Events

Alex Fisher joined the 17 News team in May 2016. He co-anchors 17 News at Sunrise weekday mornings from 5 to 7 a.m. Fisher has watched KGET his whole life and is thrilled to report in his hometown.

Born and raised in Bakersfield, Fisher attended Rosedale North Elementary, Freedom Middle and Liberty High schools before attending Pepperdine University. He graduated in 2016 with a degree in Journalism and Rhetoric.

Fisher anchors in the mornings and investigates during the afternoons. In his free time, Fisher enjoys traveling around the world, reading biographies and exploring new eateries around the county. He is an avid Dodger fan.

Stacy Kuwahara is the Behavior Health Director for Kern County.  She oversees the Kern County Mental Health Plan, responsible for providing a full array of mental health and substance use services.  She is a licensed Marriage Family Counselor. 

Ms. Kuwahara has worked for Kern Behavioral Health and Recovery Services since 2008.  She started her career with the department as a volunteer, working as a clinician with foster care youth.  She has worked in many teams within the department and across many divisions including Children’s Services, Crisis Services, Managed Care and Quality Improvement.  Prior to becoming the director, she served as the Deputy Director over Finance, Medical Services, Contracts, Information Technology Services and Quality Improvement.  She has worked closely in the department’s disaster operations team, overseeing logistics and operations in the department’s response to local and statewide disaster events.

Prior to working at KernBHRS, Ms. Kuwahara worked in residential treatment in San Diego and for the National Health System in West Yorkshire, England.

Ms. Kuwahara is certified as a Lean Six Sigma Greenbelt.  She is also a trained EMDR practitioner.  She holds a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Brynn Carrigan has been the Director of Kern County Public Health since March of this year after serving as Assistant Director since 2012. Among her diverse responsibilities in managing departmental programs and services, she has served as Incident Commander for Public Health’s Department Operations Center during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brynn has been instrumental in the development of innovative community based programs such as Waste Hunger Not Food, Certified Healthy and Know Your Numbers. She has almost 14 years of experience working for the County of Kern. She graduated from South High School and California State University Bakersfield with a degree in Business Administration. Born and raised in Kern County, Brynn has a heart for serving her community and strives to improve the health of Kern County residents. Brynn is married and has two children.

Stephen has served as Executive Director of the Housing Authority of the County of Kern since 2005, and during this time, the Housing Authority has developed over 1,500 units of affordable housing, enhanced resident services, significantly expanded permanent housing and services for the homeless, and developed new partnerships with community organizations. 

Since 2016, Stephen has also served as the Executive Director of Golden Empire Affordable Housing, Inc. and has led a period of significant growth for the organization.  Stephen also serves on the Board of several local organizations, including the Kern County Hospital Authority, Bakersfield-Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative, Kern County Network for Children, and Dust Bowl Historical Foundation.

After graduating from California State University, Bakersfield, Stephen began his public service career as a Social Worker for the Kern County Department of Human Services. While working for DHS, he served as a Social Service Supervisor and also as co-Manager of the initial One Stop Center in Kern County.

Stephen then accepted the position of Deputy County Administrative Officer with the Kern County Administrative Office, working as a Budget Analyst. He later returned to DHS as Program Director and served as interim Administrative Services Officer.

A Leadership Bakersfield and KCNC Leadership Development Program graduate, Stephen currently serves as Executive Director of the Housing Authority of the County of Kern. He has served as President of the Bakersfield Chapter of the American Society of Public Administration, Board Member and Treasurer of the Bakersfield Pregnancy Center and currently serves on the board of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Kern and Tulare counties.

Jenny Holtermann is the Executive Director of the Water Association of Kern County, a nonprofit with focus on water conservation, education and outreach. Jenny is also a 4^th generation family farmer, who farms almonds in Shafter & Wasco with her husband Tim and his family. She direct markets their family almonds under the label ‘Almond Girl’ and is active on social media. She is the 2^nd Vice President of the Kern County Farm Bureau and Board of Director for California Farm Bureau. When Jenny is not farming and advocating for water, she is tending to their homestead, raising chickens and their two children, Henry 6 and Hazel 4.

Sean McNally is the President and CEO of Houchin Community Blood Bank in Bakersfield, CA.  Prior to Houchin he was the President and CEO of KBA Engineering in Bakersfield, California (2012-2020). 

Prior to KBA, he was the Vice President for Corporate and Government Affairs and Vice President of Human Resources at Grimmway Farms in Bakersfield, California (1997-2012). Prior to that he was a partner with at Hanna, Brophy, MacLean, McAleer and Jensen, specializing in employment and worker’s compensation law.

  He graduated from the University of San Francisco with Bachelor’s Degrees in English and Theology. In 1979 and 1980 he did graduate theology studies in Systematic Theology at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel.  He is a graduate of the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. He has been certified by the State Bar of California as a Specialist in Workers’ Compensation Law.

He was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to the Commission on Health, Safety and Workers’ Compensation (CHSWC) and he was the Chair in 2009, 2011 and 2013.  He was reappointed by Governor Brown and was the 2015, 2017 and 2019 Chair. He was also appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to the State Board of Food and Agriculture.  He serves as a trustee for the California Self Insurer’s Security Fund and he is the Co-Chair of the California Chamber of Commerce Amicus Committee.

His community activities include having served on the Board of Directors of the Golden Empire Gleaners, the Mercy Hospital Foundation, the Kern County Fair Foundation and Stockdale Country Club.