an attorney who has served in leadership and management positions in the government and non-profit sectors. She is currently the Landreth Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Water in the West Program and is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Felicia was most recently Chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board (working on issues of drought, groundwater management, water supply, drinking water, water quality and a host of other issues) after having served as Regional Administrator of the U.S. EPA Region IX and as head of the Los Angeles Department of Public Works in addition to senior leadership in national non-governmental organizations (NRDC and TPL).  She has experience as a private and public interest sector attorney and has worked on issues across the West spanning water supply, water rights, and water quality in addition to experience in other sectors like energy, toxics, and land use. She is also a member of the Water Policy Group, an international network of former and current high level water officials dedicated to assisting developing nations, a Board Member of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, which oversees the bulk electricity transmission grid for the Western US and parts of Canada and Mexico, and is also one of the three US members of the Joint Public Advisory Committee of the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation in addition to serving of many boards and advisory committees.

Traci Minamide, PE, BCEE
Chief Operating Officer
City of Los Angeles, LA Sanitation & Environment (LASAN)
Biography

Traci Minamide, PE, BCEE

Chief Operating Officer
City of Los Angeles, LA Sanitation & Environment (LASAN)

Traci serves as Chief Operating Officer for City of Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment (LASAN), a department of over 3,500 employees with an annual revenue of over $1billion. She has been with the City for over 30 years serving in many capacities, including wastewater treatment, water reclamation, biosolids, water planning, environmental regulations, stormwater management, and solid resources.

Traci holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, a Master of Science degree in Environmental Engineering from Loyola Marymount University, and certification in Executive Management for State and Local Government from Harvard University. She is also a licensed professional Civil Engineer in the State of California and a Board Certified Environmental Engineer through the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists. She is past President of the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA) and currently serves on the Board of the Southern California Alliance of POTWs (SCAP). Traci also served as a member of the State of California’s Advisory Panel on Direct Potable Reuse.

Paul Krekorian*
Councilmember, District 2
Los Angeles City Council
Biography

Paul Krekorian*

Councilmember, District 2
Los Angeles City Council

Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, Paul Krekorian has spent more than a decade in public service. Since 2010, he has served on the Los Angeles City Council where his leadership of the Budget and Finance Committee helped guide the city through the Great Recession. Paul also serves on the board of the LA County Metropolitan Transit Authority, Metrolink and the San Fernando Valley Council of Governments.

A former member of the California State Assembly, Paul is the first Armenian-American to be elected in the City of Los Angeles.

Rick Gustafson
Executive Director
Portland Streetcar, Inc.
Biography

Rick Gustafson

Executive Director
Portland Streetcar, Inc.
Homer Williams
Chairman
Williams & Dame Development
Biography

Homer Williams

Chairman
Williams & Dame Development
Josh Richman
Vice President of Business Development
Bloom Energy
Biography

Josh Richman

Vice President of Business Development
Bloom Energy

Josh Richman is the Vice President of Business Development for Bloom Energy Corporation where his responsibilities include market development, strategic partnerships, and legislative and regulatory affairs. Before joining Bloom, Josh was an associate at Greenrock Capital, a private equity fund focused exclusively on clean energy investments. Prior to his work in the energy sector, Josh spent six years in the political arena serving as Congressman Patrick Kennedy’s Political Director and as a senior member of the Richard Gephardt for President campaign. 

Josh graduated with honors from Brown University and received his MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. While at Stanford, Josh co-founded the GSB Energy Club and worked at Technology Partners, a Silicon Valley cleantech venture capital firm. Josh served on the board of the Clean Tech Advisory Council for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, and on the Sunnyvale Mayor’s Green Ribbon Sustainability Taskforce.

Jack Baylis
President and CEO
The Baylis Group
Biography

Jack Baylis

President and CEO
The Baylis Group
Mark Schleich
Director, Resource Recovery & Waste Management Division
Santa Barbara County Public Works Department
Biography

Mark Schleich

Director, Resource Recovery & Waste Management Division
Santa Barbara County Public Works Department

Mark Schleich has been a civil engineer for over 25 years at the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department. He has been directly involved in solid waste policy and projects as the director of the Resource Recovery & Waste Management Division for the past 15 years. Mr. Schleich’s division manages three recycling & transfer stations as well as one regional landfill that in total employ over 90 people. During Mr. Schleich’s tenure, the County has increased its recycling rate from 30% to over 70% and received numerous awards for innovative solid waste management including: Landfill Management Excellence Silver Award (SWANA, 2001), Integrated Solid Waste Management Gold Award (SWANA, 2008), and Household Hazardous Waste Management Excellence Award (CalEPA, 2002).

Gary Gero
Chief Sustainability Officer
Los Angeles County
Biography

Gary Gero

Chief Sustainability Officer
Los Angeles County

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors appointed Gary Gero to be the County’s first Chief Sustainability Officer in November 2016.  His duties include: building and launching the largest community choice energy program in California; creating a countywide sustainability plan that addresses regional environmental, economic, and equity issues; and serving as the key environmental advisor to the Board of Supervisors.

Gary previously served as the President of the Climate Action Reserve, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Los Angeles and operating across North America.  He now serves as the Vice-Chair on its Board of Directors. He has also served on the CFTC’s Energy and Environmental Markets Committee, the board of California Invasive Plant Council, and the Glendale City Planning Commission.

Gary’s career includes many years in local government including having served as the Assistant General Manager for the City of Los Angeles Environmental Affairs Department.  He also worked for several years at the LADWP where he oversaw energy efficiency, renewable energy, and distributed generation programs.

Gary earned his Master's degree from the London School of Economics and his undergraduate degrees from the University of California at Berkeley.

Michael Wehner
Assistant General Manager
Orange County Water District
Biography

Michael Wehner

Assistant General Manager
Orange County Water District

 

Mike Wehner is the Assistant General Manager at Orange County Water District (OCWD) and manages Water Quality and Technology programs at the District.  Mike was also responsible for obtaining regulatory approval and bolstering public support for the Groundwater Replenishment System, the world’s largest potable reuse system, which currently provides 70 MGD of high purity recycled water to prevent seawater intrusion and replenish the Orange County groundwater basin.  Prior to joining OCWD, he spent 20 years with Orange County Environmental Health where he was Water Quality Program Chief. 

Mike is an internationally recognized expert in water quality, public health and advanced water purification technology and has served on advisory panels for the National Water Research Institute, WaterRF, the WateReuse Research Foundation, the NRC, US EPA, CDPH, the State Water Resources Control Board, UK Water Industry Research, Thames Water, CSIRO in Australia and the PUB in Singapore.

Pat Proano
Former Deputy Director of Transportation
Los Angeles County Department of Public Works
Biography

Pat Proano

Former Deputy Director of Transportation
Los Angeles County Department of Public Works

Pat Proano, a licensed Professional Civil Engineer in California, has a dynamic background providing leadership and coordination for Public Works projects and services in Los Angeles County.  He has worked in and/or managed nearly all facets of Public Works including environmental, transportation, and land development services, and emergency management. 

Mr. Proano has expertise in strategic planning and performance management.  He spearheaded the development and implementation of the County’s unincorporated areas’ strategic plan and served as the lead County manager for the Florence-Firestone unincorporated area.  Pat has most recently been at the forefront of developing a Sustainable Waste Management Future for Los Angeles County including efforts to integrate conversion technologies into the municipal waste system. He was instrumental in sponsoring legislation to define these technologies and develop incentives for projects in California.

With a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Masters in Public Policy and Administration from California State University in Long Beach, he has also served as an adjunct professor in the Graduate Center of Public Policy and Administration at his alma mater. 

As a fluent English and Spanish speaker, he has represented the County at various media events, has published numerous Op Eds advocating sustainability, and has been asked to speak at conferences and forums. 

 

 

 

 

 

Jerry Meral
Former Deputy Secretary
California Natural Resources Agency
Biography

Jerry Meral

Former Deputy Secretary
California Natural Resources Agency

Dr. Gerald (Jerry) Meral is the director of the California Water Program at the Natural Heritage Institute.  He works on funding for California water, Delta infrastructure, and a variety of other California water programs.  He formerly served as Deputy Director of the California Department of Water Resources, Deputy Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, Executive Director of the Planning and Conservation Director, and Staff Scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund.  He has placed 9 initiatives on the California statewide ballot, and has been involved in many statewide ballot measures affecting California water, parks, wildlife, health, and transportation.  He has a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley.  He serves as the campaign director of the Water Supply and Water Quality Initiative Bond Act of November 2018 campaign.

Bruce Karas
Vice President, Environment & Sustainability
Coca Cola Refreshments
Biography

Bruce Karas

Vice President, Environment & Sustainability
Coca Cola Refreshments
Vance Fong
Environmental Indicator Program Manager
US Environmental Protection Agency
Biography

Vance Fong

Environmental Indicator Program Manager
US Environmental Protection Agency

Vance S. Fong, P.E. is the Manager of the Environmental Indicator program leading Region 9 efforts to develop environmental indicators across media programs, working with the U.S. EPA Headquarters to develop the Report on the Environment, and providing support to states and tribes to develop their own indicators.  He was the Chief of the Quality Assurance Office managing the Region 9 Quality Assurance Program and environmental data collection activities.  He worked in Hawaii Department of Health and provided programmatic advice and technical assistance in the development and implementation of the Hawaii Hazard evaluation and Emergency Response Rules.  He joined the Pacific Southwest Regional Office in 1987 where he was a Superfund Project Manager, responsible for leading and overseeing environmental remediation efforts at Federal Facilities on the National Priority List. 

Vance has been designated by the EPA Science Policy Council to be a member of EPA Group on Earth Observation (GEO) representing EPA Region 9.  Vance has been the Principal Investigator for two Advanced Monitoring Initiative projects -- Satellite and Surface Monitoring of Ozone Concentrations in Support of U.S.-Mexico Border 2012 Program and the California Sustainability Indicators Suite.

Jeffrey Kightlinger
General Manager & CEO
Metropolitan Water District
Biography

Jeffrey Kightlinger

General Manager & CEO
Metropolitan Water District

Jeffrey Kightlinger is general manager and chief executive officer for The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The Metropolitan Water District is the largest municipal water provider in the nation delivering an average of over 2 billion gallons of water a day to 19 million customers across Southern California.  Metropolitan serves one out of every two Californians in the six counties of Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego.

Kightlinger was appointed general manager in February 2006.  Prior to that, he served as the general counsel for the agency.

Bill Strang
Chairman
TOTO Mexico
Biography

Bill Strang

Chairman
TOTO Mexico

President, Americas – Operations Group and Chairman of TOTO Mexico; Bill has responsibility for all operations, including supply chain, design and development engineering, Quality, ISO, Environmental and management of the five TOTO North America plants:  Morrow, GA; Lakewood, GA; Fairburn, GA; and Ontario, CA, Monterrey Mexico with 1.8 million sq ft under roof.  

Under Bill’s leadership, TOTO has received awards for 5S implementation, US EPA Water Efficiency Leadership Award, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue’s Water Conservation Leadership Award, the Argon Award, the City of Atlanta Phoenix Award, and Chattahoochee Riverkeeper sustainability award.   TOTO is one of the largest users of Green Energy from Georgia Power.   

TOTO USA has also developed secondary uses or recycling channels for the waste streams from the manufacturing process, converting them from waste to raw material feed stocks for other manufacturers. 

Argon Award for leadership in sustainability, previous winners of this award have been Ted Turner – Chairman of the Turner Foundation, Arthur Blank – co founder of Home Depot, Jim Jacoby – Founder and CEO of Jacoby Development and Ray Anderson – Chairman of Interface Company.

Coby Skye
Former Deputy Director
Los Angeles County Public Works; Blue Skye Environmental Consulting
Biography

Coby Skye

Former Deputy Director
Los Angeles County Public Works; Blue Skye Environmental Consulting

Coby Skye is Deputy Director of the Los Angeles Public Works Environmental Services Core Service Area. Coby has responsibility for the Environmental Programs, Sewer Maintenance and Fleet Management business areas.

With an annual budget of more than $3.6 billion and a workforce of 4,000 employees, Los Angeles County Public Works is the largest municipal public works agency in the United States, providing vital public infrastructure and civic services to more than 10 million people across a 4,000-square-mile service area. 

Coby has 24 years of experience with Public Works in the field of environmental programs, including environmental policy, solid waste management and recycling programs.

Coby is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of California. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Polytechnic University in New York and a Master of Public Administration degree from California State University, Long Beach.

Jason Gremillion
Vice President of Development & Investment
Trammell Crow Company
Biography

Jason Gremillion

Vice President of Development & Investment
Trammell Crow Company

Jason Gremillion serves as Vice President of Development & Investment for Trammell Crow Company where his primary focus is on the industrial pursuit and development initiative. Mr. Gremillion’s current projects include: Carson Industrial Center North, La Verne Technology and Trade Center , and the CleanTech Manufacturing Center. Mr. Gremillion has accumulated 20 years of commercial real estate development and construction experience specializing in providing comprehensive expertise in site selection, valuation and market analyses, entitlements, design and construction management, transaction management, and partner relations.

Fred Walti
Executive Director
Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator
Biography

Fred Walti

Executive Director
Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator

In his role as Executive Director of CTLA and LACI, Fred combines experience as an entrepreneur with his passion for clean technology.  Prior to joining this new public/private partnership, Fred worked as a technology entrepreneur and an advisor on the City’s cleantech business strategy.

As Executive Director, Fred lead’s the strategic, policy, industry partner and outreach efforts of CLTA and LACI.

Fred brings sixteen years of entrepreneurship to this effort, having co-founded The Propellant Group, a management consulting group, Full Moon Interactive (FMI), an Internet architect, and LAI, Inc., a consulting company focusing on leveraging technology in traditional businesses.  Fred built FMI from startup to $25 million in annual sales with 14 consecutive quarters of profitability.  Fred also started one of the first interactive divisions of a global advertising agency in 1995.  Prior to his experience in “new media,” Fred spent 15 years with global communications companies in various executive capacities.   Fred ran the Apple computer account on a worldwide basis for BBDO and was GM of their San Francisco office, doubling the billings of the office and returning it to profitability in 18 months.

Fred has been involved -- either as a consultant, principal, employee or investor -- in the startup of several-dozen technology companies.  He served as COO of Snap.com, a next-generation venture-backed search engine.  Previously, Fred was a Strategic Advisor at Idealab in which he led the efforts to develop operating plans for a number of their portfolio companies.  Fred served as the Interim CEO for Geocities, helping to author its first business plan, gain its first round of venture backing, and crystallizing its advertising-driven business model.  Geocities went public and was later sold to Yahoo in 1999.

Starting in 2008, Fred began advising the Mayor’s Office, CTLA, the CRA/LA, LAEDC, and UCLA on various early efforts to develop a clean technology commercialization ecosystem.

Fred speaks often to groups on creating cleantech innovation ecosystems, harnessing the region’s strengths to build a large green economy, entrepreneurship, the role of economic development in creating jobs, and public/private partnerships.

Fred received his BA from New York University.

Eliot Abel
Senior Vice President, Corporate Clean Energy Solutions
Pivot Energy
Biography

Eliot Abel

Senior Vice President, Corporate Clean Energy Solutions
Pivot Energy
Eliot is the current Senior Vice President, Corporate Clean Energy Solutions for Pivot Energy. He previously lead commercial sales & project development at Namaste Solar, guiding the development of solar projects ranging from 50kW to 10MW. Prior to joining Namaste Solar, Eliot was the Founder and Principal of Abel Clean Energy Advisors, a consulting firm that helps commercial property owners and developers utilize innovative financing, such as C-PACE, to implement renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions that increase value, reduce operating costs, and enhance the sustainability of their properties. Earlier in his career, Eliot worked in business development roles at a UK-based thin film solar startup, GE’s global Renewable Energy business, and San Diego-based Renovate America. Eliot serves on the Boards of the Colorado Solar and Storage Association and Namaste Solar, and holds a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.
 
Mark Gold
Director of Water Scarcity Solutions
NRDC
Biography

Mark Gold

Director of Water Scarcity Solutions
NRDC

Prior to his time at NRDC, Mark Gold served as Executive Director of OPC and the Deputy Secretary for Ocean and Coastal Policy for the California Natural Resources Agency, Mark serves as a key advisor to Governor and the Secretary of Natural Resources and directs policy, scientific research, and critical partnerships to increase protection of coastal and ocean resources in California. Prior to his appointment, he was the UCLA Associate Vice Chancellor for Environment and Sustainability where he led their Sustainable Los Angeles Grand Challenge effort. Prior to UCLA, Mark was the first hire at Heal the Bay, where he served as their President for 18 years. During that time, he worked on ocean and coastal legislation and policy, stormwater, watershed management, and marine conservation and coastal restoration issues, projects and programs. Over the course of his career, his research focused on beach water quality and health risks, as well as sustainable water resources management. Mark received his bachelor’s and master’s in Biology as well as his doctorate in Environmental Science and Engineering, all from UCLA.

Anthony Ravitz
Real Estate and Workplace Services, Green Team Lead
Google
Biography

Anthony Ravitz

Real Estate and Workplace Services, Green Team Lead
Google
Bob Hertzberg
Sr. Advisor
Mission Possible Partnership
Biography

Bob Hertzberg

Sr. Advisor
Mission Possible Partnership

Prior to his time with Mission Possible Partnership, Senate Majority Leader Emeritus Robert Hertzberg was first elected to the California State Assembly in 1996. He served as the 64th Speaker of the California State Assembly, unanimously elected by both parties in 2000 and 2002. After his tenure as Speaker, Hertzberg set out to the private sector as a clean energy entrepreneur, where he helped create one of the first solar companies in Los Angeles, and co-launched a company that produced inexpensive, lightweight solar panels. In 2014, he returned to state government when he was elected to represent nearly 1 million people in the San Fernando Valley in the California State Senate.

Kristin Eberhard
Legal Director, Western Energy & Climate Projects, Energy & Transportation Program
NRDC
Biography

Kristin Eberhard

Legal Director, Western Energy & Climate Projects, Energy & Transportation Program
NRDC

Kristin Eberhard is the Legal Director of Western Energy and Climate Projects in NRDC’s energy program. Ms. Eberhard leads NRDC's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California and throughout the West. She has taught "Climate Change Law" at Stanford Law School and "Energy Law" at UCLA Law School. In the past, Ms. Eberhard has worked as a litigator at a private law firm, as an energy consultant for PG&E, and conducting independent research on renewable energy and sustainable building practices in rural areas of Latin America. She graduated cum laude from the Duke University School of Law, while concurrently earning a Masters of Environmental Management from Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment. She also holds a B.A. in Science, Technology and Society, with interdisciplinary honors in Environmental Science and Technology Policy, from Stanford University.

Robyn Beavers
CEO
Blueprint Power
Biography

Robyn Beavers

CEO
Blueprint Power

Robyn Beavers started her career as an energy efficiency consultant and then moved on to become the founding member of Google’s Green Business & Operations strategy team. In this role she delivered several green strategic programs including the country's largest corporate solar installation at the time, energy efficiency retrofits for Google's global offices, employee incentive programs, and the creation of a large scale renewable energy investment program. While pursuing her MBA, Robyn served as a Fellow for the Department of Energy. In 2011, she joined Vestas Wind Systems where she created WindMade, a global NGO that issues the first global consumer label for brands and products made with wind energy. She then joined DEKA Research & Engineering to commercialize their various distributed water and power technologies. Her most recent corporate involvement has been as Sn VP for NRG Energy. She holds both a B.S. in Civil Engineering and an MBA from Stanford University.

Danny Kennedy
Managing Director
California Clean Energy Fund
Biography

Danny Kennedy

Managing Director
California Clean Energy Fund

Danny Kennedy leads the California Clean Energy Fund, connecting entrepreneurs everywhere to capital to build an abundant clean energy economy that benefits all. He is also the President of CalCharge, a public private partnership with the National Labs and universities of California, unions and companies, working to advance energy storage.

Kennedy co-founded Sungevity, the company that created remote solar design, and Powerhouse, solar’s premier incubator and accelerator. He was the original backer of Mosaic, the $1B solar loan provider, and remains on the Board of Powerhive, a solar mini-utility in Kenya and Sunergise, a solar-as-a-service business out of Fiji and the EnergyLabAustralia. He is also Director of nonprofits VoteSolar and Power for All. Kennedy authored the book Rooftop Revolution: How Solar Power Can Save Our Economy – and Our Planet – from Dirty Energy in 2012. Prior to starting Sungevity, he worked at Greenpeace and other groups on climate and energy issues for 20 years.

Steve Glenn
Founder and CEO
LivingHomes, LLC
Biography

Steve Glenn

Founder and CEO
LivingHomes, LLC

Steve Glenn is the founder and CEO of LivingHomes, LLC (www.livinghomes.net), a premier developer of modern, prefabricated homes that combine world-class architecture with an unparalleled commitment to healthy and sustainable construction. The first LivingHome, designed by Ray Kappe, FAIA, was installed in eight hours. It was the first home in the nation to be certified LEED Platinum. Thirteen LivingHomes have been certified LEED Platinum and one LEED Gold, making the company one of the most experienced designers of homes at the highest level of LEED certification. LivingHomes are available in standard or customized configurations to builders, developers and individuals. LivingHomes have garnered significant industry recognition including the AIA’s top sustainable award, Green Builder Magazine’s Home of Year, Business 2.0 “World’s 11 Coolest Products”, and Business Week’s “Architectural Wonders of the World.” LivingHomes are available in standard or customized configurations to builders, developers and individuals. In addition to design, LivingHomes is current in production on our first development, a community of six single family LivingHomes and a commercial space in Los Angeles, and we’re working on affordable housing communities for Make It Right, at the Ft. Peck Indian Reservation in Montana and for an East LA non-profit in Los Angeles. Before LivingHomes, Glenn worked with the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative (CHAI) and managed the development of a $220 million program in Mozambique, the first program CHAI launched in Africa. Glenn is founder and former Chairman and CEO of PeopleLink, a leading provider of enterprise ecommunity solutions, which raised $35 million from AT&T Ventures, GE, Goldman Sachs, idealab and others. Glenn was a founding partner of idealab, a business incubation firm that raised $1 billion and that founded or invested in a number of successful companies including GoTo/Overture (OVER), NetZero/United Online (UNTD), CitySearch (TMCS), Tickets.com (TKTS), eToys and CarsDirect. Glenn worked for Walt Disney Imagineering as co-director of the Virtual Reality Studio. Glenn co-founded Clearview Software, which was sold to Apple Computer where Glenn later served as a marketing specialist. He holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from Brown University, studied Urban Planning at Harvard Graduate School of Design, and was a Coro Fellow. Glenn is a co-founder and chair of the Sustainable Business Council, www.sustainablebc.org, co-founder of the Kaia Parker Dance Endowment, www.kaiaparker.org, and a co-founder and former board member of Hope Street Group, www.hopestreetgroup.org and the Brown University Entrepreneur Forum, www.brownep.org. He was a a Judge for the US Energy Department's 2013 Solar Decathlon competition, www.solardecathlon.gov. Glenn was named the Clean Tech CEO of the Year by Clean Tech Week; Environmental Entrepreneur of the Year by LA City Council/Faith2Green; and Greatest Person of the Day by Huffington Post. Glenn holds two patents and wrote the treatment, produced and acted in a small part in the critically panned but commercially successful “Good Luck Chuck”, which starred Jessica Alba and Dane Cook.

Östen Ekengren
Vice General Manager
IVL-The Swedish Environmental Research Institute
Biography

Östen Ekengren

Vice General Manager
IVL-The Swedish Environmental Research Institute

Mr Östen Ekengren, MSc, graduated from the Royal Institute for Technology in Stockholm in 1978. The same year he joined IVL-The Swedish Environmental Research Institute. He has been responsible for the build-up of the Environmental Technology department. He is also responsible for the business area Sustainable production and consumption. Mr Ekengren is now Vice President for IVL. He has been project leader for more than hundred national and fifteen international /European Environmental Technology projects during the years. Mr Ekengren is also member of the Euroenvironment umbrella (EUREKA) where he has been active to adopt a new strategy based on the ETAP. He has been engaged in the development of the ETAP as an expert but also as a representative for EUREKA and the Swedish Ministry of Environment. He is also member in the European Water Technology platform WSSTP. He has also helped the Latvian Ministry of Economy to define how they can introduce environmental issues not as a problem but also to find the business opportunities.

Jonathan Parfrey
Executive Director
Climate Resolve
Biography

Jonathan Parfrey

Executive Director
Climate Resolve

Jonathan Parfrey is founding executive director of Climate Resolve, LA's leading climate advocacy organization. Jonathan served as a commissioner at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (2008-2013). Jonathan is a founder and Vice Chair of CicLAvia, the popular street event, as well as a founder of the Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability and the statewide Alliance of Regional Collaboratives for Climate Adaptation. He served as director of the GREEN LA Coalition (2007-2011), and as the Los Angeles director of Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization Physicians for Social Responsibility (1994 to 2007). Prior to that, Jonathan directed the Orange County Catholic Worker (1987-1993). He is currently a gubernatorial appointee to the State of California Climate Adaptation Technical Advisory Committee and Vice Chair of the BizFed Institute.

Alex Fay
Business Development Manager
Quallion
Biography

Alex Fay

Business Development Manager
Quallion

Alex Fay manages business development efforts for clean transportation and medical devices, and he oversees research and development programs at Quallion, a manufacturer of lithium ion batteries for advanced applications.  

Alex’s portfolio includes the company’s effort to expand its manufacturing capabilities through a grant from the California Energy Commission.  He also works closely with Quallion’s R&D and engineering teams to develop novel lithium ion battery chemistries, cell designs, and safety features. 

Prior to joining Quallion, Alex worked as a clean technology advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.  Alex is a graduate of UCLA.

Mary Nichols
Co-Chair
Commission on the Future of Mobility
Biography

Mary Nichols

Co-Chair
Commission on the Future of Mobility

Mary Nichols is the former Chair of The California Air Resources Board, where she occupies the attorney seat. She served on the Board under Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. (1975-82 and 2010-18), Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (2007-2010) and Governor Gavin Newsom (2019—2021.)  She also served as California’s Secretary for Natural Resources (1999-2003), appointed by Gov. Gray Davis.

When not working for the State of California, Mary was a senior staff attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council; Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Regulation, in the administration of President William Jefferson Clinton; and headed the Institute of Environment and Sustainability at UCLA.

Over a career as an environmental lawyer spanning over 45 years, Mary Nichols has played a key role in California and the nation’s progress toward healthy air. She has also led the Board in crafting California’s internationally recognized climate action plan.       

Jean-Phillipe Brisson
Partner, Environmental, Land and Resources Department
Latham & Watkins LLP
Biography

Jean-Phillipe Brisson

Partner, Environmental, Land and Resources Department
Latham & Watkins LLP

JP Brisson is a partner in Latham & Watkins’s Environmental, Land and Resources Department and Vice-Chair of its Air Quality and Climate Change Practice. He has close to fifteen years of experience advising oil and gas, industrial and financial institution clients on a range of environmental-related matters including carbon finance, renewable energy and commodities and is ranked by Chambers for his work in this area. He was previously Vice President in Goldman Sachs’ Global Commodities business where he established Goldman’s US carbon trading desk.

Carla Peterman
Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer
PG&E Corporation
Biography

Carla Peterman

Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer
PG&E Corporation

Carla J. Peterman is Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer for PG&E Corporation, the parent company of Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

Peterman has spent her career focused on California's energy policy and regulatory landscape. At PG&E, she oversees the company's regulatory, legislative, sustainability, and charitable strategies, all focused on delivering for the customers and communities that PG&E serves in Northern and Central California.

Prior to joining PG&E in 2021, Peterman served as Senior Vice President of Strategy and Regulatory Affairs at Southern California Edison. Before that she served a six-year term as a Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

A steadfast proponent of clean energy, at the CPUC Peterman led the adoption of the first utility energy storage mandate in the country, the approval of nearly $1 billion of utility investments in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, the adoption of utility energy efficiency goals and business plans, and the implementation of California's Renewables Portfolio Standard.

Before her CPUC appointment, Peterman served on the California Energy Commission, where she was the lead commissioner for renewables, transportation, and natural gas. She also is a former board member of The Utility Reform Network, an organization that represents consumers before the CPUC and California Legislature.

In 2019, Governor Newsom appointed her to chair the Commission on Catastrophic Wildfire Cost and Recovery. She currently serves as a member of the Federal Reserve of San Francisco Economic Advisory Council. She has also served on various other boards, including the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), NARUC's Energy Resources and Environment Committee (Vice-Chair), and the external advisory board for Sandia National Laboratories’ Energy and Homeland Security Portfolio.

Peterman holds a BA from Howard University, a PhD in energy and resources from the University of California, Berkeley, and MS and MBA degrees from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.

David Roberti
Former President pro tem
California State Senate
Biography

David Roberti

Former President pro tem
California State Senate
Phillip Isenberg
Chair
Delta Stewardship Council
Biography

Phillip Isenberg

Chair
Delta Stewardship Council

Chair of the Delta Stewardship Council.  Previously, he served as a Sacramento City Council member from 1971-1974, Mayor of Sacramento from 1975-1982 and as a member of the California State Assembly representing portions of Sacramento, Contra Costa and San Joaquin Counties from 1982 to 1996.  His state legislative district contained major parts of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.  His subject area focus as an elected official included land use planning, water and resource issues, state budget and fiscal matters, redevelopment reform and healthcare issues.

Isenberg holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of California, Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law and a Bachelor of Art in Social Science and Government from California State University, Sacramento. He was in private practice and also served as President of Isenberg-O’Haren Government Relations from 2004 to February 2010.  He is currently an inactive member of the California State Bar.

Isenberg served as chair of the California Marine Life Protection Act Blue Ribbon Task Force from 2004 to 2006 and served as chairman of the Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force from 2007 to 2008.  The recommendations of the Delta Vision Task Force provided much of the structure of the major water/Delta policy changes adopted by the legislature in 2009 and signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger.

He was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to a six year term on the Delta Stewardship Council, and elected Chair of the Council by his colleagues.

Gillian Holcroft
PyroGenesis Canada Inc
Chief Operating Officer
Biography

Gillian Holcroft

PyroGenesis Canada Inc
Chief Operating Officer

Ms. Gillian Holcroft, MEng, serves as the Chief Operating Officer and VP Business Development of PyroGenesis Canada Inc. Previously she had served as its Director of Waste Treatment. Ms. Holcroft joined PyroGenesis Canada Inc. in 2003 as Product Development Manager. She also served at Noranda Inc. where she was involved in many aspects of the companies operations from production, technology development, business modeling and was involved in the design, engineering and start-up of a ¾ of a billion (CDN$) production facility. She has been a Director of PyroGenesis Canada Inc. since June 2006. Ms. Holcroft holds a Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering and a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering both from McGill University, Montreal.

Pete Skala
Program Manager
California Public Utilities Commission’s Demand-Side Analysis branch
Biography

Pete Skala

Program Manager
California Public Utilities Commission’s Demand-Side Analysis branch

Pete Skala is the Program Manager of the California Public Utilities Commission’s Demand-Side Analysis branch. In this capacity, Mr. Skala oversees the Commission’s analysis of the existing potential and corresponding cost-effectiveness of the various demand-side energy resources being pursued by the state’s large investor-owned utilities (energy efficiency, demand response, and distributed generation).  This branch of the CPUC’s Energy Division is also responsible for evaluating the success of the utilities’ demand-side energy resource programs.   

Mr. Skala has worked at the CPUC in various capacities for over ten years.  Prior to running the Demand-Side Analysis program, he supervised the Commission’s Climate Strategies section, working closely with the Air Resources Board in the design of the cap and trade program (particularly with respect to its impact on the electricity sector).  Before this, he was responsible for overseeing the development of the utilities’ long-term (10-year) procurement plans.

Prior to joining the Commission, Mr. Skala spent over a decade working with various environmental consultancies as an environmental engineer and project manager, designing and implementing state superfund site remediation projects, waste reduction programs, and environmental assessments in support of military base closures.

Xiaomei Tan
Deputy China Country Director and Director of China
World Resources Institute
Biography

Xiaomei Tan

Deputy China Country Director and Director of China
World Resources Institute

Xiaomei Tan is the Deputy China Country Director and Director of China Sustainable & Livable Cities Initiative. She is charged with steering WRI’s research agenda in China, fostering high-level dialogues around critical environmental and development issues, and leading a team of over 10 researchers to contribute to China’s sustainable urbanization and overseas investment.

Xiaomei previously was a senior associate leading WRI’s Emerging Actors in Development Finance project. Her research on how to channel China’s rapidly growing overseas investment to low-carbon development in developing countries has facilitated the communication between Chinese overseas investors and host countries. Prior to that, Xiaomei was the project manager of WRI’s China Climate and Energy Program. Her research sought to understand how low-carbon technology was introduced, adapted, deployed and diffused in China and other developing countries; the respective capacities of developed and developing countries in innovating and manufacturing low-carbon technology; and the concerns over intellectual property rights.

In her various roles, Xiaomei has published widely in mainstream and professional journals such as Energy Policy, Ecological Economy, Overseas Investment and Export Credits, and etc.

Xiaomei holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from American University in Washington DC. Her master’s degree is in Economics and BA in Political Science. Xiaomei is an avid hiker and tree hugger and has completed many sections along the Appalachian Trail and several parts of the Rocky Mountains. Her other passions include jogging and yoga.

David Fransen
Chief Strategy Officer
Next Generation Manufacturing Canada
Biography

David Fransen

Chief Strategy Officer
Next Generation Manufacturing Canada

Over his 34-year career, David has served as a senior executive in government, academia and the diplomatic corps. He provided strategic leadership across a wide range of economic policy and program sectors as a senior official at the Privy Council Office and Health Canada, as an Assistant Deputy Minister at Industry Canada, as the first Executive Director of the Institute for Quantum Computing, and as Canada’s Consul General in Los Angeles.

David is also a former Special Advisor to the President of the National Research Council, former Chair of the Waterloo Innovation Summit, and a member of the boards of Waterloo Economic Development Corporation, the Institute for Quantum Computing, and Quantum-Safe Canada. He led in the creation, and then served as a member, of the founding Board of Governors of the Council of Canadian Academies. He also served as a member of the board of directors of Canadian Commercial Corporation, the Standards Council of Canada, and as Secretary of the Minister of Industry Canada’s Expert Panel on Commercialization chaired by Joe Rotman.

David has a PhD from the University of Toronto, a BA and MA from the University of Waterloo, and a Bachelor of Theology from Canadian Mennonite University. He is currently a Fellow of the Public Policy Forum.

Jean-Yves Benoit
Director of the Carbon Market
Quebec Ministry of Sustainable Development
Biography

Jean-Yves Benoit

Director of the Carbon Market
Quebec Ministry of Sustainable Development

Mr. Jean-Yves Benoit graduated with honors from Montréal University and received a Master of science in Economics.  He worked for many years in the private sector before joining Quebec’s Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment, Wild Life and Parks in 2006.   Jean-Yves represents the government of Québec in the Western Climate Initiative and is a member of the WCI Board of Directors. 

For the last several years Mr. Benoit has been working on the establishment of a cap-and-trade carbon market in Quebec.  This market will be a key driver for Quebec to achieve the targeted 20% reduction in GHG levels by 2020. 

Because of their mutual commitment to the reduction of greenhouse gasses, Quebec and California have agreed to work to link their two markets in 2013.  Mr. Benoit is the director of the Carbon Market Division leading the team that is responsible for both developing and implementing Quebec’s cap and trade system as well as linking Quebec’s market with that of Califoria.

Jun Niimi
Former Consul General
Japanese Consulate, Los Angeles
Biography

Jun Niimi

Former Consul General
Japanese Consulate, Los Angeles

Consul General Niimi joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1979 after graduating from Tokyo University’s Faculty of Law.  His previous international assignments were in England, Kenya, France, Iran, Russia, and Thailand. At Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Tokyo, he has served as Director of the Overseas Public Relations Division, Director of the Consular Policy Division, Director of the Overseas Establishments Division, and as Assistant Vice-Minister.  The post of Consul General at Los Angeles is his first assignment in the United States.

Sanjay Ranchod
Director & Counsel, Business Development & Policy
Tesla
Biography

Sanjay Ranchod

Director & Counsel, Business Development & Policy
Tesla

Sanjay Ranchod works at Tesla, where he is Director and Counsel, Business Development and Policy. Previously, he was Vice President of Policy & Electricity Markets and Regulatory Counsel at SolarCity from 2011 through 2017. Before joining SolarCity, Ranchod represented renewable energy companies and other businesses on regulatory matters as an attorney at the Paul Hastings law firm.

Ranchod serves on the board of directors of the California Solar Energy Industries Association and as a Commissioner of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, a state agency. He served on Sierra Club’s board of directors from 2004 to 2010, and on the board of the Sierra Club Foundation from 2010 to 2016. Ranchod also served on the Board of Scientific Counselors for the National Center for Environmental Health / Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He received a BA from Brown University and a JD from Stanford Law School.

William Rouse
General Manager
Yellow Cab of Los Angeles
Biography

William Rouse

General Manager
Yellow Cab of Los Angeles

As the fourth generation of his family in the taxicab business, William J. Rouse serves as General Manager of five taxicab fleets in the greater Los Angeles area, including Yellow Cab of Los Angeles, Long Beach Yellow Cab, United Checker Cab, South Bay Yellow Cab and Fiesta Taxi.  ASC is the largest taxicab organization in the Western United States with more than 1200 vehicles in its combined fleet.

Mr. Rouse is also affiliated with the management of San Diego Yellow Cab, with 330 vehicles in service, and California Yellow Cab, in Orange County, California, with over 200 vehicles.

Mr. Rouse graduated from the University of Southern California in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, with an emphasis in Finance and Business Economics. He received his law degree from the University of Southern California and was admitted to the bar in 1992. 

Mr. Rouse is the past President of the Taxicab Limousine & Paratransit Association (TLPA), his industry’s international taxicab trade association.  He is also serving his second term as President of the Taxicab Paratransit Association of California (TPAC), the industry’s statewide trade association.  He also recently completed a two-year term as Chair of the Long Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Mory Gharib
Vice Provost for Research
Caltech
Biography

Mory Gharib

Vice Provost for Research
Caltech

 

Dr. Mory Gharib is Vice Provost for Research and the Hans W. Liepmann Professor of Aeronautics and Professor of Bio-Inspired Engineering at the California Institute of Technology.  He received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tehran University (1975) and then pursued his graduate studies at Syracuse University (M.S., 1978, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering) and Caltech (Ph.D., 1983, Aeronautics).  After two years as a senior scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA/CIT), he joined the faculty of the Applied Mechanics and Engineering Sciences Department at UCSD in 1985.  He became a full professor of fluid mechanics in 1992 and, in January 1993, he joined Caltech as a professor of aeronautics.

Dr. Gharib’s current research interests include bio-inspired engineering for the development of medical devices, wind energy harvesting and propulsion systems. His other active projects include the development of advanced 3-D imaging systems, and nano and micro-fluidics. His biomechanics work includes studies of the human cardiovascular system and physiological machines.  His honors and affiliations include: Fellow, American association for the advancement of science  (AAAS), Fellow, American Physical Society (APS), Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME), He has received 5 new technology recognition awards from NASA in the fields of advanced laser imaging and nanotechnology. For his 3-D imaging camera system, he has received R&D Magazine’s “R&D 100 innovation award” for one of the best invention of the year 2008. Dr. Gharib holds 182 publications in refereed journal and 50 U.S. Patents

Rick Cameron
Director of Environmental Planning
Port of Long Beach
Biography

Rick Cameron

Director of Environmental Planning
Port of Long Beach

Richard D. “Rick” Cameron is the Managing Director of Planning and Environmental Affairs for the Port of Long Beach, California, named to the post in January 2014 by the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners, governing body for the Port. 

Mr. Cameron joined the Port in 1996 as an Environmental Specialist, was promoted to Manager of Environmental Planning and named Director of the newly-created Division of Environmental Planning in 2007 before being appointed Managing Director after the retirement of 23-year Port veteran, Dr. Robert Kanter. 

As Managing Director, he oversees the Planning and Environmental Affairs Bureau that includes Environmental Planning, Master Planning, and Transportation Planning. 

As Director of Environmental Planning, he led the Division most directly responsible for the Port’s signature environmental program, the Green Port Policy, and the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan. Under the Green Port Policy, the Division coordinates programs to improve air, water and soil quality, preserve wildlife habitat and integrate sustainability into Port practices. 

Early in his Port career, as an Environmental Specialist, he worked in the areas of water quality, air quality, and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) documentation. Prior experience included management of various environmental programs for the Port of Los Angeles and other clients as a Project Manager for Essentia Management Services. 

Mr. Cameron has a bachelor’s degree in urban and regional planning from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He is a resident of Manhattan Beach.

Rick Caruso
Founder and CEO
Caruso Affiliated
Biography

Rick Caruso

Founder and CEO
Caruso Affiliated

Rick J. Caruso is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Caruso Affiliated, recognized as one of the country’s most innovative and influential real estate companies.  Caruso Affiliated owns and manages a dynamic portfolio of outdoor lifestyle properties -- including The Grove in Los Angeles, The Americana at Brand in Glendale, The Commons at Calabasas and The Promenade at Westlake, delivering 5 -star customer service with a neighborhood scale and community feel, and creating a unique guest experience that attracts over 60 million visitors annually. 

Mr. Caruso has been widely honored for both his business innovations and philanthropic contributions to the Greater Los Angeles community.  He recently endowed the Caruso Catholic Center at the University of Southern California, and serves on the Board of Trustees of the University of Southern California, the Board of Councilors of Pepperdine School of Law and the Board of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Foundation. His numerous community and philanthropic commitments include service on the boards of Para Los Niňos, St. John’s Health Center Foundation, The California Medical Center, USC School of Policy, Planning and Development and The National Institute of Transplantation.  Mr. Caruso has been inducted into the Los Angeles Business Journal’s Business Hall of Fame. 

Together with his wife, Tina, he also founded the Caruso Family Foundation, dedicated to supporting organizations that improve the lives of children in need of healthcare and education.

Mr. Caruso believes strongly in public service and civic responsibility.  He served as President of the Los Angeles Police Commission, President of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Board of Commissioners and served as the Governor’s appointee to the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission.

Mr. Caruso holds a a Juris Doctor degree from Pepperdine University School of Law, where he was a Brock Scholar, and a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Southern California.  

He is a native of Los Angeles, and continues to reside in the city with Tina, their three sons and a daughter.

Zev Yaroslavsky
Director, Los Angeles Initiative
UCLA Luskin School of Public Policy
Biography

Zev Yaroslavsky

Director, Los Angeles Initiative
UCLA Luskin School of Public Policy

During a career in public life spanning nearly four decades, Zev Yaroslavsky has been at the forefront of Los Angeles County’s biggest issues, including transportation, the environment, health care, and cultural arts.  He has been a pioneering advocate for the region’s homeless population and has played a key role in efforts to reform the county’s law enforcement agencies.

Mr. Yaroslavsky was first elected to office in 1975, stunning the political establishment by winning the Los Angeles City Council’s coveted 5th District seat at the age of 26.  He honed his fiscal skills as chairman of the Council’s Finance Committee and earned a reputation for being unafraid to tackle controversial issues, including the Los Angeles Police Department’s use of excessive force and its improper spying on law-abiding residents.  He authored two landmark ballot initiatives, one which cut in half the size of new commercial developments near residential neighborhoods in the City of L.A., and the other which banned oil drilling along the city’s coastline.

In describing Mr. Yaroslavsky’s City Hall tenure, the Los Angeles Times wrote that he “was more often than not a dominant player in virtually every municipal initiative of note since he joined the City Council.”

In 1994, Mr. Yaroslavsky was elected to the five-member Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, representing the western part of the county and a constituency of two million people.  He served five terms as the Board’s Third District representative.  Because of term limits, he retired from office on December 1, 2014.  Supervisor Yaroslavsky’s award-winning website, which ran from late 2009 until the end of his term, including blog entries and feature stories on County issues, programs and personalities, can be accessed here.

As a member of the Board of Supervisors, Mr. Yaroslavsky quickly emerged as a leader on fiscal, health care, transportation, cultural and environmental matters.  He authored several landmark ballot initiatives:  the 1996 park bond, which resulted in the preservation of a broad swath of rural open space and the development of urban parks throughout the county, and the 2002 trauma tax, approved by more than 73% of county voters—a measure credited with saving two public hospitals from closure and keeping the county’s emergency services intact.

Mr. Yaroslavsky was the driving force behind several major transit projects, including the hugely successful Orange Line busway across the San Fernando Valley, the Exposition Light Rail line from downtown to Santa Monica which will be completed at the end of 2015, and the subway—Purple Line—extension from Western Ave. to West Los Angeles which broke ground in 2014.

After the closure of Martin Luther King, Jr. hospital in south Los Angeles, Mr. Yaroslavsky proposed a partnership between the University of California and Los Angeles County upon which the recently re-opened hospital was modeled.  Mr. Yaroslavsky also launched the building of three innovative school-based health clinics in largely working-class neighborhoods where many residents are living below the poverty line and rarely seek medical attention.  He also led the effort to provide permanent supportive housing for thousands of homeless persons who’ve been identified as most likely to die if they remained on county streets.

During his public service career, Mr. Yaroslavsky was the county’s leader in the cultural arts.  The Los Angeles Times said of him before he retired, “It would be hard to find another major politician anywhere in the entire country with Yaroslavsky’s record for outright arts support and achievement.” He championed efforts to rebuild and modernize the world famous Hollywood Bowl amphitheater and was instrumental in the development of architect Frank Gehry’s iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall, home of the L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra.  He has also funded major investments in the County Museum of Art, the Museum of Natural History and the San Fernando Valley Performing Arts Center.

Mr. Yaroslavsky is also credited with playing a leading role in the sweeping reforms of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.  He is responsible for the creation of the Citizen’s Commission on Jail Violence in 2011 which recommended dozens of measures to restore constitutional policing and integrity to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and its jails.

Apart from his responsibilities as an elected official, Mr. Yaroslavsky has long been associated with the National Democratic Institute (NDI), a non-governmental organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., that promotes the development of democratic institutions in burgeoning democracies.  He has monitored five elections for NDI:  Romania (1990), Mexico (2000), Ukraine (2004), and Nigeria (2011 & 2015).  He has conducted seminars on local government finance and democratic institution-building in Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and Bosnia/Herzegovina.

Mr. Yaroslavsky is now the Director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and the Department of History, focusing on the intersection of policy, politics and history of the Los Angeles region.

Mr. Yaroslavsky was born and raised in Los Angeles and earned an M.A. in British Imperial History and a B.A. in Economics and History, both from UCLA.  He is a graduate of Fairfax High School in Los Angeles.

Bill Allen
President and CEO
LAEDC
Biography

Bill Allen

President and CEO
LAEDC

Bill Allen is the Chief Executive Officer of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation and its subsidiary, the World Trade Center Los Angeles. Mr. Allen is also Co-Chair of the California Stewardship Network, a Vice Chair of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley and a member of the Board of Directors of the Weingart Foundation, Regional Economic Association Leaders of California Coalition, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, Los Angeles Coalition for the Economy and Jobs, FilmL.A., Unite L.A., and Sister Cities of Los Angeles.

Active in regional economic development for more than twenty years, Mr. Allen was the first CEO of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley from 1996-2000, and in 2000 was named California’s Civic Entrepreneur of the Year by the California Center for Regional Leadership.

Mr. Allen has served as a trustee of the University of Southern California, chair of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards for the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Chair of Film LA, and cochair of the “Shaping Tomorrow” capital campaign for the Valley Presbyterian Hospital, on whose board he served for fifteen years.

Mr. Allen was previously a television network and studio executive with nearly twenty years experience in entertainment production and management, where he supervised the development and production of hundreds of episodes of network, syndicated and cable television, as well as several highly rated TV movies and specials.

A cum laude graduate of the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California in 1979, Mr. Allen also received his Masters Degree in Business Administration from Pepperdine University in 1983.

Chip Clements
President
Clements Environmental Corporation
Biography

Chip Clements

President
Clements Environmental Corporation

Mr. Clements has over 35 years of experience in the environmental field and has managed more than 150 projects in his career.  As the founder of Clements Environmental Corporation, he is responsible for overseeing all aspects of business development, project performance, client liaison, and administration.  He is expert in Zero Waste planning and the development of solid waste and recycling infrastructure including: Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) and transfer stations, composting operations, C&D processing plants, recycling centers, and e-Recycling facilities having permitted over 70 such projects throughout California.  In addition, he has extensive experience in innovative/alternative technologies for converting solid waste into renewable electricity and fuels and has been working on the development of such facilities for the past 10 years.

Aaron Klemm
Energy Project Manager
City of Huntington Beach
Biography

Aaron Klemm

Energy Project Manager
City of Huntington Beach
Wenhang Huang
Director of International Collaboration
NDRC Climate Change
Biography

Wenhang Huang

Director of International Collaboration
NDRC Climate Change
Tim Psomas, PE
Chairman
Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure
Biography

Tim Psomas, PE

Chairman
Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure
Wahid Nawabi
Senior Vice President and General Manager, Efficient Energy Systems
AeroVironment
Biography

Wahid Nawabi

Senior Vice President and General Manager, Efficient Energy Systems
AeroVironment

Wahid Nawabi is senior vice president and general manager of Efficient Energy Systems (EES) at AeroVironment.  With 20 years’ experience in advanced technology in diverse industries such as fuel cells, clean tech, industrial manufacturing, and energy management, Wahid is responsible for architecting the roadmap of AeroVironment’s Electric Vehicle “ecosystem” solutions offering. As a former segment manager at American Power Conversion (a division of Schneider Electric), Wahid played a key role in revenue growth of $50 million to more than $2.4 billion, helping to establish the company as a world leader in power protection.  Wahid sees similar potential in the electric vehicle industry and is committed to enabling the mass adoption of EVs and the advancement of the clean transportation movement. 

Gene Rodrigues
Director of Energy Efficiency
Southern California Edison
Biography

Gene Rodrigues

Director of Energy Efficiency
Southern California Edison

Gene Rodrigues is the Director of Customer Energy Efficiency and Solar for Southern California Edison Company. In this capacity, Gene oversees SCE’s portfolio of Energy Efficiency, Low Income Energy Efficiency, Low Income Rate Assistance, California Solar Initiative and Self Generation Incentive programs.  SCE is a national leader in helping customers to save energy, money and the environment through its award-winning energy efficiency programs. 

In addition to his duties at SCE, Gene serves as chairman of the board of directors for the Consortium for Energy Efficiency.  He also serves on the boards of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and the China-US Energy Efficiency Alliance.  Gene is a member of the executive leadership group for the U.S. DOE/EPA-sponsored State Energy Efficiency Action Network, the strategy committee for EEI's Institute for Energy Efficiency, and the steering committee for the Alliance to Save Energy's Global Action Network for Energy Efficiency Education.

Linda Adams
Former Secretary
California EPA
Biography

Linda Adams

Former Secretary
California EPA

Linda S. Adams, former Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, is a founding partner of Clean Tech Advocates, a firm dedicated to promoting innovative technologies.

Prior to forming this new team in the private sector, Linda served in cabinet-level positions with three governors during her distinguished career with the State of California. Ms. Adams held key positions in both the Executive and Legislative branches during her many years in public service.

In 2006, Ms. Adams was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as Secretary of the California Environmental Agency (CalEPA), the first woman to serve in that position. Immediately upon her appointment, she was designated the governor’s lead negotiator on AB 32, California’s ground breaking climate change and clean energy measure. When Governor Jerry Brown was elected in 2010, Linda was asked to continue as Secretary of CalEPA and to assist in the transition.

Ms. Adams holds the position of the chair of the Climate Action Reserve, North America's premier carbon registry.  She also serves on the boards of the Pacific Forest Trust, the Delta Vision Foundation, the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance, and is the founding President of R 20-Regions of Climate Action.