CFAOC Members
Malia M. Cohen, Chair, California State Controller
State Controller Malia M. Cohen was elected in November 2022, following her service on the California State Board of Equalization (BOE), the nation’s only elected tax commission responsible for administering California’s $100 billion property tax system. She was elected to the BOE in November 2018 and was Chair in 2019 and 2022. As Controller, she continues to serve the Board as its fifth voting member.
As chief fiscal officer of the world’s fifth-largest economy, Controller Cohen’s primary responsibility is to account for and protect the state‘s financial resources. Controller Cohen also independently audits government agencies that spend state funds, safeguards many types of property until claimed by the rightful owners, and administers the payroll system for state government employees and California State University employees. She serves on 70 boards and commissions with authority ranging from affordable housing to crime victim compensation to land management. Controller Cohen chairs the Franchise Tax Board and serves on the boards of the nation's two largest public pension funds, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) Boards, which have a combined portfolio of $750 billion. The Controller is one of eight statewide constitutional officials who are elected every four years in California.
As the BOE Board Member for District 2, she represented 10 million constituents living in all or parts of 23 counties extending from Del Norte County in the north to Santa Barbara County in the south. As Chair of the BOE, she led the effort to modernize California’s property tax system, provide guidance to the 58 county assessors on remote assessment appeals board hearings, and utilize property tax abatements to stimulate affordable housing. Controller Cohen also ensured that the views of all who came before the Board were considered carefully, with respect, civility, and courtesy.
Prior to being elected to the BOE, Controller Cohen served as President of the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco. As a Supervisor, she served as Chair of the Budget and Finance Committee and the Audit and Oversight Committee. During this time, she also served as President of the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System (SFERS), which at the time was a $23 billion pension fund.
Controller Cohen has championed policies and programs that protect public health, foster economic development, promote new affordable housing, and create good jobs through protecting and expanding San Francisco’s manufacturing base. She has dedicated her career to public service, focusing on making public dollars work for all Californians.
Controller Cohen was born and raised in San Francisco and attended public schools. She received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Fisk University and a master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University. She and her husband reside in San Francisco along with their daughter.
Dr. Gurbinder Sadana, Physician
Dr. Gurbinder Sadana is a long-time private practice physician and specialty consultant with offices in Pomona.
He has been in private practice in Pomona since 1983, and is a specialty consultant and advisor on asthma and related disease. He is also Medical Director of Critical Care Services at the Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center in Pomona.
Dr. Sadana is a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians and a member of the Society of Critical Care Medicine. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center Foundation.
His Board Certifications include American Board of Internal Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine/Critical Care Medicine, and American Board of Internal Medicine/ Pulmonary Medicine.
Dr. Sadana graduated from Gauhati Medical College in Gauhati, Assam, India in 1969, and he has completed extensive post-graduate education including earning a Diploma in Chest Diseases from the University of Delhi, New Delhi, India.
Dr. John Maa, MD, Immediate-Past Chief of General and Acute Care Surgery, Marin Health Medical Center
Dr. John Maa is the Immediate-Past Chief of General and Acute Care Surgery, Marin Health Medical Center and a general surgeon in practice since 2002.
His professional focus is strengthening the delivery of emergency care and reducing the impact of smoking on peri-operative surgical outcomes. In 2009, Dr. Maa was named one of the “Top 20 People Making a Difference in Healthcare in America,” by HealthLeaders Magazine for conceptualizing the surgical hospitalist model that was pioneered at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center. In 2013, he was awarded the American College of Surgeons Arthur B. Ellenberger Award for Excellence in State Advocacy.
Dr. Maa is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and was the 2018 President of the San Francisco-Marin Medical Society. He is also a Past President of the Northern California Chapter of the American College of Surgeons, and the American Heart Association (AHA), San Mateo Division. He served as Chairman of the AHA California Advocacy Committee and also chaired the University of California Office of the President Tobacco Related Disease Research Program Scientific Advisory Committee. He is a current Member of the California Medical Association Council on Legislation, the AHA Western States Affiliate Board, and is Board Certified by the American Board of Surgery.
Dr. Maa received his BA from the University of California, Berkeley, before attending Harvard Medical School. He completed his general surgery residency at UCSF, and a Health Policy Fellowship at the UCSF Institute of Health Policy Studies.