California Gov. Gavin Newsom has nominated Clothilde Hewlett, executive director and chief legal officer of the Cal Alumni Association, to run the state’s Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.
If confirmed by the state Senate, Hewlett would replace Manny Alvarez,
Hewlett would take over at a time when the state agency, formerly known as the California Department of Business Oversight, has been given broader powers to oversee previously less regulated businesses like fintechs, debt collectors, credit reporting agencies and merchant cash advance providers — along with banks and other traditional lenders.
Hewlett, like Deputy Commissioner Chris Shultz, who has run the agency on an interim basis since Alvarez stepped down, does not have a background working in financial services.
Hewlett, a Democrat, donated $1,100 this year to the political action committee Stop the Republican Recall of Governor Newsom, according to state campaign records. Newsom comfortably won a statewide vote in September over whether to recall him from office.
A spokesperson for Newsom did not immediately reply to a question about the donation.
Hewlett started her career in the San Francisco District Attorney's office and was assistant district attorney through the 1980s before becoming the city’s police commissioner.
She has run the alumni association for the University of California, Berkeley, since 2016. Among her duties is the management of roughly $30 million of assets.
Hewlett is also a founding member of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Northern California.
Before joining the Cal Alumni Association, Hewlett was a partner at the law firm Nossaman starting in 2009. She specialized in public policy and consulted on “procurement, crisis management, the formation of public/private partnerships in the areas of transportation, mixed use housing developments and sports stadiums,” according to her LinkedIn page.
From 2003 to 2009, Hewlett was a partner at K&L Gates. She was previously interim director of the California Department of General Services and undersecretary of the California State and Consumer Services Agency.
