California Earthquake Early Warning Advisory Board Members

Bryan Cash joined the California Natural Resources Agency in 2005. As Assistant Secretary for Administration and Finance, he oversees 26 department finances. Bryan also serves as the Secretary’s designee on the State Coastal Conservancy, the California Catastrophe Response Council, and in other venues. Before working at the Agency, he worked for the California Department of Finance and the International Telecommunication Union in Geneva, Switzerland. Bryan holds a Bachelor of Arts in French and a master’s in international business. In his spare time, Bryan likes to hike, garden, try to play the guitar, and spends time with his family.

In November 2019, Giles Giovinazzi started as Senior Advisor to the California State Transportation Agency. Since February 2018, Giles served as the Chief of Staff and Federal Transportation Liaison at the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Giles had been serving as the Federal Transportation Liaison for Caltrans and the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) since 2014. In 2016, he chaired the California Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) Implementation Work Group and played a key role in Caltrans’ statewide FAST Act and Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) implementation efforts. He also oversaw CHSRA’s management of its $3.5 billion Federal Railroad Administration grant agreements, and he has drafted written testimony and coordinated witness preparation for U.S. Congressional hearings.

Prior to starting state service, Giles spent 15 years in Washington D.C. working with transportation, infrastructure, and economic development issues. From 2002 to 2014, he served as Democratic Staff Director to the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, Aviation Subcommittee. Giles also served as Legislative Counsel to Congressman James P. McGovern (D-MA) where he had primary responsibility for the Transportation & Infrastructure Committee (Highways & Transit, Aviation and Water Resources Subcommittees) and the Natural Resources Committee. Giles earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Columbia University and a Juris Doctor from Tulane Law School. He’s also a Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve, and he served in Afghanistan.

Claire Cullis brings over 20 years of leadership across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Most recently, she served as Chief of Staff to First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, where she advanced landmark initiatives including California for All Kids and California All Women, that shaped statewide policies supporting families and women.

Previously, she founded Claire Cullis Consulting, a San Francisco-based boutique public affairs firm, where she provided strategic counsel to mission-driven organizations such as the United Nations Foundation (Global Climate Action Summit), and the Institute for Democracy and Justice (IDJ). Under President Obama, Cullis served as senior staff to the U.S. Treasury Secretary. There, she led cross-agency initiatives on financial literacy and financial stability, and managed high-level diplomatic engagements in over 30 countries. During the Obama Administration, she also served as an advance representative for the White House, 2012 presidential campaign, and Deputy Parade Director for the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

In the private sector, Cullis served as a senior account executive at the Dewey Square Group, where she directed crisis communications, public policy strategies, and advocacy campaigns for both nonprofit and corporate clients as part of the firm’s California practice. Cullis’ global perspective is grounded in her academic and professional experience abroad having studied and worked in Austria, Germany, Japan, South Africa, and traveled to more than 30 countries.

Cullis holds an MBA from Virginia Tech and her BA from the University of Iowa. She lives in Sacramento with her husband, two children, and rescue dog.

Lupita Sanchez Cornejo has built a career defined by strategic leadership, civic impact, and an unwavering commitment to strengthening the communities she serves. A respected executive operating at the nexus of business and government, she is widely recognized for her ability to navigate complex policy environments, align corporate priorities with public interest, and build durable coalitions across a broad range of stakeholders.

Lupita currently serves as Regional Assistant Vice President of External and Legislative Affairs at AT&T, where she leads regional strategy across the entire Southern California region, overseeing public policy, stakeholder engagement, and corporate initiatives in one of the most dynamic markets in the country. Lupita is responsible for leading AT&T’s policy and stakeholder engagement strategy in Southern California. Lupita brings extensive strategic planning, governance experience and technology deployment that leads to corporate performance in the region; the ability to implement transformational change to address stakeholder needs; a high degree of transparency and accountability, passion and a commitment to core values, executing through a corporate responsibility lens; and successfully hiring, managing, connecting, growing and delegating to winning teams.

Over the course of her career, Lupita has distinguished herself as a consensus builder and trusted advisor in high-stakes environments. Her leadership style blends disciplined strategy with relational intelligence — a combination that has allowed her to advance transformative initiatives while maintaining credibility among elected officials, business leaders, and community stakeholders alike. She has consistently demonstrated an ability to translate policy into practical outcomes, guiding organizations through periods of rapid technological advancement and change.

A highly respected leader and strategist — both in her executive role and among the boards and communities she serves — Lupita possesses a strong record of successfully navigating in the telecommunications industry by adapting to and facilitating generations of technology advancements and innovation that are accelerating the speed of business. Her reputation as a difference maker with outstanding ethical standards tightly align with her consistent delivery of meeting the communities’ needs.  She leverages a unique ability to consensus build, negotiate, and collaborate. She is consistently sought after to take on increasing levels of responsibility.

Her civic footprint is equally notable. Lupita made history as the first Latino/a and first woman of color elected Chair of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in its century-long history — a milestone that reflects both her leadership acumen and her commitment to expanding representation in influential institutions.

She continues to serve in leadership roles as President of the Getty House Foundation – Official Residence of the Mayor of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Police Foundation, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, and is Immediate Past Chair of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association. Her appointments to local and state commissions further underscore her reputation as a thoughtful and accountable governance leader.

Earlier in her career, she served as Assistant Deputy Mayor for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs in the Los Angeles Mayoral Administration, overseeing the mayor’s legislative agenda and intergovernmental strategy. The experience sharpened her expertise in public affairs and deepened her understanding of how policy decisions shape economic opportunity at the local level.

Recognized for her leadership and community involvement, Lupita was named one of La Opinión’s Mujeres Destacadas. She was named Corporate Leader of the Year by the National Latina Businesswomen Association. She was recognized at the Inaugural event of the University of Southern California’s Alumni Spotlight recognizing her achievements.  The Women of Color STEM Conference honored her with one of their highest awards. She was named Mujer del Año by the Regional Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Regional Hispanic Institute. Hispanic Lifestyle named her 2017 Latina of Influence for her leadership.

Lupita holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Southern California and is a four-time recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Award. She lives in City of Los Angeles with her husband, Jose, and their two competitive-swimming kids, Esteban and Alexis.

David Briggs is the EBMUD Director of Operations & Maintenance. In this capacity he manages the operation and maintenance of water facilities and power generation facilities and serves as the Emergency Operations Director. Prior to joining EBMUD he had similar managerial duties for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from UC Davis and master’s degree and Ph.D. from Stanford University, also in mechanical engineering. He is a registered professional engineer and lives with his family in Oakland.

Jeffrey DuVall serves as the Director of the Department of Emergency Management for Sonoma County, a role he assumed in August 2023 after previously serving as Deputy Director since 2019. He provides strategic leadership for countywide disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation programs. Jeff brings more than two decades of public safety and emergency management experience, including prior service as the City of Anaheim’s Emergency Manager.

He holds a Master of Public Administration and maintains multiple professional credentials, including Certified Emergency Manager (CEM) through the International Association of Emergency Managers and California Professional Emergency Manager (CA-PEM) through the California Emergency Services Association.

Jeff is highly engaged in advancing the emergency management profession at both the state and national levels. He currently serves as President of the California Emergency Services Association Coastal Chapter and as the 2025–2026 State Board President, in addition to serving on the Association’s Legislative Affairs Committee. At the national level, he serves on the National Association of Counties Intergovernmental Disaster Reform Task Force, contributing to policy and systems reform efforts to strengthen the nation’s disaster mitigation, response, and recovery capabilities.

Jenny Novak is an award winning, Certified Emergency Manager, with over fifteen years of experience. Her specialties include disaster recovery, exercise development and higher education emergency management. In 2020, Jenny was selected as the first systemwide Director of Emergency Management and Continuity for the California State University system. Previously, she worked in response for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and at the local level.

Jenny’s academic background is in Hazards Geography. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Geography from Humboldt State University in 2007, studying earthquake and tsunami preparedness along the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Jenny went on to pursue graduate level disaster research at the University of Southern California, earning a Master of Arts Degree in Geography in 2012. She is also a 2022 graduate of the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense & Security’s Executive Leaders Program.

Jenny currently serves as Vice President of the California Emergency Services Association Southern Chapter. In 2016, Jenny was honored at the White House for her innovation in preparedness training development for higher education. She loves living in Long Beach, CA with her husband and two young daughters

Amina serves as co-planning lead for the UC Health Coordinating Committee, chaired by Dr. Carrie Byington, Executive Vice President of UC Health.  In this role, Amina supports centralized decision-making and coordination and helps provide health-focused guidance and support to all UC medical centers and campuses during the pandemic. She led the effort to develop a systemwide COVID-19 situational report and is part of the team that creates a systemwide email digest with pertinent updates about the coronavirus — from infection and hospitalization statistics to news and research developments. She collaborates with subject matter experts throughout the system to help inform locations and find opportunities to coordinate a unified response. “It’s been an amazing opportunity to meet with doctors and researchers throughout the university — all leading experts in their fields — who are coming together to combine their wisdom and knowledge to support UC,” Amina says.