STORMS, FLOODING AND SEA LEVEL DEFENSE CONFERENCE 2023 @ SCOTTS SEAFOOD, OAKLAND, CA WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 8TH 2023 

8:00 CALL TO ORDER

Stas Margaronis, Propeller Club of Northern California (MC)

8:10 WELCOME

Kristi McKenney, Chief Operating Officer, Port of Oakland

Maria Conatser, President International Propeller Club

Jim Carter, SAME Regional Vice President, California Region

LTC Timothy Shebesta, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, San Francisco District 

Captain Taylor Q. Lam, Commander, Sector San Francisco, United States Coast Guard

Arvind Acharya, President Society of American Military Engineers, San Francisco Post

Scott Humphrey, Executive Director San Francisco Marine Exchange

9:00 KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Matthew Arms, Director Environmental Planning, Port of Long Beach

9:30 CALIFORNIA PORT REPORTS 

Kristin Decas, Executive Director, Port of Hueneme 

Kristine Zortman, Executive Director, Port of Redwood City 

Justin Luedy, Senior Environmental Specialist, Port of Long Beach 

Brad Benson, Waterfront Resilience Program Director, Port of San Francisco 

Jan Novak, Associate Planner and Scientist, Environmental Programs and Planning, Port of Oakland 

Paul Ruff, Pilot, San Francisco Bar Pilots 

10:45 – 11:00 BREAK
11:00 PREPARING CALIFORNIA FOR STORMS, FLOODING & SEA LEVEL DEFENSE

Tom Ducker, Critical Infrastructure Lead, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services 

Brian Garcia, Warning Coordination Meteorologist, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 

Emery Roe, Senior Research Associate, Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, U.C. Berkeley 

Maya Hayden, Director of Outreach, U.S. Geological Survey 

Brett Sanders, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, U.C. Irvine

Kevin Roche, Research Engineer & Quantum Ambassador, IBM Research Almaden

12:00 STATE OF HAWAII REPORT

Derek Chow, Pacific Islands Business Development Manager, Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, Inc. “Hawaii’s Sea Level Defense Strategy”

12:30 LUNCH 

Luncheon Speaker Warner Chabot, Executive Director, San Francisco Estuary Institute and sponsor introductions

2:00 SPECIAL REPORT

Rachael Hartofelis, Project Manager, MTC/ABAG and Dana Brechwald, Assistant Planning Director for Climate Adaptation at the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) will discuss the findings of their report “Sea Level Rise Adaptation for S.F. Bay Area Could Cost $110 Billion”

2:30 IMPACT ON DAMS & LEVEES

Moderator: J.R. Gregory, Senior Geomatics Analyst / Project Surveyor, Towill 

Patrick Sing, Water Manager / Hydraulic Engineer, USACE SPN

Mehdi Mizani, P.E., Deputy State Floodplain Manager, Floodplain Management Branch, Department of Water Resources

Scott Humphrey, Executive Director, San Francisco Marine Exchange 

Martha Farella, Data Scientist, Stantec

Rebecca Verity, Program Manager, Climate Adaptation & Resilience, GEI Consultants

3:30– 3:45 BREAK
3:45 BENEFICIAL USE & NATURE BASED SOLUTIONS

Moderator: Summer Bundy, Climate Change Adaptation & Coastal Resilience Regional Sector Leader, Stantec 

Andy Chamberlain, PE, PMP, Chief, Civil Design Section, USACE San Francisco District Engineering Branch

Erika Powell, Senior Project Manager, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, San Francisco District 

Brenda Goeden, Sediment Program Manager, Bay Conservation and Development Commission 

Peter Dreyfuss, Managing Director, Watermaster North America, “The Case for Suction Dredging in California” 

Janelle Kellman, Executive Director, Center for Sea Rise Solutions 

5:00 CONCLUSION

Stas Margaronis, Propeller Club of Northern California

5:30 NETWORKING & RECEPTION

*Invited but not confirmed