LOS ANGELES — On Friday, January 23, 2009, the Los Angeles City Council confirmed the appointment of Jonathan Parfrey to the Department of Water and Power Board of Commissioners. Parfrey is the fourth environmentalist appointed to the board, following Dorothy Green in 1990, Mary Nichols in 2005, and David Nahai in 2005.

"Jonathan will bring a needed perspective as we continue to transform the DWP into a green utility," Mayor Villaraigosa said. "He will be in a unique position to affect the issues confronting the sustainability of our City. I am proud to have him on our team."

"It is an honor to have the opportunity to serve in this critical time for Los Angeles," Parfrey said. "As we face the dual threats of climate and fiscal crises, I believe the DWP can become a vehicle for both economic and environmental renewal in this City."

Jonathan Parfrey is the director of the GREEN LA Coalition, the City's premiere environmental coalition. He formerly served as executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles from 1994 to 2007. In 2003, Parfrey was appointed to Governor Schwarzenegger's Environmental Policy Team and was previously appointed to Governor Davis' select committee on radioactive waste disposal.

Parfrey currently serves as vice president of the Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters. Since 1999, he has served on the US EPA interagency workgroup at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory, the most polluted site in Southern California. A coalition-builder, from 1996 to 2006, he co-founded (with Coalition for Clean Air's Tim Carmichael) the Los Angeles Environmental Executives Roundtable. He has published in the Los Angeles Times and other publications. In 1992, he received the Paul S. Delp Award for Outstanding Service, Peace and Social Justice. In 2002 he was awarded a Durfee Foundation Fellowship.

Parfrey resides in Downtown.

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