February 2026

Introducing our CARS Project Team

Continuing to introduce project team members, this month’s newsletter features members of the Project Management Office (PMO) team. They keep the project on track. The PMO team does the significant work of planning, controlling, and monitoring progress for the CAL-ACCESS Replacement System (CARS) Project. PMO staff bring a high degree of professionalism and experience to managing the development of the CARS Project for the Secretary of State (SOS).

Project Management Office Staff  

The PMO’s work encompasses several disciplines critical to controlling the project, including managing scheduling, testing, risks and issues, requirements traceability, and change requests. The PMO maintains project documentation, measures progress according to key metrics, and keeps the CARS Project aligned with its strategic objectives. The PMO tracks milestones, budget, risk levels, and performance indicators. The PMO team consolidates data into actionable reports for leadership to help inform decision-making.

The CARS Project PMO team is led by John Heinlein, Assistant Project Director, profiled in the May 2025 newsletter.

Team 7 Members

Sara Menton, Schedule Manager, has built her career working in operations management, product management and project management. She is a certified Project Management Professional, consulting with state agencies for the last 10 years, including the Departments of Public Health, Education, Human Resources, and the California Energy Commission.

Suresh Maideen, User Acceptance Testing (UAT) Lead, oversees all CARS testing activities. Joining the CARS PMO in 2023, Suresh brings more than 18 years of experience across various state agencies, specializing in test automation and quality assurance. Outside of work, Suresh pursues fashion photography throughout Northern California.

Hahn Dinh, Risk and Issue Manager, joined the SOS PMO in 2022, serving as the CARS Risk and Issue Manager and Schedule Coordinator. A National University graduate in Public Administration, he integrates his technical expertise with an administrative background. Outside of work and family, he facilitates retreats dedicated to helping others find meaning, purpose, and healing.

Gil Achanzar, Requirements Manager, has 20 years of experience as a government project manager. He has served SOS in the Elections Division, Business Programs Division, and Political Reform Division. His duties include managing requirements, analyzing change requests, and overseeing Schedule Management. Gil has four adult children and is a proud papa to his grand kids.

Rupi Gill, Change Management Lead, joined the PMO in 2024, supporting the CARS Project with a strategic focus on program governance, delivery oversight, and cross-functional alignment. With more than 17 years of experience in public-sector information technology initiatives, she has a computer science degree and is pursuing a doctorate degree. She is a proud mom to three little ones and enjoys spending time with her family.

Anand Deshmukh, Project Management Support Services Lead, has been with the CARS PMO since 2022, supporting end-to-end project management. His 25 years of experience includes leading the implementation of several large, complex state projects. Anand has a master’s degree in computer science. Outside of work, Anand is an avid hiker and loves to travel.

The work of the PMO is ongoing and critical to managing the CARS Project. The team is responsible for project governance, and oversees the planning, scheduling, and tracking of the project’s development effort, testing, risks and issues, and other crucial areas.  

On the Horizon: Project Milestones and Activities

• CARS Monthly External Stakeholder Meetings – This series of meetings is held on the second Wednesday of each month. The purpose of each meeting is to inform stakeholders of the project’s progress, answer questions about the CARS Project, and demonstrate functionality recently completed. February’s meeting is scheduled for 2/11/2026, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
  
  
• Program Increment 1 and 2 – As of the end of January, development of Program Increments 1 and 2 is complete. This development effort represents completion of approximately three-fourths of the CARS functional requirements. Features developed in these program increments include workstreams for most registration and disclosure reporting functions, many aspects of system administration, user account maintenance, and the filer portal.
  
  
• Program Increment 1 Acceptance – On February 3, the team completed the process to review and verify the acceptance criteria was satisfied for the functionality delivered in Program Increment 1. This is a major milestone for the CARS project.
  
  
• Program Increment 3 – Development for Program Increment 3 began in November 2025. This increment includes further development of financial transactions, correspondence, system reports, and online help.
  
  
• Third-Party Software Vendors – The development team finished the Application Program Interfaces for uploading data contained in 32 types of user-submitted filings.
  
  The project team meets with the third-party software vendors twice monthly, on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. The next meeting is scheduled for 2/13/2026.

• External Stakeholder Testing – A group of stakeholders with varying roles have volunteered to test the functionality developed in Program Increments 1 and 2. They will receive training and will be paired with a mentor/business expert from the Political Reform Division who will offer guidance, answer questions, and provide support throughout the testing process.
  
  Testers have the flexibility to choose from the available functionality, the features they wish to test, including registration and disclosure reports from the following Filing Entity types: Candidates, Recipient Committees, Slate Mailer Organizations, Major Donor, Independent Expenditure Committees, and Lobbying Entities.
  
  Testing is anticipated to begin mid-March and conclude in early April.

Getting Ready for Go-live

Question of the Month

CARS is designed to assess fees, fines, and penalties automatically. Invoices for fees, fines, and penalties are delivered within the CARS application. The application tracks invoices, payments made, and waiver requests. You can view and manage these for any entity to which you are linked. You also can make payments directly through CARS.

All invoices and payments are tracked in the system and will be viewable in your Filer Dashboard, providing an easy and convenient process to manage this information.  

Tell Us More

What would you like to see included in the next CARS Stakeholder Bulletin issue? Email PRDCARS@SOS.CA.GOV to provide your ideas and feedback.

Where to Find Project Resources

The CARS Project Monthly External Stakeholder Meeting Series (MS Teams), PowerPoint Presentations, Q&As, FAQs and additional information may be found on the CARS Homepage.