Jul 23, 2008

Creek authority selects new executive director

Documentary producer and river specialist to take helm

By Kristina Peterson / Daily News Staff Writer

The San Francisquito Creek Joint Powers Authority this week will vote to appoint Len Materman as its new executive director, the agency's chair announced Tuesday.

Materman, the founder and president for the past eight years of America's River Communities, Inc., also worked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency during the Clinton administration.

"His experience and background match well with the challenges facing the creek community and the Authority," said the group's chair, East Palo Alto Council Member Ruben Abrica.

Established in 1999 after devastating local floods, the group includes representatives from the cities of Palo Alto, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the San Mateo County Flood Control District.

It governs the 45-square-mile watershed of the 14-mile San Francisquito Creek.

Materman replaces former executive director Cynthia D'Agosta, who left earlier this year to take the same position at the Committee for Green Foothills.

After earning bachelor's degrees in biological sciences and political science from the University of California, Davis, Materman took graduate classes in public policy at the University of California's Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses.

More recently, Materman produced a documentary film on watershed issues that played on PBS in April, according to the announcement.

Board member and Menlo Park Council Member Heyward Robinson said Materman's film-making skills hopefully will bring a level of communications expertise to the agency.

"It's about making the case to the funding agencies and to the public. It's hard to do that," Robinson said. Materman showed different and more wide-ranging skills than many of the other candidates, he added.

If confirmed by the board at Thursday's meeting, Materman will begin his new job Aug. 11 and receive a base salary of $105,000.



E-mail Kristina Peterson at kpeterson@dailynewsgroup.com.