Newsom appoints 4 new directors to Mother Lode Fairgrounds board
Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed four new members to the Mother Lode Fairgrounds Board of Directors.
Also known as California’s 29th District Agricultural Association, the fairgrounds is a state agency governed by a nine-member board appointed by the governor.
The four new board members, whose appointments were announced Tuesday, are Jacqueline “Jackie” Campidonica, Andrew Collier, Ida Ponder and Dimitri Postolu. They join existing directors Maren Paris, who serves as board president; Dennis Hendricks, who serves as vice president; Peggy Lee, who serves as treasurer; and Dan Brown.
A ninth seat currently remains vacant following the departure of Director Ron Hamilton, who retired in January after six years on the board and more than 40 years of involvement with the fairgrounds.
The following information about each of the new board members was provided by the Governor’s Office in the announcement about the appointments.
Campidonica, of Soulsbyville, is a registered Republican and currently works as the personal assistant to the chairman of the Chicken Ranch Rancheria of Mewuk Indians of California.
Prior to that, Campidonica was an administration supervisor at the Tuolumne Band of Me-wuk Indians Tribal Council from 2002 until earlier this year. She was an administrator and collector at the Yosemite Title Co. in Sonora from 1997 to 2002.
Collier, of Jamestown, is registered without party preference and previously served as a lieutenant of investigations at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from 1996 to 2018.
Ponder, of Jamestown, is registered without party preference and has been a professor at Columbia College in the Yosemite Community College District since 1997.
From 1993 to 1997, Ponder was an inventory accountant at Cost-u-less. She earned a master’s degree in business administration from La Salle University in Philadelphia.
Postolu, of Sonora, is a registered Republican and has worked as an equipment operator at Caltrans since 2008. He has also owned Postolu Transport Service since 1995.
There is no compensation for the positions.