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. She holds a BA and a JD from the University of California, Davis.

Judge A. Marisa Chun has served on the Superior Court of California, San Francisco County, since 2021. She is currently a criminal trial judge and previously presided over juvenile dependency cases and felony arraignments and preliminary hearings. Prior to her appointment, she was a partner at Crowell & Moring LLP, where she practiced trial and appellate litigation and white-collar criminal defense.  She served at the US Department of Justice in various capacities, including as a civil rights lawyer, a prosecutor at the US Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of Virginia and the District of Maryland and, from 2009 to 2013, deputy associate attorney general.  She has previously served as a board member of the Bar Association of San Francisco, president of the Korean American Bar Association of Northern California, a Coro Foundation Public Affairs fellow, and a law clerk to the Honorable Robert Boochever of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She joined PPIC’s board of directors in 2015, having previously served as PPIC’s outside counsel. She graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School, where she served as developments editor of the Harvard Law Review.

Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero is the 29th Chief Justice of California, making history as the first Latina to serve in this role. When she joined the California Supreme Court as an associate justice in March 2022, she was also the first Latina to serve on the state’s high court. As chief justice, she chairs the Commission on Judicial Appointments and the Judicial Council of California, the administrative policymaking body of the state courts. In her first State of the Judiciary address, she highlighted her commitment to a more diverse and inclusive judicial branch, as well as technology that helped preserve access to justice for Californians during the pandemic. She also adopted the Power of Democracy Civic Learning Initiative and has been active in the “Judges in the Classroom” civics program, which engages schools and encourages students to learn about the role of the judiciary. Prior to being elevated to the California Supreme Court, she served as an associate justice at the Fourth District Court of Appeals, Division One. Before her appellate appointment, she served as a judge at the Superior Court of San Diego County from 2013 to 2017 and was the supervising judge of its Family Law Division in 2017. Prior to her appointment to the bench, she worked as an associate at Latham & Watkins LLP, starting in 1997, and became an equity partner in 2006. She served as an assistant US attorney at the US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of California from 2002 to 2003. She attended the University of California, Berkeley as an undergraduate and earned a JD from Stanford Law School.