Nicolas Maduros

Nick Maduros was appointed by California Governor Gavin Newsom in February 2025 to serve as secretary of the California Government Operations Agency, which oversees and supports the work of 13 departments, boards, and offices with more than 22,000 employees and an annual budget of $67 billion.  

Secretary Maduros  joined the FTA Board of Trustees in 2017 and currently serves as Immediate Past President.

Prior to GOA, Maduros served as the first director of the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA), which administers 42 tax and fee programs for the State of California. His team of 4,000 tax professionals, were responsible for collecting more than $96 billion in public revenue annually.  During his tenure, he focused on fairly and efficiently administering CDTFA’s many tax programs. Through better use of data and operational improvements, Maduros and his team cut the cost per dollar of revenue by 25% and held spending more than $100 million below authorized levels in each of the last two fiscal years.

Prior to his appointment at CDTFA, Maduros served in the Obama Administration as chief of staff of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). At the SBA, he managed a team of 3,000 employees in 70 offices, an $871 million annual operating budget and the agency’s $120 billion loan guarantee portfolio.  Under his leadership, the SBA achieved record highs in small business lending, growing the agency’s flagship loan program by 25% to $24.1 billion, and met the women-owned government contracting goal for the first time in history.   

Earlier in his career, Maduros worked as an attorney and advised leading nonprofit organizations and corporations on a range of public policy challenges.  He is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School.  A native of Stockton, California, he now lives in Davis with his wife and three young daughters.