Commission Members
Mr. Lawrence J. Simi, Chairperson
Public Member
Appointed by the Governor on August 17, 2005
Reappointed on September 13, 2009
Term ends on February 28, 2013
Honorable Erica R. Yew, Vice-Chairperson
Judge-Superior Court
Appointed by the Supreme Court on December 10, 2010
Reappointed on March 1, 2011
Term ends February 28, 2015
Ms. Mary Lou Aranguren
Public Member
Appointed by the Senate Rules Committee on September 5, 2011
Term ends on February 28,2013
Anthony Capozzi, Esq.
Attorney
Appointed by the Governor on April 6, 2010
Term ends on February 28, 2013
Honorable Frederick P. Horn
Judge-Superior Court
Appointed by the Supreme Court on October 22, 2003
Reappointed on March 1, 2005
Reappointed on March 1, 2009
Term ends on February 28, 2013
Honorable Judith D. McConnell
Justice-Court of Appeal
Appointed by the Supreme Court on March 30, 2005
Reappointed on March 1, 2009
Term ends on February 28, 2013
Nanci E. Nishimura, Esq.
Attorney
Appointed by the Governor on May 12, 2011
Term ends on February 28, 2015
Ms. Maya Dillard Smith
Public Member
Appointed by the Senate Rules Committee on June 27, 2007
Reappointed on March 17, 2011
Term ends on February 28, 2015
Ms. Sandra Talcott
Public Member
Appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly on November 15, 2007
Reappointed on July 11, 2011
Term ends on February 28, 2015
Mr. Adam N. Torres
Public Member
Appointed by the Governor on May 12, 2011
Term ends on February 28, 2015
Mr. Nathaniel Trives
Public Member
Appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly on October 3, 2007
Reappointed on March 4, 2009
Term ends on February 28, 2013
Members' Biographies
MR. LAWRENCE J. SIMI, Chairperson, was appointed to the Commission as a public member by the Governor August 17, 2005, and reappointed September 13, 2009; his term ends February 28, 2013. He resides in San Francisco. Mr. Simi was elected Chair of the Commission in March 2012. Mr. Simi is a retired public affairs professional and spent 30 years with a Fortune 500 Company. Previously, he was a program manager for Mayors Alioto, Moscone and Feinstein in San Francisco. He has been a board member of a variety of civic and nonprofit organizations, including San Francisco's Commission on the Aging, the Mayor's Fiscal Advisory Committee, Self Help for the Elderly, Society for the Preservation of San Francisco's Architectural Heritage, Mission Education Project, United Cerebral Palsy Association, San Francisco Adult Day Health Network, and the Institute on Aging. Currently he serves as president of the Board of Directors of Pine View Housing Corporation, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Coro Center for Civic Leadership, as a member of the Board of Directors of the George Moscone Institute for Public Service, and as a member of Senator Dianne Feinstein's Service Academy Advisory Board. Mr. Simi holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from San Francisco State University and a Master of Arts in Government from California State University, Sacramento.
HON. ERICA R. YEW, Vice-Chairperson, was appointed to the Commission as a superior court judicial member by the Supreme Court December 8, 2010, to the remainder of an unexpired term, ending February 28, 2011, and to a new four-year term beginning March 1, 2011 and ending February 28, 2015. Judge Yew was elected Vice-Chair of the Commission in March 2012. Judge Yew sits on the Santa Clara County Superior Court, to which she was appointed in October 2001. She is a member of the Judicial Council and a former member of the California State Bar Board of Governors. She served on the Judicial Council Task Force on Self-Represented Litigants. She has worked on and led a number of projects to increase diversity in the legal profession. Among her judicial assignments, Judge Yew has presided over a dependency drug treatment court and speaks on the topic of problem-solving courts. Prior to her appointment to the bench, Judge Yew was a civil litigator and graduated from Hastings College of the Law and with honors from the University of California, Berkeley.
MS. MARY LOU ARANGUREN was appointed to the Commission as a public member by the Senate Committee on Rules September 5, 2011; her term ends February 28, 2013. She resides in Alameda County. Ms. Aranguren is a certified court interpreter in Spanish/English and currently works for the Alameda County Superior Court. Ms. Aranguren previously worked as a labor representative for the California Federation of Interpreters, and served as legislative director during the development and implementation of the Trial Court Interpreter Employment and Labor Relations Act, which created 800 jobs for interpreters in the court system. Ms. Aranguren is involved in professional development and education activities for interpreters and in language access advocacy. She is a member of the California Labor Federation, and its appointee to the State Bar of California's Access to Justice Commission. Ms. Aranguren holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from San Francisco State University.
ANTHONY P. CAPOZZI, ESQ., was appointed to the Commission as a lawyer member by the Governor on April 6, 2010; his term ends February 28, 2013. He resides in Fresno and Carmel, California. Mr. Capozzi received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1967 and his law degree from the University of Toledo, College of Law in 1970. Mr. Capozzi served as a law clerk to the Honorable Omer Poos, a United States District Court Judge for the Southern District of Illinois from 1970 to 1973. From 1973 to 1979 he was a Supervising Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of California, Fresno Division. He has owned and operated the Law Offices of Anthony P. Capozzi since 1979, primarily focusing his practice in the area of criminal law. Mr. Capozzi is admitted to the Ohio, Illinois and California bars. He has served as president of the Fresno County Bar Association and the Federal Bar Association, San Joaquin Valley Chapter; lawyer, co-chair of the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference; co-chair of the Bench Bar Coalition; president of the State Bar of California from 2003-2004; member of the Access and Fairness Commission, 2004-2005; and member of the Judicial Council of the State of California, 2005-2010. Mr. Capozzi has served as the legal and political analyst for ABC Channel 30, KFSN TV in the Central Valley since 2005. He is presently the chair of the Law School Advisory Committee for the State Bar accredited law schools; and is secretary of the Board of the Central California Blood Center; since 2005, Mr. Capozzi has been a fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers. In June of 2010, Mr. Capozzi received an Honorary Doctorate of Law Degree from the Southern California Institute of Law.
HON. FREDERICK P. HORN was appointed to the Commission as a superior court judicial member by the Supreme Court October 22, 2003, and reappointed March 1, 2005, and January 8, 2009; his term ends February 28, 2013. Judge Horn served as the Commission's chairperson in 2007 and 2008 and as its vice-chairperson in 2005 and 2006 and in 2011 to 2012. Judge Horn resides in Orange County. He has been a judge of the Orange County Superior Court since 1993; he was a judge of the Orange County Municipal Court, Harbor Judicial District, from 1991 to 1993. From 2002 to 2006, he served as presiding judge of the Orange County Superior Court. Prior to his appointment to the bench, he was a prosecutor with the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. Judge Horn received his law degree from the University of West Los Angeles in 1974, where he wrote for and served as staff on the Law Review. He was the chair of the Trial Court Presiding Judges Advisory Committee of the California Judicial Council from 2002 to 2006. He is a member of the faculty of the Judicial College, the New Judges Orientation Program, and the Continuing Judicial Studies Program.
HON. JUDITH D. McCONNELLwas appointed to the Commission as the Court of Appeal judicial member by the Supreme Court March 30, 2005, and reappointed January 8, 2009; her term ends February 28, 2013. Justice McConnell served as the Commission's chairperson from March 2009 to March 2012; she served as its vice-chairperson in 2007 and 2008. She resides in San Diego County. Justice McConnell has served as the Administrative Presiding Justice of the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, since 2003; she served as Associate Justice from 2001 to 2003. From 1978 to 1980, she was a judge of the San Diego Municipal Court and, from 1980 to 2001, a judge of the San Diego Superior Court. As a superior court judge, she served as presiding judge of the Juvenile Court and supervising judge of the Family Court and was elected by her colleagues to serve as assistant presiding judge in 1988 and as presiding judge in 1990, serving two years in each position. Justice McConnell received her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law in 1969. She served as a member and vice-chair of the Judicial Council Task Force on Jury System Improvement from 1998 to 2003, and as chair of the Task Force on Judicial Ethics Issues from 2003 to 2004.
NANCI E. NISHIMURA, ESQ.,was appointed to the Commission as a lawyer member by the Governor May 12, 2011; her term ends February 28, 2015. She resides in San Mateo County. Ms. Nishimura is a partner at Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, LLP. She was a legislative assistant to Senator Daniel Inouye, and a clerk to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the U.S. International Trade Commission. Prior to law, Ms. Nishimura was a business development consultant to major corporations in Japan. She served on the Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission from 2004 to 2008. She is involved in professional and non-profit organizations, including the Board of Governors of California Women Lawyers and the Board of Trustees of the California Science Center Foundation. Ms. Nishimura received her law degree from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C., and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Master of Arts in International Relations from the University of Southern California.
MS. MAYA DILLARD SMITH was appointed to the Commission as a public member by the Senate Committee on Rules June 27, 2007 and reappointed on March 17, 2011; her term ends February 28, 2015. She resides in Alameda County. Ms. Dillard Smith is a strategy and fund development consultant. She is currently a law student at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Formerly, Ms. Dillard Smith was senior advisor to Mayor Gavin Newsom and Director of Violence Prevention for the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice in San Francisco. She has also worked for the California Judicial Council, the U.S. Census Monitoring Board, the National Bureau of Economic Research and U.S. Representative Barbara Lee, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. A public safety expert and youth development specialist, Ms. Dillard Smith was the founding chairperson of the Oakland Violence Prevention and Public Safety Oversight Committee and a member of the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth Planning and Oversight Committee. She is affiliated with a variety of nonprofit boards and professional networks. Ms. Dillard Smith received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Arts in Public Policy from Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
MS. SANDRA TALCOTT was appointed to the Commission as a public member by the Speaker of the Assembly November 15, 2007 and reappointed on July 11, 2011; her term ends February 28, 2015. She resides in Los Angeles County. From 1999 to 2002, Ms. Talcott served as a public member on the Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission; from 2003 to 2006, she served on that commission's review committee, and was chair of the committee between 2005 and 2006. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. Ms. Talcott has a background in advertising; she worked at Young and Rubicam International, Inc., as a producer and casting director, then as a freelance casting director. She has been involved in the volunteer sector of the Los Angeles art community, where she co-curated one of the early exhibitions at the Craft and Folk Art Museum. She was involved in the start-up phase of the Museum of Contemporary Art, and has served the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as chairperson of one of its councils. She has also served as a board member of a national association of art museum volunteer committees. She presently works as an interior designer.
MR. ADAM N. TORRES was appointed to the Commission as a public member by the Governor May 12, 2011; his term ends February 28, 2015. He resides in Riverside County. Mr. Torres is a managing director of business intelligence and investigations at Stroz Friedberg. Previously, he was the United States Marshal for the Central District of California from 2003 to 2010. At the Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Torres was a supervisory special agent from 2000 to 2003, a special agent from 1993 to 2000 and a revenue agent from 1986 to 1992. Mr. Torres received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from California State University, San Bernardino.
MR. NATHANIEL TRIVES was appointed to the Commission as public member by the Speaker of the Assembly October 3, 2007, and reappointed March 4, 2009; his term ends February 28, 2013. He resides in Los Angeles County. Mr. Trives is a former mayor of Santa Monica, California, and a retired Deputy Superintendent/Chief Government Relations Officer for the Santa Monica Community College District. He attended Santa Monica College, California State University, Los Angeles, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He is a former chair of the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. Mr. Trives served as a U.S. District Court special master, overseeing a consent decree governing the resolution of race and gender bias in the San Francisco Police Department. He has served on the board of the National Urban League, and is serving on the board of advisors of the Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center and the Pat Brown Institute, as well as numerous community based boards, including the Chamber of Commerce and the Convention and Visitors Bureau in Santa Monica. He is an emeritus professor of criminal justice at California State University, Los Angeles.
