California Tahoe Conservancy Board Members

An eight-member Board of Directors governs the Conservancy, including the State Secretary for Natural Resources, (or designee); the State Director of Finance (or designee); one public member appointed by the State Senate; one public member appointed by the State Assembly; one appointed representative each from El Dorado County, Placer County, and the City of South Lake Tahoe; and one ex officio, non-voting member representing the United States Secretary of Agriculture.

California Natural Resources Agency

Wade Crowfoot, Secretary

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Wade Crowfoot was appointed California Secretary for Natural Resources by Governor Gavin Newsom on January 11, 2019.

Mr. Crowfoot brings more than 20 years of public policy and environmental experience to the office, with expertise in water, climate and sustainability issues. He most recently served as chief executive officer of the Water Foundation and led its transition into an independent organization early in 2017.

Prior to joining the foundation, he served in Governor Jerry Brown’s Administration as deputy cabinet secretary and senior advisor to the Governor, leading the administration’s drought response efforts. He previously served as West Coast regional director for the Environmental Defense Fund and a senior environmental advisor to then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Christopher Calfee, designee

Christopher Calfee

Christopher Calfee is Special Counsel to the Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency where he provides strategic legal advice on the Agency’s key policy priorities. Between 2017 and 2022, Chris served the Agency as Deputy Secretary and General Counsel. Before joining the Agency, he was Senior Counsel in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, where he advised the Governor and Cabinet on legislation and regulations governing land use, focusing mainly on state and local government responses to climate change. Chris studied international relations and law at the University of California, Davis. Chris enjoys getting outside as much as possible to garden, hike in the woods, explore incredible cities, and soak in California’s coast.

California Department of Finance

Joe Stephenshaw, Director

Joe Stephenshaw

Joe Stephenshaw was appointed as Director of the California Department of Finance by Governor Newsom in July 2022. In this role, he serves as the Governor’s Chief Fiscal Policy Advisor. Prior to his appointment, Stephenshaw served in Governor Newsom’s Office as a Senior Counselor on Infrastructure and Fiscal Affairs.

Stephenshaw was Staff Director for the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee from 2017 to 2022. He held multiple positions in the California Legislature from 2008 to 2017, including serving as a Policy Consultant in the Office of the Senate President pro Tempore, a Special Advisor to the Speaker of the Assembly, and as a Budget Consultant for both the Assembly Budget Committee and the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee. Stephenshaw was a Budget Analyst for the California Department of Finance from 2005 to 2008.

Stephenshaw is a graduate of Menlo College with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. He also earned a Master of Business Administration degree from California State University, Sacramento.

 

Michele Perrault, Designee

Michele Perrault

Michele Perrault is the Legislative Director for the California Department of Finance, where she manages the department’s legislative portfolio, working directly with the legislature and representing the Administration’s position on legislative proposals in each legislative session. Prior to this role, she served as Executive Director of Communications for the Roseville City School District and as the Director of Administrative Services for the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

Michele has 25 years of experience working in and around the state legislature, primarily in the areas of K-12 and higher education, business, health and social issues. Michele received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government and also holds a multiple-subject teaching credential from California State University, Sacramento

 

Senate Public Member

Jay Hansen

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Jay Hansen is the President and CEO of the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy (CFEE), a nonprofit, bi-partisan policy foundation founded in 1979. Hansen’s work emphasizes finding consensus on the challenging issues of energy, water, transportation, climate change, housing, and telecommunications and technology. Prior to CFEE, Hansen worked at the California Medical Association for nine years as their Chief Strategy Officer and CEO of their Foundation—Physicians for a Healthy California. He served for ten years as the Political and Legislative Director for the State Building & Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO, and before that, for eight years as Special Assistant to the Speaker of the California State Assembly under four different Speakers, including Willie Brown and Bob Hertzberg.

Hansen is a native Californian. He attended Occidental College for his undergraduate work and the University of Southern California for his master’s degree in Public Administration. Hansen recently completed six years as an elected member of the Sacramento City Unified School District and eight years as the Governor’s appointee to the California Health Facilities Financing Authority. An avid swimmer and lover of Lake Tahoe, Hansen is married to his husband Jesse and resides in Sacramento. He was appointed to the Conservancy Board by the California State Senate in March 2021.

 

Assembly Public Member

Adam Acosta, Chair

Adam Acosta

Adam Acosta serves as a senior policy advisor to the Los Angeles City Council. Previously, Mr. Acosta was the Assistant Executive Director for the California American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). During his twenty-four-year career with AFSCME, he spearheaded the reform of public sector labor laws on behalf of municipal and county employees throughout the state of California. Mr. Acosta was born and raised in Santa Barbara and graduated from San Diego State University. He is an avid outdoorsman who frequents the Eastern High Sierras with his two children Adam and Isabela.

 

City of South Lake Tahoe

Tamara Wallace, Vice Chair

Tamara Wallace

Tamara Wallace is a member of the South Lake Tahoe City Council. She is a past member of the City’s Planning Commission, past-President of the Kiwanis Club of Lake Tahoe and was the Charter Secretary for the Tulare Sunrise Rotary Club. She has managed several small businesses in South Lake Tahoe and been involved in many youth organizations as the mother of five children and grandmother of four. She is the past Executive Vice-President of the Tulare Chamber of Commerce and the former Executive Director of the South Tahoe Chamber. In her capacity on City Council, Tamara serves on the California Tahoe Conservancy Board, the Clean Tahoe Board and is the Chair of the CalTahoe JPA (ambulance), among others.

In addition to her duties on City Council, she works part-time as the office manager bookkeeper for Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church.

El Dorado County

Brooke Laine

Brooke Laine

Brooke Laine serves as County Supervisor for District 5 of El Dorado County. Ms. Laine is a native of South Lake Tahoe. Following high school graduation, she left South Lake Tahoe to pursue her education at the University of California, Santa Cruz where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. After graduation, she moved to Sacramento where she worked as a legislative analyst for the California Commission on the Status of Women. Upon returning to her roots in 1990, Ms. Laine and husband Jose began raising their two boys. She operated a small family business for 20 years. She also worked in the banking industry for ten years. In 1997, Ms. Laine was first elected to the City of South Lake Tahoe’s City Council at the tender age of 33. She represented the City on the Conservancy’s Board in the early 2000s. She was appointed in 2012 to fulfill a vacant two-year term on the City Council and was re-elected to the City Council in 2016, where she again served on the Conservancy Board, including a term as the Board Chair. El Dorado County voters elected Ms. Laine to the County Board of Supervisors in 2022. 

Placer County

Cindy Gustafson

Cindy Gustafson

Cindy Gustafson serves as County Supervisor for Placer County’s District 5, which includes the Lake Tahoe Basin. Prior to joining the Board of Supervisors, Ms. Gustafson had served as CEO for the North Lake Tahoe Resort Association since 2017. She brings extensive nonprofit, business and local government experience in eastern Placer County, including 26 years with the Tahoe City Public Utility District – serving eight of those years as general manager.

Ms. Gustafson also previously served two terms on the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District Board of Trustees and was appointed by then-California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California Fish and Game Commission, where she served for five years.

United States Forest Service (ex-officio)

Erick Walker, Forest Supervisor, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit

Erick Walker

Erick Walker became Forest Supervisor for the Lake Tahoe Basin in November 2021. Mr. Walker previously served as the Deputy Forest Supervisor of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in Washington state. He began working for the Forest Service in 1991 and was stationed on the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit as a seasonal range technician, while earning his degree in Natural Resource Management from the University of Nevada-Reno. He left the Basin in 1998 to continue his public service endeavors, which took him to the Almanor Ranger District of the Lassen National Forest. Mr. Walker has also served with the Humboldt-Toiyabe, Green Mountain, Finger Lakes, and Idaho Panhandle National Forests, where he was Sandpoint District Ranger for nearly seven years.