State Water Board announces Eileen Sobeck as new Executive Director

The former assistant administrator for the Department of Commerce at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, Eileen Sobeck, will assume the position as Executive Director for the State Water Resources Control Board, effective after the Labor Day weekend. Sobeck replaces Tom Howard, who retired in May 2017.

Although the new position will be her first in a state government role, Sobeck has spent her career with federal agencies, many of which deal with the same science-based, public resource issues the State Water Board confronts. Sobeck was chosen from a plethora of qualified applicants in part because of her substantial managerial and environmental experience. Sobeck has more than a decade of executive and management experience leading professional staff in complex organizations and some 40 years of government service.

Prior to her position with NOAA, Sobeck was the Department of Interior’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs), and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks. A lawyer by training, Sobeck spent 25 years at the U.S. Department of Justice, ultimately serving as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Environment and Natural Resources.

Sobeck is a graduate of Stanford University and Stanford’s Law School. She grew up in Davis and maintains family connections to California.