Celeste Cantú is a design team member for the Water Solutions Network.

Ms. Cantú previously served as general manager of the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority (SAWPA). While there, she led the development of the Crest to Coast, Corner to Corner Integrated Regional Watershed Management Plan called One Water, One Watershed (OWOW). The plan addressed all water-related issues and joined all entities and hundreds of stakeholders seeking to create a new vision of sustainability for the Santa Ana River Watershed.

Prior to her tenure at SAWPA, Ms. Cantú served as the executive director for the California State Water Resources Control Board. Currently, she is chair of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board.

During the Clinton Administration, she served as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development State Director for California. She also served as planning director for the city of Calexico and later as executive director for the Imperial Valley Housing Authority. She has a bachelor’s degree from Yale in urban planning and policy and a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.