SMUD - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Brandon Rose has served on the SMUD Board of Directors since 2017 and represents Ward 1, which includes the communities of Fair Oaks, Citrus Heights, Orangevale, and northern Folsom. He chairs the Energy Resources and Customer Service Committee, where he focuses on lowering costs, improving customer service, and implementing SMUD's nation-leading 2030 zero-carbon goal.
Rose became interested in energy policy while a student researching SMUD's hydropower network in the Sierra Nevada. He later gained extensive experience working in the California Energy Commission's Renewable Energy Office with a focus on emerging technologies such as solar and wind power. He led the pilot Performance-Based Incentive Program for solar photovoltaic systems, an innovative, economic-based approach to incentivize installations, and a precursor to California's Million Solar Roofs Initiative.
In his current role with the California Air Resources Board, he focuses on zero-emission transportation technologies such as battery-electric and hydrogen commercial vehicles, including regulations, fueling infrastructure, financial incentives, and market development strategies. Previously, he helped develop charging infrastructure standards for the California green building code, led a technical assessment of transportation fuels, and developed and implemented rules to clean-up toxic diesel emissions.
Rose is active in the community, previously serving as an elected Board Member on the Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District from 2008 to 2016. He was further elected as the Special District Representative to the Sacramento County Treasury Oversight Committee and chaired the Committee from 2014 to 2019. He is currently an executive Board Member and Past President of the Environmental Council of Sacramento and recipient of the 2020 Environmentalist of the Year Award.
Rose graduated from Bella Vista High School and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Policy Analysis and Planning with a specialization in City & Regional Planning and Public Lands Management from U.C. Davis.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Vice President of the Board
- Ward 6, Board Vice President
Dave Tamayo was elected to the SMUD Board in 2014. He represents Ward 6, which includes Meadowview, Oak Park, Parkway, Airport and Valley Hi neighborhoods.
Dave has lived in the Fruitridge Manor neighborhood of south Sacramento since 1989, where he raised his family and has long been active in community affairs. He has led efforts to establish science programs and gardens in local schools, co-founded his neighborhood association, and successfully advocated for public parks, affordable housing, and urban infill.
Dave has served on a number of public boards and commissions, including the South Sacramento Planning Advisory Committee, the Sacramento Parks and Recreation Commission, the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District and the California Structural Pest Control Board. He also has served on the boards of the nonprofit Sacramento Mutual Housing Association, Sacramento County Alliance of Neighborhoods, California Stormwater Quality Association, and the Sacramento Urban Creeks Council.
Dave worked as an environmental scientist for Sacramento County for 30 years. He is recognized as a public policy leader in protecting natural resources by effectively influencing state and federal environmental regulations. He wrote the county storm water pollution ordinance, co-founded the region's River Friendly Landscaping Program, and helped create local, statewide, and national integrated pest management programs.
Dave has also served in an advisory capacity to the University of California Integrated Pest Management Program, US EPA Office of Pesticide Programs, California Department of Pesticide Regulation, and the National Pest Management Association. Prior to working for the county, he owned a wholesale seafood business in San Francisco and was an electrician and a whitewater rafting guide.
Dave holds a bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley and a master's degree in entomology and nematology from the University of Florida, Gainesville. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening, beekeeping, cycling, and learning to speak Spanish.
Job Titles:
- Chief Marketing and Communications Officer
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- President of the Board
- Ward 3, Board President
Gregg Fishman was first elected to the SMUD Board of Directors in January 2014 and began serving in 2015. He represents Ward 3, which includes East Sacramento, much of the Arden-Arcade area, and the Campus Commons, College Glen, and Rosemont neighborhoods, as well as parts of Carmichael, Florin, Fruitridge and Vintage Park.
Gregg has been a clean energy advocate for much of his career. As a former SMUD employee he promoted wind and solar energy when they were in their infancy. At the California Independent System Operator, he led public engagement efforts supporting new wind energy farms in California. As President of the SMUD Board in 2018, he led the utility in passing its Integrated Resource Plan, hailed by the California Energy Commission as "... an ambitious road map for lowering greenhouse gas emissions in the Sacramento region."
In his varied career, Gregg was a news reporter and anchor at KFBK and KGO Radio, a public information officer at SMUD and the California Independent System Operator (California ISO), and communications coordinator for the California State Association of Counties. He currently works at Sacramento Regional Transit as the Sr. Community Relations Officer.
Gregg is an active volunteer with the Sacramento Tree Foundation and has led a neighborhood effort that has planted more than 2,000 new trees. He received an award from the MLK 365 organization for helping to make it easier to remove racially restrictive clauses from local property records. He is a 25-gallon blood donor and a frequent volunteer master-of-ceremonies for Project Ride in Elk Grove.
Gregg is a graduate of California State University, Sacramento with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He and his wife live in Arden Park and are the parents of two daughters.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Director Heidi Sanborn, Ward 7
- Founder of the National Stewardship Action Council
Heidi Sanborn was first elected to the SMUD Board of Directors in 2018 and began serving on the SMUD Board in January 2019. She represents Ward 7, which includes Arden Arcade, Carmichael, Antelope, Foothill Farms and North Highlands.
Heidi is the Founder of the National Stewardship Action Council and has served as its Executive Director since 2015. She is also the founding Director of the California Product Stewardship Council where she served for 12 years prior. These nonprofits are dedicated to reducing waste, increasing recycling and advocating for an equitable, circular economy. She was appointed by State Treasurer Fiona Ma to the Green Bond Market Development Committee in 2019 tasked with efficiently raising billions of dollars in new and affordable capital to build climate-friendly infrastructure. She also was appointed by CalEPA to serve on the Statewide Commission on Recycling Markets and Curbside Recycling in June of 2020 and was elected Chair. The voluntary Commission submitted 34 policy recommendations to the California Legislature, with full consensus votes in its first 18 months, resulting in numerous bills passing in 2021-22 legislative session that were groundbreaking for the field.
Heidi has a personal interest in going green. Heidi and her husband have remodeled their house to be all electric including induction stove, solar panels and a heat-pump water heater and HVAC units. She is proud to be a SMUD Greenergy® customer.
Heidi is also active in the community. She is on the Board of the Children's Receiving Home of Sacramento and is co-chair of the Giving Tree committee of the Kiwanis Club of Carmichael which has managed 4 plantings in Ward 7. She served as the President of the Sacramento Chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness - spearheading a walk for mental health, conducting police trainings and teaching family-to-family classes. She was also a Big Sister for six years to a local graduate from the Sacramento Unified School District.
Over the past 15 years, Heidi and her husband have volunteered with Front Street Animal Shelter, fostering 67 dogs to date.
Born in Pennsylvania, Heidi also lived in Delaware, Massachusetts and Michigan before moving out west. She earned a bachelor's degree in Political Science-Public Service from UC Davis and a master's degree in Public Administration from USC. Heidi and her husband have lived in Sacramento for 35 years.
Job Titles:
- Chief Legal and Government Affairs Officer
Job Titles:
- Chief Zero Carbon Officer
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Director Nancy Bui - Thompson, Ward 2
Nancy Bui-Thompson was first elected in November 2008 to represent the 215,000 constituents of Ward 2, which includes the communities of Folsom, Rancho Cordova, Gold River, Rancho Murieta, Galt, Wilton and Elk Grove. At the time of her election, she was the youngest ever to be elected to the SMUD Board and the first Vietnamese American elected in Sacramento County. She is currently serving her fourth term.
Nancy served as the Board president in 2012, 2016 and 2021 and served as vice president in 2011, 2015 and 2020.
For over 18 years, Bui-Thompson has served as a technology and management professional who has worked with federal, state and local government agencies, energy and health-care organizations. She is currently the CIO at WellSpace Health in Sacramento. Her previous work experience includes the Director of Transition and Integration at Health Net, and as a Director at Public Consulting Group (PCG) in their Technology practice. Prior to PCG, she was a consultant for two of the world's largest and best-known consulting companies - Accenture and Deloitte.
Nancy has represented SMUD on both the national and international stage. She served as a main stage speaker at the Energy Thought Summit (ETS) in Austin, Texas (2017 to 2020). Nancy has been featured session speaker at DistribuTech, the world's largest Distribution technology conference with over 12,000 attendees, PowerGen International, WE3 Summit, and was the keynote speaker for SpaceTime Insight.
The Sacramento Business Journal has honored Nancy as one of the top 15 women business leaders in the Sacramento Region as a 2017 "Women Who Mean Business" and a 2011 "40 Under 40" awardee. In 2012, the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) awarded the prestigious Marshall Memorial Fellowship (MMF) to Bui-Thompson (75 fellows per year). The GMF is a non-partisan American public policy and grant-making institution dedicated to promoting better understanding and cooperation between North America and Europe on transatlantic and global issues.
She is a proud graduate of California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, with a bachelor of science in economics and management information systems.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- General Manager
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
Rob Kerth was elected in 2014 to fill a term on the SMUD Board of Directors which would expire at the end of 2016. Kerth was previously elected to the SMUD Board in November 2008 and served a four-year term. He represents Ward 5 which includes midtown, downtown, North Sacramento, Natomas, Rio Linda and Elverta.
Kerth is a third-generation Sacramentan and former two-term city councilman who got his start in public service as a neighborhood activist for the historic Woodlake district of North Sacramento. While on the Sacramento City Council, he was recognized as a major force for revitalization efforts not only in his district but also in other long-established neighborhoods.
During his time with the city of Sacramento, Kerth specialized in regional problem-solving. His assignments included the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, Sacramento Regional Transit District and the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency. Kerth developed notable expertise on infrastructure issues throughout the six-county Sacramento region.
Kerth founded Ice Unlimited, which brought Sacramento and Folsom their original holiday ice rinks. He is also responsible for the design of ice rinks in Sacramento's Arco Arena and at Squaw Valley U.S.A.
A graduate of Stanford University, Kerth holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering with an emphasis in controls and systems. He and his family still live in Woodlake, less than three blocks from his childhood home.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board of Directors
- Director Rosanna Herber, Ward 4
Rosanna Herber was first elected to the SMUD Board of Directors in 2018 and represents Ward 4, which includes Curtis Park, Land Park, Greenhaven, Pocket, Walnut Grove and parts of Elk Grove. She is the first openly LGBTQ person to serve on the SMUD Board.
Once elected to the SMUD Board, Rosanna was part of the Climate Change Ad Hoc Committee that wrote the Climate Emergency Declaration - eventually leading to the adoption of SMUD's 2030 Zero Carbon Plan.
Rosanna has dedicated 20 years of her career working at SMUD in varying capacities. She served as the Director of Public Power Strategy for the California Municipal Utilities Association (CMUA) where she published the "Handbook on Public Power Options" for cities and counties. She previously served as Chief of Staff to Sacramento Councilwoman Kimberly Mueller, where she developed the "Trees for Tomorrow" campaign that supported the early growth of the Sacramento Tree Foundation.
She values public service and community engagement - having served on the Greater Broadway Partnership Board and as President of the Sierra Curtis Park Neighborhood Association. She is a graduate of the American Leadership Forum, Leadership Sacramento, Leadership Folsom and the founding President of the Sacramento Metro Chamber Toastmaster's Club. Other board service includes the Center for Spiritual Awareness in West Sacramento, StageSigns, Senior Players of American River College and Mercy Homeless Advisory Board.
Rosanna has spent decades building relationships with local businesses and community groups. She is currently the Development Chair for the Sacramento History Alliance and Museum. She served as a Steering Committee member for the Sacramento Metro Advocates for Rail and Transit (SMART) and on the Sacramento Transportation Authority, which decides how local and federal transit dollars are spent. She is a proud member of Soroptimist's International of Metropolitan Sacramento (SIMS), whose Club funds local programs that uplift women, girls and the students at Ethel Phillips Elementary School.
Rosanna serves on the Sacramento LGBT Center's "Welcome Home" Committee whose goal is to raise $5.5 million dollars to purchase the Center's home. She is honored to have received a Pride Award from the California State Legislature, a Community Advocate Award from Equality California and the "Freedom from Want" Award from Sacramento Stonewall.
A native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, Rosanna graduated from Indiana University (Bloomington) with degrees in psychology, with honors, and Spanish. She also earned an MBA, with honors, from Saint Mary's College (Moraga.) She moved to California in 1986, and she and her wife of over 30 years live in Curtis Park with their darling dogs, Kep and Chelsea.
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Officer