Gov. Newsom Announces Appointments

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom June 6 and 12 announced the following appointments, respectively:

Debra Lee, of Carson, has been appointed chief of the division of occupational safety and health at the Department of Industrial Relations, where she has been acting chief since 2024 and has served in several positions since 1994, including deputy chief for safety, acting deputy for safety, regional manager, district manager, associate industrial hygienist and industrial hygienist. Lee was an industrial hygienist at Northrop Grumman from 1992 to 1994 and a hazardous waste specialist at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources from 1990 to 1992. Lee was an industrial hygienist at Health Science Associates from 1987 to 1990 and for TRW Electronics and Defense from 1985 to 1987. Lee earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental and Occupational Safety and Health from California State University, Northridge. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $202,368. Lee is a Democrat.

Marina A. Torres, of Los Angeles, has been appointed to the Medical Board of California. Torres has been a Partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP since 2023. She was of counsel at Halpern May Ybarra Gelberg LLP from 2022 to 2023. Torres was an assistant U.S. attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office from 2015 to 2021, where she was an acting international narcotics, money laundering, and racketeering section opioids coordinator from 2020 to 2021. She was counselor to the director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from 2014 to 2015. Torres was a senior litigation associate for WilmerHale from 2011 to 2014. She was a member of the RAW Legal Team for Obama for America in 2012, where she was Regional Co-Chair of the Futuro Fund from 2011 to 2012. Torres was a litigation associate at Munger Tolles & Olson LLP from 2008 to 2011. She was an attorney for the Immigrants’ Rights Project for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California in 2008. Torres was a judicial extern for U.S. District Court Judge Dale Fischer in 2006. She was an AmeriCorps vista volunteer for the Illinois Migrant Assistance Project at the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago from 2004 to 2005. She was a presidential support analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency in 2002. Torres is a trustee of the Mexican American Bar Association, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Emerge California Board of Directors. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, Ethnic Studies, and Rhetoric from the University of California, Berkeley and a Juris Doctor degree from Stanford Law School. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Torres is a Democrat.