Academic Credentials
  • B.S., Biological Sciences, California State University, Fresno, 1997
Additional Education & Training
  • June 2022, Distinguished Toastmaster, Toastmasters International.
Professional Honors
  • Recipient, Merit Award: Director’s Award for Professional Integrity, Superior Accomplishment – Gold, 2017-2018
  • Recipient, Merit Award: Director’s Award for Inspiration, Superior Accomplishment – Gold, 2015-2016
  • Recipient, Merit Award: Director’s Award for Innovation and Ingenuity, Superior Accomplishment – Gold, 2013-2014
  • Recipient, Merit Award: Director’s Award for Professional Integrity, Superior Accomplishment – Gold, 2013-2014
  • Recipient, Merit Award: Life Membership to the National Pesticide Information Retrieval System, Center for Environmental & Regulatory Information Systems, 2013

Denise Alder Gutherz is a Managing Scientist and comes to Exponent following over 28 years of California public service, including 23 years at the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) and 5 years with the California Department of Water Resources (DWR).

At Exponent, Denise specializes in the state registration of pesticide products, label amendments, and renewals. Denise also facilitates the federal registration of pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) including preparing registration packages for new products and corresponding with the EPA on behalf of existing registrations.

Before coming to Exponent, Denise was the staff specialist and Branch consultant for the pesticide registration program at DPR. She was responsible for the reevaluation program, which entailed coordinating staff assignments, providing consultative support, and leading staff coordination efforts to improve workflow and facilitate project completion. During her time at DPR, Denise prepared regulatory and compliance documents, notices, and status reports. She frequently presented information on the reevaluation program at internal and external technical meetings. From 1999 to 2022, Denise was the lead specialist for the Birth Defect Prevention Act (SB950) and Pesticide Contamination Prevention Act (AB2021). Additionally, Denise has fundamental knowledge of DPR's public facing Product/Label Database, Pesticide Data Index, Pesticide Use Reporting, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) Emissions Database, and other databases routinely used by both regulators and the regulated community.

From 2007 to 2022, Denise represented DPR at regular meetings lead by Purdue University's Center for Environmental & Regulatory Information Systems, National Pesticide Information Retrieval System (NPIRS) and Accepted Labels State Tracking and Repository (ALSTAR). While attending these meetings, Denise served on several workgroups where she collaborated with other regulators, chemical companies, and their agents to develop document upload requirements, initiate a universal state registration application, and identify how ALSTAR could interface with existing state systems. Denise is very familiar with the ALSTAR application and routinely uses ALSTAR to submit labels to states and accesses the reporting tool.

In addition to her time at DPR, Denise previously worked at California Resources Agency's DWR Division of Planning and Local Assistance Unit as a scientific aide where she collaborated with other scientists to assess the quality of California waters and co-authored memorandum and technical reports.

Denise is well known by industry and regulatory authorities alike and has been instrumental in being a source of information to DPR's registration and reevaluation programs