CORRECTING and REPLACING Long Beach City Councilmember Seated on Metropolitan Board

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Second graph, first sentence should read: Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Dan Lowenthal (sted U.S. Superior Court Judge Dan Lowenthal).

The corrected release reads:

LONG BEACH CITY COUNCILMEMBER SEATED ON METROPOLITAN BOARD

Long Beach City Councilmember Suja Lowenthal was sworn in today as the city’s representative on the board of directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

Lowenthal’s husband, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Dan Lowenthal, administered the oath of office as she joined the 37-member Metropolitan board. She replaces Helen Z. Hansen, who had served on Metropolitan’s board since August 1997.

Lowenthal was reelected to the Long Beach City Council in April, after serving the remaining two years of former Councilmember Dan Baker’s term.

In May 2007, Lowenthal was appointed as an alternate to the California Coastal Commission, which plans and regulates land and water use in the state’s coastal zone, in partnership with coastal cities and counties. She also teaches a course in water policy and pricing strategies at California State University, Long Beach.

Lowenthal represented the Third District on the Long Beach Unified School District’s Board of Education from 2001 to 2006. During her tenure as board president in 2003-04, the district was recognized as the best urban school district in the nation by the Broad Foundation.

She served as the chief of strategic planning and initiatives for the Water Replenishment District of Southern California for two years. Prior to joining the replenishment district, she was the government affairs manager for both Central Basin Municipal Water District and West Basin Municipal Water District.

Previously, she coordinated the Domestic Violence Unit for the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office, providing education and training to thousands of students and officials in Los Angeles schools, city agencies, community organizations and law enforcement divisions.

In 1993, Lowenthal joined the city of Los Angeles’ Department of Aging, where she coordinated the Meals-on-Wheels program, prepared the departmental budget, and administered grant dollars.

Born in Madras, India, Lowenthal immigrated with her father to the United States in 1977 to join her mother. Her mother came to America two years previously under a federal nurse recruitment program, which provided green card residency status to qualified nurses.

Lowenthal earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from University of California at Los Angeles, a master’s degree in business administration from California State University, Los Angeles, and a doctorate in policy, planning and development from the University of Southern California.

She has been active in several local community organizations, including the Long Beach Affordable Housing Commission, YMCA of Long Beach, Long Beach Area Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Council, Long Beach Downtown Development Task Force, Heal the Bay, Los Angeles & San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council, Aquarium of the Pacific Watershed Curriculum Steering Committee, Lambda Long Beach, Long Beach Human Relations Project, and the National Conference for Community and Justice.

She and her husband have a son.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a cooperative of 26 cities and water agencies serving 18 million people in six counties. The district imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies, and helps its members to develop increased water conservation, recycling, storage and other resource-management programs.

Note to editors: A digital photograph of Suja Lowenthal is available upon request.