George David Kieffer

Born in New York City, New York, Kieffer was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated from Serra High School in San Mateo, California. He received a B.A. in history from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1969, where he was named[8] the Outstanding Male Graduate upon graduation. He served one year as legislative assistant to Congressman Michael J. Harrington and received a J.D. from UCLA in 1973. During his third year he clerked for Honorable David Bazelon, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit. He joined the law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Rothenberg in 1973 (now Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP).[9]

In 1976, he became general counsel for the Presidential Campaign of Jerry Brown.[10]

In 1980, then Governor Jerry Brown appointed Kieffer to the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, where he served as Chair from 1983 to 1985. He subsequently served on the Blue Ribbon Commission to review the California Master Plan for Higher Education. He served as Chair of the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions from 1985-1987.

In 1996, then Los Angeles City Attorney James Hahn appointed Kieffer to the Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission, charged with rewriting the Los Angeles City Charter. Kieffer was subsequently elected chair of the commission. The story of the drafting and voter adoption of the new city charter is recounted in The City at Stake: Succession, Reform, and the Battle for Los Angeles by Professor Raphael J. Sonenshein (ISBN 978-0691126036). In 1999, Kieffer was awarded[11] the Social Responsibility Award by the Los Angeles Urban League. Following the events of 9/11, then Mayor Hahn asked Kieffer to head the Economic Impact Task Force charged with recommending steps to minimize the economic effects of 9/11 on business in Los Angeles; the report became the blueprint for City Council and Mayoral response.[12]

In 2003 Kieffer was selected as the Chairman of the Board of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and served two terms in that position. Kieffer expanded the board to include as ex officio members the leaders of previously underrepresented ethnic organizations as well as competing business organizations and recruited other significant civic and business leaders to the board of directors.[13] In 2003, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce was the only business organization in the state to oppose the recall of Governor Gray Davis one year after his re-election on the principled ground that it was a misuse of the recall process.[14]

During the California governorships of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown, Kieffer was president of the Governor's Residence Foundation, a private non-profit which pays for the governor's housing in Sacramento.[10]

In 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Kieffer to the Board of Regents of the University of California with a term that runs to March, 2021.[15] On March 14, 2018, student and labor activists accused Kieffer of conflicts of interest at a University of California Board of Regents meeting.[16] They noted that Kieffer voted for a policy change incentivizing employees to opt-out of the traditional UC retirement system in favor of UC's 403(b) program administered by Fidelity Investments, even though Fidelity was a client of Kieffer's law firm. They also noted Kieffer voted in favor of a controversial new payroll system[17] developed by Oracle, another client.[18] Kieffer responded that although Regents voted on the changes, they did not vote on the vendor contracts.[19]

Kieffer is the author[20] of The Strategy of Meetings (c. 1988 Simon and Schuster). He was contributing author to Governing Public Colleges and Universities (c. 1993 Jossey-Bass).

Kieffer continues to practice law at the Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP law firm office in Los Angeles with a particular emphasis on state and municipal regulatory work.[21]

Life as Composer

Throughout his professional and civic career Kieffer has composed music, first as a young singer-songwriter, but subsequently including film and television music. His composition, "Arlington",[22] debuted in 2014 with the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra. In 2015 he added lyrics and the piece was released on YouTube with the lyrics sung by the Los Angeles Master Chorale. His "Fanfare For The Special Olympics" debuted with the Special Olympics in 2015. Recently his piano pieces have been performed in multiple Chinese cities by Russian pianist Angela Cholakyan. George David Kieffer’s work “Responders” written for the West Point Band was selected for Fifteen-Minutes-of-Fame to be presented at a 15 year memorial concert for the attacks of September 11.[23][24]

Selected music pieces can be found at www.georgedavidkieffer.com.[25]

In November 2019, Kieffer was publicly accused of groping by a UC graduate student.[26] The alleged incident occurred in 2014 during a meeting with student leaders at which Kieffer purchased alcohol for students.[26] This was the second known accusation against a UC regent, following the resignation of Norman Pattiz under pressure from student groups and fellow regents in 2017 after having been accused of making sexually inappropriate comments.[27]

On June 8, 2020, the University of California has cleared Regent George Kieffer of allegations of sexual misconduct, finding insufficient evidence to support a graduate student’s claim.[28]

• Top 100 lawyers in California – SF Daily Journal and LA Daily Journal, 2000 and 2010.[29][30]
• Crystal Eagle Award for Public Service, Coro Southern California, 2012.[31]
• Anti-Defamation League Jurisprudence Award, 2013.[31]
• 500 most influential people in LA – LA Business Journal, 2016, 2017.[30]