Who's New

Angel Alvarado, Headquarters CPRA coordinator

Angel Alvarado has joined Headquarters Public Affairs as the California Public Records Act (CPRA) coordinator.

His responsibilities include statewide oversight on routine and sensitive CPRA requests.

Angel has a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology-sports management from Saint Mary’s College of California. He joins Public Affairs after two years working for the Department of Procurement and Contracts (DPAC) in the Property Control unit.

Before state service, he was with the Capital Athletic Club, handling marketing and membership. He has also worked in community relations with the San Francisco 49ers and public relations with the Stockton Kings.

Angel enjoys going to concerts, trips, golfing and sporting events. He is excited about this opportunity and looks forward to meeting everyone.

---

Chris Clark, Public Affairs deputy division chief

Chris Clark has been promoted to Public Affairs deputy division chief, overseeing media.

Chris has served most recently as the Middle Mile Broadband Initiative (MMBI) media specialist after previously working in 2020-21 as the Public Affairs media relations manager, where he specialized in public relations, media strategy and crisis communications.

Prior to public service, Chris spent 20 years as a front office executive in professional sports and served as communications director for two U.S. congressional campaigns.

A lifelong Sacramentan, he enjoys watching baseball, outdoor recreation, and spending time with his wife, Nicolette, and their 3-year-old daughter, Olivia.

 

 

---

Wajahat Nyaz, deputy district director, District 4 Division of Design

Wajahat Nyaz is the new deputy district director for the District 4 Division of Design.

In this role, Wajahat will oversee the district’s four Design regions: Design North, Design South/West, Design East, and Design Services. Within these Design Divisions are the Office of Materials & Pavement, Office of Hydraulic Engineering, Office of Landscape Architecture, and Utility Engineering, which provide specific technical expertise.

Division of Design prepares products such as plans, specifications, estimates (PS&E), project approval reports, and technical recommendations for a variety of transportation, storm damage and habitat restoration projects. Division of Design also provides construction support and performs independent quality assurance of locally funded and local tax measure transportation projects on the state highway system in nine Bay Area counties.

Wajahat has more than 32 years of diverse experience designing, constructing and managing transportation infrastructure projects. He started his career in Caltrans District 4 in 1991 as a transportation engineer, completed the rotation program, and moved to private industry, where he worked as a project engineer for four years.

He rejoined Caltrans in 1998 and worked as a project engineer and senior engineer in the Division of Engineering Services (DES) until 2007 on several high-profile projects, including the San Francisco Bay Bridge seismic retrofit, Devil’s slide emergency repair, and the Interstate 880/State Route 92 interchange projects.

Wajahat joined the District 4 Division of Program/Project Management in 1998. He served as the regional project manager of Marin County and the corridor manager for the high-profile Marin-Sonoma Narrows projects until 2021.

From 2021 to 2023, Wajahat was the director of projects for Alameda CTC, overseeing Alameda CTC’s multibillion-dollar portfolio of active capital projects and transportation improvements in various delivery stages.

Wajahat returned to Caltrans District 4 as a division chief of Design East in 2023, overseeing Design East and West and the Office of Landscape Architecture.

Wajahat has a master’s of science degree in civil engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and master’s degree in Transportation Management from San Jose State University.

He is also a registered civil and geotechnical engineer in California and a Project Management Institute-certified project manager.

---

Nailah Pope-Harden, deputy director of Equity and Tribal Affairs

Nailah Pope-Harden is the new deputy director of Equity and Tribal Affairs as part of the Director’s Office of Equity, Sustainability and Tribal Affairs (ESTA) being reorganized.

The Office of Equity and Tribal Affairs will take over ESTA’s Native American Liaison and Race & Equity branches, and be housed in the director’s office.

Nailah has been executive director at ClimatePlan since 2021 and was a policy manager there from 2019 to 2021. ClimatePlan is a partnership that works across California to improve land-use and transportation planning with a focus on protecting health, communities and climate.

At ClimatePlan, Nailah was responsible for expanding the network presence, cultivating new members, and ensuring the mission and vision of the organization was being carried out.

Nailah has been principal at Nailah Consulting since 2012, specializing in multi-racial, multi-generational campaigns.

Nailah was an organizer at the Capital Region Organizing Project from 2016 to 2017 and a parent organizer at the California Charter Schools Association in 2015. She is a member of the New Leaders Council, serves on the board of America Walks, and recently started a professional development group for women of color in environmental professions.

Nailah has spent more than 15 years advocating for transportation justice, racial equity, environmental justice and climate action. She comes to this position with years of experience in community organizing and coalition building. Her advocacy work spans across neighborhoods, regional, statewide, and national campaigns.

Of the over 40 campaigns she has participated in, Nailah finds the most joy in planning community events in the south Sacramento neighborhoods she grew up in.

Nailah earned a bachelor of science degree in government from California State University, Sacramento, and resides in south Sacramento with her 5-year-old son. Together, they enjoy playing in the backyard, reading books, singing and dancing.

Nailah’s personal and professional life is always ensuring her son has a healthy, safe, loving environment and future. She does this by building community everywhere she goes, learning from those around her, and being open to (transformative) change.

---

Eric Sundquist, deputy director for Sustainability

Eric Sundquist has been appointed deputy director for Sustainability as part of the Director’s Office of Equity, Sustainability and Tribal Affairs (ESTA) being reorganized.

The Office of Sustainability will include zero-emissions vehicles, vehicle-miles traveled reduction, complete streets, climate strategy and sustainable facilities, and will be housed in the director’s office.

Eric joined Caltrans in 2021 serving as the sustainability adviser in ESTA. In that role Eric led the department’s effort to evaluate and minimize vehicle-miles traveled in assessing project transportation impacts, and in developing metrics around equitable multimodal access to destinations.

Prior to Caltrans, Eric was director of the State Smart Transportation Initiative (SSTI) at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, from 2010 to 2021 and a senior associate there from 2007 to 2010. SSTI works with state DOTs nationally to modernize policy and practice around policy goals including environmental protection, equitable transportation service and impacts, and cost-savings.

Eric has been active in the Transportation Research Board, chairing the Social, Economic, and Cultural Issues Section and serving as an officer on the Major Cities and Transportation and Sustainable Transportation committees.

Eric held several positions at the Georgia Institute of Technology including research scientist from 2004 to 2007 and research and teaching assistant from 2003 to 2004.

He held editor and reporter positions at several publications, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the (Norfolk) Virginian Pilot, the (Fredericksburg, Va.) Free Lance-Star, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and the (Newport News, Va.) Daily Press and Times Herald from 1981 to 2007.

Eric has a bachelor of arts degree in English from Miami University of Ohio, a master of humanities degree from the University of Richmond, a master of science degree in public policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a doctor of philosophy degree in city planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Eric is a long-time bike commuter. He first visited California in 1988 on a cross-country bike trip and is planning to do a 400-mile group ride – the (Des Moines) Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, or RAGBRAI – in July.

---

Russ Watts, chief information security and privacy officer

Russ Watts is Caltrans’ new chief information security and privacy officer.

Russ has served Caltrans Information Technology for the past 14 years in various capacities, most recently as the deputy division chief over Infrastructure Services, where he oversaw the complex operations for server hosting, storage/data protection, database/middleware, and network operations/network engineering. 

Russ has also served in various roles for California Fish and Wildlife, California Student Aid Commission, as well as more than two decades of consulting practice in the private sector.

Russ is an active outdoors enthusiast, enjoys any form of competitive activity, and likes spending time with friends and family.