Member Biographies

• Phillip L. Isenberg, Chair
• William W. Anderson
• Meg Caldwell
• Ann D'Amato
• Susan Golding
• Dr. Jane G. Pisano
• Catherine Reheis-Boyd
• Douglas P. Wheeler
• Press Release: California Resources Agency Secretary Mike Chrisman Announces Marine Life Protection Act Blue Ribbon Task Force

Phillip L. Isenberg (Chair)

Phil Isenberg provides government relation services to the law firm of Miller, Owen & Trost in Sacramento. Isenberg is a former 14-year member of the California State Assembly and also former mayor of Sacramento. During his tenure in the Legislature he specialized in a variety of governmental activities including extensive work on the state budget and state/local government financial relations. Isenberg specialized in a host of environmental issues, including water supply and habitat preservation. Part of the environmental activity includes a creative use of state funds to help pay for water conservation efforts by the City of Los Angeles, in exchange for increased protection of the environment at Mono Lake. This effort was achieved by Isenberg and then-Assemblymember Bill Baker.

During the 63-day delay in passing a state budget in 1993, Isenberg and Republican Senator Frank Hill proposed an alternative budget that was widely credited with paving the way for an eventual settlement of the deadlock. While mayor, and continuing in the Legislature, Isenberg was deeply involved in redevelopment issues. In 1993 he authored a successful reform of California's redevelopment law, limiting abuses by local governments.

Isenberg was one of two outside advisors asked by Governor Gray Davis to participate in budget preparations in 1998 and then for the budgets of 2001-2003, 2002-2003 and 2003-2004. He chaired the transition committee for Treasurer-elect Phil Angelides in 1998 and the 1996 transition committee for Speaker-elect Cruz Bustamante. In an earlier life, he was chief of staff to the Assembly Ways & Means Committee. On occasion, Isenberg, a lawyer, teaches at the McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific, the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley and the Graduate School of Public Policy at California State University, Sacramento.

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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 member of the Department of Interior's Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council. He is also a board member of the Grand Canyon National Park Foundation and The Recreation Round Table, and he serves as president of the Marina Operator's Association of America. Anderson is a graduate of Penn State University's Recreation and Park Management program.

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Meg Caldwell

Caldwell has lectured on law and served as director of the Environmental and Natural Resources Law and Policy Program at Stanford Law School since 1994. In May 2004, Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Caldwell to the California Coastal Commission. She was previously counsel to MicroClean, Inc., an instructor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at San Jose State University from 1992 to 1994, and an associate in the environmental law group at McCutchen, Doyle, Brown and Enersen from 1985 to 1989. She was a policy analyst at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a national fellow research assistant for the Hoover Institution in 1984.

Caldwell is currently on the Advisory Council for Waterkeepers Northern California 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. She has authored a number of publications including the forthcoming "A Citizen's Guide to California Land Use Law and Local Government Decision Making."

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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Ann D'Amato

Ann D'Amato is the chief of staff to Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo. Prior to this appointment, D'Amato served as deputy mayor for former Mayor Richard J. Riordan, responsible for government affairs and overseeing legislative initiatives in the city, state, and Washington, DC. She was also responsible for community affairs, constituent services, volunteer programs, protocol, and public affairs functions, including directing the mayor's neighborhood programs. Prior to joining the Riordan Administration in 1993, she served as a City Council deputy.

D'Amato serves on the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. Her family represents three generations of commercial fishing in California. She is a graduate of the University of Redlands and holds a bachelor's of science in business and management.

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Susan Golding

Susan Golding is the founder, president and chief executive officer of The Golding Group, a global strategy and management consulting firm established in 2001. She recently agreed to direct the Office of Homeland Security for the Titan Corporation, where she coordinates the application of the company's cutting-edge technologies for fighting biological and chemical terrorism.

Golding has had a distinguished 20-year career in public service, recently ending her second term as mayor of San Diego and previously serving as chair of the board for San Diego County, deputy secretary of the California Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, and a member of the San Diego City Council. Prior to public service, she was Associate Publisher and General Manager of the NewsPress, a California community newspaper, as well as a college instructor at Emory University, in Atlanta, Georgia.

Goldman is a senior fellow at the UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research and serves as a member of the board of directors for the Titan Corporation, the Surebeam Corporation, Avanir Pharmaceuticals, and 1st Pacific Bank of California. She also serves on the board or advisory committee of the Pacific Council on International Relations, the International Republican Institute, the Eureka Foundation, the Trusteeship of Los Angeles, the International Women's Forum, and the National Woman's Campaign Fund.

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Dr. Jane G. Pisano

Dr. Jane G. Pisano took office as the President and Director of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in November 2001, where her priorities include the planning, development and raising of funds for a new state of the art Natural History Museum for Los Angeles residents and visitors. Pisano served as the University of Southern California's Senior Vice President for External Relations from 1998 to 2001. She had previously served as Vice President for External Relations from 1994 and, from 1991 to 1998, as Dean of the USC School of Public Administration.

Before 1991, Pisano headed Los Angeles 2000 and The 2000 Partnership, a civic organization working to improve the quality of life in southern California. She led the development of a civic action agenda based on the policy recommendations in "L.A. 2000: A City for the Future," a report prepared by the Los Angeles 2000 Committee. Prior to her arrival in Los Angeles, Pisano was on the faculty of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service and served as a White House Fellow on the National Security Council staff.

Pisano chairs the Board of Governors of the California Community Foundation and is a trustee of the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation. She was elected to the National Academy of Public Administration and to the Council on Foreign Relations. Pisano earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in international relations from the Johns Hopkins University, and a B.A. degree in political science from Stanford University.

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Catherine Reheis-Boyd

Catherine 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.

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Douglas P. Wheeler

Douglas P. Wheeler is a partner in the Environmental Practice Group at the Washington Office of Hogan & Hartson, LLP. He has worked exclusively with natural resource and environmental issues since joining the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1969, where he served for seven years as assistant legislative counsel and deputy assistant secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks. Wheeler also served as senior executive of nonprofit environmental and conservation organizations, including the National Trust for Historic Preservation (executive director, 1977-80), the American Farmland Trust (president, 1980-85), the Sierra Club (executive director, 1985-87), and the World Wildlife Fund (vice president, 1987-91). From 1991-1999, Wheeler served as California's secretary for resources. During his tenure, he developed nationally recognized strategies to integrate economic and environmental goals, and to effectively manage the state's natural resources in the face of rapid growth and development.

An honorary life member of the Board of Visitors of the Duke University School of Law, Wheeler is also chair of the Dean's Advisory Committee of the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is chair of the National Park System Advisory Board, a United States member of the Biodiversity Working Group of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, and chair of the board of the American Farmland Trust.

Wheeler received his LL.B. from the Duke University School of Law and his A.B. from Hamilton College. He is a member of the North Carolina and District of Columbia Bars.

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Press Release: California Resources Agency Secretary Mike Chrisman Announces Marine Life Protection Act Blue Ribbon Task Force

Task Force Chair Phil Isenberg welcomes members, public input, foresees productive work ahead

SACRAMENTO - California Resources Agency Secretary Mike Chrisman today announced the selection of eight members to join Chair Phil Isenberg on the California Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Blue Ribbon Task Force. The nine-member panel will work with the Department of Fish and Game to improve the state's system of marine protected areas through scientific analysis and expanded public input.

"This group represents a wide range of perspectives and is highly regarded for having good judgment," said Chrisman. "Their track record of results and breadth of experience in statewide and national policymaking is going to play a huge role in the success of this effort," he added. "This group has been assembled to look objectively at the history, the science related to marine protected areas and the process to ensure that it remains open, will be accessible and is considerate of all viewpoints."

Secretary Chrisman has charged Task Force members with four specific goals:

• Oversee preparation of a statewide guide for developing a marine protected area master plan.
• Create a pilot project, in an area along the central coast, which will identify potential networks of marine protected areas.
• Develop a strategy for long-term MLPA funding.
• Make recommendations for improved coordination of marine protected areas with key federal agencies.

Chair Isenberg said, "We have a lot of work ahead of us, but with this collection of talented people the process should be thorough, fair and productive. All of us look forward to beginning our deliberations next month, and talking about the steps that lie ahead to meet the objectives set out by the Secretary."

The first meeting of the task force is scheduled for October 23 and 24 in Sacramento.

Department of Fish and Game Director Ryan Broddrick, who will appoint a scientific advisory team to assist the task force, said peer review is essential. "The Department of Fish and Game will work with the task force and science team in developing a draft marine protected area master plan. We will draw on this expertise and advice for our proposals to the Fish and Game Commission that ultimately has the decision-making authority for the MLPA."

The science advisory team will include the participation of key state agencies and scientists knowledgeable in marine ecology, fisheries science, marine protected areas, economics and the social sciences.

The MLPA Initiative depends on the active involvement of stakeholders and the general public to succeed. Various opportunities will be available for such involvement, including meetings of the task force and science advisory team that will be open to the public.

The current initiative is possible through the efforts of private and government partners who are providing funding and in-kind services. These include: the California Resources Agency, California Department of Fish and Game, Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and MPA Science Institute of the National Marine Protected Areas Center.

The California Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Blue Ribbon Task Force members:

• Phillip L. Isenberg (Chairman), Attorney at Law, Miller, Owen and Trost and former California State Assembly Member
• Dr. Fernando J. Guerra, Director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University
• William W. Anderson, President of Westrec Marina Management, Inc.
• Meg Caldwell, Director and Lecturer on Law at Stanford Law School's Environment and Natural Resources Law & Policy Program
• Ann D'Amato, Chief of Staff to City of Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo
• Susan Golding, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Golding Group and former mayor of San Diego
• Dr. Jane G. Pisano, President and Director of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
• Catherine Reheis-Boyd, Chief Operating Officer and Chief of Staff for the Western States Petroleum Association
• Douglas P. Wheeler, Partner at Hogan & Hartson, LLP in Washington, DC and former California Resources Agency Secretary