SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
(in order of appearance)

Greg Garrett is a commercial and real estate development specialist with 15 years of management experience in private and public sector finance. He serves as both the general manager of Eastmont Town Center and the senior project manager of Eastmont Properties Company. For the past three years, Mr. Garrett led the strategic repositioning of Eastmont Town Center, now a $10 million-a-year business. As senior project manager of Eastmont Properties, he led the development efforts of the Nathan A. Miley Senior Housing Community, and is currently in pre-development on several other projects comprising nearly 500 units of workforce housing in the greater East Bay. Prior to joining Eastmont, he spent eight years with the City of Oakland as manager of the City’s Commercial Finance Division. Active in community affairs, Mr. Garrett is now serving on the Board of Directors of the California Housing Partnership Corporation, and also owns and operates a successful café that he is expanding to a second location.

Robert Bridwell is responsible for all of Eastmont Properties Company's design, development and construction activities. Mr. Bridwell serves as the company's president and has extensive experience with large public and private development projects domestically (in both California and Texas ) and internationally. In addition to project management, Mr. Bridwell is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and chairs the AIA East Bay Chapter's Historic Preservation Committee.

Jack Sumski has been involved with real estate in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than forty years. Mr. Sumski has served as an owner, developer, lender and broker and has built a well diversified portfolio of properties. He is the chairman of Eastmont Properties Company and is primarily responsible for the oversight of the company's relationships with government and community-based organizations, as well as brokerage activities.

Bill Sumski has an extensive background in real estate law, investment, operations and finance. In addition to serving as Eastmont Properties Company's chief financial officer, Mr. Sumski also serves as general counsel and is a member of the Bar of the State of California .

Nathan A. Miley was sworn in to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors in 2001 and re-elected for a second term in 2004. He chairs the Board's Transportation and Planning Committee, Public Protection Committee and the Unincorporated Services Committee and was elected Chair of the Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority in 2004. After finishing Law School at the University of Maryland in 1976, Mr. Miley moved to Oakland and began his community involvement with the Oakland Community Organizations. In 1986, he created the United Seniors of Oakland and Alameda County to advocate for better senior services. As the organization's executive director, he and the seniors built a viable organization over 10 years of consistent, tenacious efforts. Mr. Miley was elected to the Oakland City Council in 1990 where he initiated programs to clean up neighborhood blight. He sponsored legislation to encourage local investment in the neighborhoods and worked to reform public housing. Mr. Miley is a single father of two children and has lived in Oakland for more than 20 years. He is committed to improving transportation, healthcare, public safety, and social service delivery to the diverse constituents of District 4.

Senator Don Perata, D-Oakland, Senate District 9, is one of the Bay Area's most influential lawmakers and has delivered strong, effective leadership to the people of the East Bay for more than 30 years. He was elected as president pro tempore of the Senate on December 6, 2004 . Senator Perata holds a bachelor's degree from St. Mary's College and a Secondary Teaching Credential from UC Berkeley. From 1966 to 1981, he worked as a Civics, English, and History teacher in the Alameda County School District . He served as chief fundraiser for Congressmen Howard Berman, Henry Waxman and Mel Levine from 1980 to 1985, and also worked as a staff assistant to Senate Pro Tempore Bill Lockyer. From 1986 to 1994, he served on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors and was elected to the Assembly in November 1996. In the Assembly, he was chair of Rules and Public Safety Committees. He served as majority leader in 1998 until elected to the Senate in a special election in November. Senator Perata is the author of the nation's toughest assault weapon ban and sponsor of legislation to expand breast cancer research and HMO reform. He is a leader in the fight to remove MTBE from gas and curb air pollution from oil refineries. Senator Perata has one son and one daughter and resides in Oakland .

Ron Dellums, an Oakland native, was elected to the Berkeley City Council and in 1970 to the U.S. House of Representatives.  He represented Oakland , Berkeley , and surrounding areas in the Congress for 28 years, rising to become chair of the House DC Committee and then chair of the House Armed Services Committee. As chair of the DC Committee, Mr. Dellums converted the committee into the only Congressional committee focused on the problems facing many urban centers including affordable housing and the financial inability of city governments to finance adequate and appropriate urban services for their residents. In addition to representing his district's views in the Congress, he was exceptionally effective in bringing home substantial Federal funds for the benefit of Oakland . His achievements included anchoring downtown development and monies for BART, AC Transit, health centers, HIV/AIDS programs, senior housing, and for the economic conversion of the Naval Air Station and Oakland Army Base. Mr. Dellums is the author of several books, including a recent autobiography Lying Down With the Lions: A Public Life from the Streets of Oakland to the Halls of Power. Since leaving Congress, he has been president of an international management company and a leading spokesman on the tragedy of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa and throughout the world. He is married to Cynthia Dellums and has four children. Ron Dellums is a candidate for mayor of Oakland .

Ignacio De La Fuente, president of the Oakland City Council, directs the business of the city's legislative branch, including approving the city-wide budget and crafting innovative, fiscally responsible policies designed to improve the lives of all Oaklanders. He was born in Mexico City , immigrated to California at the age of 21 and became an American citizen. He settled in Oakland where he began working in a foundry as a machinist and today serves as an International vice president for the Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers International Union, AFL-CIO. First elected to the Oakland City Council in 1992, Mr. De La Fuente became the first council member to be elected by his peers to serve as council president in 1999 and has been re-elected to this position every two years since. He spearheaded the city's efforts for downtown and neighborhood revitalization, including his Decent Housing Task Force's “Dirty Dozen landlords” campaign. Among his proudest accomplishments is authorship of the City's Hire Oakland policies that expand employment and small business opportunities for residents and the City's Equal Access policy – the first of its kind in the country – providing Oakland 's diverse population with multi-lingual information about city services. In 2004 he was elected to his fourth term as a council member and, in 2005, his colleagues re-elected him to the position of council president. Ignacio De La Fuente is a candidate for mayor of Oakland .

Council Member Desley Brooks dedicates her energies to improving public safety, increasing economic development, improving the physical environment of District 6, advocating on behalf of children and youth, and improving educational opportunities. Her diverse district stretches from the City's eastern border in the Oakland hills to the 880 freeway and Council Member Brooks has been adamant about ensuring that District 6 receives its fair share of resource. She serves on the City of Oakland Public Works and Life Enrichment Committees and is also a member of the Legislation and Governmental Affairs Committee of the Association of Bay Area Governments, a Fellow for Safe Passages, an Advisory Board Member for the College of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley, and a board member of the Oakland Cross-City Campaign. A native of New Orleans , Louisiana , Council Member Brooks moved to Oakland in 1989. She has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Washington and a Juris Doctorate from Seattle University . She was formerly the Chief of Staff to Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson, a Trial Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice Immigration & Naturalization Service, Asst. District Council with the Department of Housing & Urban Development, Staff Attorney with the Washington State Legislature and a Public Defender with Northwest Defenders.

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