Circular Action Alliance taps new California executive director

Packaging Dive reported the development on 2025-08-28. The role was vacated earlier this year by former CalRecycle director Rachel Wagoner. The new appointment comes as SB 54 rules are still being hashed out and CAA wants producers to report supply data by Nov. 15.

The report places the news in a wider commercial context. Emily Coven will serve as California executive director for Circular Action Alliance, leading the EPR program plan for the state, the producer responsibility organization announced Thursday. CAA is the PRO helping to facilitate the extended producer responsibility for packaging program established by California law SB 54.

For the food sector, the practical implications extend beyond the immediate announcement. "I look forward to engaging directly with interest holders and communities across California to build a system that delivers meaningful results for Californians,” Coven said in CAA’s announcement. Coven’s appointment comes less than a year after CAA tapped former CalRecycle director Rachel Wagoner to lead the organization’s operations in the state.

Attention now turns to how companies, customers and regulators respond. This followed an anonymous whistleblower’s complaint to California’s Fair Political Practices Commission, which the Los Angeles Times reported on in February. The whistleblower sought an investigation, suggesting that Wagoner “violated a ‘switching sides’ ban that prevents former regulators from receiving compensation to work against the state on matters they once oversaw.”.