Catherine Witherspoon

Executive Officer,

California Air Resources Board

Catherine Witherspoon has 23 years of air quality experience at the state, local and federal level. On January 30, 2003, she became Executive Officer of the California Air Resources Board and, in that position, oversees the day-to-day operations of a 1,000 member staff with an annual budget of approximately $130 million. Ms. Witherspoon began her career at ARB as a student assistant in 1981 and thereafter held increasingly responsible positions including Legislative Representative, Chief of Air Quality Planning, Assistant Executive Officer and Senior Policy Advisor to the Chairman. Between 1995 and 1998, Ms. Witherspoon served briefly as an Expert Consultant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco (1995), was Legislative Director for the South Coast Air Quality Management District (1995-1997), and ran her own consulting firm (1998). Ms. Witherspoon holds a B.A. in Politics from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

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