Member of CICEED Advisory Committee on China Air Quality Management (2012). Participant in pre-Olympics workshop with Chinese officials on international air quality management structures, financing andauthority (2008) which led to the Ministry of Environment becoming a cabinetlevel agency. Deeply involved indrafting the California Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32, 2006), and California Clean Air Act (AB 2595, 1988).

August 2008 – Present: Program Consultant, ClimateWorks Foundation on Non-CO2 Climate Forcers and Air Quality Co-Benefits

January 2008 – Present: Principal, Witherspoon Consulting.

February 2003-July 2007: Executive Officer, California Air Resources Board, managing staff of 1,100, annual budget of $350 million, and overseeing 35 local air qualitymanagement districts.  

Previously: 20+ years of air quality management experience at the federal, state and local level in the United States.

Books

Between 2003 and 2007, as CARB Executive Officer, Ms.Witherspoon presided over the following:

--revised ambient air quality standards for ozone andNO2;

--diesel exhaust controls for new and existing portequipment, school buses, trash trucks, stationary power generators, portableengines, vehicle idling, cargo handling equipment, public utility vehicles, andauxiliary engines on ocean going vessels;

--vapor limits for portable fuel containers,gasoline dispensing equipment, and above ground fuel storage tanks;

-- toxic risk reduction measures for chromeplating, chromic acid anodizing, automotive finish re-coatings (metals),perchloroethylene drycleaners, formaldehyde in composite wood products, cruiseship incinerators, residential waste burning (dioxin),thermal sprayingoperations (hexavalent chrome and nickel) and solid air fresheners(para-dichlorobenzene);  

--ultra low sulfur diesel fuel standards for on- and off- roadmotor vehicles,  locomotives and harborcraft; and fuel specifications for biodiesel, compressed natural gas andliquefied natural gas;

--vehicle-related requirements for labeling,testing, warranties, on-board diagnostics and manufacturer recalls;

--greenhouse gas(GHG) emissionstandards for passenger vehicles; and early action measures toreduce GHGs in California;

--multi-million dollar incentive programs for cleaning up existingdiesel vehicles, school buses, construction equipment, and off-road mobile sources, and a $25 million incentive program to promote alternative fuels;

-- emission standards for forklifts, industrial equipment, handheld equipment, all terrain vehicles, ferries, tugboats, and recreational boats;

--an environmental justice program; and a handbookon addressing integrated air quality & land use issues

--multiple State Implementation Plans for the South CoastAQMD, the San Joaquin Valley AQMD and California as a whole;

--provisions for mitigating the transport of upwind air pollutionto downwind receptor areas;

--annual research objectives and multiple researchprojects including the landmark, 10 year Children’s Health Study;

--the identification of second hand tobacco smoke as a toxic air contaminant.