Candidate for
Board Member; Berryessa Union School District

I have lived in the Berryessa area of San Jose for over 12 years and have taken a strong interest in our community. In the first half of the past decade, I served as a member of the San Jose Library Commission. As vice-chair of the commission, I led the Benefit Assessment District oversight committee, which ensures that parcel tax money is being used properly - to buy books, computer equipment, and support staff at our wonderful city library system. I helped with the Measure S campaign to renew this vital funding. For two years, I had the pleasure of chairing the Library Commission, and have represented the library system at press conferences, community meetings, and on television programs.

As a member of the School Board for the past 4 years, I have been very active in our schools. I am the only board member who has made regular visits to schools every year, including taking the time to have lunch with school staffs. I was elected twice by my fellow board members to serve as President of the board during difficult budget times. I started a blog (http://busdpresident.blogspot.com) to communicate the district's issues with the public and to solicit feedback. I meet regularly with our elected members of the California Assembly and Senate so that they know how their budgetary choices affect Berryessa. Recognizing that we couldn't rely solely on Sacramento for funding, I was the key driver in getting Measure W on the ballot in 2008. The measure was supported by over 72% of Berryessa's voters, and provides our district with $1.7 million of local funding each year. As a result, we have been able to keep our libraries open, retain middle school counselors, and keep our award-winning music program.

I believe that it is important to encourage young people to develop leadership skills and a desire to serve the community. For over a decade, I worked with a national college service organization called Alpha Phi Omega. As an advisor to the UC Berkeley chapter, I helped strengthen their program of service. As chair of the section covering Northern California and Nevada, I worked with students on a dozen campuses. I facilitated workshops on effective communication, leadership development, creativity, and conflict resolution.

My wife Shelli is a physician practicing family medicine in Fremont. We have a 7 year old daughter Mia, who is a 2nd grader attending Noble Elementary School, and a 4 year old son Reed, who will be entering kindergarten in 2011. We believe that diversity is one of the great strengths of our community and are teaching our children to be multilingual. Both our children are already fluent in English and Spanish and Mia is learning Mandarin as a student at Berryessa Chinese School. I am a Chemical Engineer managing the Computational Modeling Group at Novellus Systems, a San Jose manufacturer of semiconductor equipment. I have a PhD in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley and a BS degree from Cornell University.