Meeting: California State Board of Equalization

Malia, M. Cohen, a native San Franciscan and a product of the San Francisco Unified public school system, is a rising star and nationally recognized policy maker.

She serves as a Member of the California State Board of Equalization (BOE), California’s elected tax commission.  Elected to the Board of Equalization in November 2018, she was the first African American woman to serve on the Board and as Chair of the Board in its 142-year history.

As the BOE Board Member for District 2, she represents 10 million constituents from as far north as Del Norte County to as for south of Santa Barbara County.  Her district is home to the ancient redwoods, the wine industry in Napa County, the innovation capitol of the world in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley, and the beautiful and breathtaking Pacific Coast.

Prior to being elected to the Board of Equalization, Board Member Cohen served as President of the City and County of San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2010 and re-elected in 2014.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Fisk University, a historically Black university in Nashville, Tennessee, and a Masters in Science in Public Policy & Management from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

She and her husband, Attorney Warren A. Pulley, reside in San Francisco.  They are the proud parents of their daughter, Madison Victoria Pulley.