On March 10, Governor Gavin Newsom announced the following appointments:
Ryan Morimune will be appointed, effective March 23, as chief of legislative affairs for administration at CDCR. He has served as chief of staff and legislative director for State Senator Steven Bradford since 2017. He was principal assistant in the Office of State Assemblymember Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer from 2016 to 2017. He was press secretary and legislative aide in the Office of State Assemblymember Susan Bonilla from 2014 to 2016. He was a policy intern for the Assembly Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review and in the Office of State Assemblymember Jim Frazier from 2013 to 2014. He earned a Master of Arts degree in sociology with an emphasis on race, ethnic relations and criminology from California State University, Sacramento. This position does not require Senate confirmation.
Russ Nichols has been reappointed director of the Division of Enterprise Information Services at CDCR, where he has served in that role since 2015. He was director of strategic offender management systems at CDCR from 2010 to 2015. He was MyCalPays technical project manager at the California State Controller’s Office from 2007 to 2009. He was application services and customer services manager at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection from 1999 to 2007. He was a member of the Marine Reserve with the U.S. Marine Corps from 1987 to 1994. Nichols was confirmed to this position by the Senate in 2016.