SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:
Kevin Kish, 43, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed director of the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, where he has served as director since 2015. Kish was an adjunct professor of law at Loyola Law School from 2012 to 2015. He was director of the Employment Rights Project at Bet Tzedek Legal Services from 2008 to 2015, where he was a Skadden fellow from 2006 to 2008 and a Bet Tzedek fellow from 2004 to 2005. He served as a law clerk at the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Alabama from 2005 to 2006. Kish is a member of the American Bar Association and the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School. Kish was confirmed to this position by the Senate in 2016. The compensation is $196,981. Kish is a Democrat.
Leonard Gonzales, 45, of Concord, has been appointed to the California Workforce Development Board. Gonzales has been executive director of the Laborers’ Training and Retraining Trust Fund for Northern California since 2010. He was an independent contractor from 2008 to 2010, western regional director of training services for Henkel & McCoy Inc. from 2005 to 2008 and director of youth training programs for the Fresno Regional Workforce Investment Board from 2002 to 2005. Gonzales was director of the Youth Opportunity Center, Bayview Hunters Point for the Private Industry Council of San Francisco from 2000 to 2002 and operations manager for the San Francisco School to Career Partnership from 1998 to 2000. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Gonzales is a Democrat.
Michela Alioto-Pier, 51, of San Francisco, has been appointed to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. Alioto-Pier has been owner of Alioto-Pier Vineyards since 1995. She was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 2004 to 2011 and of the San Francisco Port Commission from 2003 to 2004. She served as deputy domestic policy advisor to Vice President Al Gore from 1993 to 1995. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Alioto-Pier is a Democrat.
Alan L. Felsenfeld, 74, of Marina del Rey, has been appointed to the Dental Board of California. Felsenfeld has been an oral and maxillofacial surgeon in private practice since 1977. He was a professor of oral and maxillofacial surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Dentistry from 1995 to 2020. Felsenfeld is a member of the Alpha Omega International Dental Fraternity, American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, American and International College of Dentists, American Dental Association, American Dental Society of Anesthesiology, American Institute of Parliamentarians, Apollonian UCLA Dental Alumni, California Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, California Dental Association, Omicron Kappa Upsilon National Dental Honor Society, Southern California Academy of Oral Pathology, Western Los Angeles Dental Society and the Western Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. He earned a Doctor of Dentistry degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Dentistry and a certificate in oral and maxillofacial surgery from Cook County Hospital. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Felsenfeld is a Democrat.
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