Announcements regarding key staffing changes of importance to California's rural counties.
Liana M. Bailey-Crimmins, of Galt, has been appointed Director of the California Department of Technology, where she has been State Chief Technology Officer since 2021. Bailey-Crimmins was Chief Information Security Officer at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System from 2019 to 2021, where she was Chief Health Director from 2017 to 2019 and Chief Information Officer from 2013 to 2017. She was Chief Information Officer at California Correctional Health Care Services from 2010 to 2013, where she was Deputy Chief Information Officer from 2008 to 2010. She is a member of the National Society of Leadership and Success. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $206,797. Bailey-Crimmins is registered without party preference.
Judge Hernaldo J. Baltodano, of San Luis Obispo, has been nominated to serve as an Associate Justice of the Second District Court of Appeal, Division Six. He has served as a Judge at the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court since 2017, where he was the Supervising Criminal Judge from December 2020 to September 2021. Judge Baltodano was a Founding Partner and Senior Litigation Partner at Baltodano & Baltodano LLP from 2011 to 2017. He worked as Senior Associate at Sanchez & Amador LLP from 2010 to 2011, Senior Associate at Anderson McPharlin & Conners LLP in 2010, and as Senior Associate at Robins Kaplan LLP from 2006 to 2009. He worked as an Associate at SR Holguin PC from 2005 to 2006, Employee Law Group from 2004 to 2005, and Hadsell Stormer Renick & Dai LLP from 2003 to 2004. Judge Baltodano earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Effective June 30, 2022, he fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Martin J. Tangeman. This position requires confirmation by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, which consists of Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, Attorney General Rob Bonta and senior Presiding Justice of the Second District Court of Appeal Arthur Gilbert. Judge Baltodano is a Democrat. The compensation for this position is $257,562.
Valerie Davis, of Arroyo Grande, has been appointed Medical Director at Atascadero State Hospital, where she has been acting Medical Director since 2022, a psychiatrist since 2016 and Department of Psychiatry Chair at Atascadero State Hospital from 2021 to 2022. Davis has been a psychiatrist and the Chief Executive Officer at Valerie Davis MD PC since 2014. She was a psychiatrist at South Coast Psychiatry from 2014 to 2016. Davis was a psychiatrist at Telecare STEPS from 2014 to 2015. She was Resident Physician at the University of California Los Angeles from 2010 to 2014. Davis is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha – Delta Chapter and the American Psychiatric Association. She earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $400,728. Davis is a Democrat.
Oliver Fiehn, of Davis, has been reappointed to the Biomonitoring California Scientific Guidance Panel, where he has served since 2013. Fiehn has served in several positions at the University of California, Davis since 2004, including Professor and Associate Professor of Metabolomics, Director of the Genome Center and Faculty Lead at the Metabolomics Core in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. He was a Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology from 1998 to 2004 and a Visiting Research Scientist at the University of Washington in 1999. Fiehn was a Research Scientist at the Technical University of Berlin, Department of Water Quality Control from 1994 to 1997. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in analytical toxicology from the Technical University of Berlin and a Master of Science degree in analytical chemistry from the Free University of Berlin. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Fiehn is not registered to vote.
Stacy Hancock, of Groveland, has been appointed to the State Board of Optometry. Hancock has been an Optician at Precision Optics since 2009. She was an Optician at Robert Haymond MD from 2003 to 2009, an Optician at Donaldson Eye Care Associates from 2002 to 2003 and Lead Optician at Vicki Leung OD & Eric Leser OD from 1994 to 2002. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Hancock is a Democrat.
Trisha J. Hirashima, of Granite Bay, has been appointed to serve as a Judge in the Placer County Superior Court. She has been Senior Legal Research Attorney at the Placer County Superior Court since 2011, where she has also been a Part-Time Commissioner since 2021. She worked at Huddleston & Sipos Law Group as an Associate from 2005 to 2011, at David Williams, Attorney at Law as a Contract Attorney from 2004 to 2005. Hirashima earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Davis School of Law. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Mark S. Curry. Hirashima is a Democrat.
Sandra Matsumoto, of Davis, has been appointed to the California Water Commission. Matsumoto has been Director for the California Water Program at the Nature Conservancy since 2020, where she was Associate Director from 2015 to 2020 and Project Director from 2004 to 2015. She was Project Manager at the Los Angeles Community Design Center from 2003 to 2004 and a Project Analyst at Mintz Levin from 1997 to 1999. She is an advisor to the Public Policy Institute of California’s Water Policy Center, a board member of the Water Education Foundation and a board member of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Conservancy. Matsumoto earned a Master of Business Administration degree in finance from the University of California, Los Angeles Anderson School of Management. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Matsumoto is a Democrat.
Crystal Robinson, of Forks of Salmon, has been appointed to the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. Robinson has been Environmental Director at Quartz Valley Indian Reservation since 2014 and held that position from 2006 to 2010. She was Water Resources Program Coordinator for the Karuk Tribe from 2010 to 2014 and Scientific Field Technician at the Siskiyou Resource Conservation District from 2003 to 2006, where she was Watershed Education Coordinator from 2004 to 2005. Robinson was a Fisheries Biological Technician for the U.S. Forest Service Salmon/Scott Ranger District in 2005, a Scientific Aide for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in 2004, a Scientific Field Technician for the Northern California Resource Center in 2004 and a Watershed Steward for the AmeriCorps Watershed Stewards Project from 2001 to 2003. She is a member of the Scott River Watershed Council, serves on the Salmon River Restoration Council Board and Scott Groundwater Advisory Committee. Robinson is secretary of the California EPA Tribal Advisory Committee, chairperson of the Klamath Basin Monitoring Program and Northern California representative on the U.S. EPA Regional Tribal Operations Committee. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $250 per diem. Robinson is registered without party preference.