Catherine Witherspoon is an international consultant on air quality and climate change issues, with 26 years of combined experience at the federal, state and local level. Most recently, she served as Executive Officer of the California Air Resources Board (CARB), where she managed a staff of 1,000, oversaw an annual budget of $350M, and reported to an interdisciplinary Governing Board appointed by the Governor. Ms. Witherspoon presided over the adoption of California’s greenhouse gas standards for motor vehicles and was directly involved in the drafting of Assembly Bill 32, California's landmark Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.
Ms. Witherspoon began her career as a CARB student assistant in 1981 and held increasingly responsible positions over the next 13 years including Legislative Representative, Chief of Air Quality & Transportation Planning, and Assistant Executive Officer. Between 1995 and 1998, Ms. Witherspoon served briefly as an Expert Consultant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1995), was Legislative Director for the South Coast Air Quality Management District (1995-1997), and ran her own consulting firm (1998). In 1999, Ms. Witherspoon returned to CARB as the Senior Policy Advisor to then-Chairman, Dr. Alan Lloyd. She became CARB’s Executive Officer in January 2003, a position she held through July 2007. Ms. Witherspoon holds a B.A. in Politics from the University of California at Santa Cruz.
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