Breathe SoCal Conversations with the Chair series

A Speaker Series with Key Policymakers

Breathe SoCal's Conversations with the Chair series features policymakers from agencies with focuses including air quality, climate, energy, transportation, and sustainability. Each event includes a networking reception followed by a discussion led by Breathe SoCal CEO Marc Carrel, with an opportunity for audience questions.

CARB Chair Liane Randolph

Individual tickets: $100 in advance, $125 at the door
Government/non-profit rate:$50 in advance, $65 at the door
Four-part series tickets available until Feb 28: $375

Silver Sponsor

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Liane Randolph
Chair, California Air Resources Board (CARB)

February 28, 2023, 6-8 p.m.
Tesla Marina Del Rey
Register

Liane Randolph has spent most of her career in public service, specializing in environmental law and policy, effective administration, and a commitment to transparency and public process. Governor Gavin Newsom her appointed as Chair of the California Air Resources Board in December 2020. Starting in 2015, Randolph served six years as a Commissioner at the California Public Utilities Commission, managing decisions on energy efficiency, integrated energy resource planning, and regulation of transportation network companies.

Randolph served from 2011 to 2014 as Deputy Secretary and General Counsel at the California Natural Resources Agency, where she worked on a wide variety of legal and policy issues. Her work at the state level builds on experience with local government that she gained while practicing municipal law as a contract City Attorney for the Cities of San Leandro and Suisun City. Randolph earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law and lives in Oakland with her husband and family.

Supporting Sponsor

Hon. Ara Najarian
Chair, L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board of Directors

April 13, 2023, 6-8 p.m.
The Biltmore Los Angeles
Register

Ara Najarian was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1980, Ara’s family decided to move to Glendale and he transferred to Occidental College for his Junior and Senior years. He majored in Economics and graduated in 1982. Ara went on to receive his J.D. from USC Law.

​Ara was appointed to the Glendale Transportation and Parking Commission in 1997, serving for 7 years, including two as chairman.

​In 2003, Ara was elected to the Glendale Community College Board of Trustees, the Glendale City Council in 2005, and to the MTA Board in 2006. He was voted Chairman of the MTA for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. Ara served on the Board of Directors of the Southern California Regional Railroad Association (Metrolink) from 2006-2012. He was selected by his peers to serve as the Chairman of the San Fernando Valley Council of Governments for the second year in a row. Ara was selected to be Mayor for the city of Glendale for the 2007-2008 year, and again from 2010-2011.  

CARB Chair Liane Randolph

Individual tickets: $100 in advance, $125 at the door
Government/non-profit rate:$50 in advance, $65 at the door

RegisterSponsor
CARB Chair Liane Randolph

Individual tickets: $100 in advance, $125 at the door
Government/non-profit rate:$50 in advance, $65 at the door

Sponsor

David Hochschild
Chair, California Energy Commission

May 22, 2023, 6-8 p.m.
Location TBA

David Hochschild was appointed chair of the California Energy Commission by Governor Gavin Newsom in February 2019. He fills the environmental position on the five-member Commission where four of the five members are required by law to have professional training in specific areas - engineering or physical science, environmental protection, economics, and law.

Chair Hochschild's career has spanned public service, environmental advocacy, and the private sector. He first got involved in the solar energy field in 2001 in San Francisco as a special assistant to Mayor Willie Brown where Chair Hochschild launched a citywide $100 million initiative to put solar panels on public buildings. He also cofounded the Vote Solar Initiative, a 60,000-member advocacy organization promoting solar policies at the local, state, and federal levels. He was executive director of a national consortium of leading solar manufacturers and worked for five years at Solaria, a solar company in Silicon Valley. From 2007 to 2008, he served as a commissioner at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

For his work to advance clean energy, Chair Hochschild was awarded the Sierra Club's Trailblazer Award, the American Lung Association's Clean Air Hero Award, and the U.S. Department of Energy's Million Solar Roof True Champion Award. Chair Hochschild holds a bachelor of arts from Swarthmore College and a master of public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He also was a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs.

Cynthia McClain-Hill
President, L. A. Board of Water and Power Commissioners (LADWP)

June 8, 2023, 8-10 a.m.
Location TBA

Cynthia McClain-Hill is an active attorney. She was elected President of the Board of Water and Power Commissioners on July 28, 2020 after serving as Board Vice President since September 5, 2018. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed Ms. McClain-Hill to a four-year term on the Board of Water and Power Commissioners. On August 15, 2018, her appointment was confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council and reconfirmed on  June 28, 2022. Ms. McClain-Hill’s term expires on June 27, 2027.

In her work as a highly regarded and widely respected attorney, Ms. McClain-Hill oversees and manages complex legal and public policy issues for clients as managing director of Strategic Counsel PLC. She is lauded as an astute and skillful public policy strategist with an outstanding record of service and accomplishment on a significant array of public-sector and non-profit boards and commissions.

Ms. McClain-Hill previously served for two years as a mayoral appointee on the City of Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners beginning in August 2016. Over the past three decades, she was appointed to serve on the City’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), California Coastal Commission, California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), CalEPA Environmental Justice Advisory Working Group, and Los Angeles City Small and Local Business Advisory Commission.

From 2008-2009, she served as president of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). She was past president of NAWBO’s Los Angeles Chapter. Ms. McClain-Hill served as Vice Chair of the Luskin UCLA School of Public Affairs Advisory Board. She served as a member of the founding board preceding the Luskin School’s establishment.

Ms. McClain-Hill has been consistently named one of Southern California’s “Super Lawyers” based on surveys of 65,000 Los Angeles area attorneys. She ranks among the top five percent of California’s practicing attorneys. As an opinion leader, her analysis on public affairs issues has been featured regularly in a wide range of print and online publications. She has made numerous TV and radio appearances to discuss public policy, law and politics.

CARB Chair Liane Randolph

Individual tickets: $100 in advance, $125 at the door
Government/non-profit rate:$50 in advance, $65 at the door

Sponsor

She has also been honored repeatedly by business and civic organizations for her leadership. She received the "Women in Business Advocate Award" from the U.S. Small Business Administration, “2005 Chapter Public Policy Advocate of the Year Award" from NAWBO, the inaugural "Ruth Standish Baldwin Award" from the Greater Sacramento Urban League, and the "Thurgood Marshall Award" from Minorities in Business Magazine. In September 2007, she was featured in ESSENCE. Ms. McClain-Hill has long been a trusted senior advisor to California’s powerful political figures and leading policy makers. Former California Governor Gray Davis appointed her to serve as one of his Gubernatorial Transition Team’s co-chairs. She served as a transition team member for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas as he prepared to assume office in 2008. She counts being among the five speakers at his history-making inaugural as among the most cherished events of her professional life.

Ms. McClain-Hill earned her Juris Doctorate from UCLA School of Law in 1981. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from UCLA in 1978. She is the proud product of California’s public school system. She is married and the mother of two adults.

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