This month SPUR welcomed 13 new members to its board of directors. These new appointees bring extensive knowledge in planning, housing, transportation, economic justice, good government, food and agriculture, sustainability and resilience to the organization’s leadership. We look forward to their advisership as we continue our work to make the Bay Area a place where everyone can thrive.
San Francisco Directors
Maria Castillo
Maria serves on the Strategic Initiatives and Business Development Team for Comcast NBCUniversal, where she focuses on evolving Comcast NBCUniversal’s position as the preferred technology, entertainment and innovation partner for developers, municipalities and strategic business partners throughout California. Maria was also the lead of the Unidos ERG (Hispanic Employee Resource Group) for two years, where she managed a board of 10 members and spearheaded the launch of the group with California Secretary of State Alex Padilla before an audience of 250 members.
Sarah Dennis-Phillips
Sarah serves as a Senior Director at Tishman Speyer, where she leads a variety of projects through entitlement, permitting and construction; provides expertise in entitlement efforts across Tishman Speyer’s California portfolio; and coordinates state and local legislative and government interests
David Friedman
David was a Senior Principal, Emeritus Chair of the Board of Directors, President and CEO of Forell/Elsesser Engineers. He has over 45 years of professional practice (including 40 years at Forell/Elsesser) in structural and earthquake engineering. His strength, gained over the breadth and depth of his career, is a holistic perspective of a projects’ planning, design and construction and the collaborative integration of creative structural solutions with architects and builders.
Roscoe Mapps
Roscoe Mapps is entering his sixth season with the San Francisco Giants. As Vice President of External Affairs, he works in public affairs and government relations and on efforts involving the Mission Rock project. Roscoe also serves as a co-chair of the Giants’ Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council and as a co-chair of Black Excellence, the organization’s Black Employee Resource Group. He joined the Giants after leading several campaigns including the effort to earn voter approval of the Mission Rock project, a 28-acre mixed-use waterfront neighborhood located just south of Oracle Park and currently under construction.
Gregg Miller
Gregg Miller is a partner at Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP in San Francisco, where he practices real estate and land use law. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute, the Real Property Section of the San Francisco Bar Association and the University of San Francisco Law Review. He is also a graduate of the 2009 class of Leadership San Francisco. Gregg is president of the board of directors of Community Housing Partnership and is a former member of the board of Lone Mountain Children’s Center, where he served for almost 10 years.
Terezia Nemeth
Terezia Nemeth is Executive Vice President and Regional Market Director - San Francisco for Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. She has over 30 years of experience in the field, including 15 years at Alexandria. In this role, she is responsible for leading and supporting the regional team in operations, capital deployment, business development, acquisition/disposition due diligence, personnel management, leasing, construction project management, tenant management and overall regional leadership.
Shin-Pei Tsay
Shin-pei Tsay’s experience converges at the intersection of design, policy and governance, where she works to transform the built environment with a focus on sustainable and inclusive transportation. She is currently Head of Global Policy for Cities and Transportation at Uber. Prior to joining Uber, she founded Make Public, a social impact analysis firm that specializes in the public realm, and was Executive Director of Gehl Institute, a nonprofit that advocates for public life and public spaces.
San José Directors
Dr. Byron D. Clift Breland
Dr. Byron D. Clift Breland currently serves as Chancellor of San José-Evergreen Community College District (SJECCD). He served as President of San José City College from spring of 2013 until being named Interim Chancellor in July 2018. He was appointed permanent Chancellor by the SJECCD Board of Trustees in November 2018. Byron has held administrative positions at the University of Maryland at College Park and the University of Southern California, where he successfully led community development, outreach and student success initiatives.
Erin Salazar
Originally from the Mojave Desert in Southern California, Erin Salazar is an artist, muralist, seamstress, curator, community organizer and dreamer. As an entrepreneur, she is the Founding Executive Director of the arts nonprofit Local Color, whose mission is to keep local artists employed, engaged and active by building multifaceted opportunities that empower creatives in San José. Erin has participated in and orchestrated over 40,0000 square feet of public art throughout San José.
Jasneet Sharma
Jasneet Sharma is the Director for the Office of Sustainability with the County of Santa Clara, where she provides leadership in implementing sustainability goals, policies and projects for the county. She recently led efforts for the county to adopt a Sustainability Master Plan that lays out a vision and road map to reduce climate pollution, adapt to a changing global climate, enhance natural resources and the environment, foster a prosperous and just economy, and meet the needs of current and future generations to ensure that all people have equitable opportunities to reach their full potential.
Leah Toeniskoetter
Leah has served in community and business leadership roles across the Bay Area for more than 20 years, dedicating time to areas of public policy, public health, open space, safety net services and real estate development. Currently, she leads Corporate Citizenship for Deloitte across the West Region of the United States. Most of her geographical focus is in the Bay Area, engaging Deloitte’s resources to support priority societal challenges of college readiness, workforce development and local needs of under-resourced communities.
Oakland Directors
Ahmed Ali Bob
Ahmed Ali Bob has spent his career working from within local government, the nonprofit sector and the tech sector to reduce barriers to entry for low-opportunity communities in Oakland. Ahmed is currently the Community Affairs Lead at Square, Inc., where he works with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that small businesses and the communities they serve have access to the resources, technical expertise and support they need to thrive.
Elisse Douglass
The Co-Founder of the Oakland Black Business Fund and a Vice President of Development at Signature Development Group, Elisse specializes in leveraging strategic investing, partnerships and bold vision to create the neighborhood economic hubs of the future, ensuring that they are equitable, innovative and reflective of local communities. As an impact investor, she builds and invests in minority-owned businesses that generate economic growth, specializing in place-based businesses and innovative retail concepts.