Gov. Gavin Newsom announced two appointments late Wednesday in the technology office he proposed in his first state budget.
Newsom appointed Jeffery R. Marino, 40, of Los Angeles, as deputy director of service innovation at the Office of Digital Innovation (ODI), where he had been insights program manager for just more than one year. Before that, Marino was ODI’s insights product lead from 2020 to 2021. Earlier, in the private sector, he headed up research and development at Symbihom from 2019 to 2021 and was senior content lead and data journalist at ZipRecruiter from 2018 to 2019. Marino has a master’s in literature and critical theory from the University of California, Santa Cruz. The position does not require Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $164,328.
Marino told Techwire he’s looking forward to improving how the state serves residents. “We are already hard at work helping to design services that meet Californians where they are. I’m incredibly proud to be part of this talented team and excited for the work ahead,” Marino said via email.
The governor has also appointed JP Petrucione, 48, of Sacramento, as deputy director of user research at ODI, where he has been director of communications since 2019. Before that, Petrucione was director of digital media in Newsom’s office in 2019. During 2019, Petrucione joined a team of public- and private-sector technologists as they worked on alpha.CA.gov, a roughly three-month sprint to reimagine ca.gov, the state’s website, as more user-centered and intuitive. Previously, he was global digital director for public policy at Airbnb from 2016 to 2018, and he co-founded and served as managing partner at Social Stream Media from 2010 to 2016. Petrucione was also deputy communications director for Newsom from 2004 to 2007, when then latter was mayor of San Francisco. The position does not require Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $164,328.
“I am so excited and honored to have this opportunity to be part of the administration’s effort to engage directly with Californians and advance the work of transforming government services,” Petrucione told Techwire via email.
ODI is “working to help state government embracing innovation and change under the leadership of Government Operations Secretary Amy Tong, who — as the state’s chief information officer — led teams to procure and build dozens of technology tools needed to serve Californians during the pandemic,” Amy Palmer, spokeswoman for GovOps, said via email, adding: “Tong envisions ongoing partnership with agencies and departments across state government to demonstrate what’s possible.” ODI is an entity under the Government Operations Agency “umbrella.”
