John Boesel is the President and CEO of CALSTART, the leading clean transportation industry organization in the United States. Over the past 29 years John has become a leading expert with extensive experience in building the clean transportation industry.
CALSTART has more than 300 member companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. In the past three years the organization has doubled in size and now has more than 140 employees and offices in five states.
Since John became President and CEO in 2001, CALSTART’s impact has increased significantly and grown into a national organization that is now playing a global leadership role. CALSTART has organized and mobilized industry support for policies that advance strong vehicle efficiency and emission standards in California and nationally. In 2022, CALSTART will manage incentive programs for the State of California and distribute approximately $750 million in funds. In 2021, CALSTART announced a Global Memorandum of Understanding whereby 15 nations commited to strong zero emission commercial vehicle targets.
Boesel initiated and leads the CALSTART Investor Council (CIC). The council includes representatives from venture capital firms, a pension fund, and a leading corporate strategic venture group. Boesel communicates frequently the CIC members to help secure funding CALSTART member companies and identify future trends and strategies that will increase private investment in the industry.
Earlier in his career John worked in the State legislature as a legislative aide for California Assemblyman Sam Farr. In that capacity, John was Farr’s point person on legislation that was signed into law that made the oil companies strictly liable for all damages associated with oil spills. In 1987 John taught English to graduate students in Yunnan Province in the People’s Republic of China. From 1989-91 John worked as a commercial loan officer for Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco. In 1991 John worked with a broad and diverse coalition that was successful in getting federal legislation passed that placed fisheries and the environment as higher priorities for the management of the extensive network of federally owned and managed dams and canals in California.
John is a member of the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies Board of Advisors and was recently appointed to be a member of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Mobile Source Technical Review Subcommitee. From 2014-2018 John was a member of the Advisory Board of the Precourt Energy Efficiency Center at Stanford University.
John received his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of California, Davis. In 1989, he earned his Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley.
Dr. John C. Wall has more than 40 years of industry experience in internal combustion engine technology, fuels and emissions, and in global engineering organization development. He served as Chief Technical Officer of Cummins Inc., retiring in 2015. As he progressed from research and product engineering into engineering leadership, Wall remained directly involved in the most critical technology programs for low emissions, powertrain efficiency and alternative fuels and in energy and environmental policy. He also led the growth of Cummins’ technical organization from 1,000 engineers, mostly centered in the U.S., to more than 6,000 engineers globally, establishing new technical centers in India and China. Prior to joining Cummins in 1986, Wall led Diesel and Aviation Fuels Research for Chevron. His interests today are in low/zero-GHG transportation power technologies, especially commercial transportation and industrial applications, and related supporting infrastructure. He is an advisor to the Activate/Cyclotron Road clean energy incubator, the International Council on Clean Transportation, the UC-Davis Institute of Transportation Studies and ClearFlame Engine Technologies. He serves on the boards of Achates Power and Ad Astra Rocket Company. He has been elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and as a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers, is a recipient of the SAE Horning Memorial Award and Arch T. Colwell Merit Award for research in the area of diesel fuel effects on emissions, the ASME Soichiro Honda Medal for significant engineering contributions in the field of personal transportation, the California Air Resources Board Haagen-Smit Clean Air Award and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Thomas W. Zosel Individual Achievement Award for career accomplishments in diesel emission control. Wall holds SB, SM, and ScD degrees in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Jennifer Dill is a professor of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University, where she also directs the Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC) and the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), a U.S. Department of Transportation university transportation center. Dr. Dill’s research focuses on the relationships between transportation, land use, health, and the environment, with a focus on bicycling and walking. Dr. Dill also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Transit Center, a New York-based foundation. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Dill worked as an environmental and transportation planner in California.
James Corless is the executive director of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG). He has led the creation of a national model to accelerate infill development through the region’s innovative “Green Means Go” program, the development of a 1,000 mile regional trails vision to provide more active transportation options, helped the region secure over $1 billion in state funding for local transportation projects, and spearheaded the initiation of Civic Lab, the region’s first government solutions accelerator. Other milestones include the creation of a regional Youth Leadership Academy, the development of SACOG’s first ever racial equity framework and action plan and a new regional economic Prosperity Strategy in partnership with the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, Sacramento Metro Chamber, Valley Vision and the Sacramento Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce.
Dr. Lisa Aultman-Hall is the Professor and Chair of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. After graduating in 1996 with a Ph.D. from McMaster University, she served as a Professor of Civil Engineering at the Universities of Kentucky, Connecticut and Vermont. Dr. Aultman-Hall focuses on transportation systems, especially methods to collect unique databases for modeling and analysis of long-distance intercity travel, transportation sector emissions, network resiliency, streetscape design, and non-motorized transportation. Dr. Aultman-Hall was the founding Director of the interdisciplinary Vermont Transportation Research Center (TRC) whose focus included land use and transportation models. During these years, Aultman-Hall was a member of the leadership team for the National Center for Sustainable Transportation led by UC Davis. Her current professional service includes serving on travel behavior committees of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), the executive board of the Council of Engineering Systems Universities (CESUN) and the board of directors of the Schlegel-University of Waterloo Research Institute for Aging.
Chris Reed is regional senior vice president, Research and Development, Nissan Americas. He was appointed to this position in April 2019. In this role, he is responsible for all vehicle engineering and development operations for Nissan Americas.
Previously, Reed was vice president, Platform and Technology Engineering, where he was responsible for Powertrain, Electrical, and Audio/IT engineering groups. He also served as the Overseas Chief Vehicle Engineer (OCVE) for Nissan LEAF, Murano and Pathfinder as well as the INFINITI QX60, at NTCNA.
Reed joined Nissan North America in 1988 as an entry-level engineer in the body design group. From 2011 to 2013, he worked in safety and then exterior/accessories while being OCVE of trucks. He also spent more than two years in Japan to help lead development on an all-new Nissan Murano. From 1999 to 2007, Reed was self-employed as a home builder and ran a small automotive parts supplier.
Reed holds a mechanical engineering degree from Virginia Tech.
Matthew Barth is the Esther & Daniel Hays Chaired Professor and Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Education at the Bourns College of Engineering, University of California, Riverside. He is part of the intelligent systems faculty in Electrical and Computer Engineering and is also serving as the Director for the Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT), UC Riverside’s largest multi-disciplinary research center. Dr. Barth’s research focuses on applying engineering system concepts and automation technology to Transportation Systems, and in particular how it relates to energy and air quality issues. His current research interests include ITS and the Environment, Transportation/Emissions Modeling, Vehicle Activity Analysis, Advanced Navigation Techniques, Electric Vehicle Technology, and Advanced Sensing and Control.
Bob Epstein is an entrepreneur and engineer with a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a co-founder of five companies: Sybase, New Resource Bank, GetActive Software, Colorado Microdisplay, and Britton-Lee. Bob is an elected Director of the Kirkwood Meadows Public Utility District, a co-founder of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), serves on the advisory board of the Goldman School of Public Policy and UC Davis Institute for Transportation Studies, and on the Executive Committee of the Berkeley Food Institute. Bob led the E2 team that helped to pass California’s major global warming bills – the “Clean Cars Bill” and the “Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006”. In 2020, Bob co-founded Project 2030 which is focused on California policies to manage carbon, decarbonize industrial sources and expand the use of re-generative agriculture practices. Bob’s community activities are focused on the environment, public education, sustainable food systems and music. Bob is a classical pianist and performs four-hand and solo piano.
Bob holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science, specializing in distributed database systems (with a minor in music). His early career was focused on the commercialization of databases and networking. From 1976 – 1979 he was the manager of the INGRES project at the University of California at Berkeley. From 1979 – 1984 Bob was vice president of development and principal architect for Britton-Lee, a developer of database machines. In 1984 he was a leading architect and proponent for client/server computing with the creation of Sybase and the development of SQL Server which eventually grew into a billion dollar business with the inclusion of middleware and development tools.
In 1996, he co-founded Colorado Microdisplay that produced industry-leading micro-displays for entertainment and mobile computing. In 2000, Bob co-founded GetActive Software and served as the Chairman of the Board. Convio purchased GetActive software creating the industry leader serving non-profits and other organizations. Bob was one of the organizers of New Resource Bank – a California chartered bank specializing in financial products for green businesses and consumers (now part of Amalgamated Bank).
In June of 2000, Bob co-founded Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) with Nicole Lederer. E2 is a national community of professionals and business people who believe in protecting the environment while building economic prosperity. E2 works to influence state and national environmental policy. In 2013, Bob was part of the team that created the Berkeley Food Institute at U.C. Berkeley. In 2020, Bob was a co-founder of Project2030 focused on carbon management and decarbonizing industry.