This story is part of our September 2024 issue. To subscribe, click here.

This story is part of our September 2024 issue. Click here to subscribe.

Mega Millions! $1 billion jackpot! The Big Spin! Most people see the dollar signs and dream of life-changing wealth, but the head of California’s State Lottery sees something else: education.  

“Our mission is to provide supplemental funding for public education, and that really is at the heart of what everyone here does,” says Director Harjinder K. Shergill-Chima. Last year the lottery gave over $2 billion to public schools. “We understand that’s a drop in the bucket,” says Shergill-Chima, “but it’s meaningful to so many different schools.” 

Shergill-Chima, a former lawyer, is one of five daughters of her Indian immigrant parents. Under her watch, the lottery (which is self-funded) now has an administrative budget that’s just 4 percent of revenue, which she describes as “unheard of.” 

This is how she pulls it off, and it doesn’t involve a lick of luck.

Favorite to-do list system: Outlook calendar, combined with a folder where she drops relevant emails. “Oh my god, I seem so old!”

Tricks for staying focused: Locking in on one task at a time. “If I still can’t focus, I’ll walk around the block to clear my head.”

6:00AM-6:30AM – Wakes up somewhere in this range, and “the gap is how many times I hit snooze.” Checks both her phones (work and personal) for anything urgent. Devours the L.A. Times, CNN, The New York Times, The Sacramento Bee and so on. “I’m a news junkie.” 

6:45AM – Goes for a walk with Teddy, her 6-year-old mini goldendoodle.

7:00AM – Makes breakfast for her 17-year-old daughter Reegan and 11-year-old son Kaden. Grabs a coffee and protein shake. Gets ready.

8:00AM – Drives her son to school. Some days she works from her home in Rocklin (the lottery has a hybrid remote model); otherwise she commutes to her office downtown.

9:00AM – Settles into the office, knocks out more emails, huddles up with her assistant. Before the day’s onslaught of meetings, she tries to focus on deeper work, like reviewing the three-year strategic plan — which is aimed largely at incentivizing more sales. “We would rather have more lottery players who spend less money than a few lottery players who spend more money.”

10:00AM – Most of the day is now consumed by meetings, often with her 20 (!) direct reports, who oversee the 1,115-person organization. Meetings are often focused on how to make the games more enjoyable. “How do we reposition our Scratchers so that, yes, it’s technically gambling, but also so that it’s fun to play?” 

11:00AM – Another focus is on reducing barriers to playing. Due to the Lottery Act of 1984, there are strict restrictions as to what the team can do, such as forbidding credit cards. “We are limited to using technologies from 1984.” So they’re now working on a cashless option, for example, using debit cards. (It’s currently in the pilot stage.) 

12:00PM – Lunch is usually at her desk. Some days she snacks on cashews and beef sticks; often she grabs a sandwich from the Subway in the building. 

1:00PM – The California State Lottery sprawls across nine different offices, including a warehouse and distribution facilities. So Shergill-Chima’s meetings include topics like repairing roofs and fixing HVAC systems.  

3:00PM – Reviews the advertising and messaging for the lottery, which Shergill-Chima has pivoted to focus on its true beneficiaries: the schools themselves. Rather than hiring actors, the advertisements put a spotlight on real educators. An early commercial, for example, featured Sacramento City College. “We fund their theater program. We’ve heard great stories about being able to buy extra books for ESL students, band uniforms, football equipment, things for the arts and crafts department.” 

6:15PM (or some days as late as 9PM) – Catches up with the kids. She and her husband, Casey Chima, are equal partners on dinner. “I make dinner one night, he makes it the next night. The other person does the dishes.” 

7:30PM - Does her best to ensure the entire family is present at night. “My No. 1 priority is to make sure that all four of us connect, even if it’s just 15 minutes, headphones off.”  

8:00PM – Maybe watches a bit of TV, such as “The Bear” with her daughter. But her true guilty pleasure is TikTok (this can consume a solid hour) and swapping TikTok memes with her daughter.  

9:30PM – Syncs up with Casey to review tomorrow’s schedule and sort who needs to drive the kids to extracurriculars; they’ll juggle their own schedules accordingly. “It’s just a big partnership at home.”

9:45PM – One last spurt of knocking out emails. Falls asleep sometime between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., as “there’s a lot going on right now.”  

–

Stay up to date on business in the Capital Region: Subscribe to the Comstock’s newsletter today.