MENLO PARK, Calif.— The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation announced today that Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, a Stanford University law professor and nominee to the California Supreme Court, will be joining the Foundation’s Board of Directors.

Known as “Tino,” Cuéllar is the Stanley Morrison Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, and the director of the University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Last month, California Governor Jerry Brown nominated him to become an associate justice on the state Supreme Court; if confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments and approved by the state’s voters in November, he will join the court in January 2015.

During his academic career, Cuéllar’s scholarship has focused on administrative law and governance, criminal law, transnational security, migration, public health law, the judicial system, and other issues. Between 2011 and 2013, he co-chaired the U.S. Department of Education’s Equity and Excellence Commission. From 2009 to 2010, he was special assistant to President Barack Obama for Justice and Regulatory Policy, working on issues such as food safety standards, public health, law enforcement and sentencing, regulatory transparency, immigration, and homeland security. Before joining the Obama White House, he co-chaired the Obama-Biden Transition Project’s Immigration Policy Working Group, and, during the Clinton Administration’s second term, he worked as senior advisor to the undersecretary for enforcement at the Department of the Treasury.

“The only thing more impressive than Tino’s long list of accomplishments at a relatively young age is his profound understanding of so many urgent issues,” said Hewlett Foundation Board Chair Harvey Fineberg. “We are confident that he will have a very positive impact on the Foundation’s grantmaking.”

Cuéllar is a member of the American Law Institute and the Council on Foreign Relations. He serves on the boards of the American Constitution Society and the Constitution Project, and, since 2010, has served on the council of the Administrative Conference of the United States, an independent agency that works to improve the efficiency and fairness of federal regulatory programs.

Born in Matamoros, Mexico, and raised in Texas and California, Cuéllar earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University, a master’s degree and a doctorate in political science from Stanford University, and a law degree from Yale Law School. 

About The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation helps people build measurably better lives. The Foundation concentrates its resources on activities in education, the environment, global development and population, performing arts, and philanthropy, as well as grants to support disadvantaged communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. A full list of the Hewlett Foundation’s grants can be found in its online grants database.

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