Governor Newsom Announces Appointments 1.21.20

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SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:

Christina Curry, 50, of Elk Grove, has been appointed chief deputy director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. Curry has been deputy director for planning, preparedness and prevention at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services since 2013. She served in several positions at the California Emergency Management Agency from 2001 to 2013, including assistant secretary, deputy director, assistant director, chief of staff and senior emergency services coordinator. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $193,524. Curry is a Democrat.

Tabitha Stout, 38, of Rancho Cordova, has been appointed deputy director of finance and administration at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. Stout has been assistant director of administration at the Office of Emergency Services since 2017. She was a staff finance budget analyst at the Department of Finance from 2013 to 2017. She was a staff service manager at the California Emergency Management Agency from 2010 to 2012, where she was a research analyst from 2009 to 2010 and an associate budget analyst in 2009. She held multiple positions at the Department of Child Support Services from 2005 to 2009, including budget analyst, staff service analyst and office technician. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $161,220. Stout is a Democrat.

Sandra Uribe, 50, of Sacramento, has been appointed assistant secretary for legislative affairs at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. She has served as deputy chief counsel to the Assembly Committee on Public Safety since 2017 and was committee counsel from 2011 to 2017. Uribe was a staff attorney for the Central California Appellate Program from 2005 to 2011 and a sole practitioner from 1996 to 2005. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $165,000. Uribe is a Democrat.

Kim Pattillo-Brownson, 45, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed to the State Board of Education, where she has served since 2019. Pattillo-Brownson has been vice president for policy and strategy at First 5 Los Angeles since 2016. She was managing director of policy and advocacy at the Advancement Project from 2007 to 2016 and education attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California from 2006 to 2007. Pattillo-Brownson is a member of the Early Childhood Policy Council. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Pattillo-Brownson is a Democrat.

Avin Sharma, 41, of South Pasadena, has been appointed to the California Workforce Development Board. Sharma has been director of labor relations and workforce development for the Port of Los Angeles since 2017. He held several positions in the Obama Administration, including White House liaison and counselor to the secretary at the U.S. Department of Labor from 2014 to 2017, economics director for the presidential personnel office at the White House from 2013 to 2014, and special assistant to the chairman of the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2011 to 2013. Sharma was deputy political director for U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer in 2010. He was an associate at Vasquez Benisek & Lindgren from 2008 to 2010, at Morgan Miller Blair from 2007 to 2008, and at Green Welling from 2005 to 2007. Sharma earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Sharma is a Democrat.

Karen Skelton, 58, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the Board of Registered Nursing. Skelton has been founder and president of Skelton Strategies since 2011 and a political and policy strategist on issues including clean energy, economic equality, telecommunications, and women’s health since 2010. She was director of partnerships at the Global Climate Action Summit in 2018, chief executive officer and editor in chief for the Shriver Report from 2011 to 2014, coordinating producer at HBO’s Emmy-nominated documentary Paycheck to Paycheck from 2012 to 2014 and principal and managing partner at Dewey Square Group from 2000 to 2010.  Skelton was chief counsel at the Federal Highway Administration from 1999 to 2000, deputy assistant to the president and the vice president, political affairs at the White House from 1996 to 2000, and an attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice from 1993 to1996. She is a board member of the Public Policy Institute of California, Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement, Institute for Democracy and Justice, She Shares, and the National Park Foundation Council. Skelton earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and a Master of Arts degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem.  Skelton is a Democrat.

Dolores Trujillo, 59, of Sacramento has been appointed to the Board of Registered Nursing. Trujillo has been a registered nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Kaiser Hospital in Roseville since 2010. She was a registered nurse and charge nurse at Kaiser Hospital in Sacramento from 2000 to 2010. Trujillo is a member of the California Nurses Association. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Trujillo is a Democrat.

John L. Burton, 87, of San Francisco, has been appointed to the Committee on Revision of the Penal Code. Burton has been a partner and consultant for public affairs at Burton and the Brains since 2018. Burton was an attorney at John Burton Attorney at Law from 2004 to 2018. He was chairman of the California Democratic Party from 1973 to 1974 and 2009 to 2017. Burton founded John Burton Advocates for youth in 2015. He was a senator in the California State Senate from 1996 to 2004. Burton served as a representative in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1974 to 1983. He served as an assemblymember in the California State Assembly from 1965 to 1974. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Burton is a Democrat.

Peter Espinoza, 66, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the Committee on Revision of the Penal Code. Espinoza has served as director of the Office of Diversion and Reentry at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services since 2016. He served as a commissioner and judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court from 1990 to 2016. Espinoza was an attorney at Peter Espinoza Attorney at Law from 1981 to 1990. Espinoza was a deputy public defender at the Orange County Public Defender’s Office from 1981 to 1983. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Espinoza is a Democrat.

Carlos Moreno, 71, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the Committee on Revision of the Penal Code. Moreno has been a self-employed JAMS arbitrator since 2017. Moreno was U.S. Ambassador to Belize from 2014 to 2017. He was of counsel at Irell & Manella LLP from 2011 to 2013. Moreno was an associate justice of the California Supreme Court from 2001 to 2011 and served as a judge at the U.S. District Court, Central District of California from 1998 to 2001. Moreno was a judge at the Los Angeles County Superior Court from 1993 to 1998 and at the Compton Municipal Court from 1986 to 1993. Moreno was senior associate at Kelley, Drye & Warren from 1979 to 1986. He was a deputy city attorney at the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office from 1975 to 1979. Moreno earned a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Moreno is a Democrat.

L. Song Richardson, 53, of Irvine, has been appointed to the Committee on Revision of the Penal Code. Richardson has been dean at the University of California, Irvine School of Law since 2018, where she was a professor of law from 2014 to 2017. She was a professor of law at the University of Iowa College of Law from 2012 to 2014. Richardson was an associate professor of law at American University from 2011 to 2012 and at DePaul University of Law from 2006 to 2011. Richardson was a partner at Schroeter, Goldmark and Bender from 2001 to 2006. She was assistant public defender at The Defender Association from 1999 to 2001. Richardson was an assistant federal public defender at the Federal Public Defender’s Office, Western District of Washington from 1997 to 1999.  She was an attorney at Goldmark and Bender from 2001 to 2006 and assistant counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund from 1995 to 1997. She was a Skadden Public Interest Fellow at the National Immigration Law Center in Los Angeles from 1994 to 1995 and at the Legal Aid Society’s Immigration Law Unit in Brooklyn from 1993 to 1994. Richardson is a member of the American Law Institute and the executive committee of the Association of American Law Schools. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Richardson is a Democrat.

 

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