News Release Archive

Lee Mao Appointed Deputy Area Manager for Reclamation’s Central California Area Office

Media Contact: Erin Curtis, 916-978-5100, eccurtis@usbr.gov

For Release: August 07, 2015

FOLSOM, Calif. – Drew Lessard, Area Manager for the Bureau of Reclamation’s Central California Area Office, announces the selection of Leeyan (Lee) Mao as CCAO’s Deputy Area Manager. As the Deputy, Mao will assist the Area Manager in managing the operation of Folsom, Nimbus, New Melones and Monticello dams and the associated lands, powerplants, canals, etc.

Lessard stated, “Lee has worked for Reclamation since 1997, most recently as Chief of the Program Management Branch in the Mid-Pacific Region’s Division of Resources Management. With his Reclamation background, management skills, education, and previous experience here at CCAO as the Acting Deputy Area Manager, Lee was clearly the right fit for this important position.”

A federal employee for 18 years, Mao began his Reclamation career in the Resources Management Division as the Regional Quality Assurance Officer overseeing the data quality of the Mid-Pacific Region’s monitoring program. He also served in the Division of Planning as the Regional Water Quality Coordinator and as the Chief of the Decision Analysis Branch. Prior to Reclamation, Mao spent 11 years in the private sector working for two environmental engineering and laboratory firms.

Mao is a 1986 graduate of California State University Sacramento and a 2014 graduate of Reclamation’s Advanced Leadership Development Program.

With its headquarters located at Folsom Dam, 23 miles east of Sacramento, CCAO’s jurisdiction extends from the California coast to the crest of the Sierra Nevada and from the American River Basin to the Stanislaus River Basin. CCAO encompasses twelve counties and includes the Central Valley Project’s American River Division (Folsom Dam, powerplant and reservoir and Nimbus Dam, powerplant and Lake Natoma); the Auburn-Folsom South Unit (the Auburn Dam site and the Folsom-South Canal); the Eastside Division (New Melones Dam, powerplant and reservoir on the Stanislaus River); and the Solano Project (Monticello Dam, Lake Berryessa and the Putah South Canal). CCAO manages recreation at Lake Berryessa and New Melones and has a long-term managing partnership agreement with the California Department of Parks and Recreation for recreation management at Folsom Lake, Lake Natoma and the Auburn Recreation Area.

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