Service area & board of directors

In November 2014, Dina Nguyen was elected to serve on the Orange County Water District Board of Directors to represent division 1, which includes Garden Grove, Westminster and Stanton. Director Nguyen was formerly a councilmember for the city of Garden Grove.

She was elected to the Garden Grove City Council in November 2006, then re-elected in 2010. She began her political career as a commissioner on the Garden Grove Neighborhood Improvement and Conservation Commission where she recommended programs to the City Council to improve and preserve neighborhoods through zoning enforcement, housing rehabilitation, street improvement, and other housing-related programs.

Director Nguyen served Orange County for 18 years as an employee of the Superior Court. During that time, she attended law school. Presently, she is the principal owner of the Business & Law Center of Dina L. Nguyen in Garden Grove.

Both her professional law practice and her activities in the community focus on the areas of education, family and business.

Over the years, Director Nguyen has lent her support to organizations that include the Rotary Club of Garden Grove, the Boy Scouts of America, the Sustainable Community Foundation of Orange, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the American Red Cross, the Team of Advocates for Special Kids, the NBH Youth and Cultural Development Center, and the Orange County Community Services Programs.

Director Nguyen came to the United States in 1975, has lived in Orange County since 1977 and presently resides in Garden Grove with her family. Email Director Nguyen

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Denis Bilodeau was first elected to public office as a director of the Orange County Water District in November 2000 and was re-elected to serve for four more consecutive terms. He served as president of the board from 2002 to 2004 and from 2017 to 2018, and as 1st vice president in 2015 and 2016.

Previously, Director Bilodeau served as a councilmember of the city of Orange. He was elected in November 2006 and his term ended in 2014. He has served on the following committees and commissions throughout Orange County: Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority, Orange County Vector Control, Orange County Waste Management Commission, Orange County Transportation Authority, San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency, Foothill Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency, Orange County Sanitation District, Orange County Emergency Medical Care Committee, Orange County Housing and Community Development Commission, Orange County Water Task Force, and the Los Angeles and San Gabriel River Watershed Taskforce.

Director Bilodeau, his wife Suzanne and their three children are long-time residents of Orange. Professionally, Director Bilodeau is a licensed civil and traffic engineer. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from the University of California, Irvine.

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Roger Yoh was elected to serve on the Orange County Water District (OCWD) Board of Directors in November 2004, and was re-elected in 2008, 2012 and 2016. He was elected to serve as the 2012 chair of the Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS) Steering Committee, and, most recently, as the 2013 and 2014 2nd vice president of the OCWD Board of Directors.

Director Yoh is a registered professional engineer, a project management professional and is currently employed with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), District 7 (Los Angeles and Ventura Counties), as a senior transportation engineer.

Director Yoh holds a Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering from the University of California, Irvine, where he received extensive training in various disciplines of civil engineering, including water resources engineering and construction management.

Director Yoh is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Environmental & Water Resources Institute and the Project Management Institute. A resident of Orange County since 1982, Director Yoh and his wife, Stephanie, live in Buena Park with their daughter. Email Director Yoh

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Tri Ta was appointed to the Orange County Water District (OCWD) Board of Directors in September 2018. He also serves as mayor for the city of Westminster, Calif.

Director Ta was elected in November 2016 to serve his third term as mayor. Tri Ta was first elected to the Westminster City Council in November 2006 and re-elected in 2010.  In 2008, he was selected to serve as mayor pro tempore. Director Ta became the first Vietnamese-American elected mayor in the United States with his victory in November 2012; he was re-elected as mayor in November 2014. 

Prior to being elected to the council, he served as a commissioner for the city's Energy Committee and Advisory Committee for the Disabled. Tri Ta currently represents Westminster on the Orange County Fire Authority Board of Directors serving on its Executive Committee and Budget and Finance Committee, the Orange County Council of Governments, the Orange County Public Library Advisory Board, and the Orange County Transportation Authority Central County Corridor MIS and I-405 Policy Working Group. He also serves as council representative to the city's Water Rate Structure Committee, Zoning Code Update Committee, 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion Advisory Committee, and Energy Committee.

Director Ta was born in Saigon, Vietnam. He came to the United States with his family in 1992 at the age of 19. He then received a B.A. in political science and has completed the requirements for an M.A. in International Relations. Director Ta appreciates the opportunities given to him by the political process and democracy in the United States, leading him to begin working as a legislative representative in 1998.

From 1998 to 2006, Director Ta worked as a career consultant and then as an employment counselor. This enabled him to help numerous families from many ethnic groups become self-sufficient and less reliant on public assistance by developing better job searching skills, and/or adequate vocational training to obtain sustainable employment. He also helped with a variety of supportive services, including, but not limited to, transportation, childcare, housing, shelter, and ancillary.

Over the years, Director Ta had been active in many non-profit organizations, committees and projects, including the Union of Vietnamese Student Associations (UVSA), New Horizon, Orange History Program, National Alliance of Vietnamese American Service Agencies (NAVASA), Rancho Santiago Community College District's Measure Advisory Committee, Giving Back Program, Asian Pacific National Steering Committee, and Kiwanis International. He is frequently sought after by universities as an inspirational speaker whose ultimate message to the youth is "follow your dream 'til the end."

Director Ta resides in Westminster with his wife, Anh Doan, and their two daughters Trianh and Trimy. Email Director Ta

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Steve Sheldon is an elected member of the Orange County Water District (OCWD) Board of Directors; his division includes parts of Newport Beach and Irvine. Director Sheldon is the District's 2nd vice president. He has served on the board since 2005 and was president of the board in 2008 and 2009. A representative on behalf of OCWD for the League of Cities, he also sits on the University of California, Irvine Urban Water Research Institute Advisory Committee.

Director Sheldon brings more than 25 years of experience in public policy and real estate development. As a past consultant and attorney, his work included managing hundreds of land-use entitlement efforts before cities, counties and special districts. He is currently the CEO of Sheldon Development, LLC.  His company has developed over 2,500 housing units ranging from luxury apartments, townhomes, single-family homes, and estate lots; along with park land, open space, trails, and other public amenities and benefits. He was a recent successful bidder of a surplus elementary school site from a public school district and developed 63 homes and a two acre public park. Email Director Sheldon

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Cathy Green was elected to the Orange County Water District (OCWD) Board of Directors in November 2010 and was re-elected in 2012 and 2016. She was selected by the board to serve as its 2013 and 2014 1st vice president and as its 2015 and 2016 president. She currently serves as 1^st vice president.

Prior to Director Green's service on OCWD's board, she was elected to two consecutive terms on the Huntington Beach City Council where she served two terms as mayor. Director Green has been involved as a council liaison and committee member on many city boards, commissions and committees. She served on the Orange County Transportation Authority Board and was a director of OC Clean Tech.

Director Green serves on the boards of the Huntington Valley Boys and Girls Club and the Orange County Explorer Program; serves on the Huntington Beach City School District Medi-Cal Collaborative; is a director of the Prime Health Foundation and the Huntington Beach Hospital; is a member of the American Legion Unit 133 Auxiliary, Huntington Beach Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and the Elks Lodge 1959; and is on the Advisory Board of the Bolsa Chica Conservancy. She is a founding member of Amigos de Bolsa Chica.

In addition, her community involvement has included serving as president of the Therapeutic Riding Center and the Huntington Beach Community Clinic, chair of the Orange County Emergency Medical Care Committee and of Explorer’s/Learning for Life, first aid chair of Huntington Beach CERT, and board member of the OC Boy Scouts of America Council and American Family Housing.

Director Green is the recipient of many awards. Her most recent is a 2019 Boys and Girls Clubs of America National Service to Youth Award. In 2010, she was the recipient of the Spurgeon Award, and, in 2005, she was named Woman of the Year by then State Senator John Campbell. Other awards include the 2006 United Way Excellence in Child Care Planning, the 2007 Peace Maker Award from the Greater Huntington Beach Interfaith Council and the Golden West College Pillar of Achievement Award. She has also been recognized as Huntington Beach’s Citizen of the Year by the Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce, a Huntington Beach Soroptimist’s Woman of Distinction and a Bolsa Chica Conservancy Conservator of the Year.

Director Green is a registered nurse and holds a degree in law. As a nurse, Director Green worked in the health care areas of intensive care, student health, community health, and patient advocacy. In addition to nursing, she gained experience with a variety of environmental projects while associated with Lockhart and Associates.

Director Green and her husband Peter have been residents of Huntington Beach for 49 years where they raised their two children Teresa and Tom.

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Kelly Rowe was re-elected to the Orange County Water District Board of Directors in 2018, representing division 7, which includes Costa Mesa, and parts of Fountain Valley, Irvine, Newport Beach, and Tustin. Director Rowe returned to OCWD after an 18-year hiatus. He previously served on the board from 1998-2000 and worked as a project manager for OCWD from 1996-1998 overseeing major repairs to OCWD’s coastal seawater intrusion barrier injection wells. These injection wells are the oldest part of OCWD's Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS).

Director Rowe is a water resources technical professional with more than 40 years of experience specializing in the design, construction and management of groundwater wells and basin operational facilities. He is a California-licensed Professional Geologist, Certified Engineering Geologist and Certified Hydrogeologist and is an Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) Certified Floodplain Manager.

Since 1977, he has worked for several large engineering and environmental consulting firms in Southern California. In 1996, he started a consulting company, Kelly E. Rowe & Associates, that specializes in water resources and environmental management programs and projects. Over the last 18 years, Director Rowe worked mainly as a contracted consultant-appointed federal official for the federal government, to develop and resolve grants for water resources facilities overseas for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and for seven states through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to restore public infrastructure damaged by 16 federally-declared major disasters, including California fires and floods. This involved working with many operational and environmental federal, state, regional, and local government officials.

Director Rowe has a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from San Diego State University, with additional geology graduate studies. He is the founder and president of American Water Resources Association, Southern California Section. He was a long-term member of the American Geophysical Union and Association of Engineering Geologists. Director Rowe is a continuing member of the American Water Resources Association and the Association of State Floodplain Managers. He resides in Costa Mesa, Calif. Email Director Rowe.

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Vicente Sarmiento was appointed by the Santa Ana City Council to represent the Orange County Water District’s Division 8 (Santa Ana) as a board member from January 2013 to February 2015 and served as the District’s 1^st Vice President during that time. He was reappointed to OCWD in December 2016 and currently serves as its President.

In July of 2018, he testified on behalf of the District before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in Washington, D.C., addressing OCWD’s proposed use of the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act to assist in the construction of the Groundwater Replenishment System final expansion.

In January 2007, Director Sarmiento was appointed to the Santa Ana City Council to represent Ward 1. He was formally elected in November 2008, November 2012, and November 2016 and is currently serving his third term. He also served as Mayor Pro Tempore from 2014 to 2016. In addition, he is the chairman of the Oversight Board of the Successor Agency to the former Redevelopment Agency for the city of Santa Ana. Director Sarmiento also chairs the city’s Development and Transportation, and Legislative and Communications Committee.

Director Sarmiento is a board member of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies based out of George Washington University. He was selected as one of 14 leaders from across the country to join the NewDEAL, a national network that is committed to highlighting innovative ideas from state and local elected leaders who are pro-growth progressives. Director Sarmiento is also a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.

Vicente Sarmiento graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. He received his Juris Doctor from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. More recently, he attended the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and successfully completed the Certificate Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government.

Director Sarmiento and his family have lived in and around Santa Ana since 1965 and he currently resides in the city with his wife and three children.

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Jordan Brandman was appointed by the Anaheim City Council to serve on the Orange County Water District’s (OCWD; the District) Board of Directors effective December 2018. He represents the city of Anaheim in Division 9. He previously served on the board from December 2015 through 2016.

Director Brandman was re-elected to the City Council in November 2018 and previously served from 2012 to 2016. Before first joining the Council, he served as a trustee of the Anaheim Union High School District and of the North Orange County Regional Occupation Program. He was also Chair of the Anaheim Public Utilities Board. Director Brandman works in strategic public affairs, focusing on economic development.

He has previously worked as a policy adviser in the governor's office for the secretary of education and as a district director in the California State Assembly, working on issues such as affordable housing, education, local government, and transportation.

Director Brandman received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, Irvine.

He has been active in many community organizations, including the Anaheim Family YMCA, the Boys & Girls Club of Anaheim, Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, Anaheim Historical Society, Anaheim Beautiful, and the Kiwanis Club of Greater Anaheim.

Director Brandman lives in West Anaheim.

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Ahmad Zahra was appointed by the Fullerton City Council to serve on the Orange County Water District (OCWD; the District) Board of Directors effective February 2019. He represents the city of Fullerton in Division 10.

Director Zahra was elected in 2018 to a four-year term on the Fullerton City Council to represent District 5.

Director Zahra came to the United States in the late 90s from Syria and shortly after, in 2001, started Zahra Pictures LLC, a film production company based in Fullerton. He has produced many documentaries and independent films that focus on community building and call attention to social struggles.

Director Zahra is active in the Fullerton community. He is a member of the Fullerton Collaborative and founder of Ahmad’s School Drive. He and his business have participated in California State University, Fullerton’s internship program and raised thousands in funds for student film projects. 

Director Zahra spent much of his early education and professional life studying and practicing medicine between England and Syria. He obtained a Doctor of Medicine, specializing in Pathology, from the University of Damascus.

Director Zahra has been a resident of Fullerton and District 5 since 2001.

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