Jessica Pearson is the Executive Officer for the Delta Stewardship Council, a state agency established in 2009. Most Californians rely in whole or in part on the Delta – an estuary where the state’s two largest rivers meet – for their water, or for food or ecosystem services provided by the Delta. The Council is charged with developing a single blueprint to achieve a more reliable water supply and a healthy Delta ecosystem while protecting the Delta as a place where people work, live, and recreate. Jessica’s career in public service started as a Capital Fellow at the California Natural Resources Agency, and she later served the Director of the Department of Water Resources as an advisor. She has degrees from UC San Diego and UC Davis, and lives behind levees and amid trees in Sacramento with her husband, 2 young children, and several backyard chickens.