Board of Directors

Updated 03-06-12. The San Diego Clean Cities Coalition Board of Directors consists of individuals in the industry who are dedicated to implement the goals of the Department of Energy (DOE) Clean Cities Program in achieving energy efficiency in transportation, reduction of petroleum usage and conversion of vehicles to alternative fuels where economically practical.

• Mike Ferry – Coordinator
• Kevin Wood – Coordinator
• Greg Newhouse – Chairperson
• Susan Freedman – Events Chair

General Members:

• Tom Bartley
• Judy Bishop
• Jennifer Case
• Jacques Chirazi
• Robert Kard
• Paul Manasjan
• Steve Moore
• Joel Pointon
• Michael Rivers
• Jim Ruby
• Jim Byrne
• Derek D. Turbide
• Michelle White
• William (Bill) Zobel

MIKE FERRY

Mike is the Transportation Programs Manager, California Center for Sustainable Energy from January 2010 to present. He is responsible for implementation of all transportation programs at CCSE, including regional and statewide alternative fuel vehicle rebate programs, state and federally funded advanced vehicle battery research, management of the San Diego Regional Clean Cities Coalition, and coordination of CCSE’s public outreach and education efforts regarding sustainable transportation issues both in San Diego and throughout California. Mike finalized and implemented the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, a $11.1 million program to incentivize the deployment of zero-emission vehicles in California. Mike has led CCSE’s role in collaborative partnership with Nissan, ECOtality, and San Diego Gas & Electric to plan for the deployment of 2,450 electric vehicle charge points within the San Diego region. He has a Master of Science, University of California, Berkeley, Graduate Group in Energy and Resources, 2008, and a Bachelor of Arts, UC Berkeley, 1995.

GREGORY M. NEWHOUSE

Since 2000 Mr. Newhouse has directed the Advanced Transportation Technology and Energy Center at San Diego Miramar College. As Director for one of eight California Community College Advanced Transportation Technology and Energy Centers, Mr. Newhouse works directly with private, government, educational and labor organizations to foster the use of alternative fuels, renewable energy technologies and advanced transportation technologies. Prior to San Diego Miramar College, Mr. Newhouse worked on a variety of energy programs and projects while with the California Energy Commission.

SUSAN FREEDMAN

Susan Freedman is the Senior Regional Energy Planner for the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). She manages SANDAG’s energy and climate planning program that encompasses long-term regional energy planning to reduce petroleum use, inefficient electricity use, and greenhouse gas emissions in the region. Ms. Freedman is a member of the Electric Vehicle (EV) Project Stakeholder Advisory Group and provides staff support to the SANDAG Regional Energy Working Group.

Ms. Freedman oversaw the update to SANDAG’s Regional Energy Strategy and Regional Alternative Fuels, Vehicles and Infrastructure Report. This alternative fuels report identifies actions that regional and local government could take to accelerate the deployment of alternative fuels in the San Diego region. That report served as a foundation for the alternative fuels goal and policy measures identified in the Regional Energy Strategy. Through 2012, Ms. Freedman heads a three-year utility partnership to develop energy management plans, or “Energy Roadmaps,” for local governments.

Prior to joining SANDAG, Ms. Freedman led policy and planning activities for the San Diego Regional Energy Office (now the California Center for Sustainable Energy). Before moving to San Diego, she spent six years in Washington DC addressing federal and multi-state energy and clean air policies at the Northeast-Midwest Institute and the Alliance to Save Energy. She holds a BA in Political Science/Ecology from Emory University and an MA in Energy/Environmental Policy from the College of Urban Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Delaware.

In alphabetical order, other Clean Cities Coalition Directors are:

TOM BARTLEY

Tom Bartley has over 30 years experience in general business, marketing, project and product management, intellectual property, and engineering R&D. For the last 10 years His primary professional interests have been in transportation and energy efficiency and the policies needed to support them. He writes articles for John Addison’s Clean Fleet Report. In the past he developed strategies for energy storage and fuel savings, and power models for ultracapacitor packs.
He has worked with various companies: Transpower, ISE, USATalks.com, Netrologic, Loral Instrumentation, SAIC, Amex, Cubic, General Dynamics, and IBM. His early engineering work covered: nuclear instrumentation, analog-to-digital technologies, flight test instrumentation, radar simulation and prediction, oceanographic buoy instrumentation, and displays and image analysis.

BSEE and MSEE degrees from Stanford University
MBA Program at San Diego State University Graduate School of Business
Member of SAE, Life Member of IEEE
San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce Transportation and Land Use, Energy and Water, Technology Committees
Resident of San Diego since 1967

JUDY BISHOP

Judy Bishop currently works with major auto manufacturers creating and implementing in classroom environmental lessons, Nissan, with its new all electric Leaf vehicle was the first to sign up. These programs are similar to the EcoCenter for Alternative Fuel Education, created in 2003. This successful educational program reached over 30,000 San Diego County students, preparing them for the environmental and energy challenges of the future. The EcoCenter field trips focused on alternative fuel education as it relates to clean air, clean energy, and energy independence. Previously Bishop was founder and Executive Director of The Reuse people, dedicated to preserving landfills and natural resources by deconstructing houses and providing the usable building materials to low-income families. In 1992 Judy was Global Energy Network International’s ambassador to the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. She continued her efforts with the Reuse People, serving as a founding member of the Board of Directors. She went on to work for the United States Postal Service, creating a comprehensive, national recycling program.

JENNIFER CASE

Jennifer Case is the President and CEO of New Leaf Biofuel, a San Diego based biodiesel manufacturer. New Leaf’s mission is to transform the way businesses and governments fuel their fleets. New Leaf collects used cooking oil from restaurants and converts the oil to a high quality biodiesel fuel that is used by the US Navy, the City of Chula Vista, Allied Waste, and dozens of other commercial and municipal fleets in Southern California. Jennifer and her four partners founded the Company in 2006 and now have 24 employees. Prior to joining New Leaf, Jennifer was a litigation attorney at Alston and Bird in Los Angeles.

JACQUES CHIRAZI

Jacques Chirazi is the Program Manager for Clean Tech Initiative for the City of San Diego. He is responsible for promoting, fostering and coordinating strategic alliance and collaboration among local, regional, state and federal institutions to develop and execute a clean technology business attraction strategy. His focus is the creation of economic growth and environmental sustainability by developing a clean technology cluster in San Diego. Prior to this position, Jacques was Senior Program Manager at Bainbridge Inc., a strategic management consulting firm which provides consulting services to Fortune 500 companies (e.g. Yahoo, HP, NCR, DuPont de Nemours, United Technologies ). Finally, Jacques received a Master degree from University of California San Diego’s Graduate School of International Relations & Pacific Studies with an emphasis in International Environmental Polices and a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from San Diego State University’s School of Business Administration.

Robert J. Kard

Bob has more than 29 years of experience at four different air districts and strives to increase air quality awareness through positive interaction with businesses, residents and partnering agencies.
Under his direction, the Maricopa County Air Quality Department in Phoenix, Arizona, received the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Environmental Award in 2007 and the American Lung Association’s 2006 Clean Air Award for its outstanding achievements in business education, permitting, and enforcement of the rules and regulations. Prior to Maricopa County, Bob was the director of compliance for 12 years with the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District, and was with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District for 11 years.

PAUL MANASJAN

Paul Manasjan is Environmental Affairs Director for the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, which owns and operates San Diego International Airport. His department manages all of the airport’s environmentally-related programs, including regulatory compliance, storm water management, air quality management, site assessment and remediation, industrial hygiene, hazardous materials and waste handling, waste reduction and recycling, wildlife preservation, and sustainability. He also has primary responsibility over development of the Airport Authority’s implementation strategy to meet the requirements under the Memorandum of Understanding with the California State Attorney General, which focuses on reducing the airport’s overall greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, Mr. Manasjan serves on the Leadership Board of the American Lung Association of California-San Diego Chapter and the County of San Diego Solid Waste Hearing Panel.

STEVE MOORE

Since 1978, Steve Moore has been in the propane business and president of a family-owned propane company which has grown to become the 35th largest in the United States. Expo designs, installs and maintains propane fueling stations in California. Expo Propane specializes in propane deliveries to commercial and industrial users of propane-powered forklifts and propane-powered fleet vehicles. Steve is a member of the National Propane Gas and the Western Propane Gas Associations, and has served on a number of committees. Steve is a past president of the Western Propane Gas Association. As Chairman of the Clean Fuel Committee of the Western Propane Gas Association, Steve was awarded the association’s highest award, which has only been given 13 times since 1964. Steve is a graduate of San Diego State University with a bachelor of science degree in Marketing.

JOEL R. POINTON

Joel Pointon became the Manager of Electric Transportation (ET) for Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) when he was hired to “restart” the ET program in mid 2006. His background prior to this was in the field of environmental health sciences. He has worked in government, private industry and as an independent consultant in that area for the 25 years prior to joining Sempra Energy as an Environmental Advisor in 2004. He currently serves locally on the Board of Directors for San Diego’s Regional Clean Cities Coalition, on the San Diego Regional Sustainable Partnership Transportation Committee, and is an active participant in the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI) Infrastructure Working Council for Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEVs). Joel currently leads a national working group on “Multi-unit Dwelling, Workplace and Public Plug-in Vehicle Charging” for the GM/EPRI/Utility Coalition, serves on the Advisory Board of the Rocky Mountain Institute’s “Project Get Ready” and the UC Davis; Plug-in Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Research Center, as well as the California Electric Transportation Coalition (CaETC) and the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA).

ALAN RIDLEY

Alan Ridley works in the Career and University Transfer Center at Cuyamaca College in El Cajon. His background is in education, economic development, and career and college transfer consulting. Formerly the Clean Fuels Coordinator for the San Diego Regional Clean Cities Coalition, he was also Economic Development Representative for the San Ysidro/Otay Mesa Enterprise Zone at what is now the San Diego Workforce Partnership. He is a member of the American Wind Energy Association and an advocate for this rapidly growing, clean, renewable and abundant energy source. He is married, has two children, lives in Chula Vista and is active with Boy Scouts, the Apollo Alliance, Cohousing where families can design more pedestrian, family and environment friendly neighborhoods and other civic and professional organizations.

JIM RUBY

Jim Ruby, UC San Diego’s Fleet Manager, has over 30 years of automotive, truck, and transit industry experience, including more than ten years directing UCSD’s Fleet Services. As Fleet Manager, he is responsible for managing an annual operating budget of $5 million and a vehicle inventory of $20 million, as well as directing the operations and maintenance for 900 vehicles, ranging from electric vehicles to transit buses and heavy equipment. Jim’s responsibilities also include the acquisition and disposition of all campus vehicles, as well as operating the campus Fuel Station. Over the past three years, he has been instrumental in converting UCSD’s fleet into one of the most sustainable in the region. Under his guidance, UCSD has procured over 40 hybrid electric cars and is converting much of the campus fleet to Zero Emission Vehicles, with approximately 300 electric vehicles in the campus inventory. He also led the conversion of the campus diesel fleet to using Ultra-Low Sulfur (ULSD) B20 Bio-diesel fuel. He has developed and is implementing plans for an Alternative Fueling Station that will include Compressed Natural Gas, as well as future capability to provide Hydrogen and Hydrogen-CNG blended fueling. Jim has written specifications for over 40 campus buses as well as a demonstration B100 Bio-diesel shuttle. Additionally, he has brought numerous demonstration electric and other alternative energy vehicles to campus for test and evaluation.

Under Jim’s leadership, UC San Diego’s Fleet program has received regional and statewide recognition, including a 2005 UC/CSU Best Practices award for the campus’ Electric Vehicle program and a 2007 San Diego Excellence in Energy Efficiency for the campus’ “Sustainable Transportation program.” Also, in 2005 the California Environmental Protection Agency commended Jim for leading one of the first university efforts to achieve “Model Pollution Prevention Vehicle Service and Repair Facility”. Jim was recently elected to the Board of the San Diego Regional Clean Cities Coalition, is actively serving as a member of the San Diego Regional Sustainability Partnership Clean Transportation Committee and was a key member of the San Diego Area Government’s (SANDAG) Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Study Team. Jim continues to be at the forefront of sustainability efforts at UCSD, being personally recognized for his work as a recipient of UCSD “Earth Week Sustainability Awards for Outstanding Staff Contribution” in both 2007 and 2008. In 2009 Jim was recognized by the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Sustainability for ongoing contributions to UCSD’s sustainability goals. Other milestones achieved in 2009 were Fleet Services facilities being awarded the LEED EB Silver rating, and recognition for participation in the EPA’s National Partnership for Environmental Priorities.

MICHELLE WHITE

Michelle White is the Environmental Policy Manager for the Port of San Diego and serves as the lead public policy representative on environmental issues. She maintains internal and external partnerships with a variety of stakeholders to help ensure the Port is a leader in environmental sustainability. Michelle manages the Port’s environmental legislative issues, including the Port’s sponsorship of Senate Bill 623 (Kehoe) regarding marine antifouling paints. She also is involved in the development of the Port’s Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Plan, which will outline goals to achieve greenhouse gas reductions on Port tidelands and identify strategies to adapt to the impacts of sea level rise. Michelle is a member of the American Association of Port Authorities Sustainability Task Force and the SANDAG Regional Energy Working Group.
Prior to joining the Port in 2004, Michelle worked for universities in Montana and California on issues related to water and sediment quality, community outreach, and habitat restoration. She has a BS in Biology from the University of Wyoming and an MS in Marine Science from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in Moss Landing, California.

BILL ZOBEL

William (Bill) Zobel is Senior Vice President of Business Development for Trillium USA, and is responsible for the profitable growth and strategic direction of Trillium’s natural gas refueling business. Trillium operates one of the most successful compressed natural gas refueling companies in the US today with operations from coast-to-coast.
Bill has 23 years of experience in the energy sector which includes program management, environmental policy, plant operations, process engineering, and directed research. Prior to taking on this role with Trillium in 2009, Bill managed the Sempra Utilities (San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Gas Company) Natural Gas and Electric Vehicle Clean Transportation program.
Bill has long history of public service and volunteerism. He has served in several leadership positions on non-profit boards, foundations, and trade associations. He currently serves as Vice Chairman of CalStart, and sits on the Board of the California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition (CNGVC) which he chaired from 2007 to 2009. Bill is among a select group working on behalf of Energy Secretary Chu on the National Petroleum Councils “Future Transportation Fuels Study”, due out later this year. Previously, Bill has served on the boards of NGV America, the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA), the California Electric Transportation Coalition (CalETC), the California Manufacturers and Technology Association’s (CMTA), the Natural Gas Vehicle Partnership, the Conservation Corps of Long Beach, and the Moonlight Cultural Foundation. Bill holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from California State University Long Beach, and is a graduate of Columbia University’s executive business program.

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