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Watch: Two staff graduate Innovation Fellows program

March 13, 2026

Secretary Jeff Macomber congratulates Governor's Innovation Fellows graduates Samantha Kissane and Chris Siino.

Two CDCR employees have graduated the first cohort of the Governor’s Innovation Fellows program.

Samantha Kissane and Chris Siino, both associate wardens, have worked for the department for 18 years.

Kissane leads the Centralized Screening Team for the Office of Internal Affairs. Meanwhile, Siino is an associate warden at California State Prison-Solano.

“Today we are graduating the first cohort of the Governor’s Innovation Fellows, a cohort of 21 Fellows,” explained Jeffery Marino, director, Office of Data and Innovation. “They joined us (at our office) for six months. They were nominated by their agency secretaries and department directors.”

Undersecretary Jennifer Barretto said they were selected because of their leadership abilities.

“Samantha and Chris each demonstrate an innovative mindset applying their knowledge and experience with modernization to improve overall operations and prepare CDCR for the future,” she said.

Kissane said each of the fellows were representing their agencies and departments.

“(We’re a) group (of staff) from state agencies (from) all over California,” said Kissane.

Siino said their goal was to look at the agencies and departments to find ways to modernize and become more efficient in their practices.

Innovation Fellows program teaches new skills

Amy Tong, senior counselor to the governor, said the Innovation Fellows program is essentially a start-up.

Watch the video (story continues below):

“There’s no funding. Nobody knows what this is about,” she said. “You really have to prove yourself in order to gain momentum.”

Siino and Kissane saw a lot of opportunities to streamline and modernize processes at CDCR.

“(Our department) is a great candidate for this Governor’s Innovation Fellows because a lot of our processes are manual or paper-based processes,” Siino said.

The two associate wardens tackled the issues head on.

A CDCR executive pins Associate Warden Chris Siino. — *Chris Siino was recognized during a cabinet meeting.*

“I think what’s really been great about this project is Chris and I being paired up as a team,” Kissane said. “(We) were able to offset each other’s strengths.”

Siino credits his training and the contacts he’s made through his career with making the project successful.

“The relationships built throughout my career, managing projects, how to do interviews and get good information you need (is) what made the experience very successful,” he said.

Kissane said there is plenty of need for this type of efficiency planning.

Samantha Kissane at the graduation. — *Samantha Kissane at the graduation ceremony. Siino was unable to attend.*

“(In) state government, we’re all riddled with the same problems,” she said. “Bringing a group of people together with different backgrounds and diversity who can collectively start to challenge the processes (is important).”

For Innovation Fellows program organizers, they said staff are now equipped with new skills to bring back to their departments.

These recently graduated fellows are handing off their projects to the next cohort.

Video by Richard Tan, TV Specialist
Story by Don Chaddock, Inside CDCR editor
Office of Public and Employee Communications

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