SHRC Commissioner Bios

Lee Adams III, Public Member

Lee Adams III, of Downieville, has been a member of the Commission on State Mandates since 2017 and of the Sierra County Board of Supervisors since 2009. He was sheriff and coroner for Sierra County from 1988 to 2007, and served in several positions before that with the Sierra County Sheriff's Office, including sergeant and deputy sheriff.

Bryan K. Brandes , Public Member

Bryan K. Brandes, of Temple City, is Maritime Director of the Port of Oakland, California. Prior positions included Vice President, Pacific Southwest Region Operations for FlexiVan Leasing, and Director of West Coast Operations for CMA CGM America LLC, part of the CMA CGM worldwide shipping group. Brandes also worked twenty-nine years with the A. P. Moller-Maersk transportation and shipping company, lastly as Director of California Inland Operations. He holds degrees from San Diego State University and Drucker School of Management.

Janet Hansen, History

Janet Hansen, of Los Angeles, is deputy manager for the Office of Historic Resources at the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, a position she has held since 2006. Previous positions included cultural resources manager at LSA Associates Inc., historic preservation officer for the City of Riverside, and principal at Hansen Historic Resources Consulting. Hansen earned a Master of Arts degree in historic preservation from the University of California Riverside.

Alan Hess, Architecture

Alan Hess, of Irvine, has been owner at Alan Hess Architecture since 1981. He has written nineteen books on Modern architecture and urbanism in the mid-twentieth century, and was a National Arts Journalism Program fellow at Columbia University's School of Journalism. Hess earned a Master of Architecture degree from the Graduate Shcool of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles. 

Luis Hoyos, Architectural History

Luis Hoyos, of San Dimas, is a professor in the College of Environmental Design at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, where he has served in professor and associate professor positions since 2001. Prior to that he was an architect with Castro-Blanco, Piscioneri and Associates, and an urban designer with Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut, and Kuhn Architects. Hoyos served perviously on the State Historical Resources Commission from 2002-2006.

Marshall McKay, Folklife

Marshall McKay, of Brooks, has served as the tribal chairman for the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation since 2006 and was a tribal councilmember from 1984 to 2006. He serves as chair of the Autry National Center, is a delegate to the National Indian Gaming Association and is a member of the California Native American Heritage Commission. McKay is a member of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, Native American Rights Fund and the National Museum of the American Indian.

Adam Sriro, Historical Archaeology

Adam Sriro, of Culver City, is manager of the Archaeology Program at Southern California Edison (SCE), a position he has held since 2010. He has worked at SCE since 2002 in several positions including archaeologist and senior archaeologist. Prior to that he held the position of associate archaeologist with the California Department of Transportation. Sriro earned a Master of Arts degree in cultural resources management from Sonoma State University.

René Vellanoweth, Prehistoric Archaeology

René Vellanoweth, of Sierra Madre, has been a professor and chair of the Anthropology Department at California State University, Los Angeles, since 2008. From 2001 to 2008 he was an associate professor and chair of the Anthropology Department at Humboldt State University. Vellanoweth earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in archaeology and anthropology from the University of Oregon, and a Master of Arts degree in archaeology and anthropology from California State University, Los Angeles.