Governor’s Appointments

Gov. Newsom Announces Appointments

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom Jan. 11 announced the following appointment:

Katherine Butler, 38, of Redondo Beach, has been appointed Deputy Director of the Hazardous Waste Management Program at the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Butler has served as Senior Health Deputy for Supervisor Janice Hahn, Chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors since 2021. She was a Program Supervisor at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health from 2015 to 2020 and a Senior Health Scientist at McDaniel Lambert Inc. from 2008 to 2014. Butler is a board-certified toxicologist. She earned a Master of Public Health degree in Environmental Epidemiology from the University of Michigan. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $189,636. Butler is registered without party preference.

Arts Appointments

Alex Israel, 40, of Los Angeles, as of Jan. 6 has been reappointed to the California Arts Council, where he has served since 2020. Israel has been a contemporary artist since 2010, with a broad conceptual practice that examines Southern Californian culture, the entertainment industry and the American Dream. He was a salesperson for Hauser & Wirth Gallery from 2006 to 2008, an assistant for the artist Jason Rhoades from 2005 to 2006 and at Sotheby’s contemporary art department in New York in 2004. He was a curatorial assistant at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles in 2003. He earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Southern California Roski School of Fine Arts. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Israel is a Democrat.

Virginia Joy Simmons, 69, of Los Angeles, in December was appointed to the California African American Museum Board of Directors. Simmons has been Senior Art and Exhibition Advisor for Destination Crenshaw since 2020. She has been Faculty at the Center for Medical Education for Kaiser Permanente since 2000 and a Radiologist at Kaiser Permanente since 1983, where she is now semi-retired. Simmons is a member of the National Medical Association and the boards of the Mistake Room and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Simmons earned 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. Simmons is a Democrat.