As Secretary of CalEPA and in other senior-level government appointments, Winston Hickox used his extensive experience in areas critical to California’s natural and business environment to help advance many important public policy initiatives. He has also spent considerable time in real estate investment banking, institutional investment management, private equity clean-tech investing, and with the development and management of the FTSE Environmental Markets Index Series.
During his time in public service, Winston Hickox has worked in several important policy areas, including climate change, water quality, air quality, toxics, pesticide regulation, waste management and reduction, and a range of other public health and environmental areas of importance to all Californians. As a result, when he joined California Strategies as a partner in 2006, he brought to the firm’s clients the benefits of his experience in environmental public policy and regulation, private sector investment banking, and pension fund management.
His environmental-policy experience includes five years as Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), seven years as a Special Assistant for Environmental Affairs to Governor Jerry Brown, and two years as an alternate to the California Coastal Commission. Hickox’s administration at CalEPA saw the implementation of some of California’s most important environmental policy initiatives, including the “Pavley Bill” in 2002, that granted the California Air Resources Board (CARB) authority to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light-duty trucks, the Clean Beaches Initiative, and the creation of the “Fuel Cell Partnership,” established to advance fuel cell technology in California.
In 2006 Hickox completed a two-year assignment with the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) Investment Office where, as a Senior Portfolio Manager, he assisted with the design and implementation of a series of environmental investment initiatives in the private equity, real estate, global public equity and corporate governance segments of the fund’s then $240 billion investment portfolio.
He was also asked by the Schwarzenegger Administration to chair the Market Advisory Committee (MAC) in 2007, which developed a report intended to advise CARB regarding the use of market mechanisms, such as cap and trade, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The report was in response to AB32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.
From 1998 until 2012, he served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Sacramento County Employees’ Retirement System (SCERS). From 1987 to 1996, he was a Managing Director and Partner with LaSalle Investment Management, a major force in the world’s real estate capital markets. Hickox also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Thomas Properties Group Inc., Cadiz Inc., Optimal Technologies International Inc., and Renewable Energy Products LLC., and continues as a member of the Board of Cadiz Inc. as well as a member of the Paladin Capital Group’s Strategic Advisory Group.
Between 1989 and 2007, excluding his years as CalEPA Secretary, he served on the Board of three environmental non-governmental organizations, including the California League of Conservation Voters (President from 1990 to 1994), Audubon California and Sustainable Conservation.
