Canyon Snow Principals

Leslee Guardino

Leslee Guardino leads Canyon Snow’s government affairs practice and collaborates in leading the CSR practice. Guardino is widely recognized as an authority on the effect of governmental activities on the business environment. She maintains strong contacts with public officials at all levels of government, manages and participates in national coalitions, and advises clients on a range of government affairs issues. Clients rely on her for sound political judgment as they create and implement business-focused government affairs programs. Before co-founding Canyon Snow, Guardino led government and corporate affairs for Solectron Corporation, an $18 billion electronics manufacturing and services company. Guardino formulated Solectron’s legislative strategy and advocated on behalf of the company, its customers, and the electronics industry. She also helped lead all board administration and corporate governance activities for Solectron. Previously, Guardino was executive director of the American Electronics Association (AeA), a trade group representing 900 technology companies. In this role, her advocacy activity was instrumental in passing three key bills which increased tax credits, improved education, and enhanced workes’ job flexibility. Before her time at AeA, Guardino was vice president of the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group where she was a leader in a successful campaign to bring $1.2 billion in traffic relief projects to Silicon Valley. She is co-founder of the Silicon Valley Housing Trust and co-chair of the West Coast Chapter of the Women’s High Tech Coalition. She earned a BA from the University of California at San Diego and a master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

Jennifer Johnson

Jennifer Johnson leads Canyon Snow’s environmental affairs practice and co-leads its corporate social responsibility practice. Shepherd is a recognized authority on the business implications of environmental and sustainability initiatives, and routinely consults and speaks on how to make environmental compliance and sustainability a living and profitable part of business strategy. Clients rely on her for strategic and technical guidance in designing and implementing effective programs that create customer and stakeholder value. Before co-founding Canyon Snow, Shepherd was responsible for corporate environmental affairs at Solectron, an $18 billion manufacturer. At Solectron, she developed and implemented the company’s global environmental strategy, applied emerging legislative requirements to the business needs of customers, and led a $2 billion manufacturing plant to ISO14001 certification. Before joining Solectron, Shepherd was a consulting engineer with ERM-Southwest, where her practice included litigation support and assessment of compliance in a variety of industries. She has been co-chair of the environmental committee of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and is currently a board member of the Sustainable Silicon Valley initiative. She earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. Her master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin focused on air pollution emissions modeling. She is a diplomate of Stanford University’s program in Business Strategies for Environmental Sustainability and holds an MBA degree from Heriot Watt University Edinburgh Business School.

Catherine Choe

Catherine Choe leads Canyon Snow’s compliance and ethics practice. Choe is a recognized authority on the business impact of compliance and ethics programs and has lectured widely on harmonizing compliance and ethics practices with business processes.  Clients rely on her for strategic guidance and execution support in designing and implementing effective compliance and ethics programs.  Before joining Canyon Snow, Choe was responsible for advising clients on various aspects of their compliance programs at the Corporate Executive Board (CEB),  a best practices research company headquartered in Arlington, VA.  While at CEB, she also designed and delivered executive education on topics related to the management strategy for compliance and ethics, legal, investor relations, and human resources departments.  Prior to her time with CEB, Choe was a consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton and before that, an associate at the law firm of Gilberg & Kiernan, a Washington, DC-based litigation firm.  She was also a copywriter at James R. Foster & Associates, a political direct mail firm based in Carrollton, TX.   She earned a B.S. in political science with a minor in mathematics from Texas A&M University and a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center.

Canyon Snow Associates

Chris Schwarz

Managing Associate

Chris Schwarz provides research and analysis to Canyon Snow’s clients on vital policy matters, regulatory issues, and legislative items.  Prior to joining Canyon Snow, Chris worked as a Congressional Aide for Congressman Mike Honda in his Silicon Valley Office. While there, he focused on the impacts of energy, environmental and economic policy on the region and organized a number of town hall-style forums and roundtable discussions on the economy, small business growth, and green technology.  Chris is an accredited LEED ® Green Associate and is certified as a volunteer home energy auditor.  He has been an invited speaker at public policy discussions on climate change, alternative fuel vehicles, and zero-net energy buildings, and brings to Canyon Snow a passion for sustainability and corporate social responsibility.  Chris earned his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from San Jose State University.