June 21-23, 2023

Register by June 4, 2023

June 21, 2023

June 22, 2023

Jim Wunderman, Chief Executive Officer
Bay Area Council

Jim Wunderman is President and CEO of the Bay Area Council, a CEO-led public policy and advocacy organization formed in 1945 that works to shape the future of the Bay Area and maintain it as the most innovative, globally competitive, and sustainable region in the world. Since becoming CEO in 2004, Jim has dramatically expanded and deepened the Councils reach and influence throughout the Bay Area, Silicon Valley, California, the nation and the world. He guided the Councils expansion into China with the opening of offices in four major cities and has established the Council as a respected partner with business and government leaders in India, North America, the European Union and other countries around the globe. As the leading steward of the Bay Area, the Council has grown under Jims tenure to include more than 325 member companies across a wide range of industries. He has positioned the Council as a leading voice for business and the economy on a wide range of issues, including housing, transportation, homelessness, workforce development, early education, climate resilience and more. Jim also serves as Chair of the Water Emergency Transportation Authority, which the Council played an instrumental role in creating.

Olivia Virgadamo, State Water Project Business Operations & Work Prioritization Lead
CA Department of Water Resources

Olivia Virgadamo is a Principal Engineer with the California Department of Water Resources Office of the State Water Project (SWP) Deputy Director, where she serves as the SWP Business Operations and Work Prioritization Lead. She is responsible for supporting SWP initiatives with specific emphasis on project prioritization, priority project completion, and SWP Strategic Plan and risk implementation.  Olivia, who has been with DWR since 2012, has served as a technical advisor to the SWP Deputy Director and managed large critical dam safety projects. For Turlock Irrigation Districts Solar Over Canals project known as Project Nexus, she manages DWRs technical assistance and the funding that was allocated by Governor Newsom and the State Legislature.  

Dr. Roger Bales, Professor of Engineering & Management
UC Merced

Dr. Roger Bales is Distinguished Professor of Engineering and a founding faculty member at UC Merced, and has been active in water- and climate-related research for over 35 years. His scholarship includes over 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals and proceedings, and more presentations, book chapters, and reports. Currently, his work focuses on Californias efforts to build the knowledge base and implement policies that adapt our water supplies, critical ecosystems and economy to the impacts of climate warming. He works with leaders in state agencies, elected officials, federal land managers, water leaders, non-governmental organizations, and other key decision makers on developing climate solutions for California. He is a fellow in the American Geophysical Union, the American Meteorological Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has been a professor at UC Merced since 2003, an Adjunct Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the UC Berkeley since 2013. Previously, he was a Professor of hydrology at the University of Arizona from 1984 to 2003. He has served as Director of the Sierra Nevada Research Institute, the Critical Zone Observatory,  and the UC Water Security and Sustainability Research Initiative. He is currently co-director of the Center for Ecosystem Climate Solutions.

Robin Raj, Co-founder/Chief Creative Officer
Solar AquaGrid

Josh Weimer, External Affairs Manager
Turlock Irrigation District

Josh Weimer is the External Affairs Manager at Turlock Irrigation District, where he oversees the District's Government Affairs advocacy, Communications, and Energy Services teams. In addition to his advocacy in Sacramento and Washington D.C., Josh works on special projects including the relicensing of the Don Pedro Project, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, Project Nexus (a first-in-the-nation pilot project), TIDs Water and Power Podcast, and the SWRCBs Bay-Delta Water Quality Control Update. Josh provides regular counsel to TIDs senior management in several areas of public policy and strategic planning, most recently including the support of emerging technologies in both the water and energy sectors.

Arvind Akela, Engineering Manager
Silicon Valley Clean Water

Tour of Google Campus Including Central Recycled Water Plant
Drew Wentzel, Real Estate Development Executive
Google

Jennifer Pierre, General Manager
State Water Contractors

Jennifer Pierre is the General Manager for the State Water Contractors (SWC)  a statewide, non-profit association of the public water agencies that contract with the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to receive water from the State Water Project (SWP), which provides water to 27 million Californians and 750,000 acres of farmland. A UC Davis alumna with a bachelors in environmental biology and conservation, Jennifer has 20 years of experience in Delta management and applies that experience to advance the SWCs primary purpose to improve water supply and operations for two-thirds of the entire state that depend on this water. Jennifer is a champion of collaboration and science-based decision-making, working towards solutions that meet the SWCs mission in an environmentally sustainable way.

June 23, 2023

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