Governor Brown Announces Appointments

Published:

SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments.

Richard Devylder, 43, of Sacramento, has been appointed director of the Office for Access and Functional Needs at the California Emergency Management Agency. Devylder has been senior advisor of accessible transportation at the U.S. Department of Transportation since 2010. He was special advisor to the secretary of the California Emergency Management Agency from 2008 to 2010, deputy director of Independent Living and External Affairs at the California Department of Rehabilitation from 2003 to 2008 and executive director of the Dayle McIntosh Disability Resource Centers from 2000 to 2003. Devylder held multiple positions at California State University, Long Beach from 1998 to 2000, including advisor and multiple positions at Southern California Rehabilitation Services Inc. from 1992 to 1998, including program director. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $108,636. Devylder is a Republican.

Connie Gipson, 49, of Bakersfield, has been appointed warden at Corcoran State Prison, where she has served as acting warden since 2011 and chief deputy from 2010 to 2011. She served as correctional administrator at North Kern State Prison from 2008 to 2010 and held multiple positions at Wasco State Prison from 1997 to 2008, including facility captain, correctional business manager and health program coordinator. She held multiple positions at the California Institution for Women from 1988 to 1997, including senior medical technical assistant and medical technical assistant. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $130,668. Gipson is a Democrat.

John Boyd, 43, of Folsom, has been appointed to the California Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission. Boyd has been chief administrative officer of Regional Behavioral Health and Continuing Care at Sutter Health’s Sacramento Sierra Region, including Sutter Medical Center, Sacramento, since 2008. He was assistant administrator at the Kaiser Permanente, Sacramento Medical Center from 2007 to 2008. Boyd held multiple positions at Shriners Hospitals for Children from 1999 to 2006, including Western Region Director of Development. He served as a City of Sacramento Planning and Design Commissioner from 2004 to 2008. Boyd is a fellow at the American College of Healthcare Executives. He earned a Doctor of Psychology degree from the California School of Professional Psychology and earned a Master of Health Administration degree from the University of Southern California. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Boyd is a Democrat.

Muntu Davis, 44, of San Ramon, has been appointed to the First 5 California Children and Families Commission. Davis has been department director and county health officer at the Alameda County Public Health Department since 2012, where he has served in multiple positions since 2005, including acting department director, director of the Communicable Disease Division, deputy health officer, deputy health officer of public health emergency preparedness and coordinator of the regional cities readiness initiative. Davis was a community health program supervisor at the California Department of Health Services in 2005 and a physician at Tracy Zweig Associates from 2003 to 2011. He was chief resident at the Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital from 2001 to 2002. Davis held multiple positions at the Tom Bradley Elementary School, Continuity of Instruction to Reinforce Our Children’s Learning Environment from 1996 to 1999, including co-director and member of the board of directors. He earned a Doctor of Medicine degree at the University of California, Los Angeles and a Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard University, School of Public Health. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Davis is a registered decline-to-state.

Margaret “Peggy” Hellweg, 61, of Orinda, has been reappointed to the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic Safety Commission, where she has served since 2011. Hellweg has been a research geophysicist at the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory since 2001. She was a geophysical consultant at Geo Enterprises Orinda from 1995 to 2001 and a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey, Branch of Seismology, from 1990 to 1995. Hellweg earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Stuttgart University and a Master of Science degree from the University of Goettingen. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Hellweg is a Democrat.

Emir José Macari, 55, of Carmichael, has been reappointed to the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic Safety Commission, where he has served since 2011. Macari holds multiple positions at California State University, Sacramento, including dean of engineering and computer science since 2006 and director of the California Smart Grid Center since 2008. He was a dean of science and engineering at the University of Texas at Brownsville from 2004 to 2006. Macari was the director of the Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology at the National Science Foundation from 2001 to 2002. He held multiple positions at the Louisiana State University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering from 1999 to 2004, including chairman, Bingham C. Stewart distinguished professor and associate professor. Macari was an associate professor of geotechnical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1992 to 1998. He earned a Doctor of Engineering degree in civil engineering and a Master of Science degree in civil engineering from the University of Colorado. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Macari is a Democrat.

Timothy Strack, 43, of Riverside, has been reappointed to the Alfred E. Alquist Seismic Safety Commission, where he has served since 2011. Strack has served in multiple positions at the City of Riverside Fire Department since 1995, including fire captain. He was a paid-call firefighter at the San Bernardino County Fire Department from 1987 to 1995. Strack was a reserve deputy sheriff air medic for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Aviation Division from 1992 to 2002. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Strack is a Democrat.

###