Kathleen Brown

Biography

She is the youngest of four children of former California Governor Pat Brown (1959–1967) and is the youngest sister of twice-California Governor Jerry Brown (1975–1983, 2011–2019).

Brown is an attorney and was first elected to the Los Angeles City Board of Education in 1975, and reelected in 1979. She was a member of the Los Angeles Board of Public Works from 1987 to 1989. She was elected California State Treasurer in 1990.

Brown unsuccessfully ran for governor of California (the third Brown family member after her father and brother), but was defeated by incumbent Republican Governor Pete Wilson (who also defeated Jerry Brown for one of California's U.S. Senate seats in 1982) in the 1994 gubernatorial election.

She currently serves as a partner in law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.

Prior to joining Manatt she was head of public finance for the Midwest region for Goldman Sachs, after taking positions as president of private banking for Bank of America from 1995 to 2000 and as head of public sector and infrastructure investment for Goldman Sachs from 2001 to 2010. Staying in California for public sector banking would have likely posed a potential conflict of interest.

Brown is a graduate of Stanford University and Fordham University School of Law. She had three children with her first husband, George Rice, whom she later divorced. She is currently married to Van Gordon Sauter, at one time President of CBS News, and they have five grown children. Her dog, named Sutter, was given to Jerry Brown and became California's First Dog in 2011 but died in 2016.

Sempra Energy

Brown is a member of the Board of Directors for Sempra Energy, which owns the Southern California Gas Company, which was responsible for the Aliso Canyon gas leak.