Speaker Biographies 1
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SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES 1 DAVID RABBITT He is the president of J Nowak and Associates, LLC, a consulting firm that provides counsel to business ABAG President and Sonoma County Supervisor and social sector institutions. He is also interim Supervisor David Rabbitt was elected to the Sonoma director of ArtPlace, a national organization investing County Board of Supervisors in November, 2010 and in art programs to help transform communities. is serving his second term representing the diverse Nowak has a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the blend of urban and rural comprising the Second New School for Social Research, New York. District of Sonoma County. Supervisor Rabbitt CONOR DOUGHERTY previously served as the Vice Mayor and Petaluma City Councilmember. Reporter, New York Times Supervisor Rabbitt’s regional assignments include the Conor Dougherty is a real estate and economics Golden Gate Bridge District, Association of Bay Area reporter for The New York Times. He has worked Governments, Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit and there and at The Wall Street Journal, where he has the North Bay Water Reuse Authority. Supervisor covered a range of topics including technology and Rabbitt’s countywide assignments include Sonoma sports, but somehow always seems to return to the County Employee Retirement Association, and the econ and housing beat. Sonoma County Transportation Authority/Regional Climate Protection Authority. Conor is a native Californian who grew up in San Francisco and Napa, went to UC San Diego, and has Supervisor Rabbitt was appointed by the Governor to worked at papers including The Los Angeles the California Seismic Safety Commission to Business Journal and The San Diego Union-Tribune. represent local government in 2013. He was He lives in Oakland with his wife and daughter. reappointed in 2017. The mission of the Seismic Safety Commission is to provide decision makers and GREGORY SCHARFF the general public with cost-effective recommendations to reduce earthquake losses and ABAG Vice President and Palo Alto Councilmember speed recovery. The Commission investigates earthquakes, researches earthquake-related issues Greg Scharff has served on the Palo Alto City Council and reports, and recommends to the Governor and since 2009. He is ABAG’s Vice President. Legislature policies and programs needed to reduce earthquake risk. His regional roles beyond ABAG include serving as on the Bay Area Conservation and Development Supervisor Rabbitt is an architect, having earned his Commission; Joint Powers Board, Caltrain Advisory architectural degree at the University of Oregon. He Committee; and Santa Clara County Expressway resides in Petaluma with his wife and three children Policy Advisory Board. and has been active in numerous community and civic activities. Greg has practiced law since 1986. He previously worked with a large real estate developer, and then JEREMY NOWAK founded The Scharff Law Group in 1991. Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Lindy Institute for Greg received his Law Degree from Columbia Urban Investments University School of Law and his BA in Economics Jeremy Nowak is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at from Bowdoin College. He lives in Palo Alto with his Drexel University’s Lindy Institute for Urban wife and two children. Innovation. He created The Reinvestment Fund, one of the largest community investment institutions in the JULIE PIERCE United States, and chaired the Board of the Federal ABAG Immediate Past President, Clayton Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Councilmember He is also the chair of investment committee for Spring Julie Pierce is a Councilmember from the City of Point Partners, on the board of directors of the Clayton and a member of the Contra Costa University City Science Center in Philadelphia, on the Transportation Authority (CCTA). Julie was ABAG Advisory Board of the Institute for Urban Research at President from January 2014 to January 2018. She the University of Pennsylvania, and a Senior Fellow at also represents the Contra Costa cities on ABAG’s the Center for Impact Investment at the University of Regional Planning Committee, and on the ABAG New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy. Housing Methodology Committee which is charged Jeremy also chairs the board of The Philadelphia with developing the criteria and process for assigning Citizen, a new media startup devoted to solutions Regional Housing Need Allocation (RHNA) numbers based journalism. for the upcoming Sustainable Communities Strategy (SCS). She has been working on transportation and growth In addition to education, Mayor Mei embraces diverse management policy issues for 25 years, when she recreational and cultural programs serving as a was appointed to TRANSPAC, the Central Contra volunteer and leader supporting local scouting and Costa Regional Transportation Planning Committee. sports programs. At the state level, Mayor Mei was the President of the Asian Pacific Islander School She has served on the Clayton City Council and the Board Members Association (APISBMA) for CCTA since 1992. Julie currently serves as the CCTA California. Regionally in the Bay Area, Mayor Mei was delegate to the California Council of Governments elected by surrounding local school districts to two (CALCOG). She also serves as the Northern terms as a Delegate Assembly member for Region 7 California Transportation Agencies representative on which represents Alameda and Contra Costa counties. the Executive Committee for CALCOG. Julie has been recognized locally, regionally and Mayor Mei lives in Fremont with her husband, Peter, inter-regionally for her leadership, ability to build and their children, Katie and Calvin. consensus from divergent views and for promoting a county and regionwide approach to transportation planning, land use and growth management. ALIX BOCKLEMAN LYNETTE GIBSON MCELHANEY Deputy Director, ABAG/MTC Alix Bockelman is the Deputy Executive Director of Oakland Councilmember, ABAG Executive Board Policy for ABAG/MTC and oversees departments Member responsible for strategic financial planning and MTC’s Lynette was elected in November 2012 and has a management of federal, state and regional fund focus on jobs and economic development, beyond her sources for transit, highways, roadways and other commitment to strong constituent services. She has modes; state and federal legislative advocacy, and 20 years’ experience with housing and community public affairs and community outreach; and planning, development, having served as the Executive Director including the Bay Area’s long-range regional of a non-profit, working hard to develop affordable transportation and land use plan, air quality and housing, expand economic opportunity and curb freight issues. violence in low-income communities. Ms. Bockelman joined MTC in 1998 and her early Through this experience she knows how to balance assignments included stints as project manager, real budgets and make a payroll. She also knows how funding liaison, transportation forecaster, and to bridge the interests of the business community with multimodal program manager. In 2003 she was the needs of the neighborhood. The daughter of union appointed principal analyst to oversee the region’s parents, Councilmember McElhaney holds a BA in $18 billion transit expansion program. Two years later Political Science from UC Berkeley. Ms. Bockelman was promoted to Director of Programming and Allocations. In this role she was LILY MEI responsible for overseeing MTC’s strategic financial planning and managing the distribution of more than Mayor, Fremont $1 billion annually in federal, state and regional transportation funds. Mayor Lily Mei grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she earned a Outside MTC, Ms. Bockelman is chair of the Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Drexel Committee on Transportation Programming and University. Her diverse professional experience Investment Decision-Making for the Washington, includes over 20 years in competitive analysis, D.C.-based Transportation Research Board. She also product and channel management, supply chain is a member of the Women’s Transportation Seminar practices and serving as a worldwide sales operations (WTS), and in 2007 was named “Woman of the Year” controller. Most recently she led a global high- by the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of WTS. technology trade association representing industry leaders to develop best practices to advance Ms. Bockelman is a registered Professional Engineer intellectual property protection. in California, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a master’s degree in Public Policy – Since 1994, Mayor Mei and her family have proudly both from the University of California, Berkeley. called Fremont home, choosing our city for its family- friendly environment. She began her local service participating on numerous school-related committees. She was elected twice as a School Board Trustee to the Fremont Unified School District serving from January 2008 to December 2014. DIANE DILLON LOGAN PITTS Supervisor, Napa County Sonoma County Field Representative, Office of State Senator Dodd Supervisor Dillon was elected to the Board of Supervisor for District 3 in November 2002, and is Logan Pitts currently serves as the Sonoma County currently serving her fourth term. field representative for State Senator Bill Dodd since his election in 2016. He also served in this capacity, Diane was born and raised in Napa, California and as well as the Lake County field representative, has lived in the Valley