Right Column

Rosario Marin, Secretary, State and Consumer Services Agency

Rosario Marin is a compassionate mother, dedicated public official and consummate advocate for the disadvantaged who has served at the local, state, and national levels.

Currently, she serves in Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s cabinet as Secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency where she oversees the state’s civil rights enforcement, consumer protection, and the licensing of 2.4 million Californians in more than 255 different professions.

The agency also handles procurement of more than nearly $9 billion worth of goods and services, the management and development of the state’s real estate, oversight of two state employee pension funds, the collection of state taxes, and programs managing the hiring of state employees – in addition to the administration of two state museums and a state park.  Secretary Marin chairs the Building Standards Commission, the Victim’s Compensation and Government Claims Board, and the Governor’s Green Action Team.

Her dedication to state service began under Governor Pete Wilson as chief of legislative affairs at the Department of Developmental Services where she successfully shepherded the reform of the system for Californians with developmental disabilities.  Her work continued as the Chair of the State Council on Developmental Disabilities where she secured federal funding for the state program.  As an assistant deputy director of the Department of Social Services, Ms. Marin was instrumental in the development of California’s welfare reform plan.  She also served as deputy director of the Governor's Office of Community Relations where she was the Spanish spokesperson for the Governor and his liaison to California’s growing Latino population.

Appointed by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Ms. Marin served as the 41st Treasurer of the United States where she had oversight of the U.S. Mint and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  She championed the U.S. Treasury's financial literacy outreach program focusing especially on the 10 million unbanked Americans.  Her signature accomplishment as a member of the Partnership for Prosperity efforts between the U.S. and Mexico was the significant reduction on the cost of remittances.  In addition, she served on the White House Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans.

As Chairwoman of the California Integrated Waste Management Board from 2004 to 2006, Ms. Marin presided over the successful attainment of California’s 50 percent recycling mandate.  She also served as a member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Border 2012 Program, and was appointed to the Good Neighbor Environmental Board by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.

In 1995, for her tireless work on behalf of persons with developmental disabilities, Ms. Marin was awarded the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Prize at the United Nations.  She was only the second person to receive the honor.

Ms. Marin was first elected to the Huntington Park City Council in 1994 and her tough-on-crime positions were rewarded with her overwhelming reelection in 1999.  She was later elected president of the League of California Cities’ Mayors and Councils Department, and she served as vice chair of the League’s Latino Caucus.

Ms. Marin has held numerous leadership positions with nonprofit boards.  She is a former member of the Special Olympics International Board of Directors and the National Association of Latino Elected Officials.  She has also been an appointed California Film Commissioner.

Ms. Marin received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration from California State University, Los Angeles, and completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.  For her contributions, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from her alma mater in 2002. A resident of Huntington Park in Los Angeles County, California, Ms. Marin and her husband of 25 years, Alvaro, have three children, Eric 21, Carmen 18, and Alex W. 15.