Board Member Bios

Elizabeth Zernik, ToR/QISP/CGL, QSD/QSP, CPESC is designated by the California Stormwater Quality Association (CASQA) as a Certified Trainer of Record (ToR) for the Industrial General Permit (IGP). CASQA based the selection on experience in the California Industrial General Permit (IGP) implementation, academic credentials, and training competencies of the applicants. Ms. Zernik is part of an inaugural set of ToRs qualified to conduct training required under the California IGP. Ms. Zernik has over 20 years of experience in environmental and stormwater quality compliance. Ms. Zernik has provided construction and industrial stormwater support services to a wide range of clients. She maintains a current understanding of stormwater regulations and the practical implications to a client site. She has taught field and classroom compliance training courses. She is currently working to provide ongoing content support to the IGP Training Team, developing the training for the Qualified Industrial Stormwater Practitioner (QISP) Certification.

James A. Westbrook is a SCAQMD Certified Permitting Professional (CPP) and President of BlueScape Environmental, an air quality and environmental consulting firm based in Southern California. He specializes in developing strategic, cost-effective environmental permitting and compliance strategies designed to achieve client business goals. In the past 30 years, he has managed or completed more than 100 projects for industrial clients located in the Orange County and Los Angeles region, including refineries, oil & gas operations, power plants, chemical plants, Port operations, building materials manufacturing, semiconductor manufacturing, battery plants, aerospace companies, and electronics manufacturing. He holds a B.S in Atmospheric Sciences from UCLA and an M.S. in Environmental Science from Indiana University in Bloomington. Prior to founding BlueScape in 1997, James worked for Ramboll ENVIRON and Kleinfelder.

Mehran Ebrahimi is a California licensed Professional Civil Engineer and a stormwater Industrial General Permit (IGP) Trainer of Record (ToR) for Qualified Industrial Stormwater Practitioner (QISP) Training.  Mehran has extensive experience with implementation of the California IGP and has provided storm water program support to a variety industrial facilities in California covered under the IGP. He has developed site-specific hydrologic simulation models and supported the design and optimization of advanced storm water treatment and infiltration systems. Mr. Ebrahimi has 10 years of environmental consulting experience focusing on operation and optimization of surface water treatment systems, including installation, operations, and system troubleshooting.

Brenda Palermo is a Professional Engineer (civil) with over 11 years of experience. She has designed stormwater BMPs, prepared drainage studies, designed landfill covers, prepared stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPPs), and post-construction Best Management Practice (BMP) plans including Low Impact Development (LID) Plans, Water Quality Management Plans (WQMPs) and Standard Urban Stormwater Mitigation Plans (SUSMPs). She is a qualified SWPPP developer and practitioner (QSD/QSP) under the Construction General NPDES Permit, and a Qualified Industrial Storm Water Practitioner (QISP). She has conducted training on sampling and she has also been a co-trainer for the QSD/QSP course. She has designed detention and infiltration basins, hydrodynamic separators, and stormwater conveyance systems. She has produced construction plans for Water-Wastewater infrastructure, Reservoir Dams, and Landfills. She is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and Ambassador for the Society of Women Engineers. Brenda has participated in IECOC meetings and was one of the trainers in the recent EH&S Training that IECOC put on in November 2019.

Daniel Chavez is an experienced Analytical Environmental Chemist with over 16 years of experience in laboratory analysis, analytical laboratory and project operations, and client services. Mr. Chavez has progressively evolved from laboratory analysis roles into project management, client services, and business development. Mr. Chavez has not only a true understanding of the laboratory processes, but also a passion in connecting people together and to help guide them whenever he can. He is also driven to learn new things through new experiences.

D. S. R. K. Srinivas is an expert environmental consultant with specialization in air pollution (including dispersion modeling), and also has extensive experience in EH&S management, waste water, and hazardous waste management. He has over 30 years of professional experience and holds a couple of Master’s Degrees in Engineering (Environmental) with specializations in air pollution control/modeling, advanced waste water treatment and Hazardous Chemicals Management. In his current position as Chief Environmental Consultant/Engineer at AQC Environmental Engineers (for the past 12 years), he has been providing engineering services to a wide range of industrial (process and manufacturing) and commercial clients - industrial expansions, permitting, emissions reporting, compliance achievement/maintenance, pollution prevention and control, environmental audits/ assessment, environmental compliance and reporting (air, waste water, hazardous waste, etc.), and EH&S services to a wide range of industries. He also provides environmental expert witness and specific litigation support.

John Gleason, PE, QSD, QISP, ToR, CPESC, REPA, is a professional engineer with over 30 years of experience managing environmental compliance projects. Specializing in CERCLA ARARs and NPDES regulatory compliance. He is a qualified industrial storm-water practitioner (QISP) and trainer of record (ToR) and has trained 1,000+ people in NPDES Permit requirements and general water pollution prevention. He is assisting several industrial clients with numeric action level (NAL) exceedance response actions, applying for no exposure, and seeking non-applicability based on no discharge to Waters of the U.S. or ability to contain the maximum historical rain. He has prepared and assisted with implementing Storm-water Pollution Prevention Plans (SWPPPs) for many industrial facilities. He has prepared Spill Prevention control and Countermeasures (SPCC) plans, hazardous materials business plans, and waste water discharge permits. He is able to bring field experience to training courses and is able to resolve complex compliance issues in a cost-effective manner.

Rachel Mireles is a passionate and ambitious engineer with a wide variety of experience. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering and a Master’s Degree in Environmental Policy and Management. She had worked in manufacturing for about 10 years before deciding to change paths and enter the environmental sector. She is currently the Environmental Compliance Manager at TRC where she works with clients from various industries including aerospace, automotive, food production, pharmaceutical, medical devices, municipal entities and local governments, and transaction services. She handles permitting and compliance related tasks, as well as Phase I’s and Environmental Audits.

Bozena Szeremeta is currently working as a Manager of Environmental Compliance for Applied Medical Resources Corporation in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA.  She is responsible for all areas of environmental compliance including waste handling and disposal, storm water and wastewater management as well as air quality.  In addition, she is responsible for development of sustainability reports and evaluation of applicable domestic and international environmental regulations.  Bozena has over 18 years of experience in management and/or performance of projects involving industrial facility closures, soil and groundwater remediation, and underground storage tank closures. She has assisted clients in environmental assessments of commercial and industrial properties related to property transfers, due diligence reviews, and environmental audits. She has MS in Chemical Engineering from Technical University, Rzeszow, Poland. She also has a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager Certificate from Institute of Hazardous Materials Management.