I am delighted to announce that PPIC has welcomed five highly accomplished, dynamic California leaders to its board. Each has made exceptional contributions to our state. Together, they bring a wealth of leadership experience, a strong record of public service, and a deep understanding of our unique state. They will be invaluable assets to PPIC as we work to shape a better future for California.
Rusty Areias is a founding partner at California Strategies, a leading public strategy and government relations firm in California. Prior to joining California Strategies, he served 12 years in the California Assembly, representing Merced, San Benito, Santa Cruz, Monterey, and Santa Clara Counties. During his time in the assembly, he successfully led the effort to locate a new University of California campus in the San Joaquin Valley, ultimately in Merced, and carried the legislation to establish California State University, Monterey Bay. He served as chair of the Assembly Agriculture Committee and Committee of Earthquakes and Natural Disasters following the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. He then served as director of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, where he cut park fees in half, boosting attendance at state parks by 23 million. He also served four years as a California Coastal Commissioner, including two years as chair. Prior to his public service, he managed day-to-day operations of the Areias Dairy farms and received numerous awards for farming excellence. He currently serves on the board of the Children’s Law Center of California.
Caroline Choi is senior vice president of Corporate Affairs and Public Policy at Southern California Edison (SCE) and its parent company, Edison International. She oversees corporate communications, corporate philanthropy, government relations, and public affairs at the national, state, and local levels. Previously, she served as senior vice president of Regulatory Affairs at SCE and was responsible for the company’s regulatory engagement, policy, and strategy. She also served as SCE vice president of Energy and Environmental Policy and oversaw the analysis and development of energy and environmental policies and strategies, as well as engagement at energy and environmental regulatory agencies. Before joining SCE in 2012, she was executive director of Environmental Services & Strategy at Progress Energy (now Duke Energy), where she led environmental permitting, compliance, and policy. She is active in national policy and community engagement. She serves on the board of Smart Electric Power Alliance, a nationwide organization that supports the implementation and deployment of clean energy and distributed resources. She also chairs the board of Veloz, a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the shift to electric transportation through public-private collaboration and public engagement. In addition, she is a member of the Electric Transportation Community Development Corporation, National Forest Foundation, and recently served on PPIC’s Statewide Leadership Council. She holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Dartmouth College.
Ana J. Matosantos is a former cabinet secretary in the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom. Previously, she was a budget and policy consultant, focusing primarily on issues relating to the state budget, education finance, health care, income inequality, and local government. She served as director of the California Department of Finance in both the Brown and Schwarzenegger administrations, helping the state deal with the impact of the Great Recession. She was Governor Brown’s chief fiscal advisor as the state closed a $27 billion shortfall and transitioned from years of recurring budget deficits to multibillion dollar surpluses. She played a key role in the enactment of California’s new school financing and accountability system, the state’s financing and implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and the implementation of corrections realignment. Before joining the California Department of Finance in 2008, she served as deputy legislative secretary for Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs in the Office of the Governor, working on the administration’s comprehensive health care reform proposal. She was a member of the Health and Human Services Agency staff from 2004 to 2007, serving as assistant secretary for programs and fiscal affairs as well as associate secretary for legislative affairs. Prior to her executive branch service, she worked in the state senate as a consultant to the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services and as the human services consultant of the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review. In August 2016, she was appointed by President Obama to serve on the seven member Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board, charged with working with the government of Puerto Rico to achieve structural budget balance, restructure massive debts and obligations, and rebuild opportunity for the people of Puerto Rico after a decade of economic contraction and population decline. She is a previous member of PPIC’s Statewide Leadership Council. She holds a bachelor’s degree with a major in political science from Stanford University.
Michael Méndez is an assistant professor of environmental policy and planning at the University of California, Irvine, and visiting scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (through a National Science Foundation Early Faculty Career Award). He was previously the Pinchot Faculty Fellow at the Yale School of the Environment. His first book Climate Change from the Streets, published through Yale University Press (2020) was the winner of the Harold and Margaret Sprout Award, sponsored by the International Studies Association and the Association for Humanist Sociology’s Betty and Alfred McClung Lee Award. In 2022, he was awarded the Carnegie Fellowship. He has more than a decade of senior-level experience in the public and private sectors, where he consulted and actively engaged in the policymaking process. This included working for the California Legislature as a senior consultant, lobbyist, member of the California State Mining & Geology Board, and as vice-chair of the Sacramento City Planning Commission. In 2021, Governor Newsom appointed him to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. In 2023, he was appointed to serve on the National Advisory Council of FEMA.
David Traversi is the founder of Traversi & Company, the premier business advisory group serving the lower middle market across the US. His firm provides M&A advisory, executive coaching, strategic advisory, and executive team building services to CEOs in a wide variety of industries. He is also founding chair of TIGER 21’s San Francisco Group 04, a partner in a rock climbing and fitness gym company, and CEO of an AI-driven, app-based relationship and mental health company. As a former lawyer, serial entrepreneur, Wall Street investment banker, CEO of several private and public companies, board member of over a dozen companies, author of a book on leadership, and coach and mentor to scores of entrepreneurs and executives, he brings a diverse and highly valuable set of skills and qualities, and a decidedly relational approach, to all his business and nonprofit interactions. He holds an MBA from University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business and a JD from University of California, Davis, King School of Law.
Heartfelt thanks to three board members who are stepping down from the PPIC board. Louise Henry Bryson and Kim Polese have provided many years of outstanding service and will continue to contribute their unique insights and experiences to PPIC as members of our Statewide Leadership Council. Gerald L. Parsky has been an exemplary ambassador for and advisor to PPIC throughout his time on our board.
I would also like to thank our current board members for their commitment to PPIC and to improving the well-being of our state’s people, communities, and environment.
Chet Hewitt, president and CEO of the Sierra Health Foundation, is chair of the PPIC board. I also serve on our board, along with Ophelia Basgal, affiliate, Terner Center for Housing Innovation, University of California, Berkeley; Sandra Celedon, president and CEO, Fresno Building Healthy Communities; John Chiang, board member, Apollo Medical Holdings (former California State Controller and Treasurer); A. Marisa Chun, judge, Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco; Steven A. Merksamer, of counsel, Nielsen Merksamer Parrinello Gross & Leoni LLP; Steven J. Olson, partner, O’Melveny & Myers LLP; Leon E. Panetta, chairman, The Panetta Institute for Public Policy; Dave Puglia, president and CEO, Western Growers; Cassandra Walker Pye, president, Lucas Public Affairs; Helen Iris Torres, CEO, Hispanas Organized for Political Equality; Gaddi H. Vasquez, retired senior vice president, Government Affairs, Edison International, Southern California Edison.