Department of Finance Directors

John Pierce was appointed Director of Finance by Governor Goodwin Knight on November 1, 1953. He was born in Azusa, California, on June 12, 1902. He graduated from the University of California with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and from Harvard University with a Master of Business Administration. He was an economist and tax counselor for the California Taxpayers Association from 1929 to 1940. He was also the Director of the Tax Department of the California State Chamber of Commerce from 1940 to 1945 and an economist and executive vice president of the Western Oil and Gas Association from 1945 to 1953.