MELODIE CHRISLOCK has been the Managing Director of Public Water Now since 2018. She was the Communications Director for PWN from 2014 through the Measure J campaign in 2018. She has lived on the Monterey Peninsula since 1971. An experienced gardener, she designed and maintained a beautiful canyon garden on a half-acre at her home in Carmel. She joined PWN in 2013 during the Measure O campaign after her water bills began to rise at an alarming rate. She is a writer and works in communication and social media. Melodie is also an award-winning songwriter.
HARVEY E. BILLIG III, M. D. was a practicing ophthalmologist for 25 years before retiring in 2000 to work full time on medical development. He is past president of the American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers and the senior author of the McGraw Hill book on surgery centers. Dr. Billig was also the president and Chairman of Medical Malls, Inc. and involved in surgery center and hospital development. He has lived in Carmel for the last 25 years and is presently developing a behavioral health hospital and a memory care facility in Templeton, California. He has long been concerned about water issues and collects water from his roof runoff to feed his underground tanks and drip irrigation system.
MYRLEEN FISHER is a native of Salinas, CA, with a BS in Nursing from UCSF. Her career in pediatric nursing included SF General Hospital, Monterey County Hospital and Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Her Public Health career included Santa Clara Co. Health Department, also as a health educator for the Rural Health Project in King City, CA. She switched to the pharmaceutical industry, working in clinical research for Alza Corp., Cooper Labs and Syntex Corp. She volunteered with Médicos Voladores, providing eye care to remote areas of No. Mexico. She studied landscape architecture for 2 yrs before retiring in 2009. She enjoys living beside the Carmel River and xeriscaping her property.
MIBS McCARTHY grew up in San Francisco and Oakland, CA and attended the University of California, Berkeley, for two years. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Biology Education and a Master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri. Since retiring from teaching in 1998, Mibs has worked for social and environmental justice through leadership roles in Public Water Now, the Unitarian UniversaIist Church of the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel Valley Association, and the Monterey County Chapter of the ACLU of Northern California. Mibs lives in Carmel Valley with her husband, Joe, and enjoys tennis, swimming, walks with her dog, birding, and photography.
LARRY PARRISH was born in Carmel, CA, and has been a resident of Carmel Valley since 1962. He is a Carmel High School graduate and received his BA in Music from Cal State University in Sonoma. He is a Vietnam era veteran. He has been Painting & Decorating contractor since 1980. Involved in public activism from 2000 to the present, he has served and continues to serve on numerous community-based boards, including Citizens for Public Water and Public Water Now. He is committed to publicly-owned natural resources, especially water.
TIMOTHY SANDERS was born in Wyoming and educated in Maryland and Massachusetts public schools. Tim received undergraduate and graduate degrees in physics from Stanford University, and worked at Hughes Aircraft, Shockley Semiconductors and Fairchild Semiconductors. After research at Washington University in St. Louis, he joined physics and mathematics faculties at Occidental College in Los Angeles, and also was an administrator there. In Los Angeles he served on a City planning advisory committee and worked with L.A. activist groups. Locally, for more than a decade he was a director on the Carmel Valley Association, engaging County government principally on CEQA and traffic issues.
SUSAN SCHIAVONE achieved her BA from UCSC in Community Studies, then worked in nonprofit management. She was voted a Monterey County Outstanding Woman for work in Hartnell’s women’s re-entry program. Creating a successful volunteer program for Monterey, she received a County Employee Star award and Congressional recognition. She then attained a masters in psychology and Marriage Family Therapist license, as a psychiatric social worker, then private practice. She worked to oppose Monterey Downs project, preserving open land at Ft. Ord. She became involved with PWN when Measure J was introduced, serving as campaign coordinator for Seaside. Since 2017, she serves as District 1 representative on the MPWMD 152 ordinance oversight panel, and on the 2022 MPWMD Redistricting Committee.
DOUG WILHELM received his BS in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University, IN., and his MBA from Xavier University, OH. From 1961-96, he worked for Procter & Gamble on various assignments in the US and internationally in Purchasing and Oleochemicals. From 1991-94, he was on loan to a newly formed joint venture in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he served as President, and CEO. From 1994-96, he was the global director for Oleochemicals. He retired in 1996, and moved to the Monterey Peninsula in 2000. He was President of the World Affairs Council of the Monterey Bay Area from 2008-2011. He is on the Ambassador's Council at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Cal State Monterey Bay, and has been a water activist since 2010.