Wilson Cabinet Member to Take SoCal Gas Post : Management: The first African American in the state cabinet in two decades now seeks leadership role in private sector.

Thomas S. Sayles, California’s secretary of business, transportation and housing, will resign his state cabinet post at the end of the year to become an executive with Southern California Gas Co.

Sayles, 42, said Tuesday that his decision to become the utility’s vice president for public affairs is a step toward realizing his ultimate goal--running a Fortune 500 company by the time he reaches his 50th birthday.

“There are a lot of Afro Americans who are in high elected office but not any running a major American corporation,” Sayles said. “I would very much like to do that.”

The first African American man to serve in the California cabinet in two decades, Sayles spent nearly three years in top level jobs in the Wilson Administration, including the last year leading the agency responsible for the state’s business climate, freeways and mass transportation systems.

He previously served as state Commissioner of Corporations and head of Wilson’s Los Angeles Revitalization Task Force, whose task was helping businesses rebuild after the riots in 1992.

A native of Los Angeles who still resides within a few blocks of his childhood home in South Central, Sayles said his new job will give him an opportunity to help shape the operations of a profit-making business that also is a state-regulated monopoly with a considerable obligation to the public.

Formal announcement of Sayles’ departure will be made in Sacramento today by Wilson’s office. The governor is expected to name a successor by the end of the month.