Erin Curtis was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom as Executive Director in December 2024. She is a strategic public affairs veteran who has spent the last 15 years working with federal and state agencies on climate and natural resources policy. Prior to her appointment, she was Vice President at Fiona Hutton & Associates, an independent, non-partisan, woman-owned, communications and public affairs agency. From 2019-22 she served as the Deputy Secretary for Communications and External Affairs at the California Environmental Protection Agency, where she worked on many of the Administration’s climate initiatives, including drought and water policies, as well as the California Air Resources Board’s world-leading regulation to phase out sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035.
Ms. Curtis also served in the U.S. Department of the Interior for more than a decade in California, Colorado, Idaho and Alaska, and has spent years engaging with elected officials, policymakers and the public on climate change, natural resources, public land management, and environmental regulation.
Ms. Curtis is a California native and proud alumnus of the California community college and state university systems.