Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments:
Deanne M. Wertin, 52, of Granite Bay, has been appointed deputy agency information officer for the Office of Systems Integration at the California Health and Human Services Agency. Wertin was chief operations officer at Social Interest Solutions from 2015 to 2017 and at M Corp Inc. from 2013 to 2015. She was senior vice president of operations at the Walz Group LLC from 2011 to 2014 and chief executive officer at MAXIMUS Consulting Services Inc. from 2008 to 2010. Wertin was president of Western Region State Government Health Operations at MAXIMUS Inc. from 2006 to 2008 and managing director at BearingPoint/KPMG Consulting from 1997 to 2006. She is a member of Placer County Child Advocates. Wertin earned a Master of Business Administration degree in independent health care systems from the University of California, Davis. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $134,400. Wertin is a Democrat.
Susan J. Freitag, 48, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the California State Summer School for the Arts Board of Trustees. Freitag has been a theater teacher and department chair of visual and performing arts at El Camino Real Charter High School since 2000. She is a member of the Equality California Leadership Academy, Drama Teachers Association of Southern California, California Educational Theatre Association and the International Thespian Society. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Freitag is a Democrat.
Gema Quetzal Cardenas, 16, of Oakland, has been appointed to the California State Board of Education. Cardenas has been co-founder of Life Academy Student Leadership since 2016 and a student at the Life Academy of Health and Bioscience since 2012. She was an intern for the Student Engagement Office at the Oakland Unified School District from 2017 to 2018. Cardenas was health and wellness director of the Oakland Unified School District’s All City Council Student Union from 2016 to 2017, where she was vice president from 2015 to 2016. She is a member of the Oakland Unified School District Board of Education, a student representative for the Oakland Unified School District Sanctuary District Task Force and an ambassador for Oakland Promise. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Cardenas is not registered to vote.
