Oakland (Special to ZennieReport.com) – Today, The City of Oakland Communications Consultant sent this press release announcing Oakland Mayor Elect Barbara Lee’s Transition Team Committee. Oakland Mayor-elect Barbara Lee announced her Transition Committee members, who will be assisting her as she prepares to take office and execute her leadership for the first 100 days.
“Oaklanders demand – and deserve – transparency, accountability, and results. With the help of these dynamic leaders and residents, this is what we will deliver together,” said Mayor-elect Lee. “For all of Oakland, I want to thank those who have agreed to serve – and am filled with gratitude for your leadership and support, which will help Oakland turn the next chapter.”
Transition Committee members were specifically invited to provide leadership and perspectives in helping to execute Mayor-elect Lee’s 100 Day Plan and to help convene working groups to provide guidance on how the City can rebuild accountability and results for the residents of Oakland.
All Transition Committee members are volunteering their time in service to the Oakland community.
Transition Committee Co-Chairs previously announced by the Mayor-elect on April 21st are:
Keith Brown is Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Alameda Labor Council AFL-CIO, an organization representing thousands of public sector workers, including nearly 40,000 Oakland residents. Mr. Brown is currently Co-Chair of the California Jobs First Alameda County Subregional Table and the UC Berkeley Labor Center Advisory Board, a Member of the UC Berkeley Labor Occupational Health Program Advisory Board, and member of the Alameda County Transportation Commission’s Measure B Citizens Oversight Committee.
The former President of the Oakland Education Association, Mr. Brown served for 22 years as a teacher in the Oakland Unified School District, where he designed and implemented curriculum to meet the needs of all students. Mr. Brown was named the Alameda County Unionist of the Year by the Alameda Labor Council in 2020 and received the California Teachers Association’s We Honor Our Own (WHO) Award in 2022. Mr. Brown is a lifelong Oakland resident and lives in the Oak Tree neighborhood.
Barbara Leslie is an Oakland Port Commissioner and the first woman President and CEO of the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. She has represented the Chamber on a variety of civic boards such as the Oakland Thrives Initiative, Oakland Safety Impact Table, Oakland Promise Advisory Board, and Oakland Small Business Task Force. Ms. Leslie has also served as a member of the Measure X Strong Mayor Task Force, Chair of the Oakland Workforce Investment Board, Board Member for the Oakland African American Chamber Foundation, and the Youth Employment Partnership.
Ms. Leslie has extensive experience in both the public and private sectors, including her former service as an Assistant to the City Manager during the Brown Administration, director of External Affairs and philanthropy for AT&T in the East Bay and the Oakland Association of Realtors. She is a 30-year Rockridge neighborhood resident.
Transition Committee Members (in alphabetical order)
Michael Barnett is an Oakland homeowner and award-winning senior physicist and scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. A decades-long advocate for civil rights, social justice, and science, Mr. Barnett founded two national science education programs and produced/created a planetarium show about dark matter viewed by millions of people.
Fred Blackwell is the CEO of the San Francisco Foundation, one of the largest community foundations in the country. An Oakland native, Mr. Blackwell previously served as Director of the Making Connections Initiative for the Annie E. Casey Foundation in the Lower San Antonio neighborhood of Oakland and managed a multiyear community initiative for the San Francisco Foundation in West Oakland. His extensive government experience includes previously serving as Interim City Administrator and Assistant City Manager for the City of Oakland, and as Executive Director of the Redevelopment Agency and Director of the Mayor’s Office of Community Development in San Francisco.
Keith Carson is a Glen Highlands neighborhood resident and served as Alameda County’s District 5 Supervisor from 1993 to 2024, where he led efforts to address affordable housing, health equity, criminal justice reform, and economic empowerment, making significant strides in tackling homelessness, enhancing public health, and creating pathways to education and jobs. Supervisor Carson played a key role in establishing the County’s Data Sharing Initiative, which provides the public with easy access to records and information, promoting transparent governance and civic engagement.
Creighton Davis is a Bay Area native, former middle school teacher, and tech attorney who specializes in AI content moderation, trust, and safety. A Temescal resident, he has previously served as Chair of Oakland’s Community Policing Advisory Board and currently serves on the board of the Black Cultural Zone. In 2023, Mr. Davis co-founded Kinfolx, a coffee shop, wine bar, and community space located in downtown Oakland.
Quinn Delaney is the founder and Board Chair of Akonadi Foundation, which provides support to Oakland organizations working toward racial equity, and a member of the California Donor Table and Smart Justice California. A President Biden appointee to the Commission on Presidential Scholars, she currently serves on the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls and has previously served on the boards of the Oakland Museum of California and the East Bay Community Foundation. Ms. Delaney is a principal of Jordan Real Estate Investments, which has invested in and developed many commercial and residential projects in Oakland since 1998.
Jeanette Dong lives in Oakland’s Redwood Heights neighborhood and serves as Chief Strategy Officer at Alameda Health System, where she leads systemwide planning to improve health outcomes across Alameda County. Ms. Dong previously served as Chief of Staff to the late County Supervisor Wilma Chan and as Director of Recreation and Human Services for an East Bay city to expand food access, mental health services, and award-winning initiatives to address homelessness. As Associate Vice Chancellor for Workforce Development at Peralta Colleges, Ms. Dong focused on career technical education and developing career ladders in the workforce areas of logistics, health, and sciences. She is a former member of the California Board of Registered Nursing and an Alfred P. Sloan and Coro Foundation Fellow.
Viola Gonzales is the former President of the League of Women Voters of Oakland and a past City of Oakland Assistant to the Mayor for Economic Development and Employment. A retired nonprofit executive and Glenview resident, Ms. Gonzales previously served as CEO of Anew America Community Corporation, an organization providing business training to new Americans, women, people of color, and low to moderate income workers. She previously served as Executive Director of the Latino Community Foundation, Latino Issues Forum, and Oakland YWCA and Chief Operating Officer of The Unity Council.
Robert L. Harris,Esq. serves as an Executive Member at Large of the Oakland NAACP, where he has been an advocate for public safety, government accountability, and stronger community partnerships. A longtime Oakland resident and civil rights leader, Mr. Harris is a retired corporate executive who served for 34 years at Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), including as Vice President of Environmental, Health, Safety, Technical and Land Services. He was the first PG&E attorney to argue and win a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, establishing key First Amendment protections. Mr. Harris is a founding member of the California Association of Black Lawyers and previously served as President of the National Bar Association, Grand Polemarch (national president) of Kappa Alpha Psi, and Grand Sire Archon (national president) of Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity. He also serves as Legal Counsel to the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce and hosts All About Community on Comcast. Mr. Harris lives in Oakland’s Sequoyah neighborhood.
Freada Kapor Klein, Ph.D. is an entrepreneur and investor focused on gap-closing startups and strategies. As a Founding Partner at Kapor Capital, and through Kapor Center Investments, Dr. Kapor’s direct investing is in seed-stage tech startups that create positive social impact by closing gaps of access, opportunity, or outcome for low-income communities and communities of color. Dr. Kapor is also the founder of SMASH.org, now in its 24th year, which provides rigorous STEM education and access to social capital for low-income high school students of color across the country.
In 1976, she co-founded the Alliance Against Sexual Coercion, the first organization in the U.S. to address sexual harassment. Dr. Kapor is a member of the National Board of Directors of the NAACP, the U.C. Berkeley Chancellor’s Board of Visitors, and serves on the board of Kai XR, and the advisory boards of Twilio.org and Trident.
Paul Markovich is a nationally recognized healthcare leader and President and CEO of Ascendiun, the nonprofit parent organization overseeing Blue Shield of California and its affiliated entities. From 2013 to 2024, he served as President and CEO of Blue Shield – a mission-driven, nonprofit health plan headquartered in Oakland and serving 4.8 million Californians where he championed access to affordable, high-quality care. Under his leadership, Blue Shield administered California’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution network, co-led the state’s testing task force, and launched initiatives to modernize care and expand health equity statewide.
A Rhodes Scholar with a long record of advancing nonprofit health care, Mr. Markovich has been honored with the Corporate Health Award from National Medical Fellowships, among numerous accolades recognizing his innovation and commitment to equity. He previously served as Chief Operating Officer and, earlier, led Blue Shield’s CalPERS business unit as Senior Vice President before taking on the Large Group business portfolio. He currently serves on the boards of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and America’s Health Insurance Plans and is an Oakland resident.
Carrie Owen Plietz is Regional President for Kaiser Permanente Northern California, where she oversees care delivery and health plan operations for more than 4.5 million members across 21 hospitals and over 250 medical offices. Based in Oakland, she leads a workforce of more than 100,000 physicians, nurses, and staff committed to clinical excellence and improving the long-term health of communities across the region.
Ms. Owen Plietz has led some of the largest hospital systems in the country, including serving as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for Wellstar Health System and as CEO of Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento. She is the immediate past Chair of the American College of Healthcare Executives and serves on the Executive Committee of the California Hospital Association. Throughout her career, she has prioritized investments that address the social drivers of health – such as housing, food access, and economic opportunity – and strengthened partnerships between healthcare systems and the communities they serve. A Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, she was honored with the Robert S. Hudgens Award for Young Healthcare Executive of the Year.
Oakland Unified School District Student Board Director Maximus Simmons is a junior at Oakland High School in the Law & Social Justice pathway. Director Simmons previously attended Sequoia Elementary and Edna Brewer Middle School. He enjoys volunteering, teaching restorative justice, and meeting with other leaders. He has served as a delegate for the All City Council (ACC) Student Union since middle school and takes pride in serving as Student Director on the Board of Education to represent 34,000 students with their unique challenges and goals.
Sheryl Waltonis a longtime East Oakland resident in District 7 with over three decades of experience in public health and grassroots organizing. Known for her commitment to building long-term capacity in underserved communities, Ms. Walton is co-chair of the Block by Block Organizing Network (BBBON), a multiracial, progressive coalition founded in 2010 to unite community activists block by block and district by district to build a stronger, collective voice for Oakland.
Through her work with BBBON and in public health, Ms. Walton has secured funding for community-based health initiatives, supported neighborhood leadership development, and helped shape policy conversations around equity and safety in East Oakland. She received her Master of Public Health degree from UC Berkeley.
In addition to the Transition Committee, the following Groups will be convened:
Arts/Culture Working Group
Good Governance Working Group
Homelessness/Housing Working Group
Interfaith Advisory Council
Jobs/Economic Development Working Group
Labor Working Group
Large Employer Working Group
Public-Private Partnerships Working Group
Public Safety Working Group
Small Business Working Group
Tech Working Group
Youth Advisory Council
Transition Committee Advisors:
Transition Director Danny Wan, Esq., is the former Executive Director of the Port of Oakland. During Mr. Wan’s tenure at the Port, Mr. Wan oversaw the Seaport, Oakland International Airport, and Jack London Square – while advancing green infrastructure, leading efforts to cut emissions, improve air quality, and prioritize community benefits/neighborhood engagement. He also served as President of the California Association of Port Authorities and represented West Coast ports nationally.
Mr. Wan was the first openly LGBTQ+ member of the Oakland City Council, where he championed equity-focused policies including expanded language access and living wage standards. He has also served as a public-school teacher, a Director of the East Bay Municipal Utility District, and City Attorney for the City of Morgan Hill. In 2017, he was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to the Sierra Nevada Conservancy. Mr. Wan earned his law degree from UCLA after graduating from UC Berkeley and lives in the Jingletown neighborhood with his partner, Oliver.
Senior Advisor Barbara J. Parker,Esq. served as Oakland’s City Attorney from 2011 to 2025 and was the first African American woman elected to citywide office in Oakland. Over nearly 14 years, she built one of the most active affirmative litigation programs in the country, filing more than 150 lawsuits to hold corporate polluters, abusive landlords and discriminatory corporations, and opioid manufacturers accountable. Her office recovered over $56 million for the city to support clean air, housing justice, and public health efforts, while advancing legal protections for Oakland’s most vulnerable residents.
With over four decades of experience in public and private practice, Ms. Parker previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and as Oakland’s Chief Assistant City Attorney for more than a decade. A steadfast advocate for transparency and good governance, she prioritized compliance with open meeting laws and worked to ensure public officials were accountable to the people they serve. Ms. Parker served as a member of the Judicial Council, which oversees the operations of the California courts, was named Public Lawyer of the Year by the State Bar of California and honored by the California Diversity Council as one of the state’s Most Powerful & Influential Women. She is a graduate of the University of Washington and Harvard Law School and has resided in Oakland’s Haddon Hill Neighborhood for 35 years.
Senior Advisor Ben Rosenfield is a public finance expert with over 25 years of experience in local government, including 16 years as San Francisco’s City Controller. He managed the city’s $14 billion budget through some of its most challenging periods including the Great Recession, the COVID-19 pandemic, and multiple leadership transitions. Known as a master of detail and strategy, Mr. Rosenfield brings a nonpartisan, long-view approach to city budgeting – helping build fiscal reserves, improve transparency, and guide structural reforms. He began his public service career as a junior budget analyst and rose to serve as Budget Director, Chief Financial Officer, and Controller.
We thank the three Transition Committee Advisors who are also volunteering their time in service to the Oakland community.
To learn more about Mayor-elect Barbara Lee’s transition, visit www.BarbaraLeeTransition.com.