Mayor Lurie Announces Appointments Of Civic Leaders To City Institutions

SAN FRANCISCO – Mayor Daniel Lurie today announced appointments and reappointments to San Francisco committees and commissions. The mayor appointed Channie Barker and Aditya Lakshminarayan to the Veterans’ Affair Commission, Patrick Boileau to the Citizens’ General Obligation Bond Oversight Committee, Robyn Sue Fisher and Fernay McPherson to the Small Business Commission, Gavin Jay to the Southeast Community Facility Commission, Emily Mathis to the Mayor’s Disability Council, Jonathan Moscone to the Film Commission, Gabriela Ortega to the Free City College Oversight Committee, James Pappas to the Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure Oversight Board, Derrick Tyler to the Mission Bay Transportation Improvement Fund Advisory Council, and Katie Zheng to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commissions (SFPUC) Citizen Advisory Committee.  

Mayor Lurie also reappointed Joseph Baba to the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Commission and Linda Fadeke Richardson, Jeanette Howard, and Timothy Reyff to the Treasure Island Development Authority (TIDA) Board of Directors.

“This group of capable leaders will help us make sure our government is working for San Franciscans—from small business owners and veterans to City College students and people with disabilities,” said Mayor Lurie. “I look forward to their work on behalf of our residents, and I want to thank them for stepping up to serve our city.”

Channie Barker is a U.S. Air Force veteran and graduate student in counseling psychology with a professional background spanning financial operations, recruiting, and personnel support. During her military service, Barker supported financial operations for service members and conducted interviews and qualifications evaluations for recruits. Currently serving as an executive assistant in a legal practice, Barker manages case coordination, research, and administrative operations. She holds a bachelor’s degree and is pursuing a master's degree in counseling psychology at Golden Gate University.

Aditya Lakshminarayan currently works as a principal product manager at Adobe. Before transitioning into tech, Lakshminarayan served as a U.S. Army Infantry Officer for seven years, with combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He was rated first among 40 officers, earned two Bronze Stars, and commanded units of up to 4,000 personnel. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business and a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University.  

Patrick Boileau is a San Francisco native with a background in labor, political communications, and military service. He has served as deputy political director for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 3 since 2018. He served in the U.S. Navy Reserve as a cryptologic technician from 2015 to 2020. Boileau is a lifelong San Franciscan with roots in the city and a passion for public service and civic engagement.

Robyn Sue Fisher is an entrepreneur and founder of Smitten Ice Cream, where she has led the company since 2007. As a San Francisco-based small business owner for nearly two decades, Fisher has experience with the realities facing local entrepreneurs, including access to capital, brand resilience, workforce culture, and community-centered business strategy. Prior to founding Smitten, Fisher built a strong foundation in strategy consulting at Monitor Group, where she advised Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits across the U.S. and Europe on complex organizational and marketing challenges.

Fernay McPherson is an entrepreneur and community advocate with roots in San Francisco’s culinary and civic communities. As the chef and owner of Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement, she successfully grew her business from a community center youth cooking program into a nationally recognized culinary destination featured in The New York Times and Bon Appétit. Her professional journey includes more than a decade of small business ownership and public service roles as a transit operator with San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and paraprofessional in the school district.

Gavin Jay is a partner solution architect and Bayview resident with more than 15 years of experience spanning cybersecurity, cloud architecture, and enterprise networking. Jay currently works at Amazon Web Services, and his professional background includes roles at Slalom, Gap Inc., Wipro, and Rogers Communications, where he delivered complex security and infrastructure solutions across industries, including retail, energy, and telecommunications. Jay is a father who regularly brings his daughter to Southeast Community Facility programs.

Emily Mathis is an administrative professional at the University of the Pacific, Dugoni School of Dentistry with experience in operations management, event coordination, and multi-site retail administration. Mathis is also a disability advocate focused on improving accessibility in nightlife and cultural venues, drawing from her lived experience with an invisible disability. She is working to bridge community awareness and accessibility gaps in San Francisco’s entertainment spaces.

Jonathan Moscone is an executive and artistic leader with more than three decades of experience driving large-scale cultural initiatives and cross-sector partnerships. As the former executive director of the California Arts Council, he managed a $34 million grant budget and a staff of 30, notably piloting the $60 million California Creative Corps workforce development program. His deep roots in San Francisco’s civic and cultural landscape include serving as chief producer at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, where he led the successful Proposition E ballot campaign to restore municipal arts funding. An alumnus of Williams College and the Yale School of Drama, he brings extensive experience fostering investments in San Francisco’s creative economy.

Gabriela Ortega is a City College of San Francisco honors student studying communication studies. Ortega serves as a student ambassador in the Outreach Department, leading campus tours, supporting recruitment events, and participating in student government programming focused on campus engagement. She also brings professional event operations experience through her work on the Super Bowl 60 event operations team at Levi’s Stadium and Moscone Center. A former Lowell High School yearbook editor in chief, Ortega brings communication skills, student perspective, and public engagement experience to the Free City College Oversight Committee.

James Pappas is a principal planner at the San Francisco Planning Department with 14 years of experience in housing policy, land use, and equity planning. Pappas has led major initiatives including the 2022 Housing Element and Affordable Housing Leadership Council process. He previously worked at the California Housing Partnership and University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and he holds a master’s degree in city planning from U.C. Berkeley.

Derrick Tyler is global head of transportation at OpenAI and a transportation leader with nearly three decades of experience across SFMTA, Uber, and UCSF. He has managed transit operations, fleet systems, and zero-emission mobility programs. A former U.S. Marine Corps aircraft technician, Tyler has operational expertise in large-scale transportation systems. He has lived in San Francisco for 15 years and has been directly involved in Mission Bay transportation coordination efforts since 2012.

Katie Zheng is a Stanford-educated environmental engineer and sustainability professional with more than a decade of experience in climate resilience planning, environmental compliance, and water systems research. She currently serves as sustainability analyst at UCSF. Zheng has worked directly with SFPUC on hydrologic modeling and water demand analysis for the Hetch Hetchy Regional Water System. She brings additional consulting experience in environmental remediation and groundwater management, combining technical expertise with regulatory experience.

Joseph Baba is a cybersecurity leader with more than a decade of experience securing complex systems across the defense, intelligence, and aerospace sectors. Baba currently works as a threat and vulnerability engineer at Salesforce and serves as an Information Warfare Officer with the U.S. Navy and Defense Intelligence Agency. A committed community leader, Baba currently serves as a commissioner on the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Commission and has held leadership roles with VetForce and Fleet Week San Francisco. He holds a master’s degree in cyber intelligence from American Military University.

Linda Fadeke Richardson is president of the TIDA and chair of its Housing, Infrastructure, Transportation, and Sustainability Committee. She has more than 25 years of experience in large-scale public-private development and civic infrastructure planning. She has served as a gubernatorial appointee to the Bay Conservation and Development Commission and held leadership roles with the Port of San Francisco Waterfront Plan Working Group and SFPUC capital planning efforts. She current works as principal of ADR Continental Group and has received multiple civic honors, including recognition from Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.

Jeanette Howard is a conservation scientist and organizational leader with more than two decades of experience at The Nature Conservancy. She has led statewide initiatives focused on land stewardship, climate resilience, and biodiversity, and currently co-chairs the California Biodiversity Network. Her expertise in ecological planning, environmental remediation, and climate adaptation directly supports the long-term sustainability challenges facing Treasure Island development, including sea-level rise and land reuse planning.

Timothy Reyff is a San Francisco trades professional and current TIDA board member with more than a decade of experience in construction and union labor leadership. He began his career in the Northern California Drywall Lathing Apprenticeship program and currently serves as a field representative with the North Coast States Carpenters Union. He brings hands-on expertise in workforce development, labor relations, and construction operations. Since joining the TIDA board in 2023, he has contributed to planning and relationship development supporting the Treasure Island redevelopment process.