AWWEE is pleased to welcome Antonia Castro-Graham, Deputy City Manager for the City of Fullerton to share about her professional path. Ms. Graham has a background in sustainability and we are excited to hear how she has made an impact through her work in local government.
Path to Power is AWWEE’s longest-running and most popular event series. These events showcase women in the water, energy, and environment fields who we invite to share candidly about their professional journey and offer their advice to those pursuing a similar path. What makes these events special is that we strongly encourage audience questions, so you never know exactly where the conversation will go!
About our Speaker
Antonia Castro-Graham is Deputy City Manager for the City of Fullerton, California. Antonia has 18 years of experience working for local government. As the Deputy City Manager for the City of Fullerton she plays an integral role implementing directives and policies from the City Manager and City Council and provides direction to department directors; oversees the City Clerk’s Office and the operations relating to the City Council Office; strategic planning; develops policies and programs; and, managing the Citywide fiber to the premises/smart city SiFi project.
Prior to coming to Fullerton, she served as the Assistant to the City Manager for the City of Huntington Beach where she oversaw a variety of administrative programs including leading the City’s Citizen Academy, Intergovernmental Relations, and all environmental and sustainability related programs. Ms. Graham also led regional efforts and led the award winning Orange County Recycling Market Development Zone, which is an economic development program aimed at creating an innovative circular economy.
Ms. Graham successfully secured millions of dollars in grant funds for the City of Huntington Beach and partnered with the University of California, Irvine and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to create an advanced energy community in a disadvantaged part of the City.
Additionally, Ms. Graham oversaw the City’s Smart City program one of the only programs of its kind in the County. After leading the acquisition of 11,000 streetlights from Southern California Edison, she led the effort to work with telecommunications carriers to embark on deploying smart city solutions that will improve city services and connectivity for residents. This includes the deployment of 200 Smart Fusion Poles, a first-of-its-kind smart pole that will be deployed in the City – the 1st in the nation.
She holds a BA in Political Science and American Studies, an MPA with a concentration in Public Finance, and a Master’s degree in Sustainability from Arizona State University. Ms. Graham also teaches courses focused on sustainability at California State University Fullerton and Irvine Valley College. Ms. Graham recently had a case study published in the book, Sustainable World: Approaches to Analyzing & Resolving Wicked Problems and was selected as the Arizona State University School of Sustainability Alumni of the Year (2018).
Registration is free for active AWWEE members and $20 for non-members