Matt Bogoshian, Deputy Secretary for Law Enforcement and Counsel

Biography

Matt Bogoshian was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2007 as Deputy Secretary of Law Enforcement and Counsel. In this capacity, he is responsible for ensuring that California's numerous environmental agencies take consistent, effective and coordinated actions to protect public health, the environment and maintain a fair playing field for market competition. Since 2007, Matt has led Cal/EPA’s Environmental Enforcement Initiative to improve the effectiveness of California’s decentralized environmental law enforcement system.

At Cal/EPA, Matt leads a multi-agency group within California to address legal and enforcement issues of implementing California’s cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He is also working with the Western Climate Initiative to address those same issues on a regional, national and international level.

As a former criminal prosecutor, Matt is also assisting the Governor’s Office with their Gang and Youth Violence Policy helping to transition young people into green collar job training and employment. He was also recently named as a state representative to U.S. EPA’s National Enforcement Training Institute.

Prior to joining Cal/EPA, Matt served for more than 12 years as a Deputy District Attorney for Monterey County. As the lead environmental prosecutor, he co-led a statewide prosecution against 7-Eleven, which resulted in the creation of the multi-million dollar California Environmental Protection Prosecution Fund administered by the California Attorney General. He served as the Fund's first chair and received the California Attorney General's Award of Distinction for his work.

He also successfully prosecuted AT&T for underground storage tank violations resulting in a $25 million penalty the second largest penalty of its kind. His many successful statewide environmental prosecutions led the way to help level the field for businesses that play by the rules.

Before his environmental work, Matt successfully prosecuted thousands of criminal cases and worked in the private sector as a business litigator.

Matt began his career serving our country as an officer in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps where he gained extensive trial experience and earned the Joint Service Commendation Medal for his work in breaking down barriers to interagency cooperation in the fight against international drug dealers. He was honorably discharged as a Lieutenant Commander.

Matt earned a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Davis and a Masters of Public Administration from San Diego State University. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Jose State University. He and his wife, Robin, have been married 26 years and they have three children in college Zach, Ben and Elle.

Executive Management Biographies