Commissioner Biographies

ERNEST CHUNG, Kentfield

Commissioner Chung was managing director at KPMG Consulting and BearingPoint Inc. from 2001 to 2009. He held multiple positions at the Chevron Corporation from 1979 to 2001, including principal consultant, general manager, business development manager, area business development manager and technology research and development manager. Commissioner Chung serves as chairperson of Friends of China Camp, which operates China Camp State Park, and as board member of the Marin State Parks Association, which operates Olompali State Historic Park and Tomales Bay State Park. He earned a doctorate degree and Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from the California Institute of Technology and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

CARYL HART JD, Ph.D., Sebastopol - Chair

Commissioner Hart is Director of Sonoma County Regional Parks. She has extensive experience in land conservation practice and policy, with a focus on land use and climate change. She is currently Chair of the Commission, and has been a member since 2000. From 2006-09, Commissioner Hart served as a member of the Forest Protocols Advisory Committee to the Climate Action Reserve, which developed accounting principles governing participation in voluntary carbon markets. She acted for fifteen years as an advisor to the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, and was a founding member of LandPaths, an environmental land trust and land management non-profit dedicated to maximizing resource conservation while allowing managed public access. Hart received her PhD in Environmental Science Policy and Management at the College of Natural Resources, University of California, Berkeley, her J.D. at the University of San Francisco College of Law, and a B.A. in economics from Cornell University.

Senator K. MAURICE JOHANNESSEN, Redding

Senator K. Maurice Johannessen served as a member of the Governor's cabinet as Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs from 2002 until his retirement in 2003. Johannessen served as a member of the California State Senate, representing District 4, from 1993 to his retirement as the ranking State Senator in 2002. While in the senate he served as chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee and Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on the CALFED Bay-Delta Water Program. He was a member of the Shasta County Board of Supervisors from 1990 to 1993, where he served as chair in 1992. Prior to that, Johannessen was a member of the Redding City Council from 1986 to 1990, serving as mayor from 1988 to 1989. In 2009, he founded the non-profit California Veterans Assistance Group Inc., where he currently serves as president.

TOMMY RANDLE, San Dimas

Commissioner Randle retired from IBM after 25 years in marketing. He served on the San Dimas Parks and Recreation Commission for 4 years, his last year as president of the commission. Randle was chapter chair of the Tri-Counties Black American Political Association in California from 2003-2007. From 1998-2001 Randle worked for the U.S. Census Bureau as a Government Partnership Specialists where worked with Federal, State and Local Officials to partner with the Census Bureau to ensure a complete and accurate count of California's population. He returned to the Bureau of the Census in 2008 and has since served as a Partnership Coordinator, responsible for creating partnerships with community based organizations, federal, state, & local officials, businesses, community activists, and involved citizens to help educate the public about the benefits an accurate count brings to the State of California. In 2000 Randle received the Inland Valley Newspaper's Man of the Year award for community service in the San Gabriel Valley, and in 2002 he received the Prestigious Ron Brown Business Service Award from the Los Angeles Urban League. In 2004, Randle received the San Gabriel Valley NAACP Citizen of the Year Award for political and community service. Randle is also founder and CEO of the Small Business Development Group, where he worked on political campaigns from 1992 to 2008.

MYRIAN SOLIS CORONEL, Chula Vista

Commissioner Solis Coronel has held multiple positions at REI since 2008, including program partnership manager and community relations administrator. She was a manager at KPBS TV/FM Public Broadcasting from 2002 to 2008. Coronel is also a member of MANA de San Diego and a board member of I Love a Clean San Diego.

Commissioner Solis Coronel has held multiple positions at REI since 2008, including program partnership manager and community relations administrator. Prior to joining REI, she worked at KPBS (the local PBS and NPR affiliate) for seven years where she managed special events, developed and implemented media and outreach campaigns. During her tenure at KPBS, Solis Coronel helped launch V-me’s, the Spanish language public television network, outreach initiative nationwide.

Solis Coronel is also committed to the community where she works and plays. She is a board member for I Love a Clean San Diego, member of MANA de San Diego and co-creator of the Latina Giving Circle. Solis Coronel was a member of Los Aztecas (San Diego State University) committee member from 2011-2013, The San Diego Foundation- Environment Working Group, 2010 HOPE Leadership Institute graduate and 2007 LEAD San Diego graduate.

Solis Coronel holds a BA in Communications from San Diego State University.

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,"  "Insomnia," and “A Better Life.” 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 Cinematic Arts, the University of Virginia Council for the Arts, the Environmental Media Association, and ecoAmerica. Witt also sits on the advisory boards of Santa Barbara Channelkeeper, the UCLA School of Law Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment, and the Environmental Defense Fund.

ELVA YANEZ, Los Angeles

Commissioner Yanez has been president of Colibri Strategies since 2009, which provides consulting services to nonprofit organizations, government agencies and foundations in public policy, land conservation, urban parks and open space, public health, land use, and the built environment. Yanez also serves on the board of directors for the Prevention Institute.