Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments:
Mirada LeKander, 43, of Sacramento, has been appointed deputy commissioner of legal at the California Department of Business Oversight, where she has served as assistant chief counsel since 2016 and was senior counsel from 2007 to 2016. LeKander was a staff counsel at Travelers Insurance Company from 2005 to 2007 and an associate at Stockwell, Harris, Widom, Woolverton and Muehl in 2005 and at Laughlin, Falbo, Levy and Moresi from 2002 to 2005. She was publication editor and research attorney at the California District Attorneys Association from 1998 to 2002. Lekander earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $168,000. LeKander is registered without party preference.
Gil Topete, 47, of Sacramento, has been appointed deputy director of legislation at the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Topete was director of energy at the California Municipal Utilities Association from 2012 to 2017. He was principal advisor on transportation issues and consultant for California State Senator Christine Kehoe from 2006 to 2012, consultant for the California State Senate Energy Committee from 2007 to 2008 and chief consultant for the Subcommittee on Alternative Energy Strategies from 2007 to 2009. Topete was a legislative aide in the Office of California State Assemblymember Christine Kehoe from 2001 to 2005 and in the Office of California State Assemblymember Kevin Shelley from 2000 to 2001. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $120,648. Topete is a Democrat.
Danny Yost, 33, of Sacramento, has been appointed assistant deputy director for legislative affairs at the California Department of Transportation, where he has been a legislative liaison since 2012. He was a graduate student instructor at the University of California, Berkeley from 2011 to 2012, a legislative fellow on transit policy at the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs in 2011 and transportation engineer and planner at Fehr and Peers Transportation Consultants from 2007 to 2009. Yost earned a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of California, Berkeley. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $115,008. Yost is a Democrat.
Shirley B. Kim, 33, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the California State Board of Pharmacy. Kim has been an associate at Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP since 2016, where she was a summer associate in 2015. Kim served as a judicial intern for the Honorable Susan M. Breall at the San Francisco County Superior Court in 2014 and was a research assistant at the University of San Francisco, School of Law in 2014 and at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law in 2014. Kim was legislative director at the California Faculty Association from 2011 to 2013 and in the Office of California State Assemblymember Henry T. Perea from 2010 to 2011. She was senior legislative assistant in the Office of California State Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico from 2007 to 2010. Kim earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Irvine School of Law. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Kim is a Democrat.
