Lobbyist/Consultant

As senior staff to Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny, Ms. Ferrera helped formulate the Senator's policy and legislative agenda. Ms. Ferrera's expertise in state and federal legislative and regulatory policy gave her a broad perspective on the issues and opportunities facing the people of the 40th Senatorial District.

Ms. Ferrera began her career with the Senate as senior consultant to the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications (EU&C) Committee, where she analyzed energy legislation and staffed committee hearings. Ms. Ferrera met on an on-going basis with public and private sector energy officials and consumer organizations. Before joining Senator Ducheny's Office, Ms. Ferrera was a senior consultant in the Senate Office of Research where she advised members of both the Assembly and the Senate on policy positions, and legislation, carrying out research and written reports to support these positions.

Prior to her work in the state Senate, Ms. Ferrera spent twelve years in Washington, D.C. working first at Braun and Company, a California-based public affairs consulting firm, and later as policy and legislative counsel for the National League of Cities (NLC). Working closely with local elected officials around the country, Ms. Ferrera staffed NLC's policy committees, wrote congressional testimony, and met with key congressional members and their staff on issues of importance to local government.

In 1994, Ms. Ferrera was appointed by the Clinton Administration to the U.S. Department of Energy as Chief of Staff in the Office of Policy and International Affairs, where her accomplishments included the coordination of the National Energy Policy Plan, and the development of the energy-related portions of the White House Initiative for Climate Change. She later served as special assistant to the Secretary, representing Secretary Federico Pena in meetings and activities involving local and regional energy matters. In her last year at DOE, Ms, Ferrera served as senior advisor to Secretary Bill Richardson in the Office of Environmental Management, where she was charged with staffing the high priority Governor's roundtable for nuclear waste transport.

Ms. Ferrera has a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Southern California with a specialization in intergovernmental management and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Law and Society and Dramatic Art from the University of California at Davis. Ms. Ferrera is a 1995 CORO Fellow, having completed the Southern California Hispanic Leadership program. She lives in Davis with her husband John, and her two children.