Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. recently announced the appointment of Mark W. Owens, 56, of Carmichael, as chief counsel in the Office of Systems Integration at the California Health and Human Services Agency, where he has been senior legal counsel since 2014 and was an attorney from 2012 to 2014.

Owens served in several positions at the California Department of Social Services from 2001 to 2012, including attorney specialist and staff counsel. He was an attorney at the California Department of Business Oversight, Division of Corporations in 2001, business development counsel at 3Com Corporation from 2000 to 2001 and corporate and securities counsel at Gray, Cary, Ware and Freidenrich from 1999 to 2000.

Owens was an associate at Boutin, Dentino, Gibson, Di Giusto and Hodell from 1996 to 1999 and president at Industrial Friction Supply Company Inc. from 1984 to 1993. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law and a Master of Business Administration degree from California State University, Sacramento. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $150,720. Owens is a Republican.