About Us: Our History

The history of our firm begins not with its formation in January 2000; rather it begins with the extensive careers of its founding partners, Kurt Sjoberg and Marianne Evashenk. Throughout their careers, Sjoberg and Evashenk have significantly influenced government operations and management though their leadership at the California Auditor General and its successor organization California Bureau of State Audits. Kurt Sjoberg was appointed Acting Auditor General in 1989 after serving as the Chief Deputy State Auditor for over a decade. With his key Deputy, Marianne Evashenk, they had a staff of more than 185 professionals and superintended more than 50 performance audits per year as well as the nation’s largest annual fiscal audit of the State of California. During a five month closure due to legislative issues, Mr. Sjoberg and Ms. Evashenk successfully wrote and shepherded legislation reconstituting the office as the California State Auditor and led its reopening in May 1993

As the State Auditor and Chief Deputy, they “audited the auditor” and instituted new approaches, techniques, policies and procedures in the office to streamline, improve, and shorten project timeframes and reduce costs without compromising quality and integrity. Many of these techniques and approaches proved to be cutting edge and were adopted by state and local audit organizations across the nation. Both Kurt Sjoberg and Marianne Evashenk earned reputations as forerunners in performance and financial auditing, program evaluation, and performance measurement.

During their nearly two decades of directing offices, they conducted many controversial and sensitive engagements including such issues as failed information technology projects, admissions practices at the University of California, costs and benefits of illegal immigration, Medi-Cal formularies, transportation-related seismic retrofit, local agency fiscal crises, school district finance and program delivery, and breast cancer funding.

With the reconstituted office at optimal performance Mr. Sjoberg and Ms. Evashenk decided to leave their engagements while “on top” and in mid-term to take their ideas, experience, reputation, and expertise to the private sector. Thus, after over two decades of serving the public, they formed Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting, and, the rest, speaks for itself.