After delaying retirement to serve as interim executive officer for two months, Curtis Lynn Fossum was elected executive officer in December 2010.

Fossum earned a bachelor’s degree from California State University Northridge and a law degree from University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law. He was admitted to the bar in 1977.

Fossum is a 30-year veteran of the State Lands Commission. He worked for its legal office, specializing in public land management. After serving as senior legal counsel, he became the Assistant Chief Counsel and then led the legal division for five years as chief counsel, before accepting the position as executive officer.

Fossum’s wife, Susan, was a nurse at the University of California Davis Medical Center in Sacramento until her retirement in 2009. The couple have two sons.