Born: Davenport, Iowa

Represents on MWD board:  Los Angeles

Joined MWD board: May 2009

Current MWD committee appointments:
Member: Water Planning and Stewardship Committee, Communications and Legislation Committee and the Special Committee on Bay-Delta

Professional and community activities:

A member of the California State Bar since 1959, Fleming is an attorney with the firm of Latham & Watkins LLP. 

Most recently, Fleming represented the city as a director of the Metropolitan Transporation Authority.  Originally appointed to the post by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in 2005, he chaired MTA’s Finance and Budget Committee and served on its Construction Committee.

 Fleming was the founder of, and chairs the Los Angeles County Business Federation, an organization of over 100,000 businesses, 75 chambers of commerce and trade associations with over 2 million employees.  He co-chairs the Southern California Leadership Council with Governor Pete Wilson, whose other leaders include former California governors Gray Davis, Jerry Brown and George Deukmejian.

Fleming also chairs the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, a business and industry collective formed following the 1994 Northridge earthquake, as well as Project Grad, a program aimed at helping public school students achieve educational excellence.

He served as the chair and is a member of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation.  He also chaired and is a member of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association from 1988 to 1990.

He has chaired the board of directors of Valley Presbyterian Hospital since 1988.

Fleming chaired, is a current member of, or has served on the Los Angeles Police Foundation, the Children’s Bureau of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Children’s Planning Council Foundation, the Civic Alliance, the New Majority and the Fernando Award Foundation. He is vice chair of a $125 million campaign to build a new performing arts center at California State University, Northridge, and a director with the California State University, Northridge Foundation.

The past chairman of the California Regional Leadership Foundation, a statewide organization of civic entrepreneurs addressing regional problems, Fleming served as president of the Los Angeles City Board of Fire Commissioners from 1993 to 2001. He also has served as one of five members of the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission.

In 2003, President George W. Bush appointed Fleming as a trustee of the James Madison Foundation, which provides scholarships to teachers throughout the United States to promote the teaching of the nation’s founding. The 12-member foundation is composed of the Secretary of Education, four members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, two state governors, two federal appellate justices and two private citizens.

In 1997, Fleming and then–Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan co-chaired a voters’ initiative to reform Los Angeles city government, culminating in the creation of an elected citizens’ Charter Reform Commission. That commission drafted a new city charter, which was approved by city voters in 1999.