SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments.
Sylvia Torres-Guillen, 49, of Los Angeles, has been appointed special counsel in the Office of the Governor. Torres-Guillen has served as general counsel at the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board since 2011. She served as a deputy federal public defender at the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Central District of California from 1993 to 2011. Torres-Guillen was a member of the State Bar of California Council on Access and Fairness from 2010 to 2013, co-chair of the Hispanic National Bar Association’s Latina Commission from 2010 to 2011 and co-president of the Latina Lawyers Bar Association and vice-president of the Mexican American Bar Foundation from 2009 to 2011. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $162,852. Torres-Guillen is a Democrat.
Henry Ortiz, 50, of Studio City, has been appointed to the California Science Project Advisory Board. Ortiz has been an instructional coordinator of Student Integration Services for the Los Angeles Unified School District since 2014, where he served in several positions from 1993 to 2009, including science specialist, secondary teacher advisor and teacher. Ortiz was a teacher and chair of the Science Department at North Hollywood High School from 2011 to 2014 and executive director at NatureBridge, Santa Monica Mountains and Channel Islands from 2009 to 2011. He is a member of the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles and the California Environmental Literacy Task Force. Ortiz earned a Master of Education degree in educational administration from California State University, Northridge. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Ortiz is not registered to vote.
Francis Lau, 60, of San Francisco, has been appointed to the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities. Lau has been a vice president and area manager at First Bank since 2000. He was co-manager and vice president at the Washington Mutual Bank Retail Banking Division from 1997 to 2000, a corporate development director and director of finance at Pharmakon International Laboratory Ltd. from 1994 to 1995 and a branch manager at Wells Fargo from 1992 to 1994, where he held several positions from 1977 to 1992, including assistant vice president, manager of the Private Banking Department and lending officer in the retail banking group. He is treasurer at the Donaldina Cameron House and a member of the Operation HOPE Advisory Council and the Habitat for Humanity, Greater San Francisco Family Selection Committee. Lau earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of San Francisco School of Management. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Lau is registered without party preference.
Ana Ubensmith, 57, of San Diego, has been appointed to the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities. Ubensmith was an attorney in the Law Offices of John Corral in 1993 and in the Law Offices of James McDermott from 1991 to 1993. She was co-director at Parent to Parent of San Diego County from 1989 to 1991, a mediator at the San Diego Community Mediation Center from 1987 to 1989 and an attorney at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 1985 to 1987. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Notre Dame Law School. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Ubensmith is registered without party preference.