A Legislative and Regulatory Advocate with Shaw Yoder Antwih Schmelzer & Lange since 2015, and a partner since 2025, Michael Pimentel works to advance the legislative, regulatory and funding goals of the firm’s transportation clients, particularly on issues related to public transportation and sustainability.

In the State Capitol, Michael is best-known as the Executive Director of the California Transit Association, the non-profit trade organization that represents 85 transit and rail agencies in California and more than 220 member organizations nationwide. Michael was named Executive Director of the Association, an SYASL client, in 2021 and previously served as the Association’s Deputy Executive Director and Legislative and Regulatory Advocate. Michael has been recognized for his advocacy on behalf of California’s transit industry in leading industry publications, including Capitol Weekly’s Top 100 (2023 and 2024) and Mass Transit Magazine’s 40 under 40 (2023). In 2023, he was named Transportation Advocate of the Year by the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials – Northern California.

Prior to joining SYASL, Michael held various appointed positions in the administration of Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr., including in the Office of the Governor and at the California High-Speed Rail Authority, focused on policy and budget issues impacting transportation and environmental programs. Michael began his career in Sacramento politics as an aide on the Brown for Governor 2010 campaign and has held various research positions throughout his career, including for Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, the World Resources Institute, and the Department of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley.

Michael received a Master of Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Michael currently serves on the California State Transportation Agency’s Transit Transformation Task Force, the California Energy Commission’s Advisory Committee for the Clean Transportation Investment Plan, and the Advisory Boards for the multicampus University of California’s Institutes of Transportation Studies, as well as for the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies and the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies.