Gov. Jerry Brown added two new members to the University of California Board of Regents and reappointed two individuals to the board on Friday.
Brown appointed Monica Lozano and Richard Sherman to the Board of Regents, who, if confirmed by the state senate, will fill two of the board’s five vacant positions.
Lozano, a director of numerous media companies including La Opinion, served on the board for 12 years until 2013. Her term ended in March 2013, but Brown is now appointing her for a new 12-year term.
Sherman has been a chief executive at The David Geffen Company, an investment management firm, since 1992.
Brown reappointed regents Richard Blum and Norman Pattiz, who were both originally appointed by former governor Gray Davis. Their terms were scheduled to expire this March.
Blum is president of his own business firm and served as chair of the board from 2007 to 2009, having first joined the board in 2002. Pattiz, a media and entertainment mogul, has served on the board since 2001.
All of Brown’s Friday regent appointments are Democrats, according to a statement from the governor’s office.
The board currently has five vacancies and the terms of two more members expire this March. If all of Brown’s appointments pass the Democratic-majority state senate, Brown will still have three more vacant spots to fill. Appointed members will not begin their terms until March.
Bruce Varner, chair of the UC Board of Regents, issued a statement Friday applauding the appointments.
“I am very happy that Governor Brown has appointed three individuals with so much regental experience and another who will bring additional expertise to the University of California Board of Regents,” Varner said in the statement.
18 of the 26 members on the board are appointed by the governor for a 12-year term. One student regent and seven ex-officio members, including the governor and the Speaker of the California Assembly, make up the rest of the board.
These appointments come just before the regents’ first meeting of the year, which will be held at UC San Francisco next week.
Compiled by Jeong Park, Bruin contributor.