Commissioner Biographies
LINDA BRISKMAN, Beverly Hills
Prior to her retirement, Commissioner Briskman served the city of Beverly Hills as a city council member from 2001 to 2009 and as mayor in 2005. While on the city council, she served on the Westside Cities Council of Governments as chair from 2007 to 2008 and as co-chair of the Transportation Committee from 2006 to 2009. Briskman was a member and served as chair of the Beverly Hills Planning Commission from 1996 to 2001, the Beverly Hills Traffic and Parking Commission from 1992 to 1996, a member of the Beverly Hills Solicitations Commission from 1990 to 1992, and served as co-chair of the Beverly Hills Solid Waste Committee from 1988 to 1999. Additionally, she was owned and was vice president of Timely Trends, an apparel manufacturer, from 1988 to 2001.
LINDY DeKOVEN, Los Angeles
Commissioner DeKoven has served as president of DeKoven Entertainment, a television production company, since 2002. From 1993 to 2000, DeKoven was executive vice president of NBC Entertainment and, from 1991 to 1993, was vice president of Warner Brothers Television. Since 2006, she has been a member of the Commission on the Status of Women, where she currently serves as chair. DeKoven is also a member of the Board of the California Governor and First Lady's Conference on Women and the board of directors of the Los Angeles Leukemia/Lymphoma Society.
CARYL HART Ph.D., Sebastopol - ChairCommissioner Hart also served as Chair during 2003-2004. She divides her time amongst a variety of environmental concerns and her position as Vice President of 360 Degree Productions, an entertainment and music production company. An attorney, Commissioner Hart has worked as a Deputy Public Defender in San Francisco and Marin Counties, and in private practice. She is a founding member of LandPaths, an environmental land trust and land management non-profit dedicated to maximizing resource conservation while allowing managed public access.
Her work in support of the environment includes serving as Chair of the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District Advisory Committee, as a member of the Sonoma County Outdoor Recreation Plan Citizens Advisory Committee, and as President of the Nathan Ohrbach Foundation. She also served on the Sonoma County General Plan Update Advisory Committee. She currently represents California State Parks on the California Climate Change Action Network's Forest Protocols Committee which is in the process of developing guidelines governing carbon sequestration for forestlands in the state.
In April 2009 Commissioner Hart completed her doctoral dissertation on climate change and California State Parks in the Division of Society and the Environment, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at the University of California, Berkeley.
MAUREEN GORSEN, Sacramento
Commissioner Gorsen has worked as a partner in environmental and land use practice for Alston and Bird since March 2009. Previously, Gorsen was director of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control from 2006 to 2009 and deputy secretary for law enforcement and general counsel for the California Environmental Protection Agency from 2003 to 2006. She was a partner for Weston, Benshoof, Rochefort, Rubalcava and MacCuish from 1999 to 2003 and served the California Natural Resources Agency as general counsel from 1996 to 1999 and assistant general counsel from 1994 to 1996. Gorsen was a fellow in the National Network for Environmental Management Student Fellowship Program for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1991 to 1992, foreign service intern serving in Niamey, Niger for the U.S. Department of State in 1990, and law clerk in the Office of Oceans at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 1989.
ALICE HUFFMAN, Sacramento
In 1988 Commissioner Huffman founded A.C. Public Affairs, specializing in public and grass roots advocacy, where she has served as president and chief executive officer since 2004. From 1984 to 1995, she served as state president of the Black American Political Association of California. From 1982 to 1994, she served as the associate executive director for politics for the California Teachers Association. Prior to that, she served under Governor Jerry Brown's administration as director of the Office of Economic Opportunity from 1980 to 1982 and as chief deputy director of the State Parks and Recreation Department from 1975 to 1980. Additionally, Huffman has served as president of the California State Conference of the NAACP since 1999 and, in 2002, was elected to the board of directors representing Region One.
GAIL KAUTZ, Lodi - Vice Chair
Commission Kautz is vice president of Ironstone Winery in Murphys, California and is actively involved in John Kautz Farms, a family farming operation in Lodi. She served as a member of the California Exposition and State Fair Board from 1987 to 1995, and was named chair in 1993. Kautz is a former member of the Board of Regents of the University of the Pacific, Women for Agriculture and is past-president and lifetime honorary member of the California 4-H Foundation. She is the founder of the Ironstone Concours Foundation, an organization committed to supporting statewide and local 4-H and FFA youth development.
Lt. Col. BILL KOGERMAN, Laguna Hills
Commissioner Kogerman has served as Director of the Orange County Great Park Corporation since 2006, where he provides oversight for the development of the largest municipal park in the U.S. He was responsible for the zoning changes that allowed the former Marine Corps Air Station at El Toro to be developed as the Orange County Great Park, and he founded the volunteer organization that defeated the proposal to convert the El Toro base to an airport and raised over $4.5 million to develop the park. He is currently working to create a veterans' memorial and aviation museum within the Orange County Great Park. In 1979, after 25 years of distinguished service, Commissioner Kogerman retired from the Armed Forces as a U.S. Marine Corps naval aviator with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Since that time his many enterprises include Transpacific Associates, Inc. and Taxpayers for Responsible Planning, and he maintains an active schedule of community involvement in Laguna Hills and Orange County. Commissioner Kogerman is a life-long outdoorsman and an avid fisherman.
MARIO SANTOYO, Reedley
Commissioner Santoyo has served at the Friant Water Authority since 1986 where he has been assistant general manager since 2004. Previously, Santoyo held the positions of water resources manager from 2001 to 2004, maintenance manager from 1993 to 2001, manager of the operation and maintenance division from 1989 to 1993, and construction staff engineer from 1986 to 1989. Prior to that, he worked as a project engineer for Sorensen and Keller Consulting Civil Engineers from 1985 to 1986 and civil engineer for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation from 1978 to 1985.
PAUL JUNGER WITT, Los Angeles
Commissioner Witt is a successful television and film producer. His television work includes "Soap," "Benson," "Empty Nest," the Emmy Award-winning "The Golden Girls" and the Emmy Award-winning television film "Brian's Song." His feature film work includes producing "Dead Poets Society," "Three Kings," and "Insomnia." He is a partner in both Witt Thomas Productions and Witt Thomas Harris Productions.
Commissioner Witt's civic resume includes membership on the Board of Directors of the USC School of Cinema and Television, the UCLA Executive Board for Medical Sciences, the University of Virginia Council for the Arts, and the Environmental Media Association. He also sits on the board of Environmental Defense, a pioneering nonprofit organization of more than 300,000 members that develops innovative solutions to society's most urgent environmental problems.
