Sutley

Nancy Sutley '84 has been named chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality for the Obama administration. Established in 1969 by Congress, the council coordinates environmental policies and initiatives, and its leader serves as the president's chief environmental adviser.

Sutley, who received a bachelor's degree in government from Cornell, is currently the deputy mayor for energy and environment for the city of Los Angeles and a board member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

She has a long career in environmental policy. From 2003 to 2005 she served on the California State Water Resources Control Board, which is responsible for protecting water quality and resources throughout California.

She also served as former California Gov. Gray Davis' energy adviser, managing state and federal regulatory and financial matters among other duties, and was deputy secretary for policy and intergovernmental relations at the California Environmental Protection Agency.

During the Clinton administration, Sutley was senior policy adviser to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional administrator in San Francisco and a special assistant at EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Sutley is also the first openly gay high-level appointee in the Obama administration, having served as a member of a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender steering committee backing N.Y. Sen. Hillary Clinton during the California Democratic primary, according to the Associated Press.