Malia M. Cohen (HNZ 2008)

2024 Alumni Achievement Award

A dedicated public servant, Malia M. Cohen (HNZ 2008) is the first African American to be elected as California state controller, overseeing the world’s fifth-largest economy behind the United States, China, Japan and Germany. Throughout her career, Malia has focused on making public dollars work for all Californians by championing policies and programs that protect public health, foster economic development, promote new affordable housing and create good jobs.

As controller, Malia guides local government entities on best practices for sound internal control and works to curtail the risk of fraud, waste and abuse. Her office also administers the payroll system for state government and California State University employees. Malia completed her undergraduate studies in political science at Fisk University before pursuing a master of science in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy.

Since 2018, Malia has served as a member of the California State Board of Equalization, which is responsible for administering California’s $100 billion property tax system. Previously, she served as president of the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco, leading efforts to divest the city’s pension fund from fossil fuels; overseeing the adoption of an $11 billion budget as chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, which oversaw appropriation ordinances, bond issues, taxes, fees and other revenue measures; and fighting to increase the minimum wage. During this time, she also successfully passed a soda tax that generated more than $14 million in revenue to help fund public health measures in San Francisco.

Malia serves on 70 boards and commissions with authority ranging from affordable housing to crime victim compensation to land management. She chairs the Franchise Tax Board and serves on the boards of the nation's two largest public pension funds, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which have a combined portfolio of $750 billion.