Panel 1 - Frameworks for Addressing Transboundary Governance Issues
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Buzz Thompson
A global expert on water and natural resources, Barton “Buzz” Thompson, JD/MBA ’76 (BA ’72) focuses on how to improve resource management through legal, institutional, and technological innovation. He was the founding Perry L. McCarty Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, where he remains a Senior Fellow and directs the Water in the West program. He also is a Professor of Environmental Behavioral Sciences in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. He has been a Senior Fellow (by courtesy) at Stanford’s Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies, and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. He founded the law school’s Environmental and Natural Resources Program. Professor Thompson served as Special Master for the United States Supreme Court in Montana v. Wyoming, an interstate water dispute involving the Yellowstone River system. He also is a former member of the Science Advisory Board of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. He chairs the boards of the Resources Legacy Fund and the Stanford Habitat Conservation Board and is a California trustee of The Nature Conservancy. Professor Thompson is of counsel to the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers, where he specializes in water resources and was a partner prior to joining Stanford Law School. He also serves as an advisor to a major impact investment fund. He was a law clerk to Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist ’52 (BA ’48, MA ’48) of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Joseph T. Sneed of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. |
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Jessica Neuwerth
Jessica Neuwerth is the Executive Director of the Colorado River Board of California, where she leads the state’s efforts to protect and advance California’s interests in the water and power resources of the Colorado River. A Wyoming native, Jessica joined the Colorado River Board in 2014, becoming Deputy Director in 2020 and Executive Director in 2025. Throughout her tenure, Jessica has represented California in numerous multistakeholder efforts focused on collaborative river management, including the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program, the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program, the Salinity Control Forum, binational working groups, and negotiations between the Colorado River Basin States. |
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Maria Giner
Maria-Elena Giner is an accomplished water resources and infrastructure leader with more than 35 years of experience guiding complex water, wastewater, and resilience initiatives. She serves as Global Portfolio Leader / Director of Water Resources & Community Planning at Black & Veatch, where she leads global strategy and multidisciplinary teams supporting utilities, governments, and international clients. From 2021–2025, Dr. Giner served as U.S. Commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission, appointed by President Joe Biden. She negotiated six international agreements with Mexico and secured nearly $1 billion to modernize wastewater, flood control, and dam infrastructure benefiting over 40 million people. Previously, as General Manager of the Border Environment Cooperation Commission, she directed more than $9 billion in environmental infrastructure investments in over 100 communities. A Professional Engineer, she holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy, an MBA, and a B.S. in Civil Engineering. |
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Meredith Nikkel
Meredith’s practice addresses complex water and environmental issues with novel solutions to serve the needs of agricultural and municipal users of water throughout the State. Meredith has handled matters at all levels, from administrative proceedings before the State Water Resources Control Board to state and federal trial and appellate courts. Serving private and public entities, Meredith provides insightful, practical analysis that achieves results. She has successfully defended clients in civil and writ proceedings, settled multi-party disputes both informally and through extensive mediation processes, and secured victories in state and federal appellate courts. Meredith regularly represents water users in proceedings related to the operation of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project, including environmental review processes related to long-term project operations and special projects such as the Delta Conveyance Project. Meredith serves as special counsel to local water suppliers, counseling water managers, boards of directors, and public agencies on surface and groundwater supply issues (including under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act), reclamation law, and compliance with environmental laws such as CEQA, NEPA, and the Endangered Species Act. Her past experience at the federal court of appeals and as a litigator at an international law firm gives her the tenacity to untangle the most complicated legal issues and the perspective to distill those issues into effective and durable solutions. |
Panel 2 - Barriers to and Mechanisms for Providing Safe Drinking Water in Vulnerable Communities
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Jennifer Clary
Jennifer has represented Clean Water Fund’s California water program since 2003 and became California Director in 2020. She works to advance key water and climate justice and equity measures; and has served on key stakeholder committees that advise state agencies on actions to protect communities and increase funding to address long-standing environmental problems. Jennifer holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. |
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Jean Fung
Jean Fung graduated from the UC Berkeley School of Law. She worked in private practice for several years in California and in Connecticut before joining the Office of Chief Counsel at the California State Water Resources Control Board in 2019, where she is now an Attorney IV. She advises the Division of Financial Assistance on funding for drinking water projects. |
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Uriel Saldivar
Uriel Saldivar first joined CWC in 2020 and currently serves as a Staff Attorney. Born and raised in the Central Valley, Uriel witnessed firsthand the impacts of water affordability, drought, and contamination. He now helps those same communities he grew up in to provide access to safe and affordable drinking water. Uriel graduated from the UCLA School of Law and UC Berkeley for his undergraduate studies. He previously worked in the California Legislature for Rob Bonta, labor unions (SEIU 721 and Unite Here! Local 11), and community-based organizations to help ensure California’s laws and policies promoted justice for all, not just the billionaires and corporations. Uriel enjoys going on walks, watching anime, playing basketball, and welcomes any challenger to a foosball game. |
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Tseming Yang
Professor Yang teaches environmental law and related courses at Santa Clara University Law School. Prior to joining to the Santa Clara faculty, he taught law at Vermont Law School, the University of Pittsburgh, Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, and as a Fulbright Lecturer at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. His experience outside of the academy has been wide-ranging, including as Deputy General Counsel of the US Environmental Protection Agency in the Obama Administration, as Director of a USAID and State Department-funded initiative to build China’s institutional capacity in environmental law and governance, and as an attorney in the Environment Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. The intersection of social justice and civil rights issues with environmental law has been a major focus of Professor Yang’s academic research and writing, law practice, and public service. From 1998 to 2003, he was a member of EPA’s National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. He will be teaching a seminar on environmental justice at the law school in the spring of 2017. Professor Yang graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in biochemistry from Harvard University and received his J.D. degree from the University of California at Berkeley. |
Keynote Address
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Adam Keats
Adam Keats has been practicing public interest environmental law for over 25 years, currently focusing on water law and river restoration work as a sole practitioner. He formerly served as Senior Counsel and Urban Wildlands Program Director at the Center for Biological Diversity and Senior Attorney at the Center for Food Safety. He was recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyer from 2022 through 2025, was awarded a Delta Advocate Award by Restore the Delta in 2019, and was named a California Lawyer of the Year by California Lawyer Magazine and the Daily Journal in 2016. He is a 1997 graduate of King Hall, UC Davis School of Law. |
Panel 3 - Federal and State Approaches to Salmon Hatchery Reform
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Karrigan Börk
Professor Bork graduated with Distinction and Pro Bono Distinction from Stanford Law School in 2009, and completed his PhD dissertation in Ecology at UC Davis in September 2011. He received the Shapiro Family Award in 2011 as the Outstanding PhD Graduate in Ecology at UC Davis. He clerked for Tenth Circuit Chief Judge Mary Beck Briscoe, U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson, and Judge Janice Karlin on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Kansas. Professor Bork graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Kansas in 2002, and was named a Truman Scholar in 2001 and a Switzer Fellow in 2010. Professor Bork's publications run the gamut from the definitive text on the history and application of California Fish and Game Code Section 5937 to a hatchery and genetic management plan for spring-run Chinook salmon. Professor Bork is currently examining legal and ethical issues in ecological restoration. His past work has focused on the management of guest species, those invasive species that managers invite in and make comfortable, and on the evolution of law via administrative actions. He is currently working on local governance issues in ecosystem management. |
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Darren Mierau
Since 2011, Darren Mierau has served as CalTrout’s North Coast Regional Director, and is now the newly appointed Director of Science. In the North Coast, Darren has focused on riverine and estuarine science, restoration, advocacy, and community engagement. Mr. Mierau directs a highly productive and innovative team of scientists and administrators managing a multimillion-dollar program envisioning species recovery, aquatic systems conservation, and climate adaptation. Under Darren’s direction, the Science Program will develop the third “State of our Salmonids” Report on the status of California’s 32 species of salmon, steelhead, and trout. |
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Rebecca Akroyd
Rebecca Akroyd serves as General Counsel for the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority. The Water Authority was established in January of 1992 and consists of twenty-seven member agencies. Twenty-five of the Water Authority’s member agencies contract with the United States for the delivery of water from the federal Central Valley Project (“CVP”). The CVP water supply serves approximately 1.2 million acres of agricultural lands within areas of San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Fresno, Kings, San Benito, and Santa Clara Counties, a portion of the water supply for nearly 2 million people, including in urban areas within Santa Clara County referred to as the “Silicon Valley,” and millions of waterfowl that depend upon nearly 200,000 acres of managed wetlands and other critical habitat within the largest contiguous wetland in the western United States. The Water Authority serves two primary purposes. It operates and maintains certain CVP facilities owned by the United States Bureau of Reclamation. In addition, the Water Authority advocates for common interests of its members by providing and disseminating information to legislative, administrative and judicial bodies concerning a variety of issues involving the Sacramento and San Joaquin Delta, water supply or water quality. In her capacity as General Counsel, Ms. Akroyd prepares and issues legal opinions, memoranda, and other legal documents, represents the Water Authority before administrative agencies and federal/state courts, provides legal counsel in planning processes undertaking by or that may impact the Water Authority, analyzes legislation, and coordinates and oversees activities of outside counsel. Prior to joining the Water Authority, Ms. Akroyd was a shareholder with the law firm of Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann, & Girard. |
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Jay Rowan
Jay Rowan is the Fisheries Branch Chief for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, where he leads the strategic management of the state's diverse inland and anadromous fisheries. With over 20 years of experience spanning water quality and wildlife conservation, Jay oversees statewide policy, fishing regulations, and critical operations—including the state’s hatchery programs, diagnostic laboratories, and California Endangered Species Act status reviews and listings. A proven leader in crisis and resource management, Jay has been recognized with multiple Excellence Awards for his roles in high-profile incidents like the Oroville Spillway response and the Piute Cutthroat Trout Restoration Project. He is dedicated to bridging the gap between angling opportunity and modern conservation science to protect California’s aquatic ecosystems. |
Panel 4 - Frameworks for Addressing Transboundary Governance Issues
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Richard Roos-Collins
Richard Roos-Collins is co-founder and Principal of the Water and Power Law Group PC based in Berkeley, California. He represents water districts and other public agencies, tribes, conservation groups, and renewable power generators in cases to enhance the sustainability of our resources. He specializes in multi-party settlements. He is general counsel for the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, which is undertaking the largest dam removal in history. He serves on advisory boards for UC Berkeley Law and UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of Environmental Science and Policy. He is an Adjunct Professor at University of San Francisco Law School. |
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Empress Holliday
Empress is a Geographer working as a Coastal Training Program Associate and Research Assistant for the Tijuana Estuary Foundation at the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve. Her work is a rich blend of providing training and technical assistance for Tribal and non-Tribal communities and coastal decision makers in the U.S. and Mexico, and exploring topics within environmental justice, estuarine ecology, cultural heritage, habitat monitoring, cultural ecosystem services, environmental education, community science, and fostering cross-programmatic relationships within the Reserve. Empress earned an AA in World Languages and an AA in Behavioral and Social Science from Palomar College, an AA in Geography from San Diego Mesa College, a B.A. in Geography and an M.A. in Geography with an emphasis in Environment and Society from San Diego State University. Growing up in San Diego, Empress was inspired from childhood to understand and protect the natural and diverse beauty of her home. This encouraged her passion for understanding the nuances of the relationships between people and nature. Empress believes that humans are a part of nature rather than separate from it, and her work serves to encourage others to understand and steward their environment through education and relational experiences. Empress enjoys exploring the local food scene and spending time outdoors with her dog Duke. |
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William McKinnon
William McKinnon is the General Counsel for Water Audit California, an NGO that is pursuing a mission of advocacy for the public trust. While others seek to defend against further injury, Water Audit plays offense, seeking out existing significant injuries, frequently caused and continued by agencies of government. Water Audit operations are not dependent on public funds, and it frequently pursues litigation. Water Audit has engaged in an expert driven program to remediate watercourses, initially including the priorities of Dr. Peter Moyle, the preeminent fish biologist of his generation; the evolving science of flow management envisioned by Dr. Ted Grantham; and the epoch changing legal perceptions of Dr. Karrigan Bork. The roll of experts has since grown. In a recent judicial opinion, a Kern Superior Court judge opined that Water Audit “appears to have access to some of the most highly qualified subject matter experts in the country.” In its short history, Water Audit has probed the boundaries of the public trust doctrine and the role of the private attorney general, obtained precedence for several previously untested provisions of the Fish and Game Code, and is presently co-petitioner to the Supreme Court on the proper relationship of reasonable use doctrine of the California Constitution to the Fish and Game Code. It has just started the path to determinative definition of the role and capacity of the private attorney general. Water Audit has learned how to rapidly assess and address federal statutory and regulatory issues while accomplishing real-world solutions, with a project goal of developing a repeatable legal protocol for remediation of all of California’s 45,000 recognized stream obstructions and reoperation of all 1,400 of its regulated dams. |
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Jessica Davenport
Jessica Davenport serves as the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Manager for the California State Coastal Conservancy, where she manages grant programs that support protecting and restoring habitat, planning and building parks and trails, and enhancing climate resilience. Prior to joining the Conservancy in 2016, she worked at the Delta Stewardship Council, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and the Contra Costa Resource Conservation District. She earned a BA in Chinese language and culture from Columbia College and a master’s degree in environmental science from the Yale School of the Environment, where she was awarded a Switzer Fellowship. |
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Lindsey Hromadka
Lindsey (she/her) joined The Nature Conservancy as the water law attorney in January 2024. She supports the Western-Canada Division with all things water, including acquisitions, policy, adjudications, stewardship issues and administrative matters. She also supports the Utah Chapter and California Chapter on general real estate and stewardship matters. Prior to joining TNC, Lindsey was a Partner/Owner at Weinberg & Hromadka, PLLC, a boutique law firm in Whitefish, Montana focused on real estate, land use, conservation and water law. Lindsey received her Juris Doctorate degree with honors from the University of Montana School of Law and attended college at Texas State University where she earned her Bachelor’s in Arts cum laude. Lindsey made Montana her home due to the endless outdoor recreation opportunities and can generally be found outside with her family. When she can find alone time (which isn’t much these days), she is also an avid yoga practitioner. |
Thank You to Our Participating Schools
For more information on sponsorship opportunities, contact [email protected]
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