Four New Members Elected to Serve on the California Academy of Sciences’ Board of Trustees

SAN FRANCISCO (September 29, 2014) – The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the California Academy of Sciences, Jerome C. Vascellaro, is pleased to announce that four new members have been elected to the Academy's board of trustees. These new trustees are joining the board as the Academy reaches its sixth anniversary in a new facility designed by Renzo Piano, which has welcomed more than 9 million visitors since its opening in September 2008. The new board members are:

Steve Krognes is Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Genentech. He also serves on the Genentech Executive Committee. In this role, he is responsible for Genentech’s North America Finance and Site Services. In 2004, Krognes joined Genentech’s parent company, Roche, as global head of mergers and acquisitions. In this role, he led Roche’s internal mergers and acquisitions group and was responsible for all of the company’s transactions worldwide. Prior to joining Roche, Krognes worked as a venture capitalist in Scandinavia, as a mergers and acquisitions investment banker with Goldman Sachs and Danske Bank, as well as a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the Board of Directors of the California Healthcare Institute (CHI) in 2010, a public policy research and advocacy organization for California's biomedical industry, where he also serves as Chairman of the CHI Finance Committee. Krognes grew up in Norway and is a second lieutenant in the Royal Norwegian Air Force. He speaks Norwegian, French, and basic German. Krognes lives in San Francisco with his family.

Lawrence “Larry” Miao has over 23 years of investment experience in Asia and the U.S. Prior to co-founding Olympus Capital Asia, he was Executive Director of Hopewell Holdings Ltd., and Consolidated Electric Power Asia (CEPA), two of Hong Kong’s largest developers of private investment projects throughout Asia. Miao has served or is serving on a number of portfolio boards involved in agribusinesses and financial services. Miao holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an AB degree from Princeton University. He and his wife Kana Muraki have three children. In 2008, Miao and his wife established the Miao Family Scholarship at Princeton University. Miao lives in San Francisco with his family.

Geisha Williams is Executive Vice President, Electric Operations for Pacific Gas and Electric Company. She is responsible for the end-to-end delivery of safe, reliable, and affordable electric service to 15 million people in Northern and Central California. She is responsible for hydro and fossil generation, energy procurement, electric transmission, and electric distribution operations. Williams also oversees the integration of new smart grid technologies to improve electric reliability, and leads PG&E’s planning and response to emergencies and natural disasters. She previously served as Senior Vice President, Energy Delivery, where she oversaw gas and electric transmission and distribution field operations for PG&E. Before joining PG&E, Williams held officer-level positions leading electric distribution, as well as a variety of positions of increasing responsibility in customer service, marketing, external affairs, and electric operations at Florida Power and Light Company. She is on the boards of directors of the American Red Cross Bay Area Chapter and the Center for Energy and Workforce Development. She is also a member of the Association of Edison Illuminating Companies, Executive Women in Energy, and the University of Miami President’s Council. An active member of the PG&E employee community, Williams is the executive sponsoring officer of both the Black Employee Resource Group, as well as the Latino Employee Resource Group. She was also the former executive sponsor of PG&E's Women's Network and Nu Energy Employee Resource Group. Williams holds an MBA from Nova Southeastern University and a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from the University of Miami. She lives in Tiburon with her family.

Ron Zeff serves as the Chief Executive Officer at Carmel Partners, a real estate investment management firm based in San Francisco and focused exclusively on U.S. multifamily investment strategies including development, renovations, and debt. Zeff founded Carmel Partners in 1996 and is Chairman of the Carmel Partners’ Investment Committee. Prior to forming Carmel Partners, Zeff was a partner at Trammell Crow Residential. He holds an MBA degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Zeff is also a member of the Executive Committee of the National Multi Housing Council.