SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:

Anna Naimark, 36, of Sacramento, has been appointed Deputy Secretary and Special Counsel for Water at the California Environmental Protection Agency. Naimark has been Tribal Negotiations Advisor to Governor Newsom since 2019. She was a Senior Program Examiner at the White House Office of Management and Budget from 2014 to 2018, Human Rights Expert and Political Officer at the United States Mission to the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2016 and Research Fellow for the Open Society Foundations in 2014. Naimark was an International Business and Human Rights Fellow at Human Rights First in 2013, Legal and Policy Fellow in 2012 and a Program Assistant from 2009 to 2010 at the ACLU of Northern California and a Legal Fellow at the Center for Human Rights and the Environment in 2011. Naimark earned a Juris Doctor degree from the American University Washington College of Law and a Master of Arts degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from the School of International Service at American University. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $170,004. Naimark is a Democrat.

Erika Zavaleta, 49, of Santa Cruz, has been reappointed to the California Fish and Game Commission, where she has served since 2021. Zavaleta has been Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz since 2003. She held several positions at the Christensen Fund from 2005 to 2007, including, Consultant and Program Specialist for Landscape Ecology. Zavaleta was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley from 2001 to 2003. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biological Sciences from Stanford University and a Master of Arts degree in Anthropology from Stanford University. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Zavaleta is a Democrat.

Tania Pacheco-Werner, 37, of Sanger, has been reappointed to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, where she has served since 2020. Pacheco-Werner has been Co-Director of the Central Valley Health Policy Institute at California State University, Fresno since 2021, where she has served in several positions since 2015, including Co-Assistant Director, Research Scientist and Postgraduate Fellow. She was a Lecturer in the Sociology Department at California State University, Fresno from 2011 to 2017 and Diocesan Administrator at the Diocese of San Joaquin in 2013. Pacheco-Werner earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Sociology from the University of California, San Francisco. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Pacheco-Werner is a Democrat.

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