Director Division 1: Garry E. Bryant - Appointed (September 19, 2011)
Mr. Bryant is a Senior Analyst with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) in the Project Management/Controls Engineering Group. Mr. Bryant was initially hired as a consultant to MWD for the Engineering Division Budget Office. Before taking a position with MWD, he served as the Facilities Business Manager at California State University, Los Angeles.
Mr. Bryant was appointed to the Foothill Municipal Water District Board of Directors on September 19, 2011 to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of Director Robert J. Gomperz. Garry is a graduate of the University of Southern California and holds a BA in Political Science and Economics as well as a Masters of Public Administration from his alma mater. He grew up in Pasadena, CA and his son is a senior at the University of Hawaii.
Director Division 2: Mel Matthews - Vice President (Beginning January 2011)
Mr. Matthews is the General Manager of Kinneloa Irrigation District (KID), a water purveyor serving the Kinneloa Ranch area east of Altadena, CA and portions of Pasadena, CA. Before becoming General Manager, he served as Treasurer and Chairman of the Board of Directors for KID. Mr. Matthews is also the founder and president of KDM Services, which provides property management and business consulting services.
Previously, Mr. Matthews was in the cable television business for 32 years as founder and president of KTS Corporation and later with Charter Communications serving as the Director of Government and Community Relations after selling his cable systems to Charter in 1993. Mr. Matthews left Charter in 2002 to establish KDM Services.
Prior to his cable television career, he worked for Rockwell International and was a member of the engineering group that performed the certification testing of the Environmental Control System of the Apollo Command Module.
Mr. Matthews is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and holds a BS in Chemical Engineering. He also holds an MBA in Operations Management from the Anderson Graduate School of Business at UCLA. He is a native of Pasadena, CA and still lives there with his wife, Donna. Together they have five children and nine grandchildren.
Director Division 3: LaDrena D. Dansby
Ms. Dansby is a registered Civil Engineer appointed to the Foothill Municipal Water District Board of Directors at the end of 2004 to fill a vacancy created the resignation of Director Jim Edwards. Ms. Dansby's experience in engineering includes design, project management, and construction management services on both public and private projects. Her career incorporates engineering design of new, rehabilitation and retrofit projects, utility upgrades and relocations, and community outreach. Ms. Dansby's directorship affords her the opportunity to utilize her practical experience, education and knowledge of the local environment to make a difference in the Foothill community.
Director Division 4: Richard W. Atwater - President (Beginning January 2011)
Mr. Atwater has a record of over 25 years of achievement in government and water resources management. He currently sits as Executive Director of the Southern California Water Committee. Previously, Mr. Atwater was a past CEO/General Manager if the Inland Empire Utilities Agency. Some of his other past positions include: President of Bookman-Edmonston Engineering, Inc., General Manager of West Basin Municipal Water District, General Manager of Central Basin Municipal Water District, and Manager of the Water Resources Division at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. He is also a former board member of the Crescenta Valley Water District. Mr. Atwater and his family have lived in La Cañada Flintridge, CA since 1986.
Director Division 5: Dean V. Wiberg
Mr. Wiberg is currently employed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) as a program manager in the Commercial Program Office. His responsibilities include developing new business opportunities with non-NASA sponsors and involving commercial participants. His career has encompassed analytic chemistry, high-technology research and development, environmental, process, plant and systems engineering together with project and general management. Over his career, Mr. Wiberg has been employed at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), IBM, Westinghouse, Northrop Grumman, and JPL. He holds 13 patents and disclosures in the area of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). He has also been involved in a variety of technology start-up companies focused around high tech materials, microdevices and wind energy.
Mr. Wiberg has previously been a planning commission chairman, a city councilman, and currently sits on the Board of Directors for Empire Magnetics, the General Bernard Schriever Chapter of the Air Force Association (AFA) and the San Gabriel Valley Chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics (AIAA). He holds a BS in Chemistry, an MS in Chemical Engineering and has accomplished additional graduate work in materials science and business administration.
MWD Representative: James T. Edwards
Mr. Edwards is Foothill Municipal Water District's representative on the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) Board of Directors. He had served on the Foothill Municipal Water District Board of Directors for 11 years before resigning his seat in 2004. He has also served on the Boards of two sanitation districts and was a City Councilman and Mayor of La Cañada Flintridge, CA. Mr. Edwards has spent some 25 years in various aspects of the commercial insurance industry. He is also a Reserve Deputy Sheriff in Los Angeles County and a member of the Montrose Search and Rescue Team. He also sits on the Board of Valley Water Company. As Foothill Municipal Water District's representative to MWD, Mr. Edwards serves at the pleasure of the FMWD Board of Directors.