Gregg Fishman, Dave Tamayo to serve in 2025
Sacramento, Calif.- SMUD’s Board of Directors elected Director Gregg Fishman as President of the Board. His term as president will run from January through December 2025.
President Fishman first began serving the SMUD Board of Directors in January 2015 and represents Ward 3, which includes East Sacramento, much of the Arden-Arcade area, and the Campus Commons, College Glen, and Rosemont neighborhoods, as well as parts of Carmichael, Florin, Fruitridge and Vintage Park.
Fishman has been a clean energy advocate for much of his career. As a former SMUD employee, he promoted wind and solar energy when they were in their infancy. At the California Independent System Operator, he led public engagement efforts supporting new wind energy farms in California. As President of the SMUD Board in 2018, he led the utility in passing its Integrated Resource Plan, hailed by the California Energy Commission as “… an ambitious road map for lowering greenhouse gas emissions in the Sacramento region.”
Varied career
In his varied career, Fishman was a news reporter and anchor at KFBK and KGO Radio, a public information officer at SMUD and the California Independent System Operator (California ISO), and communications coordinator for the California State Association of Counties. He currently works at Sacramento Regional Transit as the Sr. Community Relations Officer.
Fishman is an active volunteer with the Sacramento Tree Foundation and has led a neighborhood effort that has planted more than 2,000 new trees since 2001. He received an award from the MLK 365 organization for helping to make it easier to remove racially restrictive clauses from local property records. He is a 25-gallon blood donor and a frequent volunteer master-of-ceremonies for Project Ride in Elk Grove.
Fishman is a graduate of California State University, Sacramento with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He and his wife live in Arden Park and are the parents of two daughters.
Tamayo elected SMUD Board Vice President
SMUD’s Board of Directors elected Director Dave Tamayo as vice president of the Board. His term as vice president will run from January through December 2025.
Tamayo was elected to the SMUD Board in 2014. He represents Ward 6, which includes the Meadowview, Oak Park, Parkway, Airport and Valley Hi neighborhoods.
Tamayo has lived in the Fruitridge Manor neighborhood of south Sacramento since 1989, where he raised his family and has long been active in community affairs. He has led efforts to establish science programs and gardens in local schools, co-founded his neighborhood association and successfully advocated for public parks, affordable housing and urban infill.
Tamayo has served on several public boards and commissions, including the South Sacramento Planning Advisory Committee, the Sacramento Parks and Recreation Commission, the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District and the California Structural Pest Control Board. He also has served on the boards of the nonprofit Sacramento Mutual Housing Association, California Stormwater Quality Association, Sacramento County Alliance of Neighborhoods and the Sacramento Urban Creeks Council.
Environmental scientist
Tamayo worked as an environmental scientist for Sacramento County for 30 years. He is recognized as a public policy leader in protecting natural resources by effectively influencing state and federal environmental regulations. He wrote the county storm water pollution ordinance, co-founded the region’s River Friendly Landscaping Program and helped create local, statewide and national integrated pest management programs. Tamayo has also served in an advisory capacity to the University of California Integrated Pest Management Program, US EPA Office of Pesticide Programs, California Department of Pesticide Regulation, and the National Pest Management Association. Prior to working for the county, he owned a wholesale seafood business in San Francisco and was an electrician and a whitewater rafting guide.
Tamayo holds a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of California, Berkeley and a master’s degree in entomology and nematology from the University of Florida, Gainesville. In his spare time, he enjoys gardening, beekeeping, cycling and learning to speak Spanish.
About SMUD
As the nation’s sixth-largest, community-owned, not-for-profit electric service provider, SMUD has been providing low-cost, reliable electricity to Sacramento County for more than 75 years. SMUD is a recognized industry leader and award winner for its innovative energy efficiency programs, renewable power technologies and for its sustainable solutions for a healthier environment. In 2023, SMUD’s power supply was, on average, 78 percent carbon free, and SMUD has a goal to reach zero carbon in its electricity production by 2030. SMUD’s rates and customer bills are consistently among the lowest in California, and are today, on average, more than 50 percent lower than its neighboring investor-owned utility. For more information on SMUD’s Zero Carbon Plan and its customer programs, visit smud.org.
