SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments:
Lona “Grace” Koch, 52, of Elk Grove, has been appointed chief deputy director at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, where she has been special advisor and deputy director for finance and administration since 2014 and served in several positions from 1989 to 2008, including deputy director for preparedness and training, external affairs and response and recovery, program manager, associate information system analyst, emergency service coordinator and analyst. Koch was chief of the California Department of General Services, Office of Strategic Planning, Policy and Research from 2008 to 2013. She was a technician and analyst at Rancho Seco Nuclear Power Plant from 1986 to 1988. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $160,008. Koch is a Republican.
Sara Stillwell, 45, of Sacramento, has been appointed deputy director for finance and administration at the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, where she has been assistant director since 2016 and has served in several positions since 2004, including budget officer, research analyst, associate governmental program analyst and staff services analyst. Stillwell held several positions at the Governor’s Office of Criminal Justice Planning from 2001 to 2004, including executive secretary, office technician and office assistant. She was a medical assistant at the Doctors Center from 1998 to 2001. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $132,672. Stillwell is a Democrat.
Nicole Bejar, 24, of Eureka, has been appointed to the California Volunteers Commission. Bejar has been a member of the AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Program at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management since 2016. She was a member of the AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Program at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife from 2015 to 2016, where she was a scientific aid in 2016. Bejar was a monitoring intern for the Growing Leaders on Behalf of the Environment Program at the Nature Conservancy in 2015, where she was a grassland restoration intern in 2014. This positon does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Bejar is a Democrat.
Leland Adams, 61, of Downieville, has been appointed to the California Commission on State Mandates. Adams has served as a member of the Sierra County Board of Supervisors since 2009. He was sheriff-coroner at the Sierra County Sheriff’s Office from 1988 to 2007. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Adams is a Democrat.
Maria Carmen Ramirez, 68, of Oxnard, has been reappointed to the California Commission on State Mandates, where she has served since 2012. Ramirez has been Mayor Pro Tem for the City of Oxnard since 2012, where she has been a member of the city council since 2010. She has been an attorney at the Law Offices of M. Carmen Ramirez since 2009. She was community-planning director at the Central Coast Alliance for a Sustainable Economy from 2008 to 2009 and a senior attorney at the Colonia Self-Help Legal Access Center of the Ventura County Superior Court from 1998 to 2007. Ramirez held several positions at the Channel Counties Legal Services Association from 1978 to 1998, including staff attorney, managing attorney and executive director. She was a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Foundation of Long Beach from 1975 to 1978. Ramirez is a trustee for Santa Barbara and Ventura County Colleges of Law, chair of the Southern California Association of Governments’ Energy and Environment Committee and a member of the Ventura County Bar Association and the National Center for Civic Education Board of Directors. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Ramirez is a Democrat.
Patrick Allard, 42, of West Hollywood, has been appointed to the Developmental and Reproductive Toxicant Identification Committee. Allard has been an assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Public Health since 2012. He was a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School from 2005 to 2012. Allard earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in biology from McGill University and a Master of Science in the biology of aging from the Paris Descartes University. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Allard is not registered to vote.
Thomas McDonald, 54, of Martinez, has been appointed to the California Carcinogen Identification Committee. McDonald has been lead toxicologist for product safety at the Clorox Company since 2014. He was senior staff scientist at Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals from 2008 to 2014, where he was principal research scientist from 2006 to 2008. McDonald was a toxicology manager at Arysta LifeScience North America from 2005 to 2006. He served as a staff toxicologist in the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment from 1998 to 2005, where he was an associate toxicologist from 1994 to 1998. McDonald earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in environmental health sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Public Health degree in environmental health sciences from the University of California, Berkeley. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. McDonald is a Democrat.
Jared Britschgi, 38, of Bakersfield, has been appointed to the 15th District Agricultural Association, Kern County Board of Directors. Britschgi has been a grower representative at Pearl Crop Inc. since 2015. He was a technical supervisor at the Tejon Ranch Company from 2004 to 2015 and an irrigation supervisor at the Irrigation Training and Research Center from 2001 to 2004. Britschgi is a member of the Kern County Science Foundation, Kern Ag Foundation, Kern County Farm Bureau, California Association of Pest Control Advisors and the California Agricultural Leaders Foundation. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Britschgi is a Republican.
Kelly Mykrantz, 53, of Oakley, has been reappointed to the 23rd District Agricultural Association, Contra Costa County Fair Board of Directors, where she has served since 2012. Mykrantz was manager and owner at Horsetown Tack from 2008 to 2011. She was an intraday planning and staffing manager for Wells Fargo from 1989 to 2007. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Mykrantz is registered without party preference.
Darrin Monteiro, 30, of Hanford, has been reappointed to the 24a District Agricultural Association, Kings Fair Board of Directors, where he has served since 2015. Monteiro has been director of member relations at California Dairies Inc. since 2011. He was a county operations trainee at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency from 2008 to 2011. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Monteiro is a Republican.