Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments:
Suhasini Patel, 56, of El Dorado Hills, has been appointed assistant deputy director of the Site Mitigation and Brownfields Reuse Program at the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Patel has served as environmental program manager at the California Department of Toxic Substances Control since 2016, where she has served in several positions since 2007, including chief of the Special Projects Unit, chief of the Research and Policy Development Unit and hazardous substances scientist. She was project chemist at TetraTech Environmental Management Inc. from 2005 to 2007, information technology services manager at Entech Analytical Laboratories from 2003 to 2005 and information systems department manager at Therma Corporation from 1997 to 2003. Patel earned a Master of Science degree in microbiology from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $153,192. Patel is a Democrat.
Crystal Miller-O’Brien, 50, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed to the California Law Revision Commission, where she has served since 2011. Miller-O’Brien has been corporate counsel at Medical Management Consultants Inc. since 2006. She was an attorney at Anderson McPharlin and Conners LLP from 2005 to 2006, at Robie and Matthai PC from 2003 to 2005 and at Bullivant Houser Bailey LLP from 2002 to 2003. Miller-O’Brien was a judicial clerk at the Washington State Supreme Court from 2001 to 2002, a labor and employment law clerk at the Portland City Attorney’s Office from 2000 to 2001, a law clerk at the Oregon Department of Justice, Special Investigations Unit from 1999 to 2000, a law clerk in the Oregon Governor’s Office from 1998 to 1999 and a senior claims supervisor at the Employers Insurance Group of Wausau from 1996 to 1998. She was senior claims examiner and hearing representative at the Argonaut Insurance Company from 1990 to 1996, claims representative at Allstate Insurance Company from 1989 to 1990 and a grant and project assistant at Howard University’s Center for the Study of Disabled Adults from 1988 to 1989. Miller-O’Brien is a member of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles and the National Bar Association. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Willamette University College of Law. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Miller-O’Brien is a Democrat.
Marshall McKay, 65, of Brooks, has been reappointed to the State Historical Resources Commission, where he has served since 2013. McKay has been director of community enrichment for the California Tribal College since 2017 and tribal elder ambassador for the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation since 2015, where he served as tribal chairman from 2006 to 2015 and as a tribal council member from 1984 to 2006. He is a member of the Autry Museum of the American West Board of Trustees and the California Native American Heritage Commission Board of Trustees. McKay is past chair and co-founding member of the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation and past chair of the National Museum of the American Indian. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. McKay is a Democrat.
