Delta Plan Interagency Implementation Committee Members

Chair - vacant

Chuck Bonham - Director, California Department of Fish & Wildlife

Charlton “Chuck” Bonham was appointed Director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in September 2011. Before Fish and Wildlife, Bonham served in a number of roles for Trout Unlimited (TU) for more than 10 years, including serving as the organization’s California director since 2004, where he was responsible for developing, managing, and implementing TU's California programs. This included the California Water Project, Sportsmen’s Conservation Project, and restoration and watershed projects in both Northern and Southern California. In addition, Bonham was a senior attorney for the organization. Bonham also served on the Board of Directors of the Delta Conservancy, whose mission is to conserve, sustain, and enhance the cultural, agricultural, recreational, wildlife, and natural habitat resources of the River Delta region, as well as develop and promote sustainable protection, management and stewardship programs through research and education. Bonham received his Juris Doctor degree and Environmental and Natural Resources Law Certificate from the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College, in Portland, Oregon. Before Trout Unlimited, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal, West Africa, and an instructor and guide at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, in Bryson City, North Carolina.

Karen Ross - Secretary, California Department of Food & Agriculture

Karen Ross was appointed Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture on January 12, 2011, by then-Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. Ross has deep leadership experience in agricultural issues nationally, internationally, and here in California. Before joining CDFA, Ross was chief of staff for U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a position she accepted in 2009. Prior to that appointment, she served as president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers from 1996-2009, and as vice-president of the Agricultural Council of California from 1989-1996. Before moving to California, Ross served as the director of government relations for the Nebraska Rural Electric Association and as a field representative for U.S. Senator Edward Zorinsky.

Karla Nemeth - Director, California Department of Water Resources

Karla Nemeth was appointed Director of the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) by then-Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. on January 10, 2018. DWR operates and maintains the California State Water Project, manages floodwaters, monitors dam safety, conducts habitat restoration, and provides technical assistance and funding for projects for local water needs. Nemeth oversees DWR and its mission to manage and protect California’s water resources, working with other agencies to benefit the State’s people and to protect, restore, and enhance the natural and human environments. Nemeth worked at the California Natural Resources Agency as Governor Brown’s deputy secretary and senior advisor for water policy beginning in 2014. She was the Bay Delta Conservation Plan project manager from 2009 to 2014 and the environmental and public affairs director for the Alameda County Flood Control and Water Conservation District from 2005 to 2009. She was also a community affairs manager at Jones and Stokes from 2003 to 2005.

Yana Garcia - Secretary, California Environmental Protection Agency

Yana Garcia was appointed California Secretary for Environmental Protection by Governor Gavin Newsom in August 2022. As Secretary, Yana oversees the state’s efforts to fight climate change, protect air and water quality, regulate pesticides and toxic substances, achieve the state’s recycling and waste reduction goals, and advance environmental justice. As a member of the Governor’s cabinet, she advises the Governor on environmental policy. Yana is nationally recognized as a groundbreaking environmental leader who has worked hard to uplift the voices of those from disadvantaged communities. Prior to her appointment, Garcia served as Special Assistant Attorney General advising California Attorney General Rob Bonta on the California Department of Justice’s legal and policy matters pertaining to the environment, land law and natural resources including climate, transportation, energy, and housing. She was Deputy Secretary for Environmental Justice, Tribal Affairs and Border Relations at CalEPA from 2019 to 2021 and had been CalEPA’s Assistant Secretary for Environmental Justice and Tribal Affairs from 2017 to 2019. During her tenure at CalEPA, Garcia led three Environmental Justice Task Force Initiatives in the communities of Pomona, Imperial County and Stockton. She also led the program that delivered more than $1 million in Environmental Justice Small Grants to 28 organizations to combat pollution, improve health outcomes and increase public engagement in some of California’s most pollution-burdened communities. Garcia holds a degree in politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a law degree from Northeastern University School of Law.

Wade Crowfoot - Secretary, California Natural Resources Agency

Wade Crowfoot was the chief executive officer of the Water Foundation from 2016 to 2018. He was deputy cabinet secretary and senior advisor to Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. from 2013 to 2016. Crowfoot also served as deputy director for Brown’s Office of Planning and Research from 2011 to 2013. He was the West Coast political director at the Environmental Defense Fund from 2009 to 2011 and a senior environmental advisor to former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom from 2004 to 2007.

Tim Ramirez - Member, Central Valley Flood Protection Board

Tim was also appointed by the Governor in January 2012 to serve as a member of the Central Valley Flood Protection Board. He was reappointed in 2020. Tim currently works for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission as the manager of the Natural Resources and Lands Management Division. Previously, Tim spent six years working as the Assistant Secretary for Water Policy and Science at the California Resources Agency and as the Senior Policy Advisor and Deputy Director for Ecosystem Restoration at the California Bay-Delta Authority. Tim’s responsibilities included serving as the State Coordinator for the CALFED Bay-Delta Program, and he focused on river systems and the intersection of water supply, ecosystem restoration, water quality, flood protection, and agricultural issues. Before joining the State, Tim directed the Tuolumne River Preservation Trust’s Central Valley Program. Tim earned a M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering and a M.A. in Urban Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles, and he completed his graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley.

Diane Burgis - Chair, Delta Protection Commission

Diane Burgis, of Oakley, serves on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, representing the 230,000 residents of District 3. Her district includes a majority of Contra Costa County’s Delta region, and the communities of Antioch, Bethel Island, Brentwood, Byron, Discovery Bay, Knightsen, and Oakley in East Contra Costa County. Prior to being elected to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors in 2016, she served as a trustee on the East Bay Regional Parks District Board and as a member of the Oakley City Council. Supervisor Burgis was named the California State Assembly’s 2012 Woman of the Year for District 15 for her work as Executive Director of Friends of Marsh Creek Watershed, and she received the Contra Costa County Commission on Women’s 2016 Women Empowering the Environment Award. She serves on the Council in her role as chair of the Delta Protection Commission.

Dr. Scott Rumsey - Acting Regional Administrator, NOAA Fisheries (West Coast)

Dr. Scott Rumsey is the Acting Regional Administrator for NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region. Scott is also currently the U.S. Federal Commissioner to the Pacific Salmon Commission. Scott most recently served as the Deputy Regional Administrator for the region since 2017. Scott joined NOAA Fisheries in 2001 and has served in several positions including as the Portland (Oregon) Branch Chief for the Protected Resources Division, and as the program manager for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund.

Campbell Ingram - Executive Officer, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy

Campbell became the first Executive Officer of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy in March of 2011. The Conservancy is tasked with being a lead agency for ecosystem restoration in the Delta and supporting efforts that advance environmental protection and the economic well-being of Delta residents. Previously, Campbell was an Associate Director of The Nature Conservancy’s California Water Program where he participated in the Bay-Delta Conservation Plan effort as a Steering Committee member. Campbell previously worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service where he was responsible for implementing several CVPIA restoration programs and the CALFED Environmental Water Program; and prior to that was employed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation working directly for the CALFED Ecosystem Restoration Program.

E. Joaquin Esquivel - Chair, State Water Resources Control Board

E. Joaquin Esquivel was appointed to the State Water Resources Control Board by Governor Jerry Brown in March 2017 and designated by Governor Gavin Newsom as Chair in February 2019. Previously, he served as assistant secretary for federal water policy at the California Natural Resources Agency in the Governor’s Washington, D.C., office, where he facilitated the development of policy priorities between the agency, the Governor’s Office, the California Congressional delegation, and federal stakeholder agencies. He worked for U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer of California for more than eight years prior to his recent appointment, most recently as her legislative assistant covering agriculture, Native American, water, oceans, and nutrition portfolios, in addition to serving as the director of information and technology. He was born and raised in California’s Coachella Valley. He holds a bachelor's degree in English from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Josephine Axt - Chief of Planning, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Josephine Axt has served in her current capacity with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers since 2015. Prior to coming to the regional office, she served as chief of planning at the Los Angeles District. She oversees a division with technical expertise in plan formulation, environmental compliance, economics, watershed planning, and flood risk management. Her Planning and Policy Division’s role includes reviewing subordinate District products, guiding project development, and conducting quality assurance. While Chief of Planning Division at the Los Angeles District, Axt oversaw a group of about 50 people in the formulation and evaluation of alternatives in the major mission areas of flood risk management, navigation, and ecosystem restoration. She worked closely with non-federal sponsors to manage flood risk, improve navigation, and restore ecosystems throughout southern California, southern Nevada, southeastern Utah, and Arizona.

Ernest Conant - Regional Director, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Mid-Pacific Region)

As Director of Reclamation’s Mid-Pacific Region, Conant manages one of the nation's largest and most complex water projects, the Central Valley Project, as well as Oregon's Klamath Project; Nevada's Newlands, Humboldt, Washoe and Truckee Storage projects; and California's Cachuma, Orland, Santa Maria, Solano and Ventura River projects. Most recently, Conant served as the chair of the Water/Special Districts/Environmental Law Practice Group for Young Wooldridge where he was involved in negotiating major water agreements and led water banking and other storage initiatives.

Tanya Trujillo - Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, U.S. Department of the Interior

Tanya Trujillo is a water lawyer with more than 20 years of experience working on complex natural resources management issues and interstate and transboundary water agreements. She most recently worked as a project director with the Colorado River Sustainability Campaign. Before then, she served as the Executive Director of the Colorado River Board of California. She has served as Senior Counsel to the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and as Counselor to the Assistant Secretary for Water and Science at Interior. A native New Mexican, Tanya attended Stanford University and the University of Iowa College of Law.

Tomás Torres - Director, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Pacific Southwest Region)

Tomás Torres serves as Director of the Water Division at the EPA in San Francisco. The Water Division, in collaboration with states, tribes, and its many stakeholders, is responsible for safeguarding drinking water in the Pacific Southwest and for restoring watersheds, oceans, and their aquatic ecosystems to protect human health and support economic and recreational activities. Torres is responsible for overseeing effective implementation of national water laws and for oversight and funding of state and tribal water protection programs in California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, and the outer Pacific Islands. He has more than 25 years of environmental management experience in the public and private sectors. Prior to joining the Water Division in October of 2015, Torres served as Director of EPA’s San Diego Border Office, where he oversaw the development and implementation of environmental protection programs along the U.S.-Mexico border. He has held various leadership positions in EPA’s Land and Superfund programs and has worked in the private sector developing industrial capacity in the areas of air emissions reduction, pollution prevention, and health risk assessment. Torres is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.

Paul Souza - Regional Director, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Pacific Southwest)

Paul Souza is Regional Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Pacific Southwest Region. Souza oversees service programs in California, Nevada, and the Klamath Basin of Oregon, implementing federal laws and policies including the Endangered Species Act and Migratory Bird Treaty Act. He also leads the region’s 50 national wildlife refuges, three national fish hatcheries and 13 fisheries, and ecological services field offices from the region’s Sacramento headquarters. Prior to serving in the service’s national headquarters in Washington, D.C., Souza was a field supervisor for the South Florida Ecological Services Office, where he led actions to recover 67 listed species and protect a host of important habitats for migratory birds, fish, and other wildlife. He helped lead the effort to restore America’s Everglades with partners, implementing projects to improve the health of the environment for species such as the Florida panther, wood stork, and snail kite.

Vacant, U.S. Geological Survey (Pacific Region)

Bio coming soon.

Larry Goldzband - Executive Director, San Francisco Bay Conservation & Development Commission

Larry Goldzband joined BCDC as Executive Director in August 2012. Prior his appointment, Goldzband was a Coro Foundation Fellow, worked for members of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, was Chief Deputy Cabinet Secretary for former Governor Pete Wilson, and was director of the California Department of Conservation. In the private sector, he managed Pacific Gas and Electric Company's charitable contributions program for over 10 years and was the executive director of the PG&E Corporation Foundation. In the nonprofit sector, Goldzband was the policy director for Efficiency First California prior to starting at BCDC. In addition, Goldzband twice served as a BCDC Commissioner for a total of almost ten years. He received his undergraduate degree from Pomona College and his MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.