About the Foundation

McPeak is president and chief executive officer of the California Emerging Technology Fund. From 2003 to 2006, she served as secretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, and prior to that was president and chief executive officer of the Bay Area Council, where she established and led major regional initiatives. She has also served as president and chief executive officer of the Bay Area Economic Forum.

Linda S. Adams is the former Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA). She was the Governor's lead negotiator for the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, a first-of-its-kind greenhouse gas reduction law, and negotiated and implemented the first environmental justice laws in the nation focused on protecting the state's most vulnerable populations regarding water, toxic substances, and other regulatory matters. She also shaped the creation of the state's first environmental education programs. As Secretary, Adams also served as chair of the California-Mexico Border Relations Council and as a member of the Ocean Protection Council and the Strategic Growth Council.

Mike Chrisman is the Director of the Southwestern Partnership Office for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. He oversees the foundation's fish, wildlife and habitat programs in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona. From 2003 until 2010, he served as California Secretary of Natural Resources, and was the governor's chief advisor on issues related to the states' natural, historic and cultural resources. He also chaired the California Ocean Protection Council, Sierra Nevada Conservancy, and the Stewardship Council. Mike is a fourth generation Californian and San Joaquin Valley resident, and owner/ partner of Chrisman Ranches, a family ranching and farming business in Tulare County.

Frank is Director of the California Environmental Law & Policy Center School of Law, University of California, Davis. Prior to that, he was executive director of the California Center for Environmental Law and Policy at Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, and worked for nearly a decade at the state Department of Justice office, ultimately reaching the rank of chief deputy attorney general for Legal Affairs. He is a member of the Environmental Law Section of the California State Bar and the Planning and Conservation League.

Arthur Gen "A.G." Kawamura is the former California Secretary of Agriculture where he served from 2003 to 2010. A third generation fruit and vegetable grower and shipper from Orange County, he is co-chair of Solutions From the Land, a UN Foundation project to develop a sustainable roadmap for 21st century agricultural systems. He is also a national steering committee member of "25x25", a renewable energy coalition of farm, forest, conservation and environmental leaders focused on the multiple benefits and contributions that can be delivered from the agricultural and rural sectors of America, and serves on the Board of Governors, California State University Foundation.

McKernan is chief executive officer of the Automobile Club of Southern California, where he has worked since 1966. He is on the boards and past chair of the California Business Roundtable and the California State Chamber of Commerce. He is currently chair and serves on the boards of Blue Shield of California and Forest Lawn Memorial Parks Association.

Mike, a native San Diegan, is an independent consultant on water and land development projects, having retired from a career in the building industry. He has served as Chair of the San Diego County Water Authority, California Water Commission and Bay Delta Advisory Council, and on the Board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. He has also served as Board Chair of the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce, Rady Children's Hospital, The San Diego County Boy Scout Council and San Diego Library Commission.

Reilly is a founding partner of Aqua International Partners, under the Texas Pacific Group, an investment company, where he has also served as a senior advisor. From 1989 to 1993, Mr. Reilly served as the seventh administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and earlier in his career, was president of both the World Wildlife Fund and Conservation Foundation.

Dr. Seed has been a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley for 20 years. Previously, he was an assistant professor of civil engineering for Stanford University. Dr. Seed is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineers.