Jacob Appelsmith of Sacramento was appointed Director of the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. on May 18, 2017. Appelsmith returns to ABC after serving as the Chief Campus Counsel at UC Davis since September 2013. He previously served as Director of the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) from January 2011 until September 2013.
Appelsmith began his career as a lawyer with Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro in San Francisco, where he worked for six years as a commercial litigator. He joined the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, in 1994.
In 2008, Appelsmith was promoted to Special Assistant to then Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. on matters pertaining to law enforcement and the criminal justice system, and was also appointed Chief of the California Bureau of Gambling Control.