SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments.
Dale Brodsky, 60, of Orinda, has been appointed to the Fair Employment and Housing Commission. Brodsky has been a partner at Beeson, Tayer and Bodine since 2002. She served as associate editor for the California Public Employee Relations Journal from 2000 to 2002 and was principal at the Law Offices of Dale Brodsky from 1997 to 2002. Brodsky was an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law from 1997 to 2001 and a teacher at Ygnacio Valley High School from 1992 to 1996. She was an associate attorney at Saperstein Seligman and Mayeda from 1989 to 1991 and was principal at the Law Offices of Dale Brodsky from 1984 to 1988. She served as legal counsel and staff attorney for the Department of Fair Employment and Housing from 1980 to 1983 and as staff attorney for the Fair Employment and Housing Commission from 1978 to 1980. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Brodsky is a Democrat.
Linda Cabatic, 60, of Sacramento, has been appointed director of the Office of Administrative Hearings, where she has served as deputy director since 2008. She served as chief counsel for the California Department of General Services from 2004 to 2008 and senior staff counsel and chief counsel for the Office of the Secretary of State in 2004. Cabatic was a senior deputy secretary of legal affairs for Governor Gray Davis in 2003 and general counsel for the California Department of Education from 1999 to 2003. She worked at the California Attorney General’s Office as senior assistant attorney general from 1997 to 1999, supervising deputy attorney general in 1997 and deputy attorney general from 1981 to 1997. She earned a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation $150,000. Cabatic is a Democrat.
Ashley Conrad-Saydah, 34, of Sacramento, has been appointed assistant secretary for climate policy for the California Environmental Protection Agency. Conrad-Saydah has been a renewable energy program manager for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management since 2008. She was a research assistant at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California, Santa Barbara, while a graduate student at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management from 2006 to 2008. She was a Doris Duke Conservation Fellow from 2007 to 2008 and was the manager of Careers in Science at the California Academy of Sciences from 2001 to 2006. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $102,900. Conrad-Saydah is a Democrat.
Debra Cornez, 55, of Sacramento, has been appointed director of the Office of Administrative Law, where she has served as acting director since 2011. Cornez has served in multiple positions at the Office of Administrative Law since 1986, including as assistant chief counsel from 2005 to 2011 and interim director from 2003 to 2004. From 1983 to 1986, she served as staff counsel at the Institute for Administrative Justice at the McGeorge School of Law. Cornez earned a Juris Doctorate degree from McGeorge School of Law. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $140,844. Cornez is a Democrat.
David Olsen, 66, of Ventura, has been appointed to the California Independent System Operator Board of Governors. Olsen has been managing director for the Western Grid Group since 2003 and served as coordinator for the California Renewable Energy Transmission Initiative for the California Energy Commission from 2007 to 2010. He also served as coordinator for the Tehachapi Collaborative Study Group from 2005 to 2007, president of Clipper Windpower from 2001 to 2003, president of Patagonia Inc. from 1996 to 1999, vice president of Magma Power Company from 1988 to 1995 and president of Northern Power Systems from 1984 to 1988. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $20,000. Olsen is a Democrat.
Gina Solomon, 47, of San Francisco, has been appointed deputy secretary for science and health at the California Environmental Protection Agency. She has been a senior scientist for the Natural Resources Defense Council since 1996 and a clinical professor of health sciences at the University of California, San Francisco since 2011. She served as an associate clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco since 2006 and as an assistant clinical professor of medicine from 1998 to 2006. Dr. Solomon has also served as the director of the occupational and environmental medicine residency program at the University of California, San Francisco since 2008 and as the associate director of the University of California Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit since 2003. Dr. Solomon has served on the Scientific Guidance Panel for the California Environmental Contaminant Biomonitoring Program since 2007 and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board since 2011. She has also served on two committees for the National Academy of Sciences and on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Toxicology Program. Soloman earned a doctor of medicine degree from the Yale School of Medicine. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $144,996. Solomon is a Democrat.