Appointed Office of Planning and Research director by Governor Jerry Brown in 2011, Ken Alex is also Brown’s senior policy advisor. Alex has a bachelor of arts in political theory from the University of California, Santa Cruz and is a 1983 Harvard Law School graduate.

After law school, Alex was a staff attorney/court law clerk for the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. He joined the California attorney general’s office in 1985, where he negotiated settlements that included agreements with San Bernardino County and ConocoPhillips—the first required greenhouse gas emissions reductions in the country. He was supervising deputy for the attorney general’s environmental division in 1997 when Pacific Gas & Electric Co. agreed to pay more than $14 million for submitting inaccurate reports on damage its Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant caused to sea life. At the time, it was the largest settlement of its kind.

Alex led the attorney general’s energy task force from 2000-06 investigating price and supply issues relating to the state’s energy crisis.  During this time, he oversaw a recoup of about $5 billion through settlement negotiations with power producers.  Alex headed the environment section as assistant attorney general in the California Department of Justice.  He was also co-head of the office’s global warming unit. 

Official Bio  (OPR website)

Guest Blogger: Ken Alex (Legal Planet: The Environmental Law and Policy Blog)

Environmental Law Conference (State Bar of California)

Faulty A-Plant Reports to Cost Firm $14 Million (by Frank Clifford, Los Angeles Times)