Authority Members
Fiona Ma, CPA
State Treasurer
Background: Ms. Fiona Ma was elected California State Treasurer in November 2018. She previously served as Chair and Vice Chair of the California State Board of Equalization from 2015 to 2019, representing more than nine million taxpayers. There, she led historic reforms to increase efficiency and transparency at the agency. As a state legislator, she was the first and only Asian-American woman ever elected California Assembly Speaker pro Tempore, the second-highest ranking office in the Assembly. During her time as a legislator, she passed landmark legislation to ban toxic chemicals in children’s toys, protect small business-owners and expand opportunities for homeowners. She previously served as a San Francisco Supervisor.
Malia M. Cohen
State Controller
State Controller Malia M. Cohen was elected in November 2022, following her service on the California State Board of Equalization (BOE), the nation’s only elected tax commission responsible for administering California’s $100 billion property tax system. She was elected to the BOE in November 2018 and was Chair in 2019 and 2022. As Controller, she continues to serve the Board as its fifth voting member.
As chief fiscal officer of the world’s fifth-largest economy, Controller Cohen’s primary responsibility is to account for and protect the state‘s financial resources. Controller Cohen also independently audits government agencies that spend state funds, safeguards many types of property until claimed by the rightful owners, and administers the payroll system for state government employees and California State University employees. She serves on 70 boards and commissions with authority ranging from affordable housing to crime victim compensation to land management.
Joe Stephenshaw
Director of Finance
Joe Stephenshaw was appointed as Director of the California Department of Finance by Governor Newsom in July of 2022. In this role, he serves as the Governor’s Chief Fiscal Policy Advisor. Prior to his appointment, Stephenshaw served in Governor Newsom’s Office as a Senior Counselor on Infrastructure and Fiscal Affairs.
Stephenshaw was Staff Director for the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee from 2017 to 2022. He held multiple positions in the California Legislature from 2008 to 2017, including serving as a Policy Consultant in the Office of the Senate President pro Tempore, a Special Advisor to the Speaker of the Assembly, and as a Budget Consultant for both the Assembly Budget Committee and the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee. Stephenshaw was a Budget Analyst for the California Department of Finance from 2005 to 2008.
Stephenshaw is a graduate of Menlo College with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. He also earned a Master of Business Administration degree from California State University, Sacramento.
Susan Bransen
Executive Director, California Transportation Commission
Bransen serves as the California Transportation Commission's (Commission) Executive Director, reporting to the thirteen-member Commission. She has a major role in affecting the outcome of all policies and actions adopted by the Commission including the programming and allocation of several billion dollars annually for the construction of highway, passenger rail, transit and active transportation improvements throughout California.
Ms. Bransen’s career spans more than 25 years in transportation. Prior to this appointment, Ms. Bransen served as the Commission’s Chief Deputy Director responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Commission, serving as the chief of staff and policy advisor to the Commission’s Executive Director. In addition to positions held with the Commission, she previously served as the California Department of Transportation’s Director of Audits and Investigations. In this position she was responsible for managing a complex and comprehensive audit and investigative program with responsibility for advising on the integrity of activities performed by a workforce of more than 20,000 and annual expenditures in excess of $12 billion.
Laurie Berman
Director of the California Department of Transportation
Laurie Berman was appointed by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. to be the Director of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) beginning in March, 2018. She leads the more than $8 billion organization and nearly 20,000 employees who build, maintain, and operate the 50,000 lane miles of California’s transportation system. Director Berman has been actively engaged in the implementation of SB 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act and will seamlessly continue Caltrans’ momentum to deliver SB 1 projects and rebuild California.
Since she started at Caltrans in 1983, Director Berman has held several positions, including acting chief deputy director, San Diego and Imperial county district director, chief deputy district director of project delivery, State Route 125 south toll road corridor project manager, design manager and senior transportation engineer.
Director Berman managed a record level of investment in Imperial County infrastructure from 2009 to 2017 as the district 11 director on the south end of the state. She oversaw the Interstate 5 north coast corridor project groundbreaking, the successful delivery of the State Route 125 public-private partnership project, and improved mobility efforts along the California-Mexico Border.
Director Berman has long been an integral part of a statewide leadership team, working to ensure Caltrans will effectively meet growing transportation demands. In 2012, Berman served on special assignment for an intensive department program review. She shares the vision for a future state transportation system infused with innovation and new technologies that will provide truly multi-modal options to efficiently move people and goods across California.
Berman is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Women’s Transportation Seminar, which honored her as the San Diego chapter’s "Woman of the Year”" in 2011. She earned Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering in 1983 at Michigan State University.
Rebecca J. Long
Senior Legislative Analyst, Metropolitan Transportation Commission
Senate Rules Committee Appointee
Rebecca has been working in the field of transportation for the last 14 years. After
graduating from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1994 with a major in
Politics and obtaining a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Michigan
in 1998, Rebecca began working at the California Legislative Analyst’s Office
(LAO) covering the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) assignment.
Rebecca joined the San Francisco Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation
Commission (MTC) in 2002, where she works as a Senior Legislative Analyst, seeking to
defend and grow the transportation funding pie at the regional, state and federal
level.
During her tenure at MTC, Rebecca served a leading role in several major pieces
of state legislation, including Senate Bill 916 (Perata) in 2003, which led to voter
approval of a $1 toll increase in March 2004 and Senate Bill 375 (Steinberg), the
state’s groundbreaking climate change legislation that links together regional
transportation funding decisions and land use planning for the first time.
Assembly Speaker Appointee: TBA