Horacio Amezquita is a former farmworker in the Salinas Valley. Horacio’s family was one of the original families that help built the San Jerardo farm workers housing Cooperative. He worked in the community of San Jerardo for 16 years as the general manager. The community of San Jerardo is one of the many communities in California that have encountered water contamination and water affordability issues.

Horacio participates in various organizations in the Salinas valley, including the Greater Monterey County Regional Water Management Group, Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association, Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency, and the Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience Advisory Group. Horacio also served in the Advisory Council for the Central Coast Community Energy.

Devon Crews has more than two decades experience as an executive and investor for environmental, health and education technology companies. She has advised companies building robotic and AI solutions for water filtration, efficiency and agricultural irrigation. Devon has led initiatives on electric vehicles, organic food; to reduce marine plastic pollution and mining of precious resources for tech devices; and to protect California waterways and ocean ecosystem conservation in the Galapagos. She holds an MBA, a degree in Sustainability, and a joint BS degree in Computer Technology and Design. Devon serves as the President of the FOCUS Foundation, dedicated to ensuring a quality environmental education for students who live near the Carmel River and along the Pacific coast.

Richard Frank is Professor of Environmental Practice and Director of the California Environmental Law & Policy Center at the U.C. Davis School of Law. There he teaches numerous environmental and natural resources courses, including Ocean & Coastal Law, Climate Change Law & Policy, Environmental Enforcement and California Environmental Law. Previously, Richard served for 31 years as an attorney with the California Department of Justice, most recently as Chief Deputy Attorney General for Legal Affairs. 

Lisa Cosmas Hanson is the founder and president of Niko Partners, a market research and consulting firm covering the Asia video games market. Lisa founded Niko Partners in 2002 and has since honed her expertise on the Asia games industry that has benefitted Niko’s clients, companies that are global leaders in game publishing, game services, hardware, and investments.

Lisa contributes her time to help promote youth activism and education on the environment in local schools in Northern California where she and her husband have two teenagers in public school, and for international exchange programs to promote peace through intercultural understanding (which is her motto).

Mike is the Chief Operating Officer for Ciye, a Smart Eyewear company. He has twenty years of leadership experience and eight years experience in Internet of Things and information analytics. Prior to Ciye, Mike served as Head of Business Development for OhmConnect, VP of Strategic Partnerships at BAM Labs (acquired by Sleep Number), Partner at Niko Partners, Founder and Managing Director at Octane Ventures, COO of Guidance Solutions, Client Services Director for Cambridge Technology Partners and as Senior Manager for Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group.

Mike is passionate about clean water both locally and internationally and loves the water as an avid swimmer, fisherman, surfer and diver. Mike graduated from Arizona State University with a B.S. in Business Administration.

Mike Lozeau is a partner at Lozeau Drury LLP, and has been practicing environmental law in the San Francisco Bay area for over twenty years. From 1994 to 1999, Mike served as the Executive Director of Waterkeepers Northern California and served as the San Francisco Baykeeper. Mike was a founding Board member of the Waterkeeper Alliance from 1997-2001 and served as the Alliance’s Vice-President. Mike has extensive experience representing public interest clients on matters involving the federal Clean Water Act and state clean water laws, including California’s Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act. 

Mike graduated with Honors from Rutgers Law School-Newark in 1989.

A leading environmental litigator, Deborah A. Sivas is director of the highly regarded Stanford Law School Environmental Law Clinic, in which students provide legal counsel to dozens of national, regional and grassroots nonprofit organizations on a variety of environmental issues. Professor Sivas’s litigation successes include challenging the Bush administration’s gas mileage standards for SUVs and light trucks and holding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency accountable for regulating the discharge of invasive species in ship ballast water. Her current research is focused on the interaction of law and science in the arena of climate change and coastal/marine policy and the ability of the public to hold policymakers accountable.

Previously, Professor Sivas was a partner at Gunther, Sivas & Walthall, an attorney with Earthjustice (formerly Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund), an associate in the environmental practice group at Heller Ehrman and a law clerk to Judge Judith N. Keep of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. In recognition of her work on behalf of the environment, California Lawyer magazine named Professor Sivas one of its 2008 Attorneys of the Year.