Cynthia Koehler is the Executive Director of Waternow Alliance, a forum for local leaders who want to champion sustainable, affordable and climate resilient water strategies. She has been a leading western water policy expert and environmental advocate for two decades.

She was previously a Senior Water Attorney and California Water Legislative Director with Environmental Defense Fund’s San Francisco office, where she was one of the conservation community’s chief negotiators for the landmark 2009 Bay Delta Reform legislative package.

Ms. Koehler has served for the last eight years as an elected member of the Board of Directors for the Marin Municipal Water District and is currently Board President. She has been the water district’s representative on the Association of California Water Agencies’ Federal Affairs Committee.

Previously, Ms. Koehler served as Legal Director for the Oakland-based Save San Francisco Bay Association, Assistant Regional Counsel at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and as an associate with the law firm Heller Ehrman. She has served key roles in several important cases, including the landmark Mono Lake case before State Water Resources Control Board. Ms. Koehler holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Pomona College in Claremont and a law degree from the University of Oregon School of Law.