Sacramento, California - Governor Gavin Newsom Thursday announced the following appointments:

Bradley P. Gilbert, 63, of Irvine, has been appointed director of the California Department of Health Care Services. Gilbert has been a retired annuitant at the Inland Empire Health Plan since 2019, where he has held several positions since 1996, including medical director, chief medical officer and chief executive officer. He was director of public health at the County of Riverside Health Services Agency Department of Public Health from 1993 to 1996. Gilbert was director of public health at the San Mateo County Department of Health Services Division of Public Health. He is a board member of the California Healthcare Foundation, Planned Parenthood and Manifest Medex. Gilbert earned a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $215,124. Gilbert is a Democrat.

Julie Lee, 55, of Auburn, has been reappointed undersecretary of the California Government Operations Agency, where she has served as undersecretary since 2018. Lee held several positions in the Office of Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. from 2011 to 2018, including director of operations from 2013 to 2018, reorganizational specialist from 2012 to 2013 and project manager of the governor’s reorganization plan at the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency from 2011 to 2012. She was public information manager at the California Department of Transportation, District 2 from 2009 to 2011 and served in several positions at the California Department of Personnel Administration from 2005 to 2009, including as statewide workforce planning manager, administrative assistant II, executive secretary I and office technician. Lee was an office assistant at the California Highway Patrol from 2004 to 2005 and at the California Department of Corrections from 2003 to 2004. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $191,892. Lee is a Democrat.

Joy Bonaguro, 39, of Oakland, has been appointed chief data officer at the California Government Operations Agency. Bonaguro has been head of systems and data at Corelight Inc. since 2018. She was chief data officer for the City and County of San Francisco from 2014 to 2018, information technology manager for Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory from 2011 to 2014 and information designer for the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center from 2002 to 2009. Bonaguro earned a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of California, Berkeley. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $151,728. Bonaguro is a Democrat.

Krista Canellakis, 37, of San Francisco, has been appointed deputy secretary of general services at the California Government Operations Agency. Canellakis has been chief innovation officer at the Office of Civic Innovation at the City and County of San Francisco since 2018, where she has held several positions since 2013, including deputy innovation officer, innovation officer and mayor’s innovation fellow. She was co-founder and chief technology officer at UrbanKit from 2012 to 2013. Canellakis was project assistant intern for housing development at Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation in 2011. She was development planning researcher for the development planning unit at the University College London in 2010. Canellakis held several positions at 3Degrees from 2004 to 2009, including senior marketing and partnerships manager, marketing manager and office manager. She earned a Master of Science degree in building and urban design in development at University College London. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $151,728. Canellakis is a Democrat.

Jennifer Lowden, 59, of Yuba City, has been appointed director of real property at the California High-Speed Rail Authority. Lowden has been chief of the division of right of way and land surveys at the Department of Transportation since 2015, where she has held several positions since 2001, including assistant division chief for the division of right of way and land surveys, senior right of way agent and right of way agent. She was a mortgage lender from 1984 to 2001. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $170,004. Lowden is registered without party preference.

Jane Brown, 52, of West Sacramento, has been appointed deputy director of legislation at the California High-Speed Rail Authority. She has served as assistant to the secretary of the Senate at the Senate Rules Committee since 2008. She was a committee assistant at the Senate Committee on Agriculture from 2000 to 2008. Brown was a committee assistant at the Senate Committee on Local Government from 1997 to 2000. She was a committee assistant at the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources in 1997. Brown was a committee assistant on higher education in the Assembly from 1996 to 1997. She was a committee assistant for the Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment from 1995 to 1996 and the Assembly Committee on Elections, Reapportionment, and Constitutional Amendments from 1994 to 1995. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $130,008. Brown is a Democrat.

Alexis Fernandez, 34, of Sacramento, has been appointed branch chief for the CalFresh Branch at the California Department of Social Services, where she has served as acting branch chief since 2019. Fernandez was chief of the CalFresh Policy Bureau at the Department of Social Services from 2016 to 2019. She was policy director for the First 5 Association of California from 2015 to 2016 and director of legislation for California Food Policy Advocates from 2013 to 2015. Fernandez earned a Master of Social Welfare degree from the University of California, Berkeley. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $128,556. Fernandez is a Democrat.

Natasha Nicolai, 37, of Sacramento, has been appointed chief data strategist for the California Department of Social Services. Nicolai has served as branch chief of the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids and Family Resilience program since 2019, where she served as lead research consultant for California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids from 2016 to 2019. Nicolai was a researcher at Mathematica Policy Research from 2014 to 2019. She earned a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of California, Berkeley and a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from the University of Puget Sound. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $156,240. Nicolai is a Democrat.

Corrin Buchanan, 36, of Los Angeles, has been appointed assistant director of housing and homelessness for the California Department of Social Services and appointed to the Homelessness Coordinating and Financing Council. Buchanan has been deputy director for the Office of Diversion and Reentry at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services since 2017. She held multiple positions at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services from 2013 to 2017, including program manager and director of housing. She was health program planner and project manager at the San Francisco Department of Public Health from 2012 to 2013 and community programs director for San Francisco’s Women’s Building from 2007 to 2010. Buchanan earned a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of California, Berkeley. Neither position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation for the assistant director position is $159,996. Buchanan is a Democrat.

Jacey K. Cooper, 37, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the Homelessness Coordinating and Financing Council. Cooper has served as state Medicaid director and chief deputy director of health care programs at the California Department of Health Care Services since 2020. Cooper was senior advisor of health care programs and assistant deputy director of health care delivery systems at the Department of Health Care Services from 2016 to 2020. She was vice president at Meridian Healthcare Partners and vice president of administrative services at the Kern Medical Center from 2014 to 2016. She held several positions at Kern Medical Center from 2010 to 2014, including special projects manager and executive director of managed care. Cooper was a senior project manager at COPE Health Solutions from 2009 to 2010 and held several positions at Marsh ClearSight LLC from 2005 to 2009, including quality assurance analyst and product manager. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Cooper is a Democrat.