SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:

Andrea Ambriz, 39, of Los Angeles, has been appointed General Manager of Exposition Park. Ambriz has been Deputy Secretary of External Affairs at the California Natural Resources Agency since 2020. She was Chief Operating Officer and a Consultant at River LA from 2019 to 2020. She was Chief of Staff at SEIU Local 2015 from 2017 to 2019 and Deputy Director of Private Sector Engagement in the White House Office of Public Engagement from 2015 to 2016. She held multiple positions in the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 2011 to 2014, including Director of Policy and Strategic Engagement for the myRA Program in the Office of Domestic Finance, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs in the Office of Legislative Affairs, Special Assistant for Appropriations and International Affairs in the Office of Legislative Affairs and Consultant to the Office of Financial Education and Consumer Policy in the Office of Domestic Finance. Ambriz was a Legislative Aide in the California State Legislature from 2005 to 2009. She is a member of the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension Board of Commissioners and serves on the Upper Los Angeles River and Tributaries Working Group within the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. She earned a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of California, Berkeley. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $189,636. Ambriz is a Democrat.

Mariaelena Gonzalez, 47, of Redwood City, has been reappointed to the Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee, where she has served since 2018. Gonzalez has been an Associate Professor at the University of California, Merced since 2020, where she served as an Assistant Professor from 2013 to 2020. She has been Co-Director of the Research Core at the Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Research Center since 2018. Gonzalez was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco Center for Tobacco Control Education from 2009 to 2013. She is a member of the American Public Health Association, the Latina Researchers Network and Alpha Sigma Nu. Gonzalez earned a Master of Theological Studies degree from the Harvard Divinity School and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Sociology from Stanford University. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Gonzalez is a Democrat.    

John Maa, 53, of San Francisco, has been appointed to the Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee. Maa has served as a Surgeon at Marin General Hospital since 2014, where he was Chief of the Division of General and Acute Care Surgery from 2018 to 2020. Maa was an Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco Department of Surgery from 2004 to 2013. He served as rank O-3 in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1991 to 2000. Maa is President at the American Medical Association, San Francisco Chapter. He was President of the San Francisco Marin Medical Society in 2018, Chair of the University of California Office of the President Tobacco Related Disease Research Program from 2013 to 2017 and President of the American College of Surgeons from 2013 to 2014. He is a member of the Asian Art Museum Board of Trustees and the American Heart Association Board of Directors. Maa earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from Harvard Medical School. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Maa is a Democrat. 

Monica Morales, 43, of Rocklin, has been appointed to the Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee. Morales has been Director of the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency since 2022. She was a Deputy Director at the California Department of Public Health from 2016 to 2021. Morales held several roles at the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health from 2011 to 2016, including Deputy Bureau Chief, Chronic Disease Director and Chronic Disease Wellness and Integration Manager. Morales earned a Master of Public Administration degree in Public Policy from Columbia University. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Morales is a Democrat.    

Ramona Mosley, 49, of Elk Grove, has been appointed to the Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee. Mosley has served as Chief of Program Alignment, Communications and Equity at the Center for Health Communities in the California Department of Public Health since 2021, where she was Communications Strategist from 2020 to 2021. She was Workforce Development, Training and Technical Assistant Coordinator at the University of Nevada, Reno Department of Health Sciences from 2016 to 2020. Mosley was Director of Health Programs at the Health Education Council from 2002 to 2016. She is a member of the University of California, Davis Alumni Association. Mosley earned a Master of Science degree in Organizational Behavior and Development from Golden Gate University. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Mosley is a Democrat.    

Michael Ong, 50, of Santa Monica, has been reappointed to the Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee, where he has served since 2007. Ong has been a Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles since 2005. He has been Hospitalist Section Chief at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System since 2018, where he has been a Staff Physician since 2013. He was a Veterans Affairs Ambulatory Care Fellow at Stanford University and Veterans Affairs Palo Alto from 2003 to 2005. Ong was a Resident Physician at the University of California, San Francisco from 2000 to 2003. He is a member of AcademyHealth, the American College of Physicians, the Society of General Internal Medicine, the Society of Hospital Medicine and the California Medical Association. Ong earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Health Services and Policy Analysis from the University of California, Berkeley. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Ong is a Democrat.    

Aimee Sisson, 43, of Sacramento County, has been appointed to the Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee. Sisson has served as Health Officer of Yolo County since 2020. She was a Health Officer and Public Health Director at the Placer County Department of Health and Human Services from 2019 to 2020. Sisson was a Public Health Medical Officer at the Workforce Development Section in the California Department of Public Health’s Chronic Disease Control Branch from 2017 to 2019, where she was a Public Health Medical Officer in the Program Development Section from 2015 to 2017 and from 2008 to 2009. Sisson was a Farmer and Owner of the Root Cause Farm from 2015 to 2016. She was a Public Health Officer at the Office of Health Equity in the California Department of Public Health from 2012 to 2015. Sisson was an Organic Farming Apprentice at Soil Born Farms Urban Agriculture and Education Project from 2012 to 2013. She was a Resident at the California Department of Public Health Preventive Medicine Residency Program from 2007 to 2008. Sisson was a Categorical General Surgery Intern at the University of California, Davis Medical Center from 2005 to 2006. She is a Fellow at the American College of Preventive Medicine and the President at the California Academy of Preventive Medicine. Sisson is a member of the California Conference of Local Health Officers, the Health Officers Association of California and the California Medical Association. She earned a Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology from the University of California, Davis and a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Sisson is a Democrat.    

Claradina Soto, 47, of Whittier, has been reappointed to the Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee, where she has served since 2019. Soto has been an Associate Professor at the University of Southern California since 2022. She was a Clinical Assistant Professor at Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California from 2015 to 2022. Soto earned a Master of Public Health degree in Biostatistics and Epidemiology from the University of Southern California and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Preventive Medicine from the University of Southern California. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Soto is a Democrat.   

Anna Song, 46, of San Ramon, has been appointed to the Tobacco Education and Research Oversight Committee. Song has been Director at the University of California, Merced Nicotine and Cannabis Policy Center since 2018. She has been a Professor at the University of California, Merced since 2022, where she served as an Associate Professor from 2008 to 2022. Song was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, San Francisco from 2006 to 2008. She is a member of the Society for Community Research and Action, American Public Health Association and the Society of Behavioral Medicine. Song earned a Doctor of Psychology degree from the University of California, Davis. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Song is registered without party preference.