A native of Sri Lanka, Selvi C. Stanislaus was appointed executive officer of the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) in January 2006.
Stanislaus graduated from Sri Lanka Law College and worked in the private sector and in the Chambers of Sri Lanka's President's Counsel before immigrating with her husband to California in 1986. She returned to school in the United States and received a juris doctorate at Lincoln Law School of Sacramento in 1995 and an LL.M. degree in tax law from McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. Stanislaus went to work in the private sector after graduation before joining the state Board of Equalization's (BOE) legal staff in 1996.
In April 2005, she was appointed acting assistant chief counsel of the BOE's Tax and Fee Programs Division of the legal department while serving as chief policymaker on legal issues related to 27 different tax and fee programs administered by the board.
Stanislaus' selection as FTB executive officer by the three-member board was somewhat of a surprise after interim director Will Bush indicated an interest in remaining in the post on a permanent basis. She is only the fourth executive officer in the board's six-decade history and its first female leader.
Stanislaus does pro bono work in Northern California's large East Asian community and is the pro-bono legal advisor to the “Sacramento Tamil Mandrum,” an organization whose goal is to enlighten the younger Indian generation about Tamil culture. She is on the board of advisors for “Lighthouse for Women,” an organization that strives to reach the most vulnerable and helpless women and their children in the Asian community. And she is on the board of America at Work, an organization that promotes the development and placement of displaced workers.
Stanislaus is a part-time professor at Lincoln Law School, where she teaches tax law. She is married to Arjun Joseiph, a civil engineer and her grandfather was the first Secretary of the Sri Lankan Treasury after Independence. Her granduncles include the late Rev. Fr. Peter Pillai, and influential scholar and academic, and the late Dr. Emilianus Pillai the former Catholic Bishop of Jaffna.
Selvi Stanislaus Confirmed as FTB Executive Officer (Franchise Tax Board website)
MSA Faculty—Selvi Stanislaus (Sacramento State College of Business Administration)
Sri Lankan Attorney Appointed First Woman Tax Chief of California (Sri Lanka Daily News)
Selvi Stanislaus Professor of Taxation (Lincoln Law School)
Selvi Stanislaus—Executive Officer (Asian Pacific State Employees Association) (pdf)
