SPEAKERS

E. Joaquin Esquivel was appointed to the State Water Resources Control Board (Board) by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. in March of 2017. Prior to his current appointment to the Board he served as Assistant Secretary for Federal Water Policy at the California Natural Resources Agency. Working in Governor Brown's Washington D.C. office, Mr. Esquivel represented the interests of the Natural Resources Agency and its departments and facilitated, communication, outreach, coordination, and the development of policy priorities between the Agency, the Governor's Office, the California Congressional delegation, and federal stakeholder agencies in the nation's capital.

Prior to his July 2015 appointment to the Natural Resources Agency, Mr. Esquivel worked for U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer of California for eight and a half years in her Washington D.C. office. Starting first as an intern, he held a number of positions and upon leaving was her Legislative Assistant covering the agriculture, Native American, water, oceans, and nutrition portfolios, in addition to being the Director of Information and Technology. The critical topics in his portfolio and diverse constituencies affected by and represented in them was formative to his education and understanding of California’s unique challenges and leadership in resources management. Additionally, his time working for the Senator gave him a broad understanding of the federal government and its agencies, and the critical need to better align local, state, and federal policies and resources to achieve common, if not complex, goals and outcomes for human health, ecological, and economic improvement.

Mr. Esquivel is a graduate of U.C. Santa Barbara with a B.A. in English, was born and raised in California’s Coachella Valley, the is the proud son of educators and grandson of farm workers.

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