Gov. Newsom Announces Appointments

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom Oct. 25 announced the following appointments:

Michael Méndez, 44, of Long Beach, has been reappointed to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, where he has served since 2021. Méndez has been an assistant professor and Andrew Carnegie fellow in the Department of Urban Planning and Public Policy at the University of California, Irvine since 2019. He was a faculty fellow and associate research scientist at the Yale School of the Environment from 2016 to 2019 and a postdoctoral scholar and lecturer at the University of San Francisco’s Department of Environmental Science from 2015 to 2016. Méndez was legislative director at the University of California, office of the president from 2008 to 2010, senior government affairs advocate at Blue Shield of California from 2006 to 2008 and senior legislative aide in the Office of California State Assemblymember Cindy Montañez from 2003 to 2006. He is a member of the National Academies of Sciences’ Board on Environmental Change and Society and the Alliance for a Better Community. Méndez earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Public Policy degree in City and Environmental Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $250 per diem. Méndez is a Democrat.

James Stahl, 79, of Rancho Palos Verdes, has been reappointed to the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board, where he has served since 2018. Stahl has been president of JFS Environmental Engineering since 2015. He was vice president at MWH Global, Stantec Engineering from 2007 to 2015 and held several positions at the Sanitation District of Los Angeles County from 1969 to 2007, including chief engineer and general manager, assistant chief engineer and general manager, director of the Solid Waste Division and director of Treatment Plant Design. Stahl is a member of the Water Environment Federation, National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Environmental Engineers. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $250 per diem. Stahl is a Democrat.