The Water Education Foundation is governed by a volunteer board
of 33 members representing a broad cross-section of water,
education, business, environmental and public interest
communities.
The Foundation remembers two key
board leaders who passed away in recent years:
Robert W. “Bob” Johnson, former Commissioner of the Bureau of
Reclamation, who served as Foundation president from 2017 to
2019, and Mike Chrisman, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Secretary
of Natural Resources, who served as Foundation president from
2020 to 2022.
Attorney Alfred Smith, chair of Nossaman’s Water Group, has
extensive experience in water, environmental, transportation and
public agency law. He has successfully litigated multiple water
right adjudications.
Smith has advised clients on a range of water issues, including
the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), Colorado River
and pueblo rights, recycled water, water resource development,
contamination remediation, groundwater adjudications, water
transfers, desalination, conjunctive use, climate change and
environmental regulatory compliance. He has also developed Urban
Water Management Plans, water supply assessments and
environmental impact reports for a wide range of residential and
commercial developments.
Eric Robinson is managing shareholder and a water resources
lawyer at Kronick Moskovitz Tiedemann & Girard.
He has more than 20 years of experience practicing water
resources law in California, providing counsel on obtaining and
defending water rights and water supplies, obtaining
environmental compliance approvals for development projects under
local, state and federal laws, and litigating in state and
federal courts.
JaNell Cook is the Regional West Director for HDR,
overseeing engineering projects in the American West, Hawaii and
Guam.
Previously, she was Director of US Business Development &
Strategy for MWH Americas, Inc. In California, the
company specializes in hydropower, soil and groundwater
remediation. During her tenure at MWH, Cook oversaw several
projects, including the Central Valley Flood Management Program
and the San Joaquin River Restoration Program.
Ane D. Deister is executive director of the Urban Water Institute
and a consultant for HDR Engineering. She has more
than 30 years of experience in the water resources and
environmental management business, with more than 25 years
in executive leadership appointments.
Andrea Abergel is manager of water policy for the California
Municipal Utilities Association. She represents CMUA’s water
member agencies on issues before various California agencies
including the State Water Resources Control Board and Regional
Water Quality Control Boards, Department of Water Resources and
California Water Commission. Abergel is a practicing attorney
licensed in California and is an alum of the Water Education
Foundation’s 2022 Water Leaders class.
Jennifer Allen is the director of public affairs at Contra Costa
Water District (CCWD), where she she oversees the outreach and
education programs offered to customers, students, and employees,
and facilitates media relations.
Richard Aragon is an assistant general manager and chief
financial officer for Western Municipal Water District in
Riverside.
Prior to joining Western, Aragon served in key finance positions
for other Southern California water districts, including Rainbow
Municipal Water District, Coachella Valley Water District
and Rancho California Water District.
Thomas M. Berliner is a partner in the San Francisco office of
Duane Morris LLP. He focuses his practice on water, energy,
environmental and governmental/municipal law and is chair of the
Duane Morris Water Resources and Renewable Energy and
Sustainability practice groups.
John Bezdek is a shareholder with the Water and Power Law Group
PC in Washington, DC. He is an expert in Western water resources,
especially Indian water rights, listed species protection,
habitat restoration, development and implementation of water
resources projects, and Reclamation law.
Brenda Burman, the first woman to lead the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation as its commissioner, is currently the general manager
of the Central Arizona Project.
Burman has more than 25 years of experience working on
Western water and other natural resources issues. She joined CAP
in 2021, and became the first woman to serve as its general
manager in January of 2023. Prior to CAP, she served as
Reclamation commissioner from 2017 to 2021.
Carl Evers III is director of sustainability for AgIS Capital,
where he is responsible for the company’s sustainability and
environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts.
Previously, Evers was vice president of water resources for
Hancock Natural Resource Group, where he was responsible for the
management of water policy at the state and national level for
the company’s agricultural investments in the western United
States. Earlier, he led farming operations for the company’s
38,000 acres in California and oversaw farm developments in
Australia.
Bart Fisher, a third-generation farmer from Blythe, is
a member of the Palo Verde Irrigation District board of
trustees, where he currently serves as board chairman.
Fisher also was the longtime chairman of the Colorado
River Board of California, where he represented California’s
rights in the Colorado River to the other six states with
entitlements to the river, and also to the federal
government and to the government of Mexico.
Brian Golding Sr. is the economic development director for the
Quechan Indian Tribe of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation along
the Colorado River in Arizona and California. Since 2004, he has
been responsible for managing community development projects,
leasing, grants and contracts and acting as liaison on economic
development initiatives with local, state and federal agencies,
and private development entities.
David J. Guy is the president of the Northern California Water
Association. For the past several decades he has worked in
various capacities to advance economic interests that promote the
conservation of California’s special places and their precious
water and land resources.
Cheyanne Harris is a civil engineer with Brown and Caldwell
supporting program management, conveyance and pump station
projects. She is based in her hometown of Sacramento.
Thomas Harter joined the faculty at the Department of Land, Air,
and Water Resources at University of California, Davis in 1995.
His research focuses on nonpoint-source pollution of groundwater,
groundwater resources evaluation under uncertainty, groundwater
modeling and contaminant transport.
Bill Hasencamp is manager of Colorado River Resources for
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
In his role, Hasencamp develops and implements water supply and
storage programs to manage the District’s Colorado River
supplies. In addition, he negotiates conservation agreements with
irrigation districts and tribes; water exchange agreements; and
funding for new water supply projects to augment the district’s
Colorado River water. He also chairs the Colorado River
Basin Salinity Control Forum.
Ann Hayden is associate vice president of Environmental Defense
Fund’s Climate Resilient Water Systems Program and oversees
strategy development and implementation of sustainable water
management approaches across the arid U.S, including California
and the Colorado River Basin.
Sandi Matsumoto is director of The Nature Conservancy’s
California Water Program. She leads a multi-disciplinary team
focused on securing a sustainable and resilient water future for
California. The Water Program is working to secure the wintering
grounds of the Pacific Flyway, revive healthy rivers to sustain
salmon, and advance sustainable groundwater management that
ensures drinking water for people and supports nature.
Bryce McAteer is a vice president of Investments with
International Farming, a diversified farmland and food
company investment manager operating across multiple continents
and covering more than 80 crops and
480,000 historically transacted acres.
In his role, McAteer leads water resiliency efforts in the
western U.S. and Australia, farmland acquisitions,
government relations, community partnerships, ESG
certifications and multi-benefit projects. He is
particularly focused on water-related matters in
California’s Central Valley, the Colorado River Basin,
Eastern Snake River Plain, Columbia River and
Murray-Darling Basin in Australia.
A sixth-generation farmer, Cannon Michael is president of Bowles
Farming Company headquartered in Los Banos, Calif. There, he
oversees an 11,000-acre farm where the company grows cotton,
fresh market and processing tomatoes, field crops, and other
commodities.
Leslie Moulton-Post is president and chief executive officer of
Environmental Science Associates (ESA). She has more than 35
years of experience in environmental consulting focused on water
management projects and programs.
Stacey Olson is a program manager at Resources Legacy Fund, a
nonprofit that works with diverse partners to promote public
policy and secure public funding for conservation, environmental
equity and justice, and climate resilience.
Olson implements philanthropic programs that advance biodiversity
conservation, public lands protection and equitable access to
land and water.
Christopher Park is a water resource planner with CDM Smith in
Sacramento.
He has nine years of experience focusing on environmental impact
assessment and permitting for both local and statewide water
planning projects for clients that include the Bureau of
Reclamation, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the
Cambria Community Services District.
Jennifer Persike is the president and founder of Jennifer Persike
& Company, a consulting firm focused on innovative management and
strategic communications.
Previously, she served as the executive director of Leadership
California, a network of more than 1,600 accomplished women,
dedicated to advancing the leadership role of women in business,
communities and public policy.
Sara Reid is Vice President and Credit Manager for CoBank, ACB
(part of the Farm Credit System) and an alumnus of the Water
Education Foundation’s 2015 Water Leaders Program.
She oversees the credit review and loan decision-making
process for CoBank’s 400-plus borrowers in the Western region.
Gene Shawcroft is general manager/CEO of the Central Utah Water
Conservancy District and Utah’s Colorado River Commissioner.
He became general manager in 2015 after serving in various
leadership positions for the water supplier starting in
1991. Previously, he worked for Utah’s Division of Water
Resources. In 2021, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox appointed Shawcroft as
the state’s representative on the Upper Colorado River
Commission.
Rebecca Smith is a partner at Downey Brand specializing in
water law, a practice that includes work on groundwater
management and the state’s 2014 Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act, as well as the firm’s Food and Ag practice.
Tama Snow is a vice president and regional business leader for
Stantec’s water team in California and Hawaii. She is based in
San Diego.
A professional civil engineer, Snow has immersed herself in
all aspects of water resources planning over the past 33 years.
She fills roles as project manager, principal in charge and
technical lead on some of California’s most challenging water and
recycled water projects.
Cora Tso, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, is a senior
research fellow at the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona
State University.
In her position, Tso researches, analyzes and develops
recommendations related to Arizona tribal water policy, including
analyzing tribal nations’ interests, needs and opportunities in
regulatory and legislative processes and collaborating with
tribal leadership and representatives, government
agencies and stakeholders in connection with the Arizona
Water Innovation Initiative.
