Gretchen Shepherd Romey, a lawyer and civic leader, was seated today as San Marino’s representative on the board of directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
Shepherd Romey has been a member of the San Marino City Council since 2017 and is serving her second term as mayor. She succeeds John T. Morris, who represented San Marino on Metropolitan’s 38-member board since January 1990.
During her career and since her retirement, Shepherd Romey has taken on leadership roles in groups supporting non-profit organizations, including the Huntington Memorial Hospital, CASA of Los Angeles, the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles, and The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Shepherd Romey is also active in local organizations, including as co-founder and current board president of the Hill-Harbison House in San Marino, and serving on the boards of the San Marino Historical Society and the L.A. Philharmonic Affiliates.
“Director Shepherd Romey’s experience as a lawyer, civic leader and mayor will allow her to bring to the board a grounded perspective about regional water policy, which is welcome at this time of transformational change at Metropolitan,” said Metropolitan board Chair Adán Ortega, Jr.
As a student at the University of California at Berkeley Law School, Shepherd Romey co-founded the East Bay Community Law Center. She served a federal court clerkship with the Honorable Earl B. Gilliam in the Southern District of California and then joined the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in history, before attending law school.
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a state-established cooperative that, along with its 26 cities and retail suppliers, provides water for 19 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.
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