B2 Board of Advisors

Jan Lesher

Director, Arizona Department of Commerce

Jan Lesher is a former business owner and director of Governor Janet Napolitano's Southern Arizona Office. During her four years directing Governor Napolitano's southern Arizona office, Ms. Lesher was responsible for serving as liaison between communities in Pinal, Pima, Cochise, Santa Cruz and Yuma counties and the Governor's office. She helped forge solid relationships between state government and rural Arizona, dealing with complex issues such as water and infrastructure development. Appointed by Governor Napolitano as director in January 2007 and charged with modernizing the Arizona Department of Commerce, Ms. Lesher brings a new level of energy to the agency through a long list of community and professional associations. She holds positions on numerous panels and commissions, including the Arizona-Mexico Commission, the Greater Arizona Development Authority, the Arizona Aerospace and Defense Commission, the Governor's Council on Innovation and Technology, and the Governor's Council on Workforce Policy. Ms. Lesher is also a key member of Governor Napolitano's Growth Cabinet, a panel composed of Arizona state agency directors and others that is laying the groundwork for current and future growth needs, including economic development. Ms. Lesher is a graduate of the University of Arizona.

Peter G. Backus

President, P B Trading Company, Inc.

Edward P. Bass

Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Fine Line, Inc.

Anthony R. de Souza

Director, Board on Earth Sciences and Resources, National Research Council

William E. Dietrich

Professor, Earth and Planetary Science,
UC Berkeley

Adrián Fernandez Bremauntz

President, National Institute of Ecology, Mexico

James M. Gentile

President, Research Corporation

Nick Hanauer

Second Avenue Partners

Laura F. Huenneke

Vice President for Research, Northern Arizona University

Jan Lesher

Director, Arizona Department of Commerce

Pamela A. Matson

Dean, School of Earth Sciences, Stanford University

Cherry A. Murray

Deputy Director for Science and Technology, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Jonathan T. Overpeck

Director, Institute for the Study of Planet Earth,
The University of Arizona

Henry N. Pollack, Chair

Professor Emeritus, Geological Sciences, University of Michigan

Peter H. Raven

Director, Missouri Botanical Garden

Joaquin Ruiz

Dean, College of Science, The University of Arizona

Eugene G. Sander

Dean, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, The University of Arizona

José Sarukhán Kermez

Professor, Institute of Ecology, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)

Rick F. Shangraw

Vice President for Research and Economic Affairs, Arizona State University

Stephen G. Wells

President, Desert Research Institute

C. Larrabbee Winter

Deputy Director, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)

Ex-Officio Members

Lisa J. Graumlich

Director, School of Natural Resources, The University of Arizona

Arthur L. Herbst

Joseph B. DeLee Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago

Travis E. Huxman

Director, B2 Earthscience; Associate Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Arizona

Pierre Meystre

Director, B2 Institute; Regents' Professor, Physics and Optical Sciences, The University of Arizona

Ramón Pacheco Aguilar

Director General, Research Center for Food and Development (CIAD), Mexico