COLUMN 3
Commissioner Biographies
Steve Blank
Steve
Blank has spent the last 29 years in California as a successful businessman,
conservationist and passionate teacher.
As a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Steve was part of/and founded eight
startups. After he retired, he applied the same pragmatic decision-making to
a new career in conservation and teaching. He is Chairman of Audubon
California, and is a member of the Audubon National board. Steve teaches at
both U.C. Berkeley Haas Business School, and at Stanford in the Graduate
School of Engineering.
Along with the Audubon boards, Steve sits on several private company boards.
He lives in Menlo Park with his wife and two daughters who attend public
school in Redwood City.
Additional biographies are available at:
http://ca.audubon.org/board.php
http://www.stanford.edu/class/msande273/team/blank.html
http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/faculty/blank.html.
Dr. William A. Burke
Dr. William
Burke comes to the California Coastal Commission with an exemplary commitment to
both public service and the environment. He served two terms as Chairman of the
California Fish and Game Commission and two terms as Chairman of the California
Wildlife Conservation Board. At present, he is Vice Chair of the board of the
South Coast Air Quality Management District, following his two-term tenure as
its Chairman. He has also been a board member of the Congressional Black Caucus
Foundation and was appointed by Governor Gray Davis to the California Air
Resources Board in April 2000.
Dr.
Burke earned a bachelor's degree from Miami University. While serving in the
United States Air Force, he attended Boston University and Harvard. He went on
to receive a doctorate of education from the University of Massachusetts. He is
married to Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke and lives in
Los Angeles. He is the President of the City of Los Angeles Marathon, which he
co-founded in 1986.
William Patrick Kruer
Pat has a long and distinguished service in the real estate industry and is recognized as a leader in communications between the business industry and government.
Between 1978 and 1985, Pat served on the California Housing Finance Agency (a statewide agency that issues bonds to finance low- and moderate- income housing) and served as Vice Chairman and Chairman of its lending committee. From 1981 to 1988, Pat was a director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, which regulates the savings and loan industry. He was first appointed under President Jimmy Carter in 1981 and then re-appointed under President Ronald Reagan. Between 1984 and 1986, he also served on the Federal Savings and Loan Advisory Council, which acts as a special counselor to the Federal Home Loan Bank in Washington, D.C. Locally, Pat served on the first Housing Commission for the City of San Diego between 1979 and 1982. The County of San Diego selected him to serve as First Chairman of the Housing Bond Finance Review Committee between 1984 and 1986. He was also the First Chairman of the Regional Growth and Planning Review Task Force for San Diego County. Pat served a six year term as a Board Director at Centre City Development Corporation, which is responsible for all development activities in the redevelopment area of downtown San Diego. Currently, Pat is a Commissioner on the California Coastal Commission, which regulates 1,100 miles of California coastline.
Esther Sanchez
Esther
Sanchez was elected to the Oceanside City Council on November 7, 2000, her first
run for local office. She was born and raised in Oceanside, part of a
four-generation Oceanside family. She attended Laurel Elementary, Jefferson
Junior High and Oceanside High, graduating in 1974. She received a scholarship
to Brown University, where she received her B.A. degree in Urban Studies. Esther
then attended University of California, Hastings College of Law and received her
Juris Doctorate, passing the California Bar on her first try. She has worked as
an attorney for approximately 22 years, in both the public and private sector.
Esther retired from the Public Defender’s Office summer of 2008, after 20 years,
and is currently starting her law office/business in Oceanside.
Esther has a lifelong commitment to public service and to law enforcement. She
is a member of the Vista Community Clinic Auxiliary, Oceanside Museum of Art,
Friends of the Library, and Oceanside Noon Optimist.
Mary K. Shallenberger
Mary Shallenberger grew up on a dairy farm in northern Ohio. She graduated
from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts with a B.S. in Biological
Sciences and headed to California.
Ms. Shallenberger worked for several years as a research assistant in the Biology Department at Stanford University and Stanford Research Institute before returning to school for an M.S. in Engineering from Stanford University. Upon graduation Ms. Shallenberger moved to Sacramento and began a long public service career in environmental and natural resource protection. She began as a Planner at the California Air Resources Board during the development of the first non-attainment plans and the creation of the Air Conservation Program. She moved to the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research where she developed administration policies on natural resource issues and programs. Ms. Shallenberger began work for the California State Senate in 1987 and was the Principal Consultant to the Senate Natural Resources and Wildlife Committee and then the Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee. From 1994 until 2005 she was the special advisor to the Senate Pro Tem on policy and political issues related to natural resource and environment. During her tenure in the Senate she was instrumental in nearly every major environmental bill that passed the Legislature
Ms. Shallenberger has balanced her work on natural resource protection with volunteer work with non-profit organizations dedicated to reproductive heath care for women, locally and around the world. She served as the Chair of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and of her local Planned Parenthood affiliate. She is currently on the Board of Directors of the Guttmacher Institute, the Planned Parenthood of Mar Monte, and the Pacific Institute for Women’s Health. Ms. Shallenberger is Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum.
Mark W. Stone
Mark
W. Stone was appointed as the Santa Cruz County Fifth District Supervisor on
November 12, 2003. Supervisor Stone was elected in November, 2004, to a 4-year
term starting in January, 2005. He was reelected to a second 4-year term in
June, 2008, starting in January, 2009.
Supervisor Stone has been an Attorney for the Law Office of Mark W. Stone since
1993. He is a former Assistant Professor and Lecturer for the Naval Postgraduate
School in Monterey, where he served from 1993 to 2000, and was an Adjunct
Professor for the University of San Francisco School of Law from 1994 to 1998.
Until his appointment as Supervisor, Mr. Stone was President of the Scotts
Valley Unified School District Board, where he also served as Vice President and
Clerk of the Board. He is a member of the Santa Cruz County Bar Association.
Supervisor Stone earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of
California, Berkeley and a juris doctorate degree from Santa Clara University,
School of Law.
The Fifth Supervisorial District includes: the San Lorenzo Valley communities of
Boulder Creek, Brookdale, Ben Lomond, Felton, Zayante/Lompico, and Mount Hermon;
the Santa Cruz mountains west of Highway 17 and Mountain Charlie Road; the City
of Scotts Valley; portions along Highway 9 south, including parts of Henry
Cowell State Park, the San Lorenzo River basin, and Paradise Park; portions of
the City of Santa Cruz; and Stevenson College and faculty housing at the
University of California, Santa Cruz.
Supervisor Stone represents the Board of Supervisors on the following regional
agencies and boards:
Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments Board of Directors
California State Association of Counties Board of Directors (Alternate)
Child Welfare Services System Improvement Plan Steering Committee
First 5 Commission
FishNet4C
Highway 1 Construction Authority
Remote Access Network Committee
Santa Cruz City/County Library Joint Powers Board
Santa Cruz County Children's Network
Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission
Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District Board of Directors
Sara Wan
Sara Wan was married in 1962 to Dr. Lawrence A. Wan. They have two sons, Mark, married to Lisa, and Eric, married to Michele. Mrs. Wan has a B.A. in Zoology from Vassar College, an M.S. in Biology from Yale University, and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Irvine. She and her husband live in Malibu where Dr. Wan was formerly the Mayor. Mrs. Wan taught Electrical engineering at California State University, Long Beach, and was founder and chief executive officer of Maric, Inc. Maric is an engineering firm that manufactures electronic timing devices for sports. Mrs. Wan sold Maric in 1992 to devote full time to environmental causes.
Prior to joining the Commission, Mrs. Wan had been a long time environmental activist. She worked extensively on land use, energy, oil, marine mammals and other environmental issues affecting the Coast of California. Mrs. Wan sat on the boards of numerous environmental organizations and was Vice Chair of the League for Coastal Protection.
In 1996, Mrs. Wan co-founded Vote the Coast, which is a Political Action Committee dedicated to helping the election of coastal friendly candidates.
Ex-Officio Commissioners (Non-Voting)
Commissioner Alternates
Peter M. Douglas, Executive Director
Mr. Douglas is the third executive director in the Commission’s history. He was appointed in July 1985 after having served as Chief Deputy Director since 1977. Mr. Douglas co-authored Proposition 20 (The California Coastal Zone Conservation Act of 1972), a successful citizens’ initiative that established the California Coastal Commission. As a consultant to the Legislature, he was a principal author of the 1976 Coastal Act that made permanent California’s coastal management program. He also participated in drafting the first regulations implementing the Federal Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972.
Born in Berlin, Germany, Mr. Douglas immigrated to the United States in 1950. He earned a law degree from UCLA in 1969, with an undergraduate degree in psychology. Mr. Douglas has been a guest lecturer, presented University of California extension programs, written numerous articles dealing with coastal management, land rights, and environmental stewardship. He has provided technical assistance on coastal management issues to other countries and serves on the China-U.S. panel on integrated coastal management. He is a member of the first NOAA Science Advisory Board and previously served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Science and Policy for the Coastal Ocean. A former local school board member, he also co-founded and chaired two successful non-profit community organizations. In 1984, he led a successful grassroots campaign to enact a special parcel tax to support public schools.
Mr. Douglas was the first recipient of the national Julius A. Stratton "Champion of the Coast" award for leadership in coastal management at Coastal Zone ‘95, an international, biennial symposium on coastal zone management.