BOARD MEMBERS

Mr. Fowler retired from the Fresno County Department of Public Works and Planning in August of 2010 after 33 years with the Department in various engineering positions, the last 6.5 years as the Deputy Director of Public Works.

Sarge Green is a part-time water management specialist with the California Water Institute and Center for Irrigation Technology at Fresno State. His previous efforts at the Institute and Center have included water policy facilitation, integrated regional water management studies, special water resource management reports and Director of the Center for Irrigation Technology until retiring from full-time employment in December 2020. Before joining Fresno State’s water programs Green was General Manager of Tranquillity Irrigation District in Fresno County and before that a senior scientist with the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board. Prior appointments include serving as a member of the California Water Quality Monitoring Council and as Chair of the Water Quality Committee for the Association of California Water Agencies. He’s currently a member of the Public Policy Institute of California, Water Policy Center research network and a Board of Director for the Tule Basin Land and Water Conservation Trust.

Erin Mendes was born and raised in Hilmar, California. Mrs. Mendes graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with an Agricultural Business degree and a minor in Dairy Science. She is now the Chief Financial Officer of A&E Mendes Farms, an almond farm she and her husband own. Mrs. Mendes looks forward to contributing her strong sense of fiscal responsibility, agricultural background, and understanding of her community’s needs to the FMFCD Board of Directors.

Ms. Auston is principal at Auston Consulting. She brings to the Board many years of media, government, and public outreach experience.

Mr. Garcia was born in San Diego and grew up in Fresno, in a law enforcement/health care/entrepreneurial family. He is a U.S. Navy Gulf War Veteran, a former fire fighter for North Central Fire District in Fresno, worked as an EMT/paramedic for American Ambulance, and as an Emergency Room technician at Valley Children’s Hospital. He is the owner/founder of AmeriGuard Security Services of Fresno, which employs more than 600 people.

Ms. Busani was born in Los Angeles, CA, and relocated to Fresno in 2006. She is an Associate Attorney at ERISA Law Center, a local law firm representing plaintiffs in ERISA and bad faith claims arising from the denial or termination of benefits under their employer-sponsored plans.