Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments:
Jane Carney, 73, of Riverside, has been appointed to the California State University Board of Trustees. Carney was a partner at Roth, Carney and Knudsen LLP from 2008 to 2010 and at Carney and Delany LLP from 1994 to 2007. She was an associate and partner at Reid and Hellyer APC from 1981 to 1994 and at Butterwick, Bright, Pettis and Cunnison from 1977 to 1981. Carney earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Davis School of Law. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Carney is a Democrat.
Jean Picker Firstenberg, 79, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the California State University Board of Trustees. Firstenberg was president and chief executive officer at the American Film Institute from 1980 to 2007. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Firstenberg is a Democrat.
Lillian Kimbell, 56, of Woodland Hills, has been reappointed to the California State University Board of Trustees, where she has served since 2014. Kimbell has been legal counsel and manager of Spanish language authors and publisher relations at Gardels and Associates since 2011. She was legal counsel and business manager at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions from 1997 to 2011 and a law clerk for the Honorable Harry Pregerson at the U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit in 1985. Kimbell earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Kimbell is a Democrat.
Thelma Melendez, 57, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the California State University Board of Trustees. Melendez has been chief executive officer of educational services at the Los Angeles Unified School District since 2014. She served as chief advisor on education and workforce development in the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office from 2013 to 2014, superintendent at the Santa Ana Unified School District from 2011 to 2013, assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education at the U.S. Department of Education from 2009 to 2011 and superintendent at the Pomona Unified School District from 1999 to 2009. Melendez was program manager at the Stupski Educational Foundation from 2005 to 2006, deputy superintendent and chief academic officer for instructional services at the Pomona Unified School District from 1999 to 2005 and director of school and family initiatives at the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project from 1997 to 1999. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in education from the University of Southern California. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Melendez is a Democrat.
Lateefah Simon, 39, of Oakland, has been appointed to the California State University Board of Trustees. Simon has been director of programs at the Rosenberg Foundation since 2009. She was executive director at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area from 2008 to 2011, director of the Re-Entry Division at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office from 2005 to 2009 and a consultant and grants advisor at the Annenberg Foundation in 2004. Simon was executive director at the Center for Young Women’s Development from 1997 to 2005 and director of its Girls Detention Advocacy Project from 1994 to 1997. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Simon is a Democrat.
