Director Division 1; Robert J. Gomperz
Mr. Gomperz was elected to his seat on the Foothill Municipal Water District board in 2004 after having been appointed to the board in 2001 to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of former board member Mary Fruta Traylor. Mr. Gomperz served as acting Director of Public Affairs at Metropolitan Water District of Southern California before retiring after serving 17 years with the district in the public affairs division. He is active in the Colorado River Water Users Association and the Association of Californria Water Agencies. Mr. Gomperz is also a board member of Lincoln Avenue Water Company. He and his wife Susan are long-time residents of the foothill area. They currently reside in Altadena.
Director Division 2; Mel Matthews
Mr. Matthews is the general manager of the Kinneloa Irrigation District, a water company serving the Kinneloa Ranch area east of Altadena and portions of the City of Pasadena. Before becoming general manager, he served as treasurer and chairman of the board of directors. Mel is also the founder and president of KDM Services which provides property management and business consulting services.
Previously, Mel 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. Mel 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.
Mel is a graduate of University of California at Berkeley with a BS in Chemical Engineering. He has also earned a MBA in Operations Management from the Anderson Graduate School of Business at UCLA. He was born in Pasadena and still lives there with his wife, Donna. They have five children and nine grandchildren.
Director Division 3; La Drena 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 the vacancy created by Jim Edwards' resignation. Ms. Dansby's experience in the engineering industry includes design, project management, and construction management services on both public and private projects. Ms. Dansby's 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 education and knowledge of the local environment and practical experience to make a difference in her capacity as a director in the Foothill community.
Director Division 4; Richard W. Atwater
Mr. Atwater has over a twenty-five year record of achievement in government and water resources management administration. He is currently CEO of Inland Empire Utilities, past president of Bookman-Edmonston Engineering, Inc., past general manager of West Basin Municipal Water District and Central Basin Municipal Water District, and a former employee of Metropolitan Water District. He is also a board member of the Crescenta Valley Water District. He and his family have lived in La Canada Flintridge since 1986.
Director Division 5; Dean V. Wiberg
Mr. Wiberg is an engineer with the applied technology office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He also has experience as a city councilman when residing in Utah.
MWD Representative; James T. Edwards
Mr. Edwards is Foothill Municipal Water District's representative on the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California board of directors. He had served on the Foothill Municipal Water District board for 11 years 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 Canada Flintridge. 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 FMWD's representative to Metropolitan, Mr. Edwards serves at the pleasure of the FMWD board of directors.