City
Port
AirportBoard Members
SDCERS’ Board of Administration is comprised of 13 Board Members. The fairly unique thing about SDCERS’ Board is that the majority (7 of the 13 Board Members) are independent appointees – meaning they are members of the San Diego community who have specific qualifications and experience for Board membership, but they are not members of SDCERS. Since these seven members do not participate in the SDCERS pension system, they therefore do not have a personal stake regarding SDCERS benefits. The impartiality of the independent appointees, combined with the personal experiences of the Board Members who are also SDCERS Members, increases our Board’s ability to be both effective and trustworthy in its administration of the SDCERS pension plans.
-
Lisa Marie Harris
Board President – Independent Appointee
Lisa Marie Harris is a 28-year veteran in the field of public finance, having served at all levels of government: federal, state, and local. Over the course of her career, she has garnered a national reputation in the field largely from the issuance of billions of tax-exempt bonds, management of billions of assets, and from her active service in national civic organizations such as Government Finance Officers Association (“GFOA”) and Women in Public Finance (“WPF”). Lisa holds a Bachelor’s degree in economics from UC Berkely and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Michigan.
Term Date:March 31, 2029
Michelle Bush
Board Vice President – Independent Appointee
Michelle Bush has over 20 years of experience in finance, operations, and strategic planning. Currently, she serves as the Chief Administrative Officer for the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office – a position she has held for over 15 years. Michelle also has experience working for one of the largest international auditing, tax, and consulting firms, KPMG Peat Marwick, where she served as Senior Manager to many of the leading government and not-for-profit organizations in San Diego County. Michelle has her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from San Diego State University and is a certified public accountant in the State of California.
Term Date:March 31, 2029
Bret A. Bartolotta
Active General Board Member
Bret Bartolotta is a Lead Deputy City Attorney in the Public Finance Section of the San Diego City Attorney’s Office, focusing on the City’s various financings (e.g., direct State and Federal loans, municipal bond issuances, etc.). Bret also serves as the DCA for Finance and Disclosure on the Disclosure Practices Working Group, a sub-group composed of City Officers and Department Directors that reviews material disclosures made by the City in Official Statements to bond issuances, the City’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports, and budget documents for compliance with securities laws. Prior to joining the City Attorney’s Office, Bret was in private practice for over 10 years, working in the areas of private equity, mergers and acquisitions, and general business law. Additionally, Bret has been a member of the San Diego Nice Guys since 2009, a philanthropic group focused on helping local families and individuals who, through no fault of their own, have fallen on tough times.
Term Date:March 31, 2029
B. Chris Brewster
Retiree Board Member
B. Chris Brewster served as San Diego’s Lifeguard Chief from 1988 to 2001, and in various other lifeguard ranks beginning in 1979. He volunteers as the Advisor to the Americas Region of the International Life Saving Federation, having served as its president from 1994-2024. He also volunteers as President of the United States Lifesaving Foundation, Chair of the National Certification Committee of the United States Lifesaving Association, Editor of American Lifeguard Magazine, and Secretary/Treasurer of the San Diego Lifesaving Foundation. He is a former president of the United States Lifesaving Association and is the editor of the last three editions of its textbook, which is used to train America’s beach lifeguards. He has served as a board member of the City of San Diego Retired Employees’ Association since 2020. He earned a Bachelor of Science at the University of Colorado and is a graduate of LEAD San Diego. He also consults as a subject matter expert on legal cases in his area of expertise.
Term Date:March 31, 2027
Christiana Gauger
Mayoral Designee
Christiana Gauger (she/her) is an administrator with strong financial, operational, and policy skills and experience, as well as a keen interest in supporting her community through her employment and volunteer opportunities. Christiana currently works as the Chief Compliance Officer/Compliance Department Director for the City of San Diego. In this role she works with her colleagues to support the City’s wage laws and labor standards, the new Project Labor Agreement for City-procured Capital Improvement Projects, the occupational safety and health of City staff, City responses to internal and external audits, compliance with external agency regulations including Title VI requirements, and the provision of administrative hearings. Christiana has worked for the City of San Diego for over 15 years in positions of increasing responsibility. Prior to her work in public service, she has nearly a decade of professional experience in private insurance, applied social science public health research, and university education. Christiana earned her Master’s degree in Sociology from the University of Windsor (Canada.)
Paul Kaufmann
Independent Appointee
Mr. Kaufmann previously served on SDCERS’ Audit Committee for many years before joining the full Board of Administration. He is also a Community Advisory Board Member at Sanford Burnham Prebys, a non-profit medical research institution that is dedicated to finding cures for human diseases. In his free time, Mr. Kaufmann works as an Adjunct Professor at Brandman University’s Business School in Irvine, CA.
Term Date:March 31, 2027
Paul Lotze
Active Fire Safety Board Member
Paul Lotze is a Fire Engineer with San Diego Fire-Rescue Dept. He is part of the Post Academy Training (“PAT”). As a PAT Engineer, Paul has the opportunity to drill, train, and mentor probationary firefighters. During his time at PAT, he noticed the need for new hires to have an understanding of retirement readiness, because, at the time, they no longer had guaranteed income through a pension or social security. In order to fill this void and help support his fellow firefighters, Paul co-created the first retirement presentation for new hires. His passion to serve in the area of retirement readiness overflowed to his entire fire family and this helped catalyze the first retirement account chart. Paul’s continued desire to serve the financial prosperity of all firefighters has led him to the position of Active Fire Safety Trustee on the SDCERS Board. Paul’s prior knowledge and application of financial awareness, as well as his willingness to serve, will now benefit his peers and their families for years to come.
Term Date:March 31, 2029
Louis J. Maggi
Active Police Safety Board Member
Louis J. Maggi has been a San Diego Police Officer for over 25 years and is currently a Lieutenant in the Homicide Unit. He has worked in Western, Southeastern, and Mid-City Divisions, but has spent most of his career in various investigative assignments. He previously served as the San Diego Police Officers Association representative to the San Diego City Employees Retiree Medical Trust and gained training and experience working with employee benefit plans. Mr. Maggi holds an Associate of Science degree in Administration of Justice and has attended numerous pension related trainings with Leaders in the field such as California Association of Public Retirement Systems, National Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems as well as International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans to name a few. Mr. Maggi is an NCPERS accredited fiduciary.
Term Date:March 31, 2027
Tibyasa Matovu
Independent Appointee
Tibyasa Matovu is a 20-year veteran in audit, governance, and enterprise risk, with executive experience spanning healthcare, utilities, wealth management, energy, and technology. He most recently served as Chief Audit Executive at Cetera Financial Group, one of the nation’s largest independent broker-dealer and wealth management platforms, where he led internal audit through concurrent OCC, FINRA, and SEC examination cycles. He holds the FINRA Series 7 license and brings a global advisory perspective shaped by Fortune 500 engagements at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Accenture, where he advised C-suite leadership at firms including LPL, Sempra, Qualcomm, Illumina, and PG&E on governance, risk architecture, and operating model design. Tibyasa is recognized for innovation in audit and business transformation. He has pioneered agentic AI governance frameworks for issue and remediation management, modernized control environments through continuous risk assurance, and built out complex large language model solutions for clients under the Wahoo Audit umbrella. His work positions internal audit as a strategic trust architecture function rather than a compliance operation, and he is a frequent author and speaker on agentic AI governance, quantum risk, and the structural accountability questions boards cannot afford to defer. Tibyasa earned his MBA from Central Michigan University and his Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the University of North Dakota. He is currently completing the Securities Industry Institute three-year executive program at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, with expected graduation in 2027. His professional certifications include the Advanced in AI Audit (AAIA) from ISACA, Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), and Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional (CCEP).
Term Date:March 31, 2030
Kent J. Morris
Active General Board Member
Kent Morris is the Deputy Director of the Business Operations and Support Services for City of San Diego’s Development Services, which focuses on the fiscal and employee services for department. He has nearly 24 years of public section experience on the fiscal arena, including being the Chief Investment Officer at the City for over 16 years. Kent has spent nearly his whole career in the public investment sector. He has expertise in portfolio management, risk mitigation, compliance, evaluating credit risk and creating monthly and quarterly investment reports, as well as, formulating sections of the City’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR). Kent has been a Certified Treasury Professional since 2002 and holds his MBA from San Diego State University. He also serves on the State of California’s Local Agency Investment Guidelines Working Group since 2016.
Term Date:March 31, 2029
Roberta Spoon
Independent Appointee
Roberta Spoon was a partner in the forensic consulting firm of Brodshatzer, Wallace, Spoon and Yip from 1988 to 2018, when she retired. Roberta’s experience in volunteerism includes two terms as Board Vice Chair for the San Diego Housing Commission, where she worked closely with the Finance Department, served as their Audit Committee Chair, and served on the Strategic Planning Committee. Roberta earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, Finance from San Diego State University. Note: Term Expired 3/31/2025, serving until replacement is appointed.