Elected Officials

Mike Feuer–Assembly Member
42nd Assembly District

Mike Feuer is a former professor of law and public policy at UCLA. Assembly member Feuer has authored bills related to health threats posted by toxics, and has a legislative interest in confronting California’s water crisis. He is a member of the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee, and a legislative participant in the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy.


Eric Garcetti-Councilmember
City of Los Angeles, 13th District

Eric Garcetti serves as Vice-Chair of the Energy and the Environment Committee and sits on the Housing, Community, and Economic Development Committee, which he has chaired for four and a half years.
Prior to his election, Garcetti taught public policy, diplomacy and world affairs at Occidental College and the University of Southern California. In 1998, the Rockefeller Foundation selected him as a Next Generation Leadership Fellow. Garcetti studied urban planning and political science at Columbia University.


Wendy Greuel
Los Angeles City Controller

As City Controller, Wendy ensures City Hall spends taxpayer dollars wisely and responsibly by identifying and eliminating wasteful spending, exposing fraud and abuse in city government and works to ensure an economic recovery and economic growth. Wendy believes in doing what is practical, not political, to get the job done and is focused on reforms that make the city more efficient and accountable.


Carol Liu-Senator
21st Senate District

Carol Liu sits on the Select Committee on Climate Change and A.B. 32 Implementation. Senator Liu has expressed interest in SB 128 (Padilla) and is married to Michael Peevey, President of the Public Utilities Commission. She is also actively working to “green” her district through her “Greening the 21st District in the 21 Century” program.


Fran Pavley-State Senator
23rd Senate District

Senator Fran Pavley is a pioneer in state environmental policy. As the author of AB 32 -- the California Global Warming Solutions Act 2006, she had demonstrated a commitment to finding solutions to the state’s environmental needs. Senator Pavley’s experience in these issues will make her a great asset to the Luskin Center. UCLA resides within her district.


Business Executives

Mary Leslie
President of LA Business Council

As President of the LABC, Leslie has led successful efforts to convene and develop policies with business, government and non-profit leaders that have significantly increased affordable housing, incentivize sustainable development and initiated business support for public education. Leslie is also President of Leslie & Associates, a private consulting firm that specializes in non-profit management, strategic planning and government affairs. Leslie serves on the Los Angeles Conservation Corporation Board of Directors and served as a Commissioner of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Board and the Advisory Committees of L.A. Family Housing and the California Women's Law Center.


Lawrence Ramer
President and CEO Ramer Equities

Lawrence Ramer is a member of the Pacific Council on International Policy’s Board of Directors. Mr. Lawrence Ramer is Chairman of Ramer Equities, Inc., a family-owned investment and management company that focuses on manufacturing companies. He is also Chairman of the Lee and Lawrence J. Ramer Foundation. Prior to his current role, Mr. Ramer founded and served as President and CEO of the National Portland Cement Company; he also co-founded and served as President and CEO of the Pacific Coast Cement Corporation. Mr. Ramer is a Director at Helen Keller International, the Los Angeles Music Center, Canyon Ranch, and Center Theatre Group/Taper-Ahmanson Theatres; he is also a Trustee of California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts). He additionally serves on the Boards of the American Jewish Committee, Los Angeles World Affairs Council, and the RAND Corporation Center on Middle East Policy. Mr. Ramer was decorated with the Commanders Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, and also received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Lafayette College. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

William Ouchi
Professor, UCLA Anderson School of Management
Chairman of the Riordan Programs

 Appointed to the UCLA Anderson faculty in 1979, Professor Ouchi teaches courses in management and organization design, and conducts research on the structure of large organizations. A longtime civic activist, Professor Ouchi took leave from UCLA from 1993 to 1995 to serve as advisor and chief of staff to then Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.

Ouchi has served on the editorial boards of four scholarly journals and serves as advisor to several granting agencies. He has previously served as Vice Dean for Executive Education, as Director of the Doctoral Program, and as Area Chair for the Strategy and Organization Area of the school.

 In the larger community, Professor Ouchi serves on the Board of Trustees of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Japanese American National Museum and on the Board of Directors of The Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools - an operator of inner-city charter schools in Los Angeles. He previously served on the boards of Williams College, KCET Public Television, The California Community Foundation, Leadership Education for Asian-Pacifics, the Consumer Advisory Committee of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and of the Harvard-Westlake School

Administrative Executives


Timothy Brick
Chairman of the Board, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

Brick served 14 years on the Pasadena Utility Advisory Commission, which directs the municipal water and power department, including four terms as chair. He is a member of the Colorado River Water Users Associations, National Water Resources Association and a member of the board of POWER (Public Officials for Water & Environmental Reform.) He also belongs to the Audubon Society, the Nature Conservancy and the Society for Ecological Restoration.

Brick was vice-chair of the MWD board from 1998-2000 and chaired the Water Planning & Resources Committee (1995-1998) as well as the Headquarters Committee, which developed MWD’s Union Station Headquarters. He has also chaired the Water Education Committee, the Water Quality Committee, and the Strategic Plan Implementation Committee. This Spring Brick attended the World Water Forum in Mexico City and delivered a presentation on Southern California conservation and integrated planning efforts at a panel on the “Challenges and Perspectives of Megacities.” Brick also played an important role in the development of MWD’s World Water Forum program, which provides grants to Southern California colleges for educational efforts addressing world water problems.

Brett S. Messing
Senior Advisor to Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa and Chief Operating Officer of the Office of Economic and Business Policy, Los Angeles Mayor's Office of Business and Economic Policy

Brett S. Messing is Senior Managing Director, Mayor Villaraigosa’s Office of Business and Economic Policy.  He was previously Managing Partner of GPS Partners, a $2 billion energy focused hedge fund.   Before founding GPS Partners, Mr. Messing was a Managing Director at Lehman Brothers.  He began his career at Goldman Sachs where he was a Vice President and Head of the Restricted Equities Group.  He is a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School.

Hasan Ikhrata
Executive Director, Southern California Association of Governments

Hasan Ikhrata has served as the Executive Director of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) since January 2008. His responsibilities include implementing the policies of an 83-member Regional Council and directing day-to-day operations of the nation’s largest Metropolitan Planning Organization. Mr. Ikhrata has over 25 years of public and private sector experience in Transportation Planning in the Southern California region.

Mr. Ikhrata worked for the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) for two years managing transportation and air quality related projects. He headed the evaluation of various components of Regulation XV, the nation’s first mandatory employer based trip reduction program designed to reduce commute related automobile travel.

Mr. Ikhrata holds a Bachelors and a Masters degree in Civil and Industrial Engineering from Zaporozhye University in the former Soviet Union; a Masters degree in Civil Engineering from UCLA, and a PhD Candidacy in Urban Planning and Transportation from USC.


Mary Nichols
Chairman of California Air Resources Board

Mary D. Nichols was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as Chairman of the California Air Resources Board in July 2007. She returns to the Air Board 30 years after serving as the Chairman under Governor Jerry Brown from 1978 to 1983.

Nichols has devoted her entire career in public and private, not-for-profit service to advocating for the environment and public health. In addition to her work at the Air Board, she has held a number of positions, including: assistant administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Air and Radiation program under the Clinton Administration, Secretary for California's Resources Agency from 1999 to 2003, and Director of the University of California, Los Angeles Institute of the Environment.

As one of California's first environmental lawyers, she initiated precedent-setting test cases under the Federal Clean Air Act and California air quality laws while practicing as a staff attorney for the Center for Law in the Public Interest. Nichols holds a Juris Doctorate degree from Yale Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University. In her return as Chairman, Nichols' priorities include moving the state's landmark climate change program ahead, as well as steering the Board through numerous efforts to curb diesel pollution at ports, and continuing to pass regulations aimed at providing cleaner air for Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley. She values innovation, partnerships and common-sense approaches to addressing the state's air issues


Romel Pascual
Los Angeles Deputy Mayor for Energy and Environment

Romel Pascual serves as the Associate Director for Environment for Los Angeles Mayor, Antonio R. Villaraigosa. From 2001-2004, as the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Justice for California Environmental Protection Agency, he led the Agency’s effort to develop the state’s first environmental justice program. Prior to joining the Mayor’s Office, Romel managed the environmental justice program for USEPA, Region 9.

Romel's involvement with environmental issues began in community organizations and grassroots leadership, working with the Urban Habitat Program, a non-profit organization based in the Bay Area where he coordinated the Brownfields Leadership and Community Revitalization Project; and with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) where he conducted research on the impacts of environmental pollution on communities.

He has a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA, and Masters in City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley.

 
John Mack
Chairman Police Commission

John Mack was appointed by Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa to the Board of Police Commissioners. He held the position of President of the Police Commission for two consecutive years, and then the position of Vice President for two years.  In 2009, he was re-elected to the President post.
    
He served as President of the Los Angeles Urban League from August of 1969, until his retirement in 2005.  Mack began his career with the Urban League in Flint, Michigan in 1964 and was appointed Executive Director in 1965. Prior to heading the Los Angeles Urban League, he served on the Urban League’s National staff for six months during the Whitney Young era in Washington, D.C.  Mack was a leader in the 1960 student civil rights movement in Atlanta – and Co-Founder and Vice Chairperson of the Committee on the Appeal for Human Rights.

He earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Applied Sociology from North Carolina A&T State University.  He holds a Master’s Degree from Clark Atlanta University. In 2006, Commissioner Mack was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Management Degree from the Claremont Graduate University School of Education.


Non-Profit Executives

Erin Rogers
Western Region Manager
Climate and Energy Program
Union of Concerned Scientists

As the manager of UCS's Climate and Energy program in the western U.S., Erin Rogers works to bring relevant scientific and economic analysis to the policy decision-making table in support of developing, adopting, and implementing effective policies to reduce global warming pollution. Her expertise in political strategy and climate policy allow her to mobilize scientists and other academic leaders and analysts as well as grassroots constituents to influence some of the most important state and regional climate policy debates occurring today. She has focused on climate, energy, and vehicle policies throughout her five-year tenure at the Union of Concerned Scientists. 


Media

Geoffrey Cowan
Professor, USC Annenberg School of Communication

Geoffrey Cowan has served as dean of the USC Annenberg School from 1996 - 2007. In 2006, he was named the inaugural holder of the Annenberg Family Chair in Communication Leadership at the Annenberg School and director of the School's Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. He holds a joint appointment in the USC Gould School of Law, teaches courses in journalism, and is directly involved in the work and research of a number of major centers and projects at the Annenberg School, including the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, which he founded, the Norman Lear Center, the USC Center on Communication Law and Policy, the Charles Annenberg Weingarten Program on Online Communities and the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future.