Rodney Davis, a past president of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association and a former trustee of the UC Davis Foundation, has taken a seat on the UC Board of Regents, to serve as an alumni regent-designate for a year, through June 30, 2015, then as an alumni regent with voting rights through June 30, 2016.

Davis

The CAAA elected Davis to the two-year term, but he is officially a representative of all UC alumni.

Davis said he intends to focus on maintaining the affordability of a UC education. “How we pay for education shows, in the end, how much we value it,” he said. “As Californians, we can find ways to see that UC remains an affordable gateway for a prosperous and productive life. Our collective future depends on it.”

A retired appellate court judge, Davis today serves as a volunteer Episcopal parish priest in Carmichael.

Four alumni regents are in office at any one time: two as regents and two as regent-designates. The 10 UC campuses follow a rotating schedule in making alumni regent appointments.

The alumni regents also serve as officers of the Alumni Associations of the University of California. Davis serves as the treasurer this year and will be the president in 2015-16.

Davis graduated from UC Davis in 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in rhetoric and subsequently received a Juris Doctor from UC’s Hastings College of the Law. He worked in the state Department of Justice under three state attorneys general before becoming a judge: seven years in Sacramento County Superior and Municipal courts, followed by 20 years as an associate justice of the California Court of Appeal, 3rd District, Sacramento, 1989-2009. He also served as a temporary justice on the state Supreme Court and as the presiding special master for the state Commission on Judicial Performance.

Besides his work with the CAAA, he has served as chair of the UC Davis Health System Leadership Council, and as a member of two of the health system’s advisory boards, one on bioethics and the other for pastoral services.

In 2001, he received the Jerry W. Fielder Memorial Award from the CAAA, honoring Davis’ extraordinary service to the alumni association, the foundation and the university.

New board leadership

Ramak Siadatan, vice president of the CAAA board of directors for the last two years, has moved up to president for 2014-16, and Debby Stegura has been elected to replace him as vice president and president-elect.

Siadatan, a Roseville resident, holds two UC Davis degrees: a bachelor’s in agricultural and managerial economics (1999) and an MBA (2006). A learning and development professional, he works for Guidewire Software Inc. as its sales enablement training manager, supporting the company’s worldwide sales force.

He served as chair of the CAAA chapters committee and vice president of programs before being elected the association’s vice president.

“We will continue with our commitment to improve existing programs including member benefits, providing scholarships, and career development support,” he said.

Stegura served as chair of the development committee and spearheaded the fundraising effort for the CAAA’s Donor Wall.

She graduated from UC Davis in 1979 with degrees in political science and mass communication, and went on to receive a law degree from the University of Southern California in 1984. She practiced business litigation law for many years.

Stegura lives in Rolling Hills Estates (Los Angeles County), where she is a member of the Palos Verdes Library District board of trustees.

Read the complete news release on the CAAA’s new leadership.

Follow Dateline UC Davis on Twitter.