Fiona Ma

She was the 112th woman to be elected to the California legislature and the first Asian woman to serve as Speaker pro Tempore since 1850.

Ma's advocacy work in that role helped lead to socially responsible contracting for minorities and women in San Francisco, and produced a report to Congress on the 60 top policy recommendations to help small businesses grow and prosper in the 21st century.

Ma is an active member of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants (CalCPA), Governmental Accounting Standards Advisory Council (GASAC).

Fiona Ma (born March 4, 1966) is an American accountant and politician.

In 1993, Ma worked at Ernst & Young, one of the "big six" accounting firms at the time.

However, seeing few female managers and even fewer female partners during her time with the firm, she decided to start her own accounting practice with an associate.

In 1994, Ma was elected president of the Asian Business Association, which led to her first involvement with politics, lobbying San Francisco City Hall and the Sacramento State Capitol for business issues that affected women and minorities.

As a result of her work on behalf of the Small Business Association at that same time, she was elected in 1995 as a delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business under President Bill Clinton.

Ma was appointed to the Assessment Appeals Board of San Francisco by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1995.

That same year, she started her public service career as a part-time district representative for then-State Senator John Burton.

She served as John Burton's district representative until her election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2002.

She was responsible for helping constituents with Medi-Cal, Workers' Compensation, Unemployment Insurance, Franchise and Employment Development Department taxes, and professional licensing.

Ma was later elected to the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors from 2002 to 2006 representing District 4, the Sunset District, Outer Sunset, Parkside, Outer Parkside, and Pine Lake Park.

While serving on that board, her major legislative push was a human rights campaign to shut down massage parlors who illegally trafficked persons into the country and used them to run illegal prostitution rings.

Following the passage of Proposition 209, which barred public institutions from considering sex, race or ethnicity, she led the effort to create the city's Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program to enable small businesses to more easily participate in public works projects, aiming to broaden the scope of inclusion.

As a Supervisor, she also started her advocacy regarding banning toxins from children's toys - passing Ordinance Number 060107 to "prohibit the manufacture, sale, or distribution in commerce of any toy or child-care article…if it contains bisphenol-A or other specified chemicals."

Fiona Ma was first elected to represent California's 19th Assembly District from November 2006 to November 2012 (serving the maximum three terms).

Ma won the Democratic nomination to represent California's 19th Assembly District against fellow Democrat Janet Reilly in the state primary election of June 6, 2006.

The campaign was one of the more expensive legislative primary races in the state of California.

On November 7, 2006, Ma received 70 percent of the votes and defeated her two opponents for California Assembly, Republican Howard Epstein and Green Barry Hermanson.

She is a CPA and member of the Aspen Institute's 2009 Class of Aspen-Rodel Fellows.

She previously served as a member of the California Board of Equalization (2015–2019), the California State Assembly (2006–2012), and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (2002–2006).

A member of the Democratic Party, Ma was the first Asian American woman to serve as California Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore, the second highest-ranking office in the California Assembly.

Ma is also only the second Certified Public Accountant (CPA) to be elected to the Board of Equalization.

She was selected as Chairperson of the California Board of Equalization in 2016, and ordered three external audits of the agency.

She has been serving as the California state treasurer since January 7, 2019.

In March 2019, Ma announced she would run for the 2026 California gubernatorial election.

In March 2023, she announced that she would be running for Lieutenant Governor in 2026 instead.

Ma is the oldest of three children born to William and Sophia Ma, both Chinese immigrants.

Her grandfather, Lieutenant General, was the first mayor of Kunming, Yunnan.

Born and raised in New York, she attended Baker Elementary School before graduating from Great Neck North Middle and High Schools.

Her father, Dr. William Ma, was a mechanical engineer who later specialized in construction claims and litigation before he retired.

Her mother, Sophia (née Doo), was a high school art teacher for 20 years before moving the family to San Francisco to be closer to her parents.

Rev William Doo was posted as a minister at the San Francisco Swatow Christian Church in San Francisco's Sunset District.

Ma earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from Rochester Institute of Technology, a Master of Science in taxation from Golden Gate University, and a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University.

She was also a Hunt Keane Fellow in 2019, Cohort 6.

Additionally, she is a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) and had a small role in the short film My Name Is Moe.

She replaced Leland Yee as 19th District assemblywoman.

Her district included San Francisco, Daly City, Colma and Broadmoor, totaling some 420,000 constituents.

Ma was appointed Assembly majority whip by the speaker of the assembly, Fabian Núñez, a position which she held for 4 years.