Winston Hickox

As Secretary of CalEPA and in other senior level government appointments, Winston Hickox used his extensive experience in areas critical to California's natural and business environment to help advance many important public policy initiatives. He has also spent considerable time in real estate investment banking, institutional investment management, private equity clean-tech investing, and with the development and management of the FTSE Environmental Markets Index Series. During his time in public service, Winston Hickox has worked in several important policy areas, including climate change, water quality, air quality, toxics, pesticide regulation, waste management and reduction, and a range of other public health and environmental areas of importance to all Californians. As a result, when he joined California Strategies as a partner in 2006 he brought to the firm's clients the benefits of his experience in environmental public policy and regulation, private sector investment banking, and pension fund management. His environmental-policy experience includes five years as Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), seven years as a Special Assistant for Environmental Affairs to Governor Jerry Brown, and two years as an alternate to the California Coastal Commission. Hickox's administration at CalEPA saw the implementation of some of California's most important environmental policy initiatives, including the "Pavley Bill" in 2002 that granted the California Air Resources Board (CARB) authority to reduce green house gas emissions from cars and light duty trucks, the Clean Beaches Initiative, and the creation of the "Fuel Cell Partnership," established to advance fuel cell technology in California, and oversaw the achievement of a LEEDS Platinum designation for the CalEPA Building, a first for buildings of its kind in the western United States. Hickox completed a two-year assignment with the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) Investment Office where he assisted with the design and implementation of a series of environmental investment initiatives in the private equity, real estate, global public equity and corporate governance segments of the fund's $240 billion investment portfolio.He was also asked by the Schwarzenegger Administration to chair the Market Advisory Committee (MAC) in 2007, which developed a report intended to advise CARB regarding the use of market mechanisms, such as cap and trade, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The report was in response to AB32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.In 1998, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors appointed Hickox to the Board of the $6 billion Sacramento County Employees' Retirement System (SCERS). From 1987 to 1996, he was a Managing Director and Partner with LaSalle Investment Management, a major force in the world's real estate capital markets. Hickox also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Thomas Properties Group Inc., Cadiz Inc., GRIDiant Inc., and Renewable Energy Products LLC.Between 1989 and 2007, he served on the Board of three environmental non-governmental organizations, including the California League of Conservation Voters (President from 1990 to 1994), Audubon California and Sustainable Conservation.