Josh Fryday
Josh Fryday was appointed California’s Chief Service Officer by Governor Newsom. As a member of the Governor’s Cabinet, he leads service, volunteer and civic engagement efforts throughout California.
Fryday is a military veteran and the former Mayor of Novato, his hometown. He also served as President of Golden State Opportunity (GSO), leading on the expansion and implementation of the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) and other programs to provide financial security to millions of low-income working people in California.
Prior to GSO, he served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for NextGen Climate, a leading national organization focused on climate change and clean energy.
Fryday served in the military as an Officer in the United States Navy (‘09-‘13) as a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG). He was stationed in the Office of Military Commissions, working on the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba detainee cases, and testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the closing of Guantanamo. He also served overseas in Yokosuka, Japan, where he augmented the Navy’s 7th Fleet’s Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief efforts during ‘Operation Tomodachi’ following the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster.
Fryday received his law degree from UC Berkeley School of Law, and clerked in the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, as well as the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office for then District Attorney Kamala Harris.
He also received his undergraduate degree in Political Science and Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with highest honors. He later served on the UC Berkeley Alumni Board of Directors (06-09), where he co-founded the Equity Scholarship to increase diversity on the UC Berkeley Campus.
He is a former fellow with the Truman National Security Project, former Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and was a proud volunteer in the Dominican Republic with the Amigos De Las Americas Program. He currently serves as Board Chair for Demos, a national think-tank focused on issues of democracy and economic equality. Josh is married to Mollye Fryday, a public school teacher, and they have three energetic young boys, Shay, Calvin and Tam.