Our Team - Michael C. Genest
Michael Genest opened Genest Consulting in January of 2010 to
provide advice, analysis and advocacy on fiscal and policy issues
affecting state and local government. In January 2011, Genest
added two partners, Brad Williams and Peter Schaafsma, and
founded Capitol Matrix Consulting.
Prior to going into private practice, Mr. Genest served for four
years as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's chief financial policy
advisor in his role as Director of the California Department of
Finance. Since Governor Reagan's administration, only one
person has served longer in that position.
Mr. Genest served on Governor Schwarzenegger's transition
team and was sworn in as Chief Deputy Director for Budget in the
Department of Finance on the first day of the Administration, in
November 2003. He also served for six months as
Undersecretary of the Health and Human Services Agency and as
chief of administration at the inception of California's Corrections
and Rehabilitation Agency.
Before joining Governor Schwarzenegger's Administration, Mr.
Genest was the Director of the California Senate Republican
Fiscal Office, reporting directly to Senator James L Brulte.
Previously, he was the administrator of the state's public health
programs, within the Department of Health Services and the
Deputy Director for Welfare Programs in the Department of Social
Services. Mr. Genest began his career in California state
government with a ten-year stint in the non-partisan and highly
regarded Legislative Analyst's Office, where he quickly rose to a
management role. Before the Legislative Analyst's Office, Mr.
Genest worked on transportation finance issues within Governor
"Big Jim" Thompson'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
and his Baccalaureate in Political Science from San Jose State
University in 1978. 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,
Thomas Genest and Dennis.
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