Governor Gavin Newsom announced four appointments on Wednesday, including Jason Kenney of Carmichael as Director of the Department of General Services.
Kenney has been Chief Deputy Director for the department since 2023 and has held multiple positions there since 2016, including Deputy Director of Real Estate Services, Assistant Deputy Director of Real Estate Services, Chief of the Project Management and Development Branch, and Deputy Director of Strategic Planning, Policy and Research. He was Chief of the Business Management Branch at the Department of State Hospitals from 2013 to 2015 and earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from California State University, Sacramento. The position requires Senate confirmation and pays $239,858. Kenney is registered without party preference.
Patricia Barahona of Modesto has been reappointed to the Board of Trustees of the State Bar of California, where they have served since 2023. Barahona has been Business Owner of Them Tops, LLC since 2023 and Chief Executive Officer at the Youth Leadership Institute since 2020, where they held multiple roles since 2011. They are Treasurer of the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative and hold a Bachelor of Arts in Women's and Gender Studies from Rutgers University and a Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from the School of International Training. The position requires Senate confirmation and pays $50 per diem. Barahona is a Democrat.
Jose Cisneros of San Francisco has also been reappointed to the State Bar board, where he has served since 2019. Cisneros has been Treasurer for the City and County of San Francisco since 2004 and previously held roles at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, IBM Corporation, Lotus Development Corporation and the Bank of Boston. He is a Board Member of the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund and earned a Bachelor of Science in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The position requires Senate confirmation and pays $50 per diem. Cisneros is a Democrat.
Ajay Bhutoria of Fremont has been appointed to the Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists. Bhutoria has been Founder and Principal at Global Business Consulting Services since 2006 and was a Commissioner on the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders from 2021 to 2024. He earned a Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli. The position does not require Senate confirmation and pays $100 per diem. Bhutoria is a Democrat.