Department of Finance
915 L Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
 

Michael C. Genest, Director of Finance

Michael Genest was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on December 1, 2005, as Director of the California Department of Finance. Mr. Genest first joined the Department as Chief Deputy Director in November 2003. He left the Department in February 2005 to serve as Undersecretary of the Health and Human Services Agency and returned to Finance in September 2005 as Acting Director.

Before joining Governor Schwarzenegger’s Administration, Mr. Genest was the Director of the California Senate Republican Fiscal Office. Previously, he was the manager in charge of most of the state’s public health programs, reporting directly to the State Health Officer. Prior to that, he was the Deputy Director for Welfare Programs in the Department of Social Services, following a ten-year career in the Legislative Analyst’s Office. Before the Legislative Analyst’s Office, Mr. Genest worked in the Governor’s Bureau of the Budget in Illinois.

Mr. Genest received his master’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley, Graduate School of Public Policy in 1980. Before that Mr. Genest was a journeyman carpenter in the Napa chapter of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners. He is married to Katherine Stafford Genest and has two sons, Lieutenant Thomas Genest, USNR and Second Lieutenant Dennis Genest, United States Army.