Graham Knaus

Graham Knaus serves as the executive director for the California State Association of Counties (CSAC), representing California’s 58 counties and their 296 elected supervisors. Previously, he was the deputy executive director of operations and member services for CSAC. In that role, he was responsible for internal operations, communications, member services, and strategic planning. During this time, he also served as CEO of the California Counties Foundation, which oversees the CSAC Institute and the CSAC Support Hub for Criminal Justice Programming in California counties. He has spent his career working for California counties, including six years as Placer County’s assistant director of health and human services and as the county budget director. Prior to that, he served as a senior fiscal and policy analyst for the County Welfare Directors Association and as a legislative advocate for a firm representing California counties. In these roles, he was a primary strategic advisor on the 2013 Health Realignment, and a principal architect on behalf of counties on the 2011 State Public Safety Realignment. In addition to his CSAC role, he serves as vice president of the CSAC Finance Corporation and sits on boards of the California Counties Foundation and Smart Easy Pay, an online platform to facilitate property tax and other public payments. He received his BA degree in political science/public policy from University of California, San Diego, and his MPA from the University of Southern California.