Coastal Commission gets new executive director
Peter Fimrite
San Francisco Chronicle
09/09/2011
Former political science Professor Charles Lester was approved as executive director of the California Coastal Commission on Thursday, a position held for the past 26 years by Peter Douglas, who retired last month.
Lester is the commission's fourth executive director since it was created in 1972. He had served as senior deputy director since 2006 and was named acting director when Douglas, suffering from lung cancer, suddenly stepped down.
Lester, who has a bachelor's degree in geochemistry from Columbia University, a doctorate in jurisprudence and social policy from UC Berkeley, and a law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law, was an assistant professor of political science at the University of Colorado, in Boulder, before he was hired by the Coastal Commission in 1997.
