Janice Yonekura, Assistant Secretary for Waste Management and Clean-up Programs

Biography

Janice Yonekura is the Assistant Secretary for Waste Management and Clean-up Programs. In this role, she advises the Secretary and executive management on program policy matters relating to the management of hazardous substances, cleanup consistency and brownfields redevelopment.

Janice has more than 20 years of project management and environmental experience in hazardous waste clean-up, permitting, compliance, risk assessment and policy issues. She began her career by working for the Santa Barbara County Energy Division where she managed offshore oil development projects.

Janice has spent more than 10 years at Cal/EPA – serving as a project manager in the Hazardous Waste Management Program while at the Department of Toxic Substances Control. Here she received hands-on experience in permitting and compliance issues for the largest commercial hazardous waste landfill in California.

Prior to her state service, Janice worked for Bechtel – an engineering and construction firm in San Francisco where she managed the environmental and regulatory compliance program. Here, she also served as the environmental project manager on several major remediation and development projects.
Her work at Bechtel has taken her across the U.S., Japan, Hong Kong and Germany.
She is a UCLA graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology, a Masters degree in Public Health and a Doctorate in Environmental Sciences and Engineering.

Janice lives with her husband and two kids in Elk Grove. Executive Management Biographies