News Release Archive

Reclamation selects regional liaison team for California-Great Basin Region

Media Contact: Mary Lee Knecht, 916-978-5100, mknecht@usbr.gov

For Release: December 17, 2020

CGB Liaison Team, Ankur Bhattacharya and Scott Taylor SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The Bureau of Reclamation California-Great Basin Region announces the selection of Scott Taylor and Ankur Bhattacharya as the Regional Liaison Team. Taylor, as the Commissioner’s CGB liaison in Washington DC, and Bhattacharya as the regional liaison in Sacramento, will help coordinate the region’s priorities and briefings for Reclamation and Department of the Interior leadership.

“I’m very pleased to announce Scott and Ankur as our new Regional Liaison Team,” said Regional Director Ernest Conant. “These are critical coordination positions, both here in the CGB Region and in Washington DC, and I know we can count on them both. They are highly and uniquely qualified based on experience, education, integrity and communication skills.”

Scott Taylor joined Reclamation in 2008 as an economist intern in the Upper Colorado Region. He joined the CGB Region in 2013 as a repayment specialist in the South-Central California Area Office, and then the Division of Resources Management in the regional office. In 2019, Taylor detailed to the Willows Construction Office as a project manager working on the Shasta Dam Reservoir Enlargement Project and B.F. Sisk Dam Raise and provided technical assistance on the Friant-Kern Canal Middle Reach Capacity Correction Project. Taylor is a graduate of the region’s Aspiring Leaders Program and has been serving as the Acting Regional Liaison since March 2020. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s in economics from Utah State University.

Ankur Bhattacharya joined Reclamation in 2012 as an engineering intern with the Division of Resources Management where he assisted several operations and maintenance initiatives throughout the CGB Region. After graduating, Ankur took to the field as a mechanical engineer at the Grand Coulee Construction Office and had the opportunity to support the overhaul of one of the world’s largest hydropower plants. In 2015, Ankur transitioned back to the CGB Region with the Division of Design and Construction and worked with area offices to maintain the region’s aging infrastructure. He later joined the Planning Division as a project manager for Title XVI—a WaterSMART grants program targeted toward developing recycled water initiatives throughout the western United States. Ankur graduated from California State University, Sacramento, with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and holds a master’s in business from University of California, Davis.

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