Cynthia A - LeaderSpring

“A Bolder Form of Leadership”
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
(Networking 11 to 11:30 a.m.)
Berkeley City Club
Courageous  Provocative  Risk-taking
Join our dynamic and diverse network of Bay Area social sector leaders, board
members, funding partners, and social change agents. We will be exploring bold
leadership at work for our communities – leaders who dare to be courageous,
provocative, and risk-taking toward a healthy and equitable society.
Leadership Event Committee Co-Chairs
Fred Blackwell
Jenny Flores
James W. Head
Fred Mendez
CEO
The San Francisco
Foundation
Senior Vice President
Bank of the West
President & CEO
East Bay Community
Foundation
Managing Director
MUFG Union Bank
LeaderSpring will soon announce our event panel of bold leaders at the forefront of
eliminating social, economic, and health disparities in their communities and across
the country.
Leadership Event Committee Co-Chair Bios
Fred Blackwell is CEO of The San Francisco Foundation (TSFF), one of the largest
community foundations in the country. An Oakland native, Fred is a nationally
recognized community leader with a longstanding career in the Bay Area. He has
served as Interim City Administrator for the City of Oakland where he previously served
as the Assistant City Administrator. He was the Executive Director of the SF
Redevelopment Agency and Director of the Mayor’s Office of Community
Development in San Francisco; served as the Director of the Making Connections
Initiative for the Annie E. Casey Foundation; was a Multicultural Fellow in
Neighborhood and Community Development at TSFF; and subsequently managed a
multi-year comprehensive community initiative for TSFF in West Oakland. Fred serves
on the board of the SF Bay Area Super Bowl 50 Legacy Fund and UC Berkeley’s College
of Environment Design’s Advisory Council. He was also one of LeaderSpring’s founding
board members.
Jenny Flores is Senior Vice President and Head of Community Affairs and Corporate
Social Responsibility for Bank of the West, a leading regional financial services
company based in California since 1874. She oversees the Bank’s Community Affairs
Department and Philanthropic Investments, and manages a national team dedicated to
ensuring that the bank effectively meets the financial and credit needs of low-tomoderate income consumers in its 19-state footprint. Jenny previously served as the
Community Development Director for Citi in Northern California. Prior to that, she was
Executive Director of the Congress of California Seniors, a statewide nonprofit
organization dedicated to assisting seniors and low-income families. She also has
extensive experience in legislative affairs through previous positions with the
Greenlining Institute and the California State Legislature. Among her numerous
community and nonprofit affiliations, Jenny serves on the board of the Mission
Economic Development Agency (MEDA) in SF and on the Operation HOPE Northern
California Regional Board.
James W. Head is President & Chief Executive Officer of the East Bay Community
Foundation. Before joining the Foundation in 2014, he served for 10 years as Vice
President for Programs at The San Francisco Foundation, where he spearheaded
initiatives on race, equity, poverty, housing, economic development, and youth
development. James has more than 30 years of experience in philanthropy, nonprofit
management, and technical assistance; community and economic development; and
public interest law. He served as president of the National Economic Development and
Law Center for 18 years. Additionally, he served as legal counsel to the California
Community Economic Development Association and has been a member of foundation
advisory boards, including the Open Society Foundation of New York and the Charles
Stewart Mott Foundation of Michigan. He has served on the Oakland Port Commission
since 2009. He is an adjunct professor at University of California at Berkeley’s Boalt
School of Law, University of California at San Francisco’s Hastings School of Law, and
University of Santa Clara’s School of Law. He has been an Oakland resident for more
than 25 years.
Horacio “Fred” Mendez is a Managing Director for Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) in the Americas for MUFG Union Bank. He is responsible for the bank’s outreach
strategy for CSR, including connection with: Community Reinvestment Act
requirements, supplier diversity, philanthropy, sustainable finance, and creating a
network by which MUFG’s broad suite of products and services are made available to
underserved populations from Canada to Argentina. Previously, Fred was Rabobank,
N.A.’s Chief Sustainability Officer, overseeing its CSR and Community Reinvestment
Programs with an emphasis on food, agriculture, and rural economic development. He
was a Senior Fellow at the Aspen Institute, a director at SVB Financial Group, and a
senior investment specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of SF. He worked on the
options floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange, ran the fixed income desk for Continental
Savings of America, and was a financial industry specialist for Dow Jones/Telerate. He
is on the board of Valley Vision, a founding board member of MUST!Charities, and a
former board member of the California Association for Local Economic Development
and the Crocker Art Museum.