SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments:
Elizabeth Echols, 55, of Berkeley, has been appointed director of the California Public Utilities Commission Division of Ratepayer Advocates. Echols was administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration Pacific Region from 2010 to 2013 and director of the Northern California Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council from 2009 to 2010. She was a member of the Obama-Biden Transition Team from 2008 to 2009, director of policy at Google Inc. from 2004 to 2008 and chief executive officer at OpNet Community Ventures from 2001 to 2004. Echols was executive director of the E-Commerce Working Group at the White House from 1999 to 2001, senior advisor on telecommunications and Internet policy at the U.S. Department of Commerce from 1994 to 1999 and an associate at Steptoe and Johnson LLP from 1990 to 1994. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $137,952. Echols is a Democrat.
Julie Quinn, 47, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the California Volunteers Commission. Quinn has been office managing director and marketplace leader at Deloitte Consulting LLP since 2010, where she has held several positions since 1996, including director, senior manager and senior consultant. She was manager at Synergy Consulting Group from 1995 to 1996 and a senior consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers from 1994 to 1995 and at Booz Allen Hamilton from 1991 to 1994. Quinn is a member of the Sacramento Children’s Home Board of Directors, City Year Sacramento Board, United Way California Capital Region Board of Directors and the California Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Quinn is a Democrat.
Cynthia Joy Cotharn, 59, of Playa Vista, has been appointed to the California Health Professions Education Foundation Board of Trustees. Cotharn has been a special projects medical consultant since 2002. She was a medical director at the Watts Health Foundation Inc. Substance Abuse Division from 1996 to 2001 and at the General Motors Luxury Car Division from 1994 to 1995. Cotharn was a research and project assistant and an assistant medical director at the Chicago Park District in 1994. She earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, Chicago Medical School. This positon does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Cotharn is a Democrat.
Janet Widmann, 49, of Lafayette, has been appointed to the California Health Professions Education Foundation Board of Trustees. Widmann has been operating advisor and chief executive officer at Rock Health since 2015. She held several positions at Blue Shield of California from 2003 to 2015, including executive vice president, senior vice president and senior director of Sales and Marketing for the CalPERS Business Unit. Widmann earned a Master of Public Administration degree in health administration from the University of Southern California, Sol Price School of Public Policy. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Widmann is registered without party preference.