Member Biographies

• Susan Golding, Chair
• William W. Anderson
• Don Benninghoven
• Meg Caldwell
• Catherine Reheis-Boyd

Susan Golding (Chair)

Hon. Susan Golding is the president and chief executive officer of The Golding Group, Inc., a government relations and strategic consulting firm. Golding has most recently served as a member of the board of directors for the Titan Corporation, Avanir Pharmaceuticals, and the 1st Pacific Bank of California where she continues to serve as a member of its advisory board. She has had a distinguished 20 year career in public service, most recently as mayor of the City of San Diego. Prior to being mayor, Golding served two terms as a member and chair of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, deputy secretary of the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, and member of the San Diego City Council. In addition, she served as chair of the State Commission on Local Governance and chair of the State Task Force on Military Base Re-Use.

Golding served as a senior fellow at the UCLA School of Public Policy and as a member of the National Selection Panel on Innovations of American Government at the Kennedy School of Harvard University. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Helen Putnam Award for Excellence in Land Use and Environmental Quality from the California League of Cities, the Award of Excellence from the Endangered Habitat League, and the John Nolen Award for Planning and Urban Design from American Institute of Architects. She is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the West.

Golding graduated from Carleton College, received her M.A. from Columbia University and was a Ph.D. Fellow at Emory University.

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William W. Anderson

William (Bill) Anderson has been president and chief operating officer of Westrec Marinas since 1989. Westrec Marinas is the nation's largest owner and operator of waterfront marinas. Anderson previously worked for the National Park Service as part of the management team that established the Golden Gate and Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Areas. During that time, he worked with federal, state and local land management agencies, private land trusts and environmental organizations in developing complex land management strategies to preserve open space while providing for balanced public use.

Anderson is a past member of the U.S. Department of the Interior's Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council. He has also served as a board member of the Grand Canyon National Park Foundation and is the past President of the Association of Marina Industries. Anderson is a graduate of Penn State University's Recreation and Park Management program.

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Don Benninghoven

Don Benninghoven retired as executive director of the League of California Cities (LCC) and later of the City-County-School Partnership. During his 40-year tenure at LCC, Benninghoven was intimately involved in every facet of municipal operations, financing, and policy. Working locally as well as statewide on issues involving local government training, revenue sources and community planning, Benninghoven served on a variety of statewide commissions, including the Governor's Commission on Transportation Financing (under Governor Gray Davis), Vice Chair of the California State Constitution Revision Commission (Governor Pete Wilson), and the Governor's Commission on Local Government Financing (Governor George Deukmejian).

As executive director, Benninghoven worked intently to modernize the organizational structure and services of LCC to meet the very diverse needs of all cities. He was passionate about including the voices of city officials when setting LCC policy and was the driving force behind the creation of a variety of handbooks and library materials to help cities meet their unique needs for fiscal enhancement, economic development, land use planning, and dozens of other topics.

Benninghoven earned bachelor's and master's degrees in political science and public administration from the University of California, Berkeley. He's a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administrators, which includes a worldwide membership of 250. Don served on the boards of directors of the National Civic League, the National League of Cities, and the National Association of Regional Councils, and currently serves as secretary of the City-County-School Partnership, on the executive committee of the Institute for Local Self Government, and as chairman of the California Center for Civic Renewal. Don has continued his interest in city government by working with local officials and universities as an advisor and lecturer.

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Meg Caldwell

Caldwell is a member of the faculty and serves as director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy Program at Stanford Law School. In May 2004, Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Caldwell to the California Coastal Commission, where she served as its chair December 2004-2006. She was previously counsel to MicroClean, Inc., an instructor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at San Jose State University, and an associate in the environmental law group at McCutchen, Doyle, Brown and Enersen. She was a policy analyst at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a national fellow research assistant for the Hoover Institution.

Caldwell is currently on the Advisory Council for San Francisco Baykeeper and previously served on the boards of the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee, the Coyote Creek Riparian Station and the City of Saratoga Planning Commission.

Caldwell is a member of the California State Bar and the American Bar Association. She earned her bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and Juris Doctorate from Stanford Law School.

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Catherine Reheis-Boyd

Catherine (Cathy) Reheis-Boyd is the chief operating officer and chief of staff for the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA). Affiliated with WSPA since 1990, she currently directs WSPA's government affairs, assists the President in media affairs, oversees all office and committee operations, manages WSPA's staff and financial resources and provides strategic oversight of key issues. Prior to joining WSPA, Reheis-Boyd was employed with Texaco, Inc.'s Bakersfield Division for seven years as an Environmental Regulatory Compliance Coordinator. She worked for three years prior to that as an environmental consultant.

Reheis-Boyd was appointed by the Governor as a California petroleum industry representative on the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission and is a member of the California Chamber of Commerce Natural Resources and Policy Committee. She has chaired the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce Air Quality Committee, and was past president of the Sacramento chapter of the Air & Waste Management Association. She has also served as past president of the Kern County Chapter of the American Lung Association, and is a past recipient of the Bureau of Land Management's State Director's Oil and Gas Award for Special Achievement. She is a graduate of the Bakersfield and California Leadership Programs.

Reheis-Boyd received her bachelor's of science degree in natural resource management from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and pursued her post-graduate studies in environmental engineering at the University of Southern California.