Chief Executive Officer
510-768-8311 • john@bayplanningcoalition.org
In January 2011, John A. Coleman became the Executive Director of Bay Planning Coalition, a non-profit, public benefit, membership corporation, to advocate for the balanced regulation and use of Bay-Delta resources to ensure that commerce, recreation and the environment thrive in the region. The Coalition’s 175 members represent a broad spectrum of public and private Bay-Delta entities, including ports, maritime and shoreline industry, labor unions, local government, residential and commercial builders, recreational users and engineering, planning, environmental science, construction and legal professionals. The Coalition is governed by a 40-member Board of Directors. During his time with Bay Planning Coalition, Mr. Coleman has worked with the Bay Conservation and Development Commission on the Bay Plan Amendment and on their Strategic Plan update, and has greatly expanded the Coalition’s educational and advocacy presence locally and nationally, including introducing an annual Workshop Series, and continuing to build support in Sacramento and Washington, DC for the interests of the membership.
Coleman was elected to the Board of Directors of the East Bay Municipal Utility District in 1990 and has been continuously re-elected since that time. He represents Ward 2, which includes the communities of Alamo, Lafayette, and the Town of Danville; and portions of Pleasant Hill, San Ramon, and Walnut Creek. From 1996 to 2000, he served as President of EBMUD’s Board of Directors and was elected to serve as Vice President in 2009 and 2010. In 2011 and 2012, he was again elected to serve as President.
Coleman was elected as the President of the Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) in December 2013.Coleman currently serves in the following capacities: Board Member of the Marine Exchange of the San Francisco Bay Region; Chair of the Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Authority (UMRWA); Board Member of the East Bay Leadership Council; Board Member of the Freeport Regional Water Authority (FRWA); member of the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority Advisory Committee; member of the Maritime Industry Advisory Board of the California State University Maritime Academy; member of the East Bay Economic Development Alliance Legislative Committee, and Board Member of DERWA, the joint powers authority for recycled water service provided by EBMUD and the Dublin-San Ramon Services District.
Additionally, Coleman’s past service includes: Chair of ACWA California Finance Water Task Force; Chair of ACWA’s Federal Affairs Committee; President of the board of the California Association of Sanitation Agencies (CASA); President of DERWA; member of National Water Resources Association (NWRA); member of WateReuse Association; member of ABAG’s CALFED Task Force; member of the Advisory Council for California Forward; Chair of Advisory Council for California Forward Water and Land Use Subcommittee; Deputy Director of External Affairs for the California Conservation Corps under Governors Wilson and Davis; President of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce; Board Member of the National Association of Service & Conservation Corps; and member of the California Biodiversity Council.
Coleman is an Eagle Scout, and is past Scoutmaster of, and current Eagle Advisor to, Boy Scout Troop 243 in Lafayette. He has been elected to the Council Executive Board of the Boy Scouts’ Mt. Diablo Silverado Council. Coleman holds a Bachelor of Sciences in Natural Resources from the University of California, Berkeley, and a certificate in management from the University of the Pacific School of Business and Public Administration.
