CWC Members

Matthew Swanson, of Turlock, is a California farmer and CEO of Associated Feed, Virtus Nutrition, and Nutrius Products, manufacturers of organic, non-GMO, and conventional feed products serving the dairy, cattle, swine, and poultry industries. His other entrepreneurial endeavors include leading the development of software and application of data analytics to improve agricultural and environmental efficiencies and help achieve net zero carbon dairy farms. Mr. Swanson also serves as Chairman of Riser House Entertainment, a full-service label and music publishing company in Nashville, Tennessee.

Fern Steiner, of San Diego, has been an Attorney at Smith, Steiner, Vanderpool APC since 1987 and a Shareholder there since 1993. She was an Attorney at Richard D. Prochazka APC from 1984 to 1987 and an Attorney at Karmel and Rosenfeld from 1977 to 1984. Steiner is a member of the San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors and a trustee for San Diego Youth Services. She also served as director of the Metropolitan Water District from 2009 to 2019. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from John Marshall Law School.

Tyrone Bland, of Altadena, has been Head of Government Affairs at Creative Artists Agency since 2020. He worked as a Senior Legal Representative in the Office of the Chief Legislative Analyst from 1998-2000, managing the legislative portfolio for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. He was Chair of the California Municipal Utilities Agency Water Task Force and served on the ACWA Legislative Affairs working group. As Special Assistant to the General Manager at the Long Beach Water Department from 1996 to 1998, he was senior advisor to the Long Beach Board of Water Commissioners, and a board member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Mr. Bland attended the University of California, Berkeley, and University of California, Los Angeles.

Daniel Curtin, of Sacramento, has served as director for the California Conference of Carpenters since 2001 and previously held the same position from 1992 to 1999. From 1999 to 2001, he served as chief deputy director for the Department of Industrial Relations. Prior to that, Curtin was a legislative advocate for the California Conference of Carpenters. He serves on the State Compensation Insurance Fund Board of Directors, the Economic Development Commission, and the Industrial Welfare Commission.

Kimberly Gallagher, of Davis, has been Farm Operations Manager at Erdman Farms since 2014 and Owner and Operator of Gallagher Farming Company since 2009. She was a Science Teacher for the Davis Unified School District from 2012 to 2014 and an Independent Study Teacher for the Elk Grove Unified School District from 2004 to 2011. Gallagher is a director of the Colusa Glenn Subwatershed Program and the California Rice Commission. She earned a Master of Arts degree in Christian leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Saint Mary’s College.

Alex Makler, of Berkeley, is Senior Vice President, West for Calpine Corporation, a large independent power producer with generation facilities throughout the United States and Canada. He joined Calpine in 1999 as Associate Counsel and has had roles of increasing responsibility in legal and business management functions. He has substantial experience in infrastructure project development, construction, environmental permitting, Federal and state-level electricity and gas regulation, commercial contracting, and finance. Prior to Calpine, Makler worked for private law firms in New York, Houston, and San Francisco.  He has both a J.D. and a B.A. (Political Economy) from the University of California, Berkeley.

Sandra Matsumoto, of Davis, has been Director for the California Water Program at the Nature Conservancy since 2020, where she was Associate Director from 2015 to 2020 and Project Director from 2004 to 2015. She was Project Manager at the Los Angeles Community Design Center from 2003 to 2004 and a Project Analyst at Mintz Levin from 1997 to 1999. She is an advisor to the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center, a board member of the Water Education Foundation and a board member of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy. Matsumoto earned a Master of Business Administration degree in finance from the University of California, Los Angeles Anderson School of Management.

Kate Moulène, of Los Angeles, has been CEO of River LA since 2021. She was founder and CEO of a marketing consulting firm from 2002 to 2018 working with more than forty nonprofits and corporate partners, and was co-founder and CEO of the Global Creative Forum from 2010 to 2015 leading private forums supporting the U.N. Secretary General. Ms. Moulène served as the West Coast Bureau Chief with Time Warner/InStyle Magazine from 1995 to 2002, serving as the on-air reporter for NBC’s Today, “E” news, Oprah, and multiple media outlets; and was a financial reporter for the International Herald Tribune from 1991 to 1995. Ms. Moulène  was featured in the book “100 Making a Difference.” Moulène earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Vassar College.

Jose Solorio, of Santa Ana, was raised in a farmworker family in the Central Valley and knows that water nourishes our bodies, preserves our environment and our fuels our economy. He has been a Government Affairs Officer at Moulton Niguel Water District since 2018. In prior roles, Commissioner Solorio was a Santa Ana City Council Member from 2016 to 2020 and from 2000 to 2006, Senior Policy Advisor at Nossaman LLP from 2014 to 2017 and a California State Assemblymember for the 69th District from 2006 to 2012. Solorio earned a Master of Public Policy degree in government and business policy from Harvard University and a Bachelor's degree from UC Irvine.

Joe Yun, Executive Officer, California Water Commission. Joe is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Toxicology. Most recently, Joe served as the Commission's Interim Water Storage Investment Program Manager. Prior to joining the Water Commission Joe served as Chief of the Planning Grant Section in the Financial Assistance Branch of DWR's Division of Integrated Regional Water Management. Joe managed multidisciplinary teams to implement various water management grant programs funded by general obligation bonds. Before joining DWR, Joe worked for 13 years in private environmental consulting assisting clients on surface water, groundwater, and storm water quality projects, remedial investigations, and site remediation.