A 30-year veteran of California state government, Pamela Harris was acting director of the Employment Development Department since 2009 before Governor Jerry Brown made the appointment official in December 2011. She retired in August 2013.

The Placerville, California, Democrat has family roots stretching back to the 1850s and the origins of the local timber industry in El Dorado County. Harris’ great, great grandfather, Matthew Blair, homesteaded property with his two brothers between Lake Tahoe and Placerville that became the site of the family sawmill and eventually the Harris Tree Farm property.

Harris graduated from El Dorado High School in 1973 and then earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University, Sacramento before beginning her career in 1978 as an auditor for the Department of Finance.

She was senior manager of audits, evaluations and information security at EDD from 1994-2001. Harris served as assistant secretary for research and evaluation and acting agency information officer at EDD’s parent, the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency, from 2002-2004. She became acting chief deputy director of EDD in 2004 before officially getting the job in 2007. In that capacity, she oversaw operations of EDD's equal opportunity office, information security office, legislative and intergovernmental affairs office, information technology branch and unemployment insurance branch.

EDD Executive Staff Biographies and Photographs (EDD website)

Brown Makes Two Appointments (Fresno Bee)

Governor Appoints Pamela Harris of Placerville to High-Ranking State Position (National Association of State Workforce Agencies)

Governor Brown Announces Appointments (Press release)

History: 150 Years & 7 Generations (Harris Tree Farm)