San Francisco’s top environmental enforcer, a notable crusader against climate change, has been selected by President Barack Obama to become this region’s U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator.

Jared Blumenfeld, 40, will run the EPA’s operations in California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, the Pacific Islands and more than 140 tribal nations. Here’s an interesting interview conducted with him about a year ago.

For eight years, Blumenfeld has directed the San Francisco Department of Environment, serving as the top environmental decision-maker for 28,000 city staff and a $6.5 billion city budget; he also did an eight-month stint as interim manager of the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department. He is a founder of Business Council on Climate Change; a former director of the Treasure Island Redevelopment Authority; and led the first United Nations World Environment Day hosted by the United States. He holds law degrees from the University of London and the University of California.

“I look forward to working closely with Jared Blumenfeld on the range of urgent environmental issues we face, in Region 9 and across the nation,” EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a news release. “At this moment of great challenge and even greater opportunity, I’m thrilled that Jared will be part of our leadership team at EPA. He will certainly play an instrumental role in our Agency’s mission to protect our health and the environment.”