Title: Adapting to the Curve in a Rising San Francisco, CA Bay

Speaker: Larry Goldzband, Executive Director, San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC)

Presentation:
Not to be confused with ACDC or its song “Hell or High Water,” BCDC is a California state commission founded in 1965 to regulate development in and around San Francisco Bay.  During the past decade, its role has pivoted from being almost entirely a regulatory and permitting organization concerned with limiting fill and providing maximum feasible public access to the Bay to also being the Bay Area’s leader in developing a regional response to the rising sea levels that threaten an area of 8 million people in the world’s fourth largest economy.  In 2011 BCDC implemented the Nation’s first regulatory program to mandate science-based rising sea level vulnerability analyses of proposed developments in the Bay and around the Bay shoreline and adaptation responses to those vulnerabilities.  Since then, BCDC also has led a voluntary program to create a Bay-wide regional shoreline rising sea level adaptation plan.

Speaker's bio:
Larry Goldzband has worked for members of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, was Chief Deputy Cabinet Secretary for former Governor Pete Wilson, and was Director of the California Department of Conservation.  In the private sector, he managed Pacific Gas and Electric Company's charitable contributions program for over ten years, which provided almost $20M in grants annually and was Executive Director of the PG&E Corporation Foundation.  In addition, Larry twice served as a Commissioner on the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) for almost ten years and served as Vice-Chair of the California State Coastal Conservancy.

In July 2012, Larry was appointed Executive Director of BCDC.  He manages all of the Commission’s affairs, directs the staff in implementing the Commission’s laws, regulations, and policies, enables staff to lead successful regulatory, planning, and policy programs, works with disparate stakeholders to forge agreements on difficult policy choices, leads efforts to increase BCDC’s productivity and efficiency, and acts as the chief bridge between BCDC and the California Natural Resources Agency.

In addition to his professional career, Goldzband continues to be active in the community.  He helped lead the formation of Justice Outside, the leading nonprofit organization devoted to providing nature-based experiences for underserved youth, is a former chair of the Board of Directors of Coro Northern California, is a former Treasurer of the Contra Costa Jewish Community Center, served as the Co-Chair of the Finance and Operations Committee of the Board of Jewish Vocational Services, and has been an adjunct professor at Golden Gate University.

Goldzband earned his B.A. in Government from Pomona College in Claremont, CA and his M.B.A. (Finance and Managerial Economics) from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL.  He is married to an extremely strong, successful, and patient wife who is a leading corporate attorney in the Bay Area, and their son is a college freshman.