Sherri Reusche | Director, Rural Business Center
Sherri Reusche has lived in Calaveras County since 1997 and has operated a family owned Construction business since 1990. Sherri graduated from Sacramento State University with a B.A. in Liberal Studies and a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction from National University. In 2023, she began working for Cal Asian Chamber of Commerce as Director of the Rural Business Center in Calaveras County. Her area covers Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Eldorado, and San Joaquin Counties. Sherri has actively taken on many leadership roles. She serves as Past Charter President for the San Andreas Rotary Club, newly retired – Calaveras Unified School District – Board Trustee (20 years), newly retired, Board Chair for the Calaveras Mariposa Community Action Agency, and is the Board President of Calaveras Chamber of Commerce. She always demonstrates her leadership skills with a hands-on approach and has great passion for her community. Her business and life motto is truly “Service above Self”.
Session: Workforce and Economic Development
Kendra Ramsey | Executive Director, California Bicycle Coalition (CalBike)
Kendra Ramsey is the Executive Director of the California Bicycle Coalition (CalBike), which advocates for equitable, inclusive, and prosperous communities where bicycling helps to enable all Californians to lead healthy and joyful lives. Prior to joining CalBike, Kendra managed active transportation plans and corridor studies for a consulting firm, working directly with community members, organizations, and government staff to create safe places to walk and bike. She also spent several years in state government advising agency staff on active transportation planning, design, and programming. She is the Director of the Sacramento Valley Section of the American Planning Association, and the Past President of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals. Kendra is certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), and holds an MS in Community Development from UC Davis and a BA in Sociology from UC Santa Cruz.
Session: Transportation Equity at a Crossroads: Statewide Leadership in a Changing Landscape
Steve Frisch | President, Sierra Business Council
Steve Frisch is the President and CEO of the Sierra Business Council (SBC) a regional business-based non-governmental organization. SBC works through a network of 6,000 businesses, community organizations and local governments to foster thriving communities through “on-the-ground” projects that benefit the region’s social, environmental, and financial capital by applying the principles of sustainable development and entrepreneurship. Sierra Business Council has been actively engaged in California climate policy for more than 20 years and has advocated for programs and funding allocations to speed climate adaptation and mitigation practices through non-governmental organizations in partnership with local governments.
Session: Wildfire Resilience and Rebuilding Strategies for California
Carl Guardino | VP of Global Government Affairs, Tarana Wireless
Carl serves as the VP of Government Affairs & Policy for Tarana Wireless. After three decades in CEO and senior officer roles, including 24 years as CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, Carl came to Tarana after leading global government affairs for Bloom Energy. Carl also serves as Chair of the CA Transportation Commission, which annually programs and allocates nearly $14 billion in transportation improvements throughout the state.
Through his past leadership roles, Carl has led and co-led 19 statewide, regional, and countywide ballot initiatives, winning 18 out of 19 campaigns. Carl graduated from San Jose State University, where he is a Distinguished Alumnus. Outside of work, Carl is a runner, cyclist, and triathlete, having completed 19 marathons and three IRONMANs. Carl and his wife, Leslee, have three children.
Rich Brown | Academic Researcher, California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE), UC Berkeley
Rich Brown is an academic researcher at the California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE) at UC Berkeley. His research interests span a broad range of topics related to the development and demonstration of technologies to reduce building energy use, including grid-interactive buildings; intelligent management of distributed energy resources, particularly through networked systems of sensors and controls, and direct current (DC) power distribution in buildings. His main project now is the Oakland EcoBlock, which is developing and demonstrating a neighborhood-scale approach to decarbonizing the existing building stock.
Rich comes to CIEE from over 30 years at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he led a variety of research projects on energy in buildings and regularly collaborated with CIEE researchers and UC faculty.
Rich holds an M.A. degree from the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley, and a B.S.E. in Engineering and Management Systems from Princeton University.
Session: Transformative Neighborhood-scale Energy Solutions