Governor Makes Appointments To California Arts Council

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom Feb. 4, announced the following appointments: 

Roxanne Messina Captor, 69, of Redondo Beach, has been appointed to the California Arts Council. Captor has been Associate Faculty at Santa Monica College since 1986, an Emmy-nominated and award-winning filmmaker at Messina Captor Films Inc. since 1994 and a teacher at the New York Film Academy since 2022. She was a faculty member at Emerson College LA and CalArts from 2000 to 2019. She was awarded the Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Republic of France in 2005 for her work in the arts. Captor was executive director for the San Francisco International Film Festival and Society from 2001 to 2006.  In 1990, she joined Ted Turner, as senior original programming executive, forming Turner Network Television. Captor is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Who’s Who of America, Greenlight Women and the Creative Coalition. She is also a member of Club 100 of the Los Angeles Music Center. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Captor is a Democrat.

Ellen Gavin, 68, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the California Arts Council. Gavin has been a self-employed writer since 2012. She was a senior advisor for California, Beto for America from 2019 to 2020 and founding artistic and executive director of Brava for Women in the Arts from 1986 to 2009. Gavin is an advisory board member for Farmworker Justice and Look What She Did and a former board member of the Cornerstone Theater Company. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Gavin is a Democrat.

Phil Mercado, 56, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the California Arts Council. Mercado has been a partner with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group since 2000, where he has been regional chief of general surgery since 2014. He has been a clinical instructor for general surgery at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center since 2016 and an expert medical reviewer for the Medical Board of California since 2004. Mercado was chief of the Department of General Surgery at the Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park Medical Center from 2002 to 2019. Mercado is vice chair of Annual Giving for Harvard Westlake and a commissioner for the City of Los Angeles in the Department of Cannabis Regulation. Mercado is a member of the National Finance Team for the Democratic National Committee and a member of the Hammer Museum Board of Advisors. Mercado earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Mercado is a Democrat.