Delta Stewardship Council Members
The Delta Stewardship Council was created by the California Legislature in 2009 to advance California’s water supply reliability and the Delta’s ecosystem resiliency in a manner that protects and enhances the region’s unique characteristics. It is comprised of seven members advised by an independent 10-member science board, and supported by a dedicated staff. Of the seven, four are appointed by the Governor, one each by the Senate and Assembly, and the seventh is the chair of the Delta Protection Commission.
Julie Lee - Chair
Julie Lee, of Auburn, has served as undersecretary of the California Government Operations Agency, where she also served as chair of the California Building Standards Commission. Lee has served in several positions in the Office of Governor Jerry Brown, including director of operations, reorganizational specialist, and project manager of the Governor’s reorganization plan at the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. She has also held positions at the California Departments of Transportation, Personnel Administration, and Corrections, as well as the California Highway Patrol.
She was appointed to the Council by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2022 and reappointed in 2026. The Council elected her chair in 2024. Her current term expires on February 3, 2030.
Gayle Miller - Vice Chair
Gayle Miller, of Sacramento, has served as a senior counselor on infrastructure and clean energy finance for Governor Gavin Newsom since 2022, and as the chief deputy director of policy at the California Department of Finance since 2019. Miller has also served on various boards and commissions, including CalSTRS and the State Lands Commission. She has more than 20 years of public service experience, including at the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, the State Controller, the State Senate President Pro Tempore, and several other positions in the California State Senate and Assembly.
She was appointed to the Council by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2024. Her term expires on February 3, 2028.
Diane Burgis
Diane Burgis, of Oakley, serves on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, representing the 230,000 residents of District 3. Supervisor Burgis’s district includes a majority of Contra Costa County’s Delta region, as well as the communities of Antioch, Bethel Island, Brentwood, Byron, Discovery Bay, Knightsen, and Oakley in East Contra Costa County. Before 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 as chair of the Delta Protection Commission.
Dr. Susan T. Eggman
Dr. Susan T. Eggman is a U.S. Army veteran who has served in several public office roles, including as a state senator serving District 5 - which includes San Joaquin County, a portion of Stanislaus County, and the Sacramento County community of Galt - from 2020 to 2024; as a state assembly member from 2012 to 2020; and as a Stockton city council member from 2006 to 2012, during which she served on the Delta Protection Commission. Dr. Eggman has also served as a commissioner on the California Commission on the Status of Women & Girls and as a professor of social work at California State University, Sacramento, where she now chairs the department.
She was appointed to the Council by the Senate Rules Committee in 2026. Her term ends on February 3, 2030.
Maria Mehranian
Maria Mehranian, of La Cañada Flintridge, is the managing partner of the Cordoba Corporation, an infrastructure development firm based in Los Angeles. Mehranian has served as a gubernatorial appointee on the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board from 2008 to 2016. She has also participated in numerous water policy panels and served as a guest lecturer at universities throughout the state. She continues to collaborate with water engineering teams to develop guidelines for stormwater facilities and holds leadership positions at academic institutions, including Cal Poly Pomona College of Engineering and Southwestern Law School.
Mehranian has been appointed to the Council three times: in 2018 by the Senate Rules Committee, in 2023 by California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, and in 2026 by California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas. Her current term expires on February 3, 2030.
Ann Patterson
Ann Patterson, of Sacramento, has served as senior counselor to Governor Gavin Newsom since 2025. Patterson has held multiple roles in the Governor’s Office since 2019, including cabinet secretary, where she advised on policy and oversaw state agencies and departments, and legal affairs secretary, where she provided counsel on legal matters and oversaw litigation involving the state. Before joining the Newsom administration, she was a partner at Orrick, Herrington, and Sutcliffe, where she practiced from 2005 to 2018.
She was appointed to the Council by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2025 and reappointed in 2026. Her current term expires February 3, 2030.
Daniel Zingale
Daniel Zingale, of Sacramento, served as a senior advisor for Strategy and Communications in the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom. He has previously served as senior vice president at the California Endowment, a senior advisor in the Office of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, chief of staff to First Lady Maria Shriver, member of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, cabinet secretary in the Office of Governor Gray Davis, and as the executive director for AIDS Action.
He was appointed to the Council by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2020 and reappointed in 2024. His current term expires February 3, 2028.
Former Delta Stewardship Council Chairs
- Virginia Madueño - 2022-2024
- Susan Tatayon - 2019-2022
- Randy Fiorini - 2014-2019
- Phil Isenberg - 2010-2014