SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom’s appointments in 2025 included the following:
Alison Yoshimoto-Towery of Los Angeles was reappointed on Jan. 7 to the State Board of Education, where she had been serving since 2022. She has been executive director at the California Institute for Law, Neuroscience, and Education since 2023 and executive director at the UC/CSU California Collaborative for Neuroscience, Diversity, and Learning since 2022.
She held several roles at the Los Angeles Unified School District from 1993 to 2022, including chief academic officer, director of instructional operations, instructional director, school principal, literacy coach, teacher, and para-professional. Yoshimoto-Towery was a teacher leader at the UCLA Center X from 1999 to 2005. She is a member of the California Collaborative on District Reform.
She earned a Doctor of Education degree and Master of Education degree from UCLA, Master of Arts in Education from CSU Los Angeles, and a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences from UC Irvine.
Mike Madokoro of Los Angeles County was appointed on Feb. 14 to serve as a judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. He had been a partner at Bowman and Brooke LLP since 1999, served as a managing partner or co-managing partner from 2006 to 2024. He previously worked as an associate at Morgan, Wenzel and McNicholas from 1990 to 1994. Madokoro served as a law clerk and associate at Adams and Kirkpatrick from 1989 to 1990.
He received a Juris Doctor degree from McGeorge School of Law. He filled the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Gergory Keosian.
Mayumi Kimura of Temecula was appointed on Feb. 20 as deputy secretary of woman veterans at the California Department of Veterans Affairs. She had been the founder and director of Warriors Insight Therapy since 2022. She was a readjustment counselor at Lowell Vet Center from 2019 to 2022; a program director at Middlesex Sheriff’s Office, Housing Unit for Military Veterans from 2018 to 2019; an emergency services clinician at Riverside Community Care from 2017 to 2018; a social services clinician at Butler Psychiatric Hospital from 2016 to 2017.
Kimura was also a psychosocial manager/hospice social worker at Bayada Hospice from 2013 to 2017; and served in multiple roles for the U.S. Navy from 2001 to 2010, including active-duty operations specialist, petty officer first class, and active reserves.
Judge Mark Hanasono of Los Angeles County was nominated on May 7 to serve as an associate justice of the 2nd District Court of Appeal, Division 3. He had served as a judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court since 2013; a deputy alternate public defender at the Los Angeles County Alternate Public Defender’s Office from 2004 to 2013; a deputy public defender at the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office from 2000 to 2004; and a judicial law clerk in the District of Columbia Superior Court from 1999 to 2000.
Hanasono received a Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University. He filled the vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Luis A. Lavin. Hanasono was confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, which includes Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Connie Nakano of Elk Grove was appointed on May 30 as assistant director of the Office of Strategic Initiatives and Equity at the California Department of Aging. She had been assistant director of communications at the department since 2021. She was assistant deputy of communications at the California Transportation Commission from 2020 to 2021; a public information officer at the California Department of Rehabilitation from 2017 to 2020; and a senior marketing specialist at the California Earthquake Authority from 2009 to 2017.
Nakano was a national interactive account manager at The Sacramento Bee from 2008 to 2009; an advertising account manager at KMAX TV from 2004 to 2007; an advertising account manager at Valley Yellow Pages from 2002 to 2004; a sales and marketing coordinator at KQCA 58 from 2000 to 2002. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications from CSU Sacramento.
Sumako McCallum of Los Angeles County was appointed on June 18 to serve as
a judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. She has served as a court commissioner for the court since 2024. She served as senior deputy county counsel at the Office of County Counsel, County of Los Angeles from 2014 to 2024; a staff attorney at the Children’s Law Center of Los Angeles from 2003 to 2014; and an associate at Morrison & Foerster, LLP from 2000 to 2002.
McCallum received a Juris Doctor degree from the UCLA School of Law. She filled the vacancy created by the appointment of Judge Anne Hwang to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
Andrew “Andy” Nakahata of San Francisco was appointed executive director of the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank on Sept. 11 and confirmed by the State Senate. He had been named chief deputy executive director and chief operating officer at the bank earlier in the year. He was director and Western Region head of public finance at TD Securities LLC from 2024 to 2025; managing director and regional head of public finance for the West Region at UBS Financial Services Inc. from 2017 to 2024; and managing director and head of the West Region at the National Public Finance Guarantee Corporation from 2015 to 2017.
Nakahata was director and co-head of the Higher Education Group at Citigroup from 2010 to 2015; an executive director at J.P. Morgan from 2009 to 2010; vice president of public sector and infrastructure Banking at Goldman Sachs & Co. from 1994 to 2010. He is treasurer of the Board of Trustees at San Francisco University High School and a member of the Board of Directors of Asian Americans in Public Finance. He earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Yale University and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Wesleyan University.
Ai Mori of San Francisco was appointed on Sept. 18 to serve as a judge in the San Francisco County Superior Court. She had worked as a chambers attorney to Associate Justice Martin Jenkins in the California Supreme Court since 2020 and served in multiple positions in the California Court of Appeal, 1st Appellate District from 2006 to 2020, including as chambers attorney to Associate Justice Ioana Petrou, Justice Pro Tem Rebecca Wiseman, Associate Justice Martin Jenkins, and Administrative Presiding Justice William McGuiness.
Mori worked as an associate at Minami Tamaki from 2002 to 2006 and as a staff attorney in the California Court of Appeal, 4th Appellate District from 2000 to 2002. She received a Juris Doctor degree from UC Law San Francisco. She filled the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Suzanne R. Bolanos.