Gov. Gavin Newsom made several tech-related agency appointments this week.
Edmond Blagdon has been appointed as the director of Enterprise Information Systems for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), where he has been serving as the deputy director of Integrated Business and Technology Solutions since 2021.
Blagdon, an El Dorado Hills resident, has held several other roles in state government, according to his LinkedIn profile. Before taking the deputy director position, he served as the Strategic Offender Management System (SOMS) communications and change management director for CDCR since 2009. He was also the development manager for the California Department of Health and Human Services from 2004 to 2009.
Jessica Meng has been appointed as a senior product manager with the Office of Data and Innovation.
Meng’s resume has a number of similar private-sector roles, including several positions at Instacart, as senior product manager at Zalando, and multiple positions at online marketplace Etsy and stock photography company Shutterstock.
Meng, an Oakland resident, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science and electronic art from Carnegie Mellon University.
Sarah Keber of Sacramento has been appointed as the assistant secretary for Business Transformation and Strategic Development within the California Government Operations Agency (GovOps). Like Blagdon, Keber comes from the public sector, having served as senior manager of strategic projects and performance for the Sacramento Regional Transit District since 2020.
Prior to that, she was the budget manager at the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency from 2019 to 2020, and was also a financial budget analyst at the California Department of Finance from 2018 to 2019.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political economics of industrial societies from the University of California, Berkeley, as well as a law degree from the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law.
Newsom Makes GovOps, CDCR, ODI Appointments
The governor’s office has announced three new IT-related appointments to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Office of Data and Innovation, and the California Government Operations Agency.
Shutterstock
