SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. today announced the following appointments.
Michael Cooney, 66, of Santa Barbara, has been appointed to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Cooney has been a partner of Santa Barbara Investment Group since 1997. He was a partner at Price, Postel & Parma from 1969 to 1997. Cooney served on the California Student Aid Commission from 2000 to 2004, serving as chair from 2001 to 2004. He served on the board of directors of EdFund from 2006 to 2010 and was a trustee of the Montecito Union School District from 1977 to 1988. Cooney has served on the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission since 2004 and has served as an assistant varsity baseball coach at Santa Barbara High School since 1981. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Cooney is a Democrat.
Joan Markoff, 52, of Sacramento, has been appointed chief counsel at the Department of Personnel Administration. Markoff served as the assistant chief counsel at the Department of Toxic Substances Control from 2007 to 2011 after serving as senior staff counsel from 1991 to 2007. Markoff served as deputy state public defender at the Office of the State Public Defender from 1988 to 1991 and deputy public defender at the Solano County Public Defender’s Office from 1986 to 1988. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $132,396. Markoff is a Democrat.
Nancy Ramirez, 46, of Monterey Park, has been appointed to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Ramirez will continue to as the western regional counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, where she has served since 2007. She was the executive director of the Los Angeles Center for Law and Justice from 2005 to 2007 after previously serving as managing attorney from 2001 to 2005. Ramirez served as the assistant director of outreach with the California Complete Count Campaign from 1999 to 2000, Washington D.C. director for Representative Loretta Sanchez from 1997 to 1999, staff attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund from 1991 to 1997, and associate attorney with Whitman & Ransom from 1990 to 1991. Ramirez was an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law from 2003 to 2004 and served on the City of Monterey Park Personnel Commission from 2003 to 2008. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Ramirez is a Democrat.