Staff members pictured above from left to right: Christina Shupe, Kermit Torres, Deborah R. Davis, Marian Johnston, Rob Wilcox, Oral Washington, Kirk Miller, Janeece Sargis, Raul Villanueva, Lisa Halterman, Daniel Claypool and Lon Leitch.
Citizens Redistricting Commission Staff Biographies
Daniel Claypool serves as the Commission’s Executive Director. As the Executive Director he is responsible for all staff functions in support of the Commission. He served in the Army in Germany for three years from 1971-74 and was honorably discharged. Next, he attended college and graduated from Chico State University in 1983 with a Master of Business Administration degree. Following college, Mr. Claypool joined the Office of the Auditor General rising to a Staff Auditor position and then worked for the Employment Development Department for three years as an Audit Supervisor. During 1993 he left state service and worked as an independent residential appraiser until 2008 and then returned to state service as a Senior Auditor Evaluator with the Bureau of State Audits. During his two years with the bureau, his primary assignment was working with the team that implemented the outreach and selection process for the current commission.
Deborah R. Davis serves as the Budget Officer for the Commission. As Budget Officer she is responsible for ensuring the integrity of the financial management operations and providing analysis and reporting on financial activities in support of the Commission. Ms. Davis enjoyed a 31-year career with the State of California and had been retired for 5 years prior to joining the Commission’s support staff. Ms. Davis’ state government experience focused primarily on fiscal, administrative and executive management activities for 15 state agencies. Highlights of her tenure include the Department of Insurance, Office of the Secretary of State, Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Finance. Experience Ms. Davis gained in managing small fiscal operations will bring focus and effective management of the Commission’s financial operations.
Lisa Halterman as a Staff Services Analyst primarily supports the Budget Officer in the set-up and maintenance of the financial operations of the Commission. Mrs. Halterman’s duties include processing Commissioner per diem and travel for payment, recordkeeping of expenditures, cost tracking analysis, generating financial reports and general administrative office support. Mrs. Halterman possesses a certificate in Accounting from MTI College, where she maintained a 4.0 GPA and was named on the President’s List.
Marian M. Johnston serves as Staff Attorney for the Commission. Ms. Johnson has specialized in civil rights and appellate law. After supervising the California Attorney General’s Civil Rights Section, where she successfully argued two civil rights cases before the United States Supreme Court, she entered private practice. She was an Appellate Law Specialist certified by the State Bar of California and a member of the California Academy of Appellate Law. She most recently worked in the Office of the Legislative Counsel. Ms. Johnston graduated from Stanford University and then received her J.D. from Columbia Law School.
Lonn Leitch is an assistant to the Commission. Most recently he was self-employed in residential construction. Mr. Leitch started his career with Sav-On Drugs in retail management in the Los Angeles area. Moved to Sacramento and helped start a new plastics business as production manager. He traveled extensively selling residential irrigation products to Home Depot and Lowes in the Central Valley of California. Mr. Leitch also was in sales for Poster Printers to the educational market in Northern CA and Nevada. BS in Marketing and Finance from the University of Idaho.
Kirk Miller is the Commission’s Chief Counsel. Immediately before becoming Chief Counsel, he served as General Counsel of the California Natural Resources Agency, where he coordinated the legal responsibilities of each of its departments and commissions, and also served as California’s principal negotiator for the Klamath River Dam Removal Agreement and the Klamath Restoration Agreement. Prior to state service, Kirk was of counsel at Quinn Emanuel, the country’s largest law firm devoted solely to litigation, and was Vice President and General Counsel at American Medical International, Inc., a publicly traded hospital management company, and Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals. In addition, he has served as a trustee of the Oakland Museum of California, Alameda County Medical Center and the San Francisco Legal Aid Society.
Janeece Sargis serves as the Commission Liaison. In this role, she is responsible for recording all Commission business meetings, coordinate all regional public input hearings and assisting the Commissioners with logistical and administrative issues. Ms. Sargis has worked for various state entities since 1977 including both Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. and Governor George Deukmejian as a legislative coordinator and as legislative staff to Assemblymember Marian W. LaFollette developing and managing the Assemblymember’s legislative program. Most recently Ms. Sargis worked for the Department of Consumer Affairs, Board of Engineers and Land Surveyors . Ms. Sargis has also owned and managed her own retail business. She has also been active with the Alzheimers Aid Society of Northern California as a volunteer and conducting a weekly caregivers support group.
Christina Shupe serves as the Senior Operations Analyst, coordinating strategic operations support across departments and managing information technology projects for the Commission. She comes to the Commission from a 12-state regional association where she served as the Business Development Manager representing a twenty-three billion dollar industry. During her time there she created partnerships between industry, government, and media to build respected education & networking programs. Ms. Shupe’s background includes technical consulting experience with numerous corporations, including Intel, Applied Materials, and Apple Computer. Additionally, she owned and operated a small business consultancy for 7 years, specializing in project management for startups and organizational transitions.
Raul Villanueva, M.A. is Business Manager for the Commission. His interest in working with the Commission arose from his work with the Proposition 11, Applicant Review Panel (ARP), where he was Office Manager for Panelist Keri Spano. Prior to his work with the ARP, Mr. Villanueva worked for the State of Hawaii’s central Human Resources agency and for the State of California’s Department of Consumer Affairs. Mr. Villanueva has a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from the University of North Texas.
Rob Wilcox is the Commission’s Communications Director. Prior to joining the Commission’s staff he was the Chief Deputy to California Inspector General Laura Chick who was in charge of overseeing the state’s spending of Recovery Act funds. He served as Chick’s Communications Director when she was Los Angeles City Controller. For nearly ten years Mr. Wilcox had his own public relations consulting business serving corporate and entertainment clients. He was the press secretary to Assemblywoman Marian W. La Follette in her district office. While studying journalism at California State University Northridge Wilcox was a reporter and substitute anchor for news at the university’s radio station which was an NPR affiliate. Mr. Wilcox serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Sacramento Gay and Lesbian Center.
Organizational Chart
