Gov. Names 2 to UC Board of Regents

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday named former California finance director Russell Gould and San Francisco Bay Area real estate developer Leslie Tang Schilling to the University of California Board of Regents.

The appointment of Gould, 55, an executive with Wachovia Bank and Metropolitan West Securities, marks his second appearance on UC’s governing board. Named to the panel by Gov. Pete Wilson in 1998, Gould served about six months on a provisional basis until his nomination and those of more than 100 other state officials were withdrawn by incoming Gov. Gray Davis in early 1999. The move cleared the way for the new governor’s own appointments.

Gould, of Los Angeles, is considered a member of Schwarzenegger’s “kitchen cabinet” of outside advisors and friends.

A Republican, Gould was Wilson’s finance director and chief budget advisor from 1993-96 and before that served as the governor’s secretary of health and welfare. He also spent two years as assistant state treasurer, overseeing the state’s investment portfolio. He is senior vice president for Wachovia Bank. In the late 1990s, he was executive vice president of the J. Paul Getty Trust, where he oversaw the trust’s investments. Gould has a bachelor’s degree in political science from UC Berkeley.

Schilling, 50, is president of San Francisco-based Union Square Investments, a commercial real estate and management firm she founded in 1981. She had worked at Wells Fargo Bank and the Chartered Bank of London.

Schilling is a member of a prominent entrepreneurial family based in California and Hong Kong. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics from UC Berkeley and a master’s in international management from American Graduate School of International Management, in Arizona. She is registered as an American Independent.

The appointments to the unpaid positions must be confirmed by the state Senate.

Schwarzenegger said Gould’s background in state government and financial management and Schilling’s business and management experience would serve the board well.

Schilling was named to fill a seat previously held by children’s television magnate Haim Saban, who stepped down last year. That term expires in 2013. Gould’s term, previously held by Ward Connerly, expires in 2017.