Research Team 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, Lieutenant Thomas Genest, USN and Captain Dennis Genest, United States Army.
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