KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:
Quentin Kopp: Honorable Quentin Kopp, Retired San Mateo Superior Court Judge, California State Senator from 1986-1998, Senate Transportation Committee Chairman 1987-1998, California Transportation Commission Member 1987-1998, Metropolitan Transportation Commission Member 1976-1986 and Chairman 1982-1984, San Francisco Board of Supervisors Member 1972-1986
The Honorable Quentin L. Kopp, was appointed to the San Mateo Superior Court on January 1, 1999 and retired January 31, 2004, but served until May 31, 2010 in the Assigned Judges Program of the California Judicial Council. Prior to judicial appointment, Judge Kopp practiced trial law in San Francisco and Northern California. He served in the California State Senate from December 1, 1986 to December 7, 1998 as the first non-incumbent Independent to the Senate since 1878.
Judge Kopp also served (1972-1986) as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to which he was first elected in November 1971 and re-elected four times thereafter. He was Board President in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1982.
In June 2006, Judge Kopp was appointed by the California State Senate to the California High-Speed Rail Authority board of directors. His 1996 legislation established the Authority. In August 2006, Judge Kopp was elected Chairman of the Authority, serving as the same until July, 2009. In January 2007 he was reappointed for a four year term by the State Senate.
Judge Kopp was a California Transportation Commission member from 1988 until 1998, California Law Revision Commission member from 1995 until 1998 and Little Hoover Commission member from 1996 until 1998. During 27 years as an elected local and state legislator, Judge Kopp also served as a leader on virtually every regional governmental policy-making body affecting the Bay Area.
Mike McKeever, Executive Director, Sacramento Area Council of Governments
Mike McKeever, AICP, was appointed Executive Director of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments Board of Directors on December 17, 2004. Previously, Mr. McKeever, was project manager of the Blueprint Project at SACOG.
Mike McKeever has focused his 30 plus year career on effective regional planning. He was the owner of an urban planning consulting practice in Portland, Oregon and since 2001 was Blueprint Project Manager and then Executive Director of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments. During Mr McKeever's tenure at SACOG the organization has established itself as a national leader in sustainable, integrated regional planning. He was a key contributor to California Senate Bill 375, the nation's most comprehensive regional planning law linking climate change, transportation, land use and housing planning and was appointed by the California Air Resources Board to chair the Regional Targets Advisory Committee, a 19 person statewide committee to assist in the implementation of SB375.
Mr. McKeever has also been involved in projects with the Sacramento Regional Transit District, and regional planning projects in Portland, Oregon; Salem, Oregon; San Diego, California; San Francisco, California; Chicago, Illinois; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Austin, Texas; and Victoria, British Columbia.
He is a native of Nampa, Idaho and received his B.A. with Honors from the University of Oregon. He lives in Sacramento with his wife and stepchildren.
PANEL 1:
Ethan Elkind: Climate Change research Fellow, UC Berkeley School of Law
Ethan Elkind is the Climate Policy Associate with a joint appointment at the UC Berkeley School of Law and the UCLA School of Law. In this capacity, he serves as the lead author of UCLA-UC Berkeley’s grant-funded series of policy reports on business solutions to combat climate change. He taught at the UCLA law school’s Frank Wells Environmental Law Clinic and served as an environmental law research fellow. He has a background in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), climate change law, environmental justice, and other environmental law topics. In 2005, he co-founded The Nakwatsvewat Institute, Inc., a Native American nonprofit organization that provides alternative dispute resolution services and support for tribal governance, justice and educational institutions. His book on the history of the modern Los Angeles Metro Rail system will be published by University of California Press in late 2013.
Amanda Eaken: Deputy Director of Sustainable Communities, Energy & Transportation Program, Natural Resources Defense Council
Amanda Eaken is deputy director of sustainable communities with NRDC. Her primary focus is reducing transportation sector greenhouse gas emissions through improved land use and transportation planning and policy. She was actively involved in the passage of SB 375, which will provide transportation funding and regulatory incentives for regions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through improved long-term growth plans. She represented the environmental community on the Regional Targets Advisory Committee, which was charged with advising the California Air Resources Board on SB 375 implementation. Prior to joining NRDC, Amanda managed the construction of affordable housing projects with a non-profit developer in San Francisco. Amanda received her master’s degree in transportation and land use planning from U.C. Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design, and her B.A. in environmental and evolutionary biology from Dartmouth College.
Daniel Sperling: Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Davis
Daniel Sperling is Professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science and Policy, founding Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies, and founding chair of the Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy at the University of California, Davis. He also holds the transportation seat on the California Air Resources Board, where he plays a prominent role in designing and adopting climate policies for vehicles, fuels, and urban travel. He received a 2010 Heinz Award for his “achievements in the research of alternative transportation fuels and his responsibility for the adoption of cleaner transportation policies in California and across the United States.”
In the past few years, he has been a keynote speaker at 40 universities and conferences, featured on the Jon Stewart Daily Show, NPR’s Science Friday, Talk of the Nation, and Fresh Air, and published op-eds in the New York Times, Washington Post, and LA Times. He is author or editor of 200+ papers and reports and 12 books (including Two Billion Cars, Oxford University Press), has served on 13 National Academies committees, was selected as a National Associate of the National Academies, recently chaired the Future of Mobility committee of the (Davos) World Economic Forum, testified 7 times to the US Congress on alternative fuels and advanced vehicle technology, and was a lead author on the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore.
Professor Sperling earned his Ph.D. in Transportation Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley (with minors in Economics and Energy & Resources) and his B.S. in Environmental Engineering and Urban Planning from Cornell University. Professor Sperling worked two years as an environmental planner for the US Environmental Protection Agency and two years as an urban planner in the Peace Corps in Honduras.
PANEL 1 MODERATOR:
Corey Brown: Attorney, Resources Law Group
Corey Brown primarily serves as a strategic policy and legal consultant to the philanthropic efforts of RLG, including the California Coastal and Marine Initiative and Preserving Wild California program, as well as other philanthropic projects. Before joining Resources Law Group, Mr. Brown served as Executive Director of The Big Sur Land Trust, Government Affairs Director for The Trust for Public Land (Western Region), General Counsel for the Planning and Conservation League, Legal Counsel for Friends of the River, and as an Assembly Fellow with the California State Legislature. He also served as an adjunct professor at the McGeorge School of Law where he taught “Legislation and the Law of Politics” and as a Visiting Lecturer at the University of California at Davis where he taught “Environmental Politics and Administration.”
PANEL 2
Camille Pannu: Equal Justice Works Fellow and Staff Attorney at the Sustainable Economies Law Center
Camille Pannu is an Equal Justice Works Fellow and Staff Attorney at the Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC), where she partners with low-income farm worker communities to create community-owned projects that improve health, build residents’ capacity, and support sustainable local economic development. Her work includes cooperative development, incubation, and legal services for communities seeking to establish community-owned initiatives.
Prior to joining SELC, Camille spent over seven years working at the intersection of environmental justice, community organizing, and grassroots community development. She is a graduate, with honors, of UC Berkeley's undergraduate and law school programs.
Stuart Flashman: Environmental and Land Use Attorney
Stuart Flashman practices land use, environmental, and election law, focusing on CEQA. He has worked on high-speed rail issues for more than ten years, including representing environmental/transportation groups and S.F. Peninsula cities against the High-Speed Rail Authority, winning two successive judgments. He received his A.B./Sc.M. degree from Brown University, a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard, and his law degree from New College of California. Before moving to California in 1980 as a researcher at Stauffer Chemical Company, he was a post-doc at Michigan State University and genetics professor at North Carolina State University. Dr. Flashman served on the Emeryville City Council and Planning Commission as well as on the boards of the Alameda County Mosquito Abatement District, the East Bay Municipal Utilities District, the Association of California Water Agencies, the San Francisco Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club, Citizens for Eastshore State Parks, and the Rockridge Community Planning Council.
Dolores Roybal: Project Manager for the Regional Connector Project in Los Angeles
Dolores has worked in transportation for over 14 years. She has had the opportunity to work on major transit and transportation projects as well as small scale projects in the County of Los Angeles. She completed the environmental process and was awarded a Record of Decision (ROD) by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) in June 2012 for the Regional Connector Transit Corridor Project which would add three new rail stations to the system and connect three Light Rail Transit lines in downtown Los Angeles. She received her BA in Organizational Studies from Pitzer College in Claremont, CA and received her MA in Urban Planning from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Tim Taylor:
Tim Taylor practices in the Environment, Land Use and Natural Resources group at Stoel Rives LLP. He currently serves as the office managing partner for the firm's California offices. He has extensive experience with all of California's land use and environmental laws, with particular emphasis on the California Environmental Quality Act and related litigation, including appellate work. During his practice, Tim has dealt extensively with a wide range of federal environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act.
Michael Cunningham:
Michael Cunningham is Vice President, Public Policy for the Bay Area Council, a business-sponsored policy leadership organization that promotes Bay Area prosperity and sustainability by advancing policy solutions for transportation, housing, education, health, environment, trade, and job creation. Michael leads the Council’s work on transportation policy, including recent focus areas of high speed rail, Caltrain electrification, and regional commute transportation. He also manages the Bay Area Science and Innovation Consortium (BASIC), a collaboration of leading research universities, national laboratories, and private innovation companies that seeks to protect and strengthen the Bay Area’s unique innovation ecosystem and to derive from it greater economic and social benefits. Previously, Michael served as a transportation fiscal and policy analyst for the Legislative Analyst’s Office; as a founding member of the Public Policy Analysis group at the international economic and public policy consulting firm LECG; and as founder and owner-operator of Motive Products, a boutique automotive tool company. Michael received a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of California at Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Mathematics from Claremont McKenna College.
MODERATOR PANEL 2:
James Andrew: Deputy Attorney General at the Office of the California Attorney General
James (“Jim”) Andrew is a Deputy Attorney General at the Office of the California Attorney General. He has been working extensively on the High-Speed Rail project for nearly three years. He is lead counsel in pending project-level EIR CEQA litigation against the first High-Speed Rail section. He has over 13 years of experience in CEQA counseling and litigation, as well as general land use and real estate transactional experience. Prior to joining the Attorney General’s office in 2010, he was a partner in a Bay Area law firm specializing in land use and real estate. He has held Board or other high-level positions with community organizations such as the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) and the Urban Land Institute. His undergraduate degree is from U.C. Berkeley, and his law degree is from Stanford. Prior to law school, he served five years as an officer in the U.S. Navy.
PANEL 3:
Ronald Beals: Legal Chief Counsel, Caltrans
Ron Beals is Chief Counsel of Caltrans' Legal Division, which has 140 attorneys statewide. He has been involved in transportation issues since he was hired as the "Division of Highways" first "mass transit" attorney, before the State Highway Department became the Department of Transportation. After five initial years with Caltrans, he was hired as General Counsel for Gannett Outdoor/Transit Advertising, where he coordinated contracts and legal issues for bus shelter placement and transit advertising with every major Transit District in California, as well as the New York Subway System. Returning to Caltrans, he served as the Assistant Chief Counsel for all multi-modal programs and legislation for five years, before becoming Chief Counsel in 2008.
As a fifth generation Californian, Ron is a graduate of UCSB and UC Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall). He has personally litigated matters in 36 counties, all four California federal District Courts and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal. Additionally, Ron has made over 100 presentations before the State Legislature and local government bodies, as well as having several articles published in professional/business publications.
Fiona Ma: CPA, Speaker pro Tempore, California State Assembly (ret) and Candidate for the State Board of Equalization 2014
Fiona Ma was elected to represent the 12th Assembly District from November 2006 to November 2012 (after serving the maximum three terms). She was the first Asian woman to ever serve as Speaker pro Tempore since 1850. She was an elected delegate to the 1995 White House Conference on Small Business under President Bill Clinton.
Fiona Ma was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2002, where she served for four years. She authored groundbreaking legislation (AB 1108) to ban toxic chemicals, known as phthalates, in baby products statewide, which was the first such law in the nation and was later incorporated into the US Consumer Product Safety Bill.
Fiona Ma was the Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Domestic Violence, authored groundbreaking legislation to protect consumers, help California’s working families pay the bills, prevent the spread of Hepatitis B, increase access to quality healthcare, and provide equal rights for all Californians. She authored laws to combat graffiti, recycling theft and disabled placard abuse. As a joint author of Proposition 1-A (Nov 2008), she was the legislature’s leading advocate to bring high-speed trains to California. Assemblywoman Ma has been and continues to be a leader in promoting trade and fostering relationships between California and Asia. Fiona Ma is currently a candidate for the California State Board of Equalization.
Christopher Calfee: Senior Council at the Governor's Office of Planning and Research
Chris is senior counsel at the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research where his work centers on updating regulations and technical guidance to encourage infill development, resource conservation and renewable energy. After graduating from the UC Davis School of Law, he represented both local governments and private applicants in matters involving the California Environmental Quality Act and related environmental and planning laws in association with the law firm of Remy Moose & Manley LLP, and later with Best Best & Krieger LLP.
PANEL 3 MODERATOR:
Miles Hogan: Environmental Law Fellow, California Environmental Law and Policy Center, UC Davis School of Law
Miles Hogan is the Environmental Law Fellow for the California Environmental Law & Policy Center here at UC Davis School of Law. He plans and coordinates events for the Center, and conducts research and writing for the Center's policy initiatives. Miles graduated from King Hall in May 2012 and received the school's Environmental Law Certificate and Public Interest Law Certificate. While a student, Miles was an active member of King Hall's environmental law community as co-chair of the Environmental Law Society and as an executive editor for Environs, Environmental Law & Policy Journal. He received his undergraduate degree in Marine Biology from UCLA.