Fiona Ma

Fiona Ma serves as Chairwoman of the California State Board of Equalization. She is serving her first term as a member of SBOE, representing 23 counties and nine million Californians of the Second District. Ms. Ma was previously elected to represent the 12th Assembly District from December 2006 to November 2012 and served as the first Asian-American woman Assembly Speaker pro Tempore in California history.As Chair of the SBOE, Ms. Ma is working hard to promote a culture of fairness, efficiency and respect for California's taxpayers and businesses. She is aggressively combatting the underground economy which deprives California of approximately $8.5 billion in tax revenue. In her first year as a Board Member, Ms. Ma launched an outreach effort through her district offices that significantly decreased the number of cannabis dispensaries operating without proper permits or collecting taxes. She has participated in efforts to crack down illegal sales of cigarettes, and has been a leading advocate in ensuring that e-Cigarettes are taxed and regulated like traditional tobacco products.Throughout her service as an elected official, she has been an outspoken advocate for California's women. In her time in the Assembly and Board of Supervisors, she championed a number of proposals to crack down on human trafficking, reform unjust sentencing laws that kept domestic abuse survivors from presenting expert testimony in criminal trials, and to provide support and resources for victims of domestic violence.Ms. Ma has been committed to public service ever since she was a small business owner and was elected to serve as President of the Asian Businesses Association in San Francisco, where she quickly emerged as a leading voice for San Francisco's small business community. She was an elected delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business under President Bill Clinton, which produced a report to Congress on the 60 top policy recommendations to help small businesses grow and prosper in the 21st century. She was later appointed to the Assessment Appeals Board, and joined the staff of former Senator John Burton as a constituent advocate.Ms. Ma received her B.S. from the Rochester Institute of Technology (NY), her M.S. in Taxation from Golden Gate University (SF), and an MBA from Pepperdine University. She has been licensed in California as a Certified Public Accountant since 1992.She is a card carrying member of SAG-AFTRA, the labor union representing theater, television, radio and film actors, having appeared in a number of productions filmed in San Francisco, and she was appointed to serve on the California Film Commission in 2016. Additionally, Ms. Ma serves as Treasurer of California Women Lead, the only statewide, nonpartisan women's organization that is committed to providing women the training and support they need to be successful in the political arena.