Damon Nagami, Chair
Damon Nagami was appointed to the Wildlife Conservation Board by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon in August 2021.
He is a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and director of NRDC’s Southern California Ecosystems Project, which focuses on increasing equitable access to nature for low-income communities of color and protecting open space and wildlife habitat across Southern California.
Nagami also serves as board chair of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, an equity-focused organization that has helped create 29 parks and gardens since 2002, serving more than 400,000 Angelenos annually. He is also co-chair of the Los Angeles County Community Prevention and Population Health Task Force, which advises county officials on public health priorities and practices to advance health equity and healthy communities.
Nagami holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Juris Doctor from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He lives in Los Angeles and enjoys fishing in the Eastern Sierra, singing, and playing music with his family band.
Valerie Termini, Acting Vice Chair
Valerie Termini serves as the acting director of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), where she oversees all aspects of the department’s operations, including leadership of approximately 3,000 staff statewide.
Prior to joining CDFW, Termini was executive director of the California Fish and Game Commission, where she worked to establish a stable regulatory framework, address emerging environmental challenges, and promote science-based decision-making.
From 2007 to 2016, Termini served as fisheries policy advisor to the California Ocean Protection Council (OPC), developing and implementing programs to advance sustainable fisheries management. In 2015, she completed an intergovernmental detail with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in Washington, D.C., serving as climate advisor to NOAA Fisheries.
Termini holds a master’s degree in international environmental policy from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. Following graduate school, she was awarded a California Sea Grant Fellowship with the state’s Ocean Resources Management Program, which launched her career in public service.
Earlier in her career, Termini served as an environmental protection volunteer with the Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa. She lives in Davis, California, with her husband and daughter.
Karyn Gear
Karyn Gear was appointed to the Wildlife Conservation Board by Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire in January 2025.
She spent nearly four decades with the California State Coastal Conservancy, including 26 years as the conservancy’s North Coast regional manager. In that role, Gear worked closely with local, state and federal agencies, tribes and nongovernmental organizations to develop and manage resource enhancement, public access and agricultural preservation projects. She also oversaw the acquisition of approximately 150,000 acres of conservation lands and served as the agency’s first tribal liaison.
Gear served as an international board member of the Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture for nearly two decades, including several years as vice chair of the U.S. steering committee. She also managed the formation and growth of the Great Redwood Trail Agency as its interim executive director. Gear retired from the conservancy in July 2024.
Gear holds a bachelor’s degree in geography from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree in geography, with a concentration in resource management and environmental planning, from San Francisco State University. She enjoys traveling near and far with her family and hiking with her dog, Abby.
Fran Pavley
Fran Pavley was appointed to the Wildlife Conservation Board by the governor in February 2018.
She previously served 14 years in the California State Legislature. In the Assembly from 2000 to 2006, Pavley chaired Budget Subcommittee 3 on Natural Resources and Transportation. In the State Senate, she served as chair of the Natural Resources and Water Committee from 2008 to 2016, leading legislative efforts on water, air quality, natural resource protection and climate change.
Among the more than 160 laws she authored are the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, AB 1493 establishing vehicle emission standards, and AB 32 and SB 32, which set greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and helped drive the growth of clean energy technologies.
Before her legislative service, Pavley was the first mayor of her hometown, Agoura Hills, an appointed member of the California Coastal Commission, and a member of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy Advisory Committee.
Pavley currently works as an environmental consultant and serves as environmental policy director for the USC Schwarzenegger Institute, where she continues to focus on climate- and water-related policy. She is also a board member of the UCLA Law School Emmett Climate Center and the CAL Clean Energy Fund.
Pavley earned her bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fresno, and a master’s degree in environmental planning from California State University, Northridge. She lives in Agoura Hills with her husband, Andy. They are former middle school teachers and raised two children and four guide dogs.
Joe Stephenshaw
Joe Stephenshaw was appointed director of the California Department of Finance by Gov. Gavin Newsom in July 2022. In this role, he serves as the governor’s chief fiscal policy adviser.
Prior to his appointment, Stephenshaw served in the Governor’s Office as senior counselor on infrastructure and fiscal affairs.
Stephenshaw was staff director for the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee from 2017 to 2022. He held multiple positions in the California Legislature from 2008 to 2017, including policy consultant in the Office of the Senate President Pro Tempore, special adviser to the Speaker of the Assembly, and budget consultant for both the Assembly Budget Committee and the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee. He also served as a budget analyst for the California Department of Finance from 2005 to 2008.
Stephenshaw earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Menlo College and a Master of Business Administration from California State University, Sacramento.
Tina Thomas
Tina Thomas was appointed to the Wildlife Conservation Board by the governor in February 2025.
She has served as counsel at Downey Brand LLP since 2023. From 2012 to 2023, Thomas was the founding partner of Thomas Law Group Sacramento. Earlier in her career, she held multiple roles at Remy, Thomas, Moose, and Manley LLP from 1982 to 2011, including counsel and managing partner, and began her legal career as an associate attorney at Remy and Associates from 1979 to 1982.
Thomas serves on the boards of the Steinberg Institute, the Sacramento Federal Judiciary Library, and Meristem, and is a member emeritus of the Sacramento Food Bank.
She earned a Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego and a bachelor’s degree in sociology and political science from Stephens College.
Erika Zavaleta
Erika Zavaleta was appointed president of the California Fish and Game Commission and to the Wildlife Conservation Board in February 2025.
She is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), where she helped found the Coastal Science and Policy graduate program and leads the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program and the Center to Advance Mentored, Inquiry-based Opportunities (CAMINO). Zavaleta joined the faculty in 2003 and has since partnered on projects with scientists, farmers, hunters, ranchers, Indigenous communities, conservation organizations, state and federal agencies, and private foundations.
Zavaleta received the 2007 Ecological Society of America Sustainability Science Award for her work on community responses to climate change and wildfire in Alaska’s boreal forests. She co-edited Ecosystems of California, which received a California Book Award in 2016–17, and its companion Guide for Policymakers volume, which brought together hundreds of experts across the state in every aspect of ecology and stewardship.
She has served on the boards of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Society for Conservation Biology and is a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences and the Ecological Society of America.
Zavaleta earned a Doctor of Philosophy in biological sciences and a Master of Arts in anthropology from Stanford University. She lives in Santa Cruz, California, and enjoys exploring the outdoors with family, friends and her students.