Department of Finance Directors

Michael Genest was appointed Director of Finance by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on December 1, 2005. Genest was a journeyman carpenter in the Napa chapter of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners. He received his master’s degree in 1980 from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Genest worked in the Governor’s Bureau of the Budget in Illinois before beginning a 10-year career in the Legislative Analyst’s Office. He was the Deputy Director for Welfare Programs in the Department of Social Services and the manager in charge of most of the state’s public health programs, reporting directly to the State Health Officer. Before joining Governor Schwarzenegger’s Administration, Genest was the Director of the California State Senate Republican Fiscal Office. Genest first joined Finance as Chief Deputy Director in November 2003. He left Finance in February 2005 to serve as the Undersecretary of the Health and Human Services Agency and returned to Finance in September 2005 as Acting Director before being appointed as Director. After Finance, he became the Chairman of Capital Matrix Consulting.