Mark Baldassare is survey director at the Public Policy Institute of California, where he holds the Arjay and Frances Fearing Miller Chair in Public Policy. From 2007 to 2022, he also served as president and CEO of PPIC. Prior to that, he served as PPIC’s director of research. He is a leading expert on public opinion and survey methodology, and has directed the PPIC Statewide Survey since 1998. He is an authority on elections, voter behavior, and political and fiscal reform, authoring ten books and numerous reports on these topics. He often provides testimony before legislative committees and state commissions. Before joining PPIC, he was a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of California, Irvine, where he held the Johnson Chair in Civic Governance. He has conducted surveys for the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the California Business Roundtable. He holds a PhD in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Tani Cantil-Sakauye is president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California, where she holds the Walter and Esther Hewlett Chair in Understanding California’s Future. From 2011 to 2022, she served as the 28th Chief Justice of California and led the judiciary as the chair of the Judicial Council—the constitutional policy and rule making body of the judicial branch—the first person of color and the second woman to do so. Before she was elected statewide as the Chief Justice of California, she served more than 20 years on California appellate and trial courts and was appointed or elevated to higher office by three governors. Earlier in her career she served as a deputy district attorney for the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office and on the senior staff of Governor Deukmejian, first as deputy legal affairs secretary and later as a deputy legislative secretary. Currently she is also an associate professor at the University of Virginia, and a board member for the University of California Center for Students, the Kaiser Arbitration Oversight Board, and the Alliance of Retired Chief Justices. She holds a BA and a JD from the University of California, Davis.

Gabriel Petek is legislative analyst of the State of California, the sixth person to serve in this capacity since the office was founded in 1941. As the legislative analyst, he serves as the nonpartisan fiscal advisor to both houses of the California Legislature and oversees the preparation of fiscal and policy analyses of the state’s budget and programs. His office is also responsible for preparing impartial analyses of all initiatives and constitutional measures qualifying for the state’s ballot. Before joining the office, he worked for two decades at S&P Global Ratings. He held several positions at S&P before he was ultimately named the managing director and sector leader in the US states group of the US public finance division in San Francisco. He was S&P’s primary analyst for the states of California and Illinois. He holds the chartered financial analyst (CFA) designation and has served as an advisor to the Government Finance Officers Association’s Committee on Governmental Budgeting and Fiscal Policy. He graduated with a master’s in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, during which time he interned at the City of Boston’s Office of Management and Budget. In addition, he earned his BA, magna cum laude, in political science from Loyola Marymount University, with a portion of his undergraduate coursework completed through his participation in the Hansard Scholars Programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Cassandra Walker Pye is president for Lucas Public Affairs (LPA), a Sacramento-based public affairs consultancy. For just over 40 years, she has enjoyed a successful career in communications, government, politics, and advocacy for corporate interests in global, national, state, and local arenas. She joined PPIC’s board of directors in 2021, having previously served on the PPIC Statewide Leadership Council. In 2014, she launched 3.14 Communications, LLC. Previously, she was senior vice president for APCO Worldwide, a global strategic communications consultancy. In 2003, she was appointed deputy chief of staff to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and served on his transition team. She has served as corporate affairs vice president and political director for the California Chamber of Commerce, executive director for JobsPAC, director of public affairs for the California Retailers Association, director of governmental relations for the California Grocers Association, and state relations manager for the Food Marketing Institute. In 2018, she was named to a panel of California Influencers: 76 Californians selected by the Sacramento Bee and other McClatchy newspapers to offer their views on important issues facing the state in the lead up to the 2018 election; in 2019 she was again named to the panel. She is a prior state board president for California Women Lead and chairs the organization’s Advisory Council. She currently serves as Sacramento board chair for Street Soccer USA and sits on the national board for SSUSA. She is an American Leadership Forum senior fellow.