The Rotary Club of Beverly Hills welcomed California State Treasurer Fiona Ma to its June 17 luncheon. Ma took office in 2019 after serving as a member of the California Board of Equalization, the California State Assembly and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The child of Chinese immigrants, Ma described the interesting path that led her to become the banker to the world’s fifth-largest economy. As Treasurer, she receives all the state revenue, including taxes, fines, fees, interest and penalties, amounting to $3.7 trillion. Her office manages a short-term portfolio of about $180 billion and issues all the bonds for the state of California, the UC and Cal State University systems.
“I fund and finance affordable housing, schools, public transportation, hospitals, green energy advanced manufacturing… If anyone needs or wants money, please come see me,” she added, to scattered laughter. But it was a point she meant in all seriousness.
