Erik Neandross
Board Chair

What I love about California:

How can you not love a place where you can ski in the morning and surf in the afternoon? There are few places on the globe that have the diversity of natural beauty that we have here in California, and it’s that natural beauty that we need to protect. Plus, I love the progressive nature of the people here.

Bio:

Erik Neandross is the CEO of Gladstein, Neandross & Associates (GNA), a leading national environmental consulting firm specializing in the development of alternative fuel and low emission vehicle projects. Neandross has been at the forefront of some of the nation's largest and most innovative alternative fuel vehicle projects in the commercial sector. He is the co-chair and transportation and air quality representative for the City of Santa Monica's Environmental Task Force, a position appointed by the city council. He is also a director for the Zolla Family Foundation, a nonprofit corporation providing educational opportunities for low-income minority students to attend top-tier colleges and universities. Neandross graduated from Colgate University.

Todd Campbell
Vice Chair

Why I’m part of CCA:

The Coalition for Clean Air has been at the forefront of California’s clean air laws and regulations that promote respiratory health and equal community protections from toxic air pollutants. The organization’s inspiring staff has led the state’s clean air charge by supporting the adoption of smog check, combating port pollution, developing incentives for clean school and transit buses, challenging the consumer products industry, and tirelessly advocating and promoting renewable power.

Bio:

Todd Campbell is the Vice President of Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Clean Energy Fuels Corporation, where he has been at the forefront of creative transportation and environmental public policy initiatives that have taken hold across the country for the past 15 years. As the former Policy Director of the Coalition for Clean Air, he worked tirelessly to improve urban air pollution by promoting clean alternative fuel vehicle solutions that work. He coauthored Failing the Grade: How Diesel School Buses Threaten Our Children’s Health, a CCA study that resulted in a $50 million annual incentive program for school districts to replace highly polluting diesel buses with ones powered by natural gas or electricity. Campbell also serves on the Governing Board of The Energy Coalition and as a Green Advisory Board Member to the California League of Conservation Voters. He has a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and master’s degrees from the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and the University of Southern California School of Public Policy.

Hal Snyder
Treasurer

What clean air means to me:

As a fairly active person, clean air means not having to check the air quality before I go for a bike ride, a run or just a walk with my dog.

Bio:

Hal Snyder is vice president of customer solutions for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), Sempra Energy’s regulated California utilities. He is responsible for the utilities’ customer programs promoting energy efficiency, sustainability and low-income assistance. From 2004 through 2007, Snyder was vice president of gas storage, transmission and distribution, and he managed operations serving more than 6.2 million SDG&E and SoCalGas customers. Between 1998 and 2004, Snyder served in increasingly responsible management positions for Sempra Pipelines & Storage, including leading development efforts in Canada. Prior to 1998, he held a variety of management positions in business development, operations, marketing, engineering and project management for SoCalGas. Snyder holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from California State University Long Beach and a master’s degree in business administration from Pepperdine University.

Victor Griego Jr.
Secretary

Why I’m part of CCA:

I love CCA because it challenges the status quo to work toward a better quality of life for all Californians.

Bio:

Victor Griego Jr. is the president and founder of Diverse Strategies for Organizing Inc. (DSO), a public affairs consulting firm specializing in community relations, government relations, and political consulting. A nationally recognized political strategist, facilitator and organizer, Griego has had years of notable success in coordinating community leaders, neighborhoods and organizations in their efforts to influence public policy decisions. He has been an advisor on more than 50 local, state and federal elections and ballot measures. Griego is a member of the Latin Business Association and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and he is a founding member of the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation. Griego holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Whittier College and is currently pursuing a doctorate in political science at the Claremont Graduate University.

Ed Begley Jr.
Board Member

Bio:

Ed Begley Jr. is a film, television and theater actor, perhaps best known for his Emmy-nominated role on the 1980s television series St. Elsewhere, as well as his more recent reality television show about green living, Living With Ed. A long time environmentalist, Begley lives in a solar- and wind-powered home and is a vocal champion of electric cars and other transportation alternatives, such as bicycling. In 2007 he received the Thomas Alva Edison Energy Award for Energy Independence from the American Jewish Congress. In addition to CCA, Begley serves on the boards of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the Environmental Media Association, the Walden Woods Project and Tree People. Begley graduated from Los Angeles Valley College in North Hollywood, California.

John M. Fentis
Board Member

Bio:

John M. Fentis is currently the Environmental Project Director for the California District Attorneys Association. He is also an adjunct professor of law at the Whittier Law School and teaches environmental enforcement and practice. Fentis practiced law in the private sector for five years as a criminal defense attorney before joining the Long Beach City Prosecutor’s Office in 1981. In 1990, he established the environmental criminal prosecution unit for the office and directed its operations until his retirement from public service in 2005. Fentis is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara with bachelor’s degrees in political science and history. He attended Whittier College School of Law, where he received his Juris Doctor in 1976.

Dario Frommer
Board Member

Bio:

Dario Frommer is a Partner at global law firm Mayer Brown, where he focuses on complex governmental affairs. His experience includes climate change, health care and election law. Prior to joining Mayer Brown in 2006, Frommer served as Majority Leader of the California State Assembly and chaired the Assembly Health Committee. He has also held a variety of high-level government posts, including: Appointment Secretary to Governor Gray Davis, Deputy State Controller, and Chief of Staff to California State Senator Art Torres. Frommer is currently a member of the California Transportation Commission. His numerous honors include California Legislator of the Year from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and Legislator of the Year from the California Parks & Recreation Society. Frommer attended the UC Davis School of Law and Colgate University.

Bruce MacRae
Board Member

Bio:

Bruce MacRae is the public affairs director for the Pacific Region of the United Postal Service (UPS), where he oversees local, state and federal issues affecting the company. Since starting in 1978 at a UPS package facility as an un-loader, Mac Rae has risen through many positions, acquiring skills in operations, industrial engineering, hazardous materials, customer relations, community/public relations and security investigations. In addition to CCA, Mac Rae serves on the boards of the California Trucking Association, Nevada Motor Transportation Association and the Arizona Trucking Association, among other organizations. He is the host of the local television show Long Beach Pride.

Marcia McQuern
Board Member

What clean air means to me:

To me, clean air means being able to look across the inland valleys and actually see mountains; it means being able to exercise without a burning sensation in my lungs; and it means knowing that fewer people suffer or die prematurely from respiratory problems.

Bio:

Marcia McQuern recently retired from her position as the associate vice chancellor for strategic communications at University of California, Riverside. Previously, she served as President/CEO of The Press-Enterprise Company and editor and publisher of its regional daily newspaper, The Press-Enterprise. She also worked as city editor of the San Diego Union Tribune and assistant metropolitan editor of the Sacramento Bee. McQuern has served as president of the California Newspaper Publishers Association; as a board member of the California Press Association and both the American and California Societies of Newspaper Editors; and six times as a Pulitzer Prize juror. Her past honors include the Inland Empire Economic Partnership President’s Award and the California Press Association Newspaper Executive of the Year. McQuern earned a bachelor's degree in political science from UC Santa Barbara and a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

Lonnie Murphy
Board Member

What clean air means to me:

Growing up in the '60s and '70s in the San Fernando Valley, I experienced the nightly pain of not taking a full breath. Clean air means my grandchildren will never experience that.

Bio:

Lonnie Murphy is the Director of Sales for Fusion UV Systems, Inc., where he has helped develop UV system solutions for applications in more than 29 industrial markets. He has devoted the last three decades to developing processes that help industries convert to clean air manufacturing solutions, and he is well recognized as an industry expert in the field of radiation curing technologies. Previously, as Industrial Sales Manager for Three Bond of America, Inc., Murphy managed key government contracts and strategic global accounts for UV chemistries. He earned a degree in wildlife management from Humboldt State College in Arcata, California.

Felix Oduyemi
Board Member

Bio:

Felix Oduyemi is senior project manager for public affairs at Southern California Edison (SCE). His extensive local government experience includes working with the Southern California Association of Governments, serving as a senior planner for San Bernardino County, and providing planning consultation to a host of cities across Southern California. Oduyemi is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners and served on the board of directors of the American Planning Association, Inland Empire Section. He also devotes time to developing strategies for sustainable economic development and stable democratic government in Nigeria. Oduyemi attended Cal Poly University Pomona, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in urban and regional planning and a master’s degree in public administration. He is a doctoral candidate in public administration at the University of La Verne.

Gary Polakovic
Board Member

What clean air means to me:

Clean air is about equity because while smog afflicts everyone, it's most harmful to vulnerable populations—the elderly, children, the infirm, people of color, the poor. Not everyone realizes that, but everyone can see the brown pall over much of California, and that should be sufficient to make us realize smog is not good and that we can do better.

Bio:

Gary Polakovic is the president of Make Over Earth Inc., a full-service public affairs and strategic communications firm specializing in environmental issues. Polakovic has more than 20 years of experience as an environmental professional, including writing and editing at the Los Angeles Times, where in 2004 he shared the Pulitzer Prize with the Metro staff. He was also a Pulitzer finalist in 2001 and received the American Institute of Biological Sciences Media award. Polakovic earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and environmental science from Cal Poly Pomona and attended the graduate program in environmental management at Cal State Fullerton before receiving the John S. Knight Fellowship at Stanford in 1997-98, where he studied environmental economics, climate change and corporate social responsibility. He helped establish and lead the Society of Environmental Journalists and he serves as an advisory trustee for the California State Parks Foundation.

Daryl-Lynn Roberts
Board Member

Bio:

Daryl-Lynn Roberts is the vice president of Business Development at Visage Energy, where she develops and cultivates new business opportunities and relationships with major energy companies. Most notably, she started a subdivision within Visage Energy that provides clean technology consulting. Prior to working at Visage, Roberts assisted the president of Moore Clayton & Company (MCC), a London-based private equity services firm, where she prepared business plans and private placements and researched emerging energy technologies. Roberts studied industrial engineering at Stanford University, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees and participated in the highly competitive Mayfield Fellows Program to learn high-tech entrepreneurship and the venture capital industry. She earned an additional master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School in 2004.

Deidre Sanders
Board Member

Why I’m proud of California and CCA:

California's people are forward-looking, and the state inspires those who find it fertile—not only for agriculture, but for industries ranging from entertainment and aerospace, to digital information and biotech. This state is also beautiful and diverse in its cultures, representing a tremendous variety of races, nationalities and religions. Helping Californians pursue their dreams and live their lives, by ensuring they have clean air to breathe, is my way of moving us forward.

Bio:

Deidre Sanders is the Environmental Justice Program Manager for Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) in San Francisco. In addition to leading PG&E's effort to advance the implementation and institutionalization of environmental justice (EJ) policy within the company, her policy expertise is also applied to working on the potential impacts on disadvantaged communities resulting from energy use and climate change, as well as the opportunities presented by the emerging green economy. Prior to joining PG&E, Sanders worked for seven years at Southern California Edison, where she focused on environmental policy, community involvement and market research. She earned a doctorate in politics and policy from Claremont Graduate University.

Peter Weiner
Board Member

Why I’m part of CCA

I'm part of CCA because it represents the very best clean air advocacy group in the state and possibly the country. Year in and year out, this organization has stood firmly and strongly for clean air all over California. I am proud about CCA's history, its evolution and its promise.

Bio:

Peter Weiner heads the west coast environmental practice of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP. Weiner worked in the California State government from 1975 until 1983, including as Special Assistant to the governor for Toxic Substances Control and as chief deputy director of the Department of Industrial Relations. He currently serves on  the advisory committee to the director of the Department of Toxic Substances Control, on the Statewide Advisory Committee to the University of California Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, on the Advisory Council of the Yosemite Restoration Trust, and on the boards of both the California State Parks Foundation and the Planning and Conservation League. Weiner received a master’s degree from the London School of Economics, a law degree from Yale University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College.