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A great company is made up of great people. And RBI is home to some really great people. We've been fortunate enough to assemble a team of many of the brightest engineers and scientists in California, and beyond. Each member of our staff is an expert in his or her specialization; in fact some are internationally renowned authorities in their fields. Our rigorous, uncompromising standards in hiring will ensure that this always remains true. And beyond the credentials, we think you'll find our employees to be some of the nicest people in the industry.

Stuart J. Robertson, P.E.
President, Founding Partner
stuart@robertson-bryan.com

Mr. Stuart J. Robertson is a registered Civil Engineer with 32 years of experience in planning, design, and implementation of water and power resource systems. Mr. Robertson’s water resources expertise includes Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta hydrology and operating standards, multi-reservoir system simulation, water transfer analyses, conjunctive use of surface and groundwater supplies, groundwater banking, and flood hydrology and hydraulics. The scope of his water supply experience emphasizes strategic planning as supported by data analysis, resource modeling, economic analysis, project design and implementation, and expert witness testimony. Mr. Robertson represents over 21 water purveyors associated with the U.S. Department of Energy, Western Area Power Administration, including election to the Governance Board, which oversees a $75 million annual budget for the operation and maintenance of the Central Valley Project power facilities. He provides strategic guidance on power supply issues, addressing resource adequacy, renewable portfolio options, and risk management.  His efforts include testimony and representation before the California Public Utilities Commission and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Mr. Robertson organized, operates, and provides strategic and technical guidance for two Joint Power Authorities with annual budgets totaling $40 million.


Michael D. Bryan, Ph.D.
Vice-President, Founding Partner
bryan@robertson-bryan.com

Dr. Michael D. Bryan has over 25 years of combined consulting and research experience primarily in water quality, toxicology, and fisheries biology. Dr. Bryan has extensive expertise in CEQA/NEPA documentation, study design and management, data compilation and analysis, and permitting—particularly municipal wastewater NPDES permitting. Dr. Bryan applies his expertise to assist clients with strategic planning; compliance monitoring; technical evaluations; project refinement, permitting, and implementation; and, when needed, expert witness testimony. Recent work is focused on assessing the effects of municipal effluent discharges, water supply/flood control projects, land development projects, and fish screen improvement projects on aquatic habitats, and resultant impacts to aquatic resources and other beneficial uses. Currently, Michael is working with municipal wastewater dischargers and Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) staff to develop and process Region-wide amendments to the Central Valley Water Quality Control Plan (Basin Plan) for pH and turbidity. He also is leading efforts to de-designate cold freshwater habitat and municipal and domestic supply beneficial uses for individual water bodies within the Central Valley Region.


Janelle N. Nolan
Principal / Director of Environmental Compliance and Permitting
janelle@robertson-bryan.com

Ms. Janelle Nolan has more than 19 years of experience in environmental consulting, focused on terrestrial resources and regulatory compliance. Janelle has managed and served as principal biologist for FERC hydroelectric relicensing, Section 7 consultations, habitat conservation plans, special-status species mitigation monitoring and management plans, CEQA/NEPA documents, and wetland delineation and permitting. Janelle has in-depth knowledge and understanding of regulatory processes and permitting requirements for federal and state endangered species acts and has established working relationships with agency representatives. Ms. Nolan has extensive experience addressing complex endangered species issues and has successfully prepared, consulted, or negotiated study plans and reports; biological assessments and biological evaluations; HCPs (traditional and low-effect); mitigation monitoring and management plans; mitigation bank evaluations; environmental impact reports, environmental assessments, environmental impact statements, constraints and opportunities reports; and training programs. Specifically, Ms. Nolan’s biological resources experience extends to complex negotiations with agencies and stakeholders to address federally listed species issues. Janelle is the principal terrestrial biologist and technical lead for ESA consultation on hydroelectric projects in the Sierra and Sierra Nevada foothills for Southern California Edison (SCE). Janelle directed interaction between agency and public stakeholder groups for critical resource issues throughout this process. She worked with SCE maintenance and operations staff to develop implementable avoidance and protection measures to minimize adverse effects on federally listed species, while meeting SCE’s maintenance and operations objectives and requirements. Ms. Nolan specializes in developing unique approaches to determine project impacts and to develop avoidance, protection, and mitigation measures that are consistent with the level of impact. These new approaches typically are not consistent with agency guidelines; in some cases, Janelle’s unique approach becomes the new agency standard for addressing similar issues on other projects.

Reed M. McDermott
Chief Financial Officer / Business Manager
reed@robertson-bryan.com

Mr. Reed M. McDermott is a certified public accountant with over 20 years of experience in accounting and financial systems for private businesses and state and local governments. In addition to his private sector experience, Mr. McDermott has worked extensively with state and local governments. As an auditor for the California Legislature and Bureau of State Audits, he worked with the executive management of various California state and local governments to improve their control systems and ensure the fulfillment of program objectives. He provided testimony to the California legislature, briefed executive management of state and local governments on results of program reviews, directed the review and preparation of written audit reports, and supervised the first audit of the State of California’s General Fund financial statements under the new GASB 34 model. Mr. McDermott is well acquainted with state and local government operations and the control environment in which they operate. As the Chief Financial Officer for Robertson-Bryan, Inc., he provides key financial services to select power clients.

Michelle G. Brown, P.E.
Senior Engineer
michelle@robertson-bryan.com

Ms. Michelle Brown has 14 years of experience in water quality and water resource engineering. Ms. Brown managed or served as technical lead on water quality and temperature studies, site-specific water quality criteria development, evaluation of wastewater effluent contaminant data and waste discharge requirements in NPDES permits, and preparation of CEQA/NEPA documentation for water supply and wastewater projects.

Satya Gala, Ph.D., P.E.
Senior Engineer
satya@robertson-bryan.com

Mr. Satya Gala has over 8 years of experience in hydrology, hydraulics, and water resource engineering with a doctoral degree in Civil Engineering. Mr. Gala specializes in hydrology modeling, water quality modeling, and delineation of watersheds using current land use practice and best management scenarios. Satya has experience in technical evaluations of water resources planning and management, including the simulation and evaluation of surface water and groundwater conjunctive options for the development of groundwater management plans, integrated regional water management plans, and other long-range water resources planning efforts. Satya has conducted watershed inventories and assessment. He is experienced in hydrologic models (HEC-1, HEC-RAS, HEC-HMS, FLO-2D, SMS, CCHE2D), water quality models (BASINS, HSPF, GenSCN, Qual2E), and GIS tools (ArcView, ArcMap, ArcGIS, ArcInfo). In addition, Mr. Gala has performed extensive data analysis, including meteorological data analysis, flow duration analysis, load duration analysis, frequency analysis, and correlation analysis using Microsoft Excel.

Keith Whitener
Senior Scientist
keith@robertson-bryan.com

Mr. Keith Whitener is a fisheries biologist with 16 years of experience in conducting aquatic studies in California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Alaska. Mr. Whitener is a skilled project manager with 10 years of experience managing biological assessments, land stewardship operations and complex construction projects. Keith is an experienced field crew leader with a proven record of attaining complete and accurate data sets on time and at budget. He has 3 years of proprietary fisheries consulting. Keith is co-author of three peer-reviewed journal articles on California native fishes and floodplains. He has two years of experience as a senior level project director and personnel manager. Keith is an accomplished collaborator with a demonstrated ability to lead multi-agency teams and solve difficult problems.


David A. Thomas
Project Scientist
dave@robertson-bryan.com

Mr. David A. Thomas has over 12 years of experience researching relationships between fish assemblages, macroinvertebrate communities, and instream habitat. Mr. Thomas has considerable experience in designing and implementing baseline evaluations of instream habitat, fish assemblages, and benthic macroinvertebrate communities, conducting Endangered Species Act consultations, assessing potential impacts to aquatic resources, conducting fish passage assessments, and designing restoration plans. He is experienced in design and implementation of water quality sampling programs for municipal dischargers, geospatial analyses using GIS, and he has expertise in CEQA/NEPA, aquatic toxicity, and rapid bio-assessment.


Jeff E. Lafer
Project Scientist
jeff@robertson-bryan.com

Mr. Jeff E. Lafer has 20 years of environmental consulting experience in technical assessment of surface and groundwater quality issues, wastewater management, water resources development, limnology, environmental impact assessment, and extensive CEQA/NEPA and regulatory permit compliance. Mr. Lafer has managed and conducted numerous technical water quality and hydrology analyses, including preparation of sampling and QC/QA plans, conducting site investigations, contracting for laboratory services, directing and conducting modeling studies and various data analysis programs, evaluating project opportunities and constraints, and preparing specialized technical reports.

Brant C. Jorgenson
Project Scientist
brant@robertson-bryan.com

Mr. Brant C. Jorgenson is an environmental chemist with over 8 years of experience in water quality analysis and characterization, contaminated sediments and dredging, receiving water suitability assessments, CEQA/NEPA compliance, and NPDES and WDR negotiation, compliance and monitoring. Mr. Jorgenson has provided technical and project management assistance with regard to surface and groundwater quality projects ranging from water quality characterizations and receiving water suitability assessments, TMDL stakeholder representation, and pesticide use public outreach and education.

Sara C. Reece
Project Biologist
sara@robertson-bryan.com

Ms. Sara Reece has more than 6 years of terrestrial biological experience and more than 10 years of writing and editing experience. Sara worked in the publishing industry in New York City prior to pursuing a career in wildlife biology. She has wide-ranging experience as a Biological Field Technician, including studies of riparian ecosystems in California through the University of California, Davis, and riparian and Arctic ecosystems in Alaska through the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Sara conducted field studies and drafted resource management reports for three major relicensing projects, and is currently assisting in the development of a comprehensive environmental training and compliance program for employees of Southern California Edison’s Northern Hydroelectric facilities.


Corinne Bradley
Operations Analyst
cori@robertson-bryan.com

Ms. Corinne Bradley is a graduate from Sacramento State University with a Business degree specializing in Operations Management, Business Finance, and Risk and Insurance Management. Cori has developed several financial and risk-analysis models for the forecasting of energy procurement and the operation of Joint Power Authorities. Cori is developing a template to automate the calculation and analysis of load shaping and coefficient derivation, which are used to forecast daily energy and shape it hourly for each load class. She developed the current templates to produce monthly operations reports and cost reconciliation reports. She also has knowledge of Visual Basic and SQL database programming.

Matthew A. Giambrone
Software Architect

Mr. Matthew Giambrone is a software architect and programmer with 13 years of professional experience in software development, system design, and process analysis. He holds degrees is computer programming, mathematics, and psychology; and has cultivated this combination of educational endeavors into a professional specialization in the creation of custom applications that perform rigorously engineered information management algorithms but yet employ psychologically intuitive and approachable human interfaces. For the past several years he has worked extensively in the energy industry. Working with other RBI team members, Mr. Giambrone helped to develop software tools for the scheduling, management, and accounting requirements of multiple utility organizations. Mr. Giambrone serves as the lead programmer and software architect of the SAMBA platform.

Clint F. Randall
Software Engineer

Mr. Clint F. Randall began working in software development in 1995. He has been employed as a software engineer at several notable technology organizations including Intel, Allied Signal (eventually acquired by Honeywell), and Lucent Technologies. His career has included numerous programming projects involving Internet and database technologies, document management applications, legacy data integration, management of corporate data repositories, and creation of web-based software. He is an expert in RIA—Rich Internet Application—development and is well versed in cutting edge languages and technologies for RIA implementation. Since joining the RBI team, Mr. Randall has worked extensively on the programming requirements of the SAMBA platform, helping to implement and extend many aspects of this intricate, web-based application.

Paul D. Bedore
Project Scientist
paul@robertson-bryan.com

Mr. Paul D. Bedore is an environmental scientist with 8 years experience in assessing the processes that control nutrient and pollutant fate and transport in the environment. Paul’s areas of expertise include nitrogen and phosphorus cycling, trace metal and metalloid fate and transport, analytical chemistry, inorganic environmental chemistry, soil and water field studies, laboratory experimentation, and data compilation and analysis. Some of his project experience includes assessing the influence of in-stream geochemistry on the fate and transport of sewage effluent-derived phosphorus, determining the influence of hydrological processes on carbon storage and CO2 sequestration in managed wetlands, and reviewing pesticide environmental fate studies for the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. Paul was the de facto wastewater specialist at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., during which he led a plant-wide effort to identify and overcome the causes of chronic toxicity issues at the Brewery’s anaerobic digester.

Ben Giudice
Project Engineer
ben@robertson-bryan.com

Mr. Ben D. Giudice is an environmental engineer with over 6 years of experience studying environmental and water resources engineering. His expertise includes environmental fate and transport, risk assessment, ecotoxicology, emerging contaminants (endocrine disruptors, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, steroids and hormones), analytical chemistry, and field and laboratory data collection, compilation, and analysis. He has conducted feasibility studies of hydrologic and hydraulics projects, site, watershed, and regional scale risk assessments of roadside applied herbicides in highway runoff, studies of endocrine disruptors, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products in runoff from land applied municipal biosolids, and studies on the effects of endocrine disruptors on reproduction in aquatic invertebrates.

Corinne Munger
Project Biologist
CMunger@robertson-bryan.com

Ms. Corinne Munger has more than 8 years of ecological project experience, including coordinating and participating in ecological fieldwork throughout California and the Alaskan arctic, developing and editing scientific reports, implementing restoration projects, writing and administering grants, and organizing environmental outreach/education events. Corinne has worked on multiple complex projects with diverse stakeholders, performed various steps of local, regional, state, and federal permitting and mitigation processes, and managed cross-agency collaboration and communication. Corinne assists in the development of environmental documentation for hydroelectric relicensing projects, Endangered Species Act Section 7 consultations, compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act, development of resource management plans, and evaluation of project effects to USDA-Forest Service sensitive species and management indicator species.

Arthur J. O'Brien
Principal Engineer
AOBrien@robertson-bryan.com

Arthur J. O’Brien is a civil engineer with over 33 years of civil engineering planning, design, and construction experience. Art has 25 years of proven management, leadership, and supervisory skills through progressively challenging promotions. He has 13 years managing a major utility, providing fiscal, project, and staff leadership and preparing training programs to improve delivery of services to public agencies. Art has prepared calculations, plans, and specifications for wide variety of civil engineering projects, as well as project and construction management and field oversight for all types of civil projects. He is a regular speaker and presenter at professional society meetings and community workshops, such as WEFTEC, California Water Environment Federation, and Central Valley Clean Water Association.