SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments:
Nkiruka Catherine Ohaegbu, 33, of Sacramento, has been appointed special assistant of planning and policy at the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency. Ohaegbu has served in several positions in the Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. since 2012, including administrative assistant to the Governor and scheduler. She was a human resources and billing manager at Allied Continuing Care from 2006 to 2011. Ohaegbu earned a Master of Business Administration degree from California State University, Sacramento. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $60,000. Ohaegbu is a Democrat.
Deborah Halberstadt, 40, of Sacramento, has been appointed deputy secretary for ocean and coastal matters at the California Natural Resources Agency. Halberstadt has served as a deputy attorney general in the Environment Section at the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General since 2006, where she litigated civil and criminal environmental laws protecting the state’s environmental resources. She was cross-designated as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, Environmental Crimes Section from 2011 to 2014. Halberstadt was a law clerk for the Honorable Walter L. Carpeneti at the Alaska Supreme Court from 2005 to 2006, a summer associate at Earthjustice in 2004 and a legal extern at the Sierra Club Environmental Law Program from 2003 to 2004. She served as federal legislative liaison in the Office of Governor Gray Davis from 1999 to 2002, handling natural resources and environmental protection issues, and served in the office as director of constituent affairs from 1998 to 1999. She was a legislative and policy coordinator in the Office of Lieutenant Governor Gray Davis from 1997 to 1999. Halberstadt is secretary of the State Bar of California’s Environmental Law Executive Committee. 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 $127,992. Halberstadt is a Democrat.
Aaron Maguire, 39, of Roseville, has been appointed general counsel at the California Board of State and Community Corrections. Maguire has been managing partner at Maguire and Pank since 2014 and general counsel and legislative representative at Warner and Pank LLC since 2012. He was assistant secretary in the Office of Legislative Affairs at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in 2012 and deputy legislative affairs secretary in the Office of the Governor from 2009 to 2012. Maguire was a deputy attorney general at the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General from 2001 to 2009. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Davis School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $136,308. Maguire is registered without party preference.
Karriann Farrell Hinds, 44, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the California Board of Accountancy. Hinds has been a consultant to the Public Policy Institute of Santa Monica College since 2015. She was consultant to the Academic Support Department at Abraham Lincoln University School of Law from 2006 to 2007, a solo practitioner at the Law Office of Karriann Farrell Hinds from 2002 to 2005, an associate at Sedgwick, Detert, Moran and Arnold from 2003 to 2004 and director of development and attorney at the Harriett Bahai Center for Family Law from 2001 to 2002. She was an associate at Robie and Matthai from 1999 to 2001, where she was a law clerk from 1998 to 1999. Hinds is a member of the Los Angeles County Commission for Women. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Hinds is a Democrat.
Jacqueline Phan Nguyen, 53, of Stanton, has been appointed to the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities. Nguyen has been senior project specialist at CalOptima since 2014, where she was a provider relations representative from 2010 to 2014. She was senior case manager at Southeast Area Social Services Funding Authority WorkSource in 2010 and program coordinator at the University of California, Irvine from 2006 to 2010. Nguyen is a member of the Community Emergency Responders, Association of Contingency Planners and the Business and Industry Council for Emergency Planning and Preparedness. She earned a Master of Science degree in public safety from Capella University. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Nguyen is a Democrat.
Charles Horne-Nutt, 41, of Paradise, has been reappointed to the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities, where he has served since 2014. Horne-Nutt has been a care provider at the Butte County In-Home Supportive Services Public Authority since 1999. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Horne-Nutt is a Democrat.
Sandra Smith, 61, of Sacramento, has been reappointed to the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities, where she has served since 2012. Smith has been office manager at Visiting Angels since 2007. She was a consultant at California Services for Technical Assistance and Training from 2000 to 2011 and at United Advocates for Children with Mental Health Needs in 2008. Smith was an executive assistant for the City of Sacramento in 2004 and a grant reader for the California Department of Education from 1998 to 2000. Smith was a teacher at Merryhill Private Middle School from 1996 to 1998 and a special education teacher for the Grant School District from 1992 to 1996. She is a member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the University of California, Davis Institutional Review Board. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Smith is a Democrat.
Robert Taylor, 55, of Clearlake, has been reappointed to the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities, where he has served since 2013. Taylor has been an advisor at the Board Resource Center Inc. since 2009. He was a member of the Regional Community Advisory Committee of L.A. Care Health Plan from 2008 to 2011. Taylor was a telemarketer at Zoya Communications Inc. from 1998 to 2001. He is a member of the North Los Angeles County Regional Center Self-Advocacy Group, State Council on Developmental Disabilities Employment First Committee and a consumer member of the California Health and Human Services Agency, Olmstead Advisory Committee. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Taylor is a Democrat.
Larry Yin, 52, of Yorba Linda, has been appointed to the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities. Yin has been an associate professor of clinical pediatrics at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine and a general and developmental-behavioral pediatrician at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles since 2002. He is medical director at the University of Southern California Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, a fellow at the American Academy of Pediatrics and a member of the Academic Pediatric Association and the Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. Yin earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Saint Louis University School of Medicine and a Master of Science degree in public health from the University of California, Los Angeles. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Yin is a Democrat.