Oakland Mayor-elect Barbara Lee announces key appointments to address public safety and economy

San Francisco Chronicle​

02-05-2025

Oakland Mayor-elect Barbara Lee announced Friday a transition team of politicians, business leaders, philanthropists, attorneys and nonprofit heads that will help her lead the city when she takes office.
The group is made up of 16 people, including Fred Blackwell, CEO of the San Francisco Foundation, Keith Carson, a retired Alameda County supervisor, Quinn Delaney, founder of the Akonadi Foundation, and Carrie Owen Plietz, regional president for Kaiser Permanente Northern California.
The transition committee will be tasked with helping Lee implement her 10-point plan to address Oakland's challenges, and with creating working groups to address homelessness, public safety and labor issues, improve small business support and establish public-private partnerships, she has said.
'Oaklanders demand — and deserve — transparency, accountability, and results. With the help of these dynamic leaders and residents, this is what we will deliver together,' Lee said in a statement Friday. '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.'
Lee has said she intends to implement her 10-point plan within her first 100 days in office. It prioritizes developing public safety strategies, streamlining building permits and cleaning up trash, among other goals. Lee has also proposed engaging the CEOs of the top 10 biggest companies in the city on public-private partnerships.
Lee, who beat former city council member Loren Taylor in last month's election to be the city's next mayor, will likely be sworn in this month. Her swearing in will occur after the Alameda County Registrar of Voters certifies the vote and the Oakland City Council votes to accept the results.
Other members of her transition team announced Friday include Michael Barnett, an Oakland homeowner and scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab; Creighton Davis, former chair of the city's community policing advisory board and current board member of Black Cultural Zone, a nonprofit; Jeanette Dong, chief strategy officer of Alameda Health System; Viola Gonzales, former president of the League of Women Voters; Robert Harris, an executive member of the NAACP; Freada Kapor Klein, a venture capitalist; Paul Markovich, president and CEO of Ascendium; Maximus Simmons, student board director of the Oakland school district; and Sheryl Walton, co-chair of the Block by Block Organizing Network (BBBON), a coalition of community activists in Oakland.
Danny Wan, former executive director of the port of Oakland, Barbara Parker, former Oakland city attorney, and Ben Rosenfeld, the former San Francisco city controller, will advise the transition team, Lee also announced Friday.
Lee, a progressive stalwart, has promised to unify the city amid challenging times as Oakland grapples with a budget crisis that has resulted in layoffs, a hiring freeze and other cost-saving measures. Last week, she announced that Barbara Leslie, president of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, and Keith Brown, head of the Alameda Labor Council, will lead her transition committee.
Interim Mayor Kevin Jenkins, who was council president before voters recalled ex-Mayor Sheng Thao in November, is expected to release a budget proposal on Monday. The proposal, which he said in a statement would include the input of incoming elected officials, will map out the city's priorities over the next two years.
But rising costs and struggling revenue streams pose challenges for the city to make major headway on some of its priorities, which include addressing public safety concerns and illegal dumping.