Lecturers at the Jefferson Educational Society

Josh Fryday, J.D., serves as California’s Chief Service Officer within the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom to lead service, volunteer, and civic engagement efforts throughout California. As a member of the Governor’s Cabinet, Fryday led the COVID-19 Task Force to support food insecure communities and food banks across the state. Since appointed, California Volunteers has launched the nation’s first statewide Climate Action Corps, #CaliforniansForAll volunteer initiative, a statewide Neighbor-to-Neighbor campaign, the #CaliforniansForAll College Corps to help thousands of Californians who commit to serving for a year pay for college, and #CaliforniansForAll Youth Jobs Corps, a program to employ underserved youth across the state in critical issue areas.

Fryday is a military veteran and the former Mayor of Novato, his hometown. He also served as President of Golden State Opportunity (GSO), leading the expansion and implementation of the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC). Prior to GSO, he served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for NextGen Climate, a leading national organization focused on climate change. Fryday served in the military as an Officer in the United States Navy (‘09-‘13) as a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG). Fryday received his law degree from UC Berkeley School of Law. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Demos, a national think-tank focused on issues of economic, racial and political inequality, and is a founding Board Member of Amazon Frontlines, a leading organization to protect indigenous communities and territories in the Amazon. He is married to Mollye Fryday, an educator, and they have three energetic young boys, Shay, Calvin and Tam.