CLEE Advisory Board Updates

CLEE Advisory Board Transitions: Welcoming New Board Members and Now-Emeritus Members

July 1, 2026

The Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE) has appointed four new members to our Advisory Board: Matt Armsby, Louise Gibbons, Andrea Ruiz-Esquide, and Niran Somasundaram. Their deep expertise will help strengthen our work in environmental policy and support the top ranked environmental law program at UC Berkeley Law.

“This year’s incoming members reflect CLEE’s commitment to maintaining an Advisory Board that represents a cross-section of practice sectors and a diversity of environmental legal expertise,” says CLEE Advisory Board Chair Samir J. Abdelnour.

Welcoming New Board Members

Matt Armsby is Executive Vice President of Resources Legacy Fund (RLF), where he has worked in programmatic, legal, and leadership capacities since 2012. His programmatic work has included ocean and coastal planning, offshore wind, climate resilience, and land use issues related to clean energy development. A Stanford Law School graduate, Armsby began his career at the Center for Ocean Solutions and Stanford’s Environmental Law Clinic. He initially connected with CLEE through former Executive Director Jordan Diamond, a longtime colleague, and has followed the center’s research closely since.

“CLEE does research and technical work that can really shape the way California, and folks beyond California, think about environmental law and policy,” Armsby says. “I’ve been impressed by the institution for many years.”

On the Advisory Board, Armsby is eager to engage with CLEE’s work on California’s oil and gas transition, and looks forward to following CLEE’s offshore wind and land use work. He is optimistic about the center’s abilities to “help inform the trade-off decisions that the state needs to make on renewables” and advance conservation goals alongside the state’s clean energy targets.

Louise Gibbons is a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and the Deputy Business Unit Leader of the firm’s Energy and Infrastructure Group, a global team of approximately 200 professionals. Gibbons has spent over 12 years at Orrick, focusing on financing and developing renewable energy projects, an area she first began to pursue at UC Berkeley Law, where she earned a certificate of specialization in environmental law and held a leadership position at the Berkeley Energy Resource Collaborative (BERC).

“Energy was the way I could do transactional environmental work: helping the world transition from fossil fuels to renewables through the building of renewable projects,” Gibbons says.

Gibbons looks forward to her board membership as a meaningful step beyond Orrick’s years-long partnership with CLEE. “Instead of getting reports on what they’re doing, I’ll actually have a seat at the table to see what the future and the pipeline looks like,” Gibbons says. She is particularly excited to engage with CLEE’s energy work: “That’s what I do in my own practice, the developing and financing of renewable energy, and I’m interested in all things related to that in terms of impact on climate change.”

Andrea Ruiz-Esquide is a Deputy City Attorney at the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office, where she has served since 2007. A member of the land use and environment team, Ruiz-Esquide practices at the intersection of housing, land use, sustainable transportation, and climate resilience. Her recent work has included implementing state housing mandates at the local level, as well as advising the San Francisco International Airport on climate adaptation and sea level rise planning.

Ruiz-Esquide has also been involved in California’s transition from level-of-service (LOS) to vehicle miles traveled (VMT) metrics, advising San Francisco in its early transition away from LOS, and working closely with the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation on implementation issues.

Originally from Chile, Ruiz-Esquide earned a PhD in history from Columbia University before attending UC Berkeley Law, where she graduated in 2004. Growing up during Chile’s dictatorship, she said, “imprinted in me an important sense of working for the public good—I saw how important politics and policy were, from an early age.” During her time at UC Berkeley Law, Ruiz-Esquide was a member of the Ecology Law Quarterly and Environmental Law Society. “I feel like I belong at CLEE, even from before being in this position now,” Ruiz-Esquide says.”CLEE has been such a force of nature—it’s grown so much,” Ruiz-Esquide says. “I follow the papers, I follow the blogs. CLEE is a really important piece in the conversation about where California should go when it comes to protecting the environment.”

Niran Somasundaram is a land use attorney at Hanson Bridgett, where he has practiced since 2020. Somasundaram specifically chose to attend UC Berkeley Law for its environmental and energy law specializations, graduating in 2016. Somasundaram initially worked at Crowell & Moring before pursuing mission-driven work at Hanson Bridgett, focusing on land use law, housing, scientific research facilities, renewable energy, and EV infrastructure. For Somasundaram, land use is inseparable from California’s most urgent crises. “We have a housing crisis in California, and we also have a climate crisis—you can have two crises at once,” Somasundaram says. “The question is: how do we build the things we need to build, but do it in a way that also meets our climate goals?”

Somasundaram is attuned to the risks of how development without greenhouse gas considerations can exacerbate the climate crisis: “Far-flung development with no public transit infrastructure that is reliant on natural gas will cause us to not meet our very ambitious climate goals.” He views CLEE as uniquely positioned to address these challenges at scale. “CLEE is a loud voice in the room. The work we do directly impacts the actual policy and regulatory decisions the state of California makes.” Somasundaram cites Hanson Bridgett’s existing partnership with CLEE—including work on VMT mitigation banking—as evidence of the organization’s influence on California environmental law. “I was really, really honored that they even considered me for the board,” Somasundaram says.

Saluting Members Transitioning to Emeritus Status

At the same time, four long-time board members are finishing their terms and moving to CLEE’s Emeritus Circle: Armando Quintero, Randall Winston, Daniel Yost, and Erin Ziegler. The Emeritus Circle allows a continuing productive relationship between CLEE staff and people at the core of our energy and environmental law community.

“We so appreciate the service of these Advisory Board members transitioning to Emeritus status,” says Samir Abdelnour. “Their efforts have been instrumental in helping CLEE meet the moment at a crucial time for climate policymaking in California and the world.”

Over the last six years, these board members helped guide CLEE through its biggest period of growth yet. We went from a smaller research shop to a 35+ person team running dozens of active grants. It also encompassed a period of Executive Director transition, and some of the most challenging headwinds to our research enterprise ever. These board members provided funds that helped us to not only weather the storms of federal research funding cancellations, but also maintain momentum thanks, in large part, to the flexible nature of their support.

Over the course of their tenure CLEE logged several significant policy wins, including playing a key role in drafting SB 905 (2023); helping catalyze the State’s investment of over $60 million to develop and launch CalWATRS, a game-changing web-based water rights database; and providing research that led to the creation of a new public financing mechanism for electricity transmission in 2025.

Looking Toward the Future

“As we face some of the most challenging moments for climate and environmental policy, having an Advisory Board composed of passionate, thoughtful, and knowledgeable leaders is essential,” says CLEE Executive Director Louise Bedsworth. “We are deeply grateful to our outgoing board members for their stewardship through a period of remarkable growth—and so excited to welcome our four new members, who will continue to strengthen our ability to carry out research with the rigor, equity, and urgency the moment demands.”

Welcoming New Leadership to CLEE’s Advisory Board

June 12, 2025

The Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment (CLEE) is thrilled to welcome three new board members in 2025: Mary Creasman, Leuwam Tesfai, and Robert Uram. Each brings a wealth of experience in law, advocacy, and executive leadership. They were chosen for their impressive professional achievements, strong dedication to environmental causes, and how well their vision aligns with CLEE’s mission and goals. Their expertise will be vital in driving our work and research, especially as climate policy becomes more critical than ever before. As we celebrate these exciting additions, we also honor the impactful contributions of a departing member.

“We are so excited to have Mary, Leuwam, and Robert join the Advisory Board,” said Samir Abdelnour, Chair of the Board’s Nominating Committee. “Their diverse personal and professional experiences truly complement each other and will strengthen the Board’s to advance CLEE’s mission. We are also so grateful to Sky for all her work on the Advisory Board – including helping us bring in our three newest members – and for her continued participation on the Emeritus Board.”

Mary Creasman is the CEO of California Environmental Voters, based in Oakland, California. She brings an impressive wealth of experience in environmental conservation, having served on the California Wildlife Conservation Board, as well as on the Bay Area Open Space Council. Involved in political and nonprofit organizing since 2006, Mary was previously the Chief Strategy Officer for Green For All, an organization working to build an inclusive green economy. Mary also serves as the California Director of Government Affairs for the Trust for Public Land, and the Chair/President of the California State Assembly Committee for Water, Natural Resources, and Parks.

Leuwam Tesfai is the Deputy Executive Director for Energy and Climate Policy at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), a role she has held since 2022. She leads the CPUC’s Energy Division staff of over 200, responsible for regulating key energy and climate sectors such as the development of clean energy and transmission, distributed energy resources, electric and natural gas reliability, utility ratemaking and finance, environmental permitting, building and transportation electrification, energy efficiency, and decarbonization. In 2023, Leuwam was recognized by the US Department of Energy with the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Government Award for outstanding leadership and extraordinary achievement in the energy sector. With extensive leadership experience in the environmental space, Leuwam also serves on the board of the Environmental Law Section of the California Lawyers Association and the League of Women Voters of San Francisco. She earned her J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law and has worked across the field of environmental and energy law since 2006.

Robert Uram is a retired partner and Of Counsel at Sheppard Mullin. Throughout his legal career, he has worked on complex issues related to habitat conservation, public lands, land use, mining, water quality, endangered species, wetlands and organic farming food law. A recognized expert in the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the Clean Water Act, Robert has played a key role in California’s adoption of habitat conservation plans. From 1994 to 1996, Robert served as the Director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, appointed by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate. In this federal role, he managed a staff of more than 1000 people and a $300 million budget. He also created important programs like the Appalachian Clean Streams Initiative, bringing together over 100 organizations to combat acid mine damage. He earned his J.D. from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law cum laude and is a fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers.

A Fond Farewell and Continued Partnership

As we welcome new members, we also acknowledge the years of service given by an exiting board member.

Sky Stanfield, a partner at Shute, Mihaly, & Weinberger, has served on the CLEE board since 2019. After serving her maximum two terms on the board, she is now terming off. Sky practices renewable energy law, focusing on regulatory policy, compliance, and permitting. In 2025, Lawdragon’s Green 500 named her among the top environmental lawyers in the country. She is an alumna of the UC Berkeley School of Law, where she was active in the Ecology Law Quarterly and the Environmental Law Society. During her tenure at CLEE, Sky chaired the Nominating Subcommittee, overseeing the recruitment of eight excellent new board members. We are delighted that Sky will continue her connection with CLEE as an Emeritus Advisory Board member. We deeply appreciate her many contributions and look forward to her continued guidance.