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Michelle Passero is the Director of the Nature Conservancy’s Climate Change Program in California. She has over 20 years of experience working in land conservation, environmental law, and policy with particular expertise in natural resources and climate change. Currently, Ms. Passero is leading the Conservancy’s climate policy efforts to establish a comprehensive role for natural and working lands in support of California’s climate goals. She has co-authored multiple publications examining the role of nature-based climate strategies to address climate change, including the most recent publication Nature-based Climate Solutions: A Roadmap to Accelerate Climate Action in California. She holds an LL.M. in Sustainable International Development from the University of Washington and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco.

Peter Luchetti is a as an economist and is the founder of Table Rock Infrastructure Partner’s (“TRIP”). TRIP is an infrastructure fund focused on making private equity investments in greenfield and brownfield public and private infrastructure projects in the U.S. TRIP deals with 5 sectors including transportation, energy, social infrastructure, water & waste, and communications. TRIP specializes in water, wastewater and storm water, distributed energy resource (DER) P3 and alternative delivery applications in U.S. cities.

Danny Cullenward is a lawyer and climate economist working on the design and implementation of scientifically grounded climate policy. He is the Policy Director at CarbonPlan, a Fellow at American University’s Institute for Carbon Removal Law & Policy, and a Lecturer at Stanford Law School, where he teaches courses on energy and climate law. His book, Making Climate Policy Work (with David G. Victor), critiques the political economy of market-based climate policies. Dr. Cullenward is Vice Chair of California’s Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee and as a member the Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s Hearing Board. He holds a JD and PhD from Stanford University.

Jamie Callahan serves as the Deputy Cabinet Secretary in the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom. In this position, she oversees executive branch operations and policy development focused on climate change, business and economic development and international affairs. Previously, Callahan served as the Director of External Affairs in the Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr., overseeing the conception, planning, and execution of all major events for the Governor. She also directed the Governor’s international portfolio: identifying engagement opportunities, strengthening partnerships between the office and other leaders and offices around the world, and advising the Governor on key meetings abroad. She helped to devise and strengthen several of Brown’s signature climate initiatives, including the Under2 Coalition and the U.S. Climate Alliance, and served as Chief Executive Officer of the Global Climate Action Summit, which brought several thousand people to San Francisco over three days in September 2018 to spur climate leadership around the world.

Denny Zane founded Move LA to coalesce environmental, labor, business, and community organizations to initiate Measures R (2008) and M (2016), each a ½ cent sales tax increase, in Los Angeles County. Approved by more than 2/3 of voters, these measures will generate $120 billion over 40 years to invest in one of the most extensive rail and bus transit system development programs in the nation. Previously, Zane served 12 years on the Santa Monica City Council, including a term as Mayor, formulating Santa Monica’s highly successful affordable housing strategies and leading the creation of the acclaimed Third Street Promenade.

Eduardo Garcia represents California’s 56th Assembly District, which includes cities and unincorporated communities in eastern Riverside County and Imperial County. Elected in 2014, Garcia is the current chair of Water, Parks and Wildlife. In this capacity he oversees some of the state’s most pressing issues, such as drought conditions, and the implementation of the multi-billion dollar Proposition 1, Water Bond. Garcia also serves on the Assembly Committees on Appropriations, Communications and Conveyance, Governmental Organization and Utilities and Energy.

Giana Amador is the co-founder and policy director at Carbon180. Over the course of the organization’s history, Giana has worn many hats — from guiding the team’s strategy and communications to more recently, leading the organization’s policy program. Across her work, Giana is focused on connecting economic development, social justice, and climate action. A native of the Central Valley in California, Giana has deep expertise in agriculture and soil carbon sequestration, in addition to ushering in foundational policy work across all carbon removal solutions. Her past research focused on the political economy of renewable energy, with an emphasis on green industrial policy, job creation and training, and coalition building. She holds a degree in Environmental Economics & Policy from UC Berkeley.

Before founding Climate Resolve, Jonathan Parfrey served as a commissioner at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (2008-2013). Jonathan is a founder and board member of CicLAvia, the popular street event, as well as a founder of the statewide Alliance of Regional Collaboratives for Climate Adaptation. He served as director of the GREEN LA Coalition (2007-2011), and as the Los Angeles director of Nobel Peace Prize-winning organization Physicians for Social Responsibility (1994 to 2007). Prior to that, Jonathan founded and directed the Orange County Catholic Worker (1987-1993). He was appointed to Governor Schwarzenegger’s Environmental Policy Team in 2003.

Jeanne Merrill has more than 25 years of experience in agricultural, environmental, and energy policy advocacy at the state and national levels. Since 2009, she has served as Policy Director with the California Climate and Agriculture Network (CalCAN). Prior to her time with CalCAN, Jeanne worked with Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, Greenpeace U.S. and Pesticide Watch. She served for six years on the Organizational Council of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC). Jeanne holds a B.A. in political science from U.C. San Diego and an M.Sc. in Land Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Anthony Adragna is a climate and energy reporter for POLITICO and the former author of Morning Energy. He’s also the host of the daily POLITICO Energy podcast. Before joining POLITICO, he spent four and a half years covering EPA and other environmental issues with Bloomberg BNA. He is a Washington, D.C. native and a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont.