Gov. Newsom Announces Appointments

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom Feb. 13 announced the following appointment:

Phil Mercado, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed to the California Arts Council, where he has served since 2022. Mercado has been a Partner Emeritus with the Southern California Permanente Medical Group since 2024, 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. He was Regional Chief of General Surgery at the Southern California Permanente Medical Group from 2014 to 2023. Mercado was Chief of the Department of General Surgery at the Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park Medical Center from 2002 to 2019. He is Co-Chair of Annual Giving for Harvard Westlake, and a Member of the National Finance Team for the Democratic National Committee and the Hammer Museum Board of Advisors. Mercado earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Wisconsin – Parkside. This position requires Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $100 per diem. Mercado is a Democrat.