Landon Baines, Board Chair & Treasurer
Landon is Senior VP – Regional Market President at Heritage Bank of Commerce in Oakland. Born in Oakland, he attended Glenview Elementary before his family moved to Hayward. However, his Oakland roots never left him.
Landon has been a banking professional for more than fifteen years serving with top banking institutions including CitiBank, First Republic Bank, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo. He returned to Oakland in 2017 to lead the commercial banking office for Community Bank of the Bay. In 2019, Landon was recruited by Heritage Bank of Commerce to establish their brand in Oakland. He jumped at the opportunity because it presented an opportunity to bring new capital, well-paying jobs and a bank with a rich history of supporting small business owners and non-profits to Oakland. Landon is no stranger to the Oakland Public Education Fund where he has served on the Community Advisory Board granting funds through its A – Z Fund to hundreds of public school projects across Oakland.
Landon received his MBA from St. Mary’s College, is a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School, and earned his undergraduate degree in Political Science from California State College in Hayward.
Michael Johnson, Vice Chair
Michael has provided leadership and management expertise for over 25 years to health care delivery, medical device and pharmaceutical companies, including startups, industry leaders and government institutions. Michael currently serves as the Director of Medical Services Contracting for The Permanente Medical group. He leads all contract and network development activities for Kaiser Permanente’s network of providers in Northern California with an emphasis on mental health and addiction medicine.
He is a past board member of the East Oakland Community Development Corporation, co-founder of the Oakland Chapter of the National Action Network, and currently serves on the Board of the Health and Human Resource Education Center, and member of the Steering Committee for the Russell City Reparative Justice Project in the City of Hayward. He also serves as an Associate Pastor at the historic Beebe Memorial Cathedral CME Church in Oakland, California.
Michael earned his B.A. in Psychology from the University of Oklahoma, his Master of Science in Public Health from UCLA, and his Master of Jurisprudence in Health Law from the Loyola University of Chicago School of Law.
Michael grew up in Oakland, is a product of Oakland Public Schools and lives and works in Oakland.
Sofia Navarro, Secretary
Sofia Navarro has over ten years of executive non-profit and public sector experience. She has served the City of Oakland as the Interim Director of Economic and Workforce Development and is currently serving as the Executive Director of the Oakland Workforce Development Board. In her current capacity she provides leadership and oversight of workforce investments in the City, staffing the Workforce Development Board, managing workforce development systems, planning, and policy and sector-based workforce initiatives. She also oversees the division’s effort to increase job creation, job training and creating a workforce that is responsive to the needs of Oakland businesses.
She is committed to community service and serves on Oakland Thrives Leadership Council, which focuses on advancing well-being and equity for Oakland children, families, and communities and Oakland Unified School District’s Career Technical Education Advisory Committee.
She has a Master’s degree in Leadership and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Saint Mary’s College of California.
Gunther Stein, Member at Large
Mr. Stein is the Head and Chief Investment Officer of the U.S. performing credit business at Sound Point Capital. Sound Point is an approximately $45 billion asset management firm. He is the former Chairman of Symphony Asset Management. He joined Symphony in 1999 and served as Chief Investment Officer and Chief Executive Officer from 2009 to 2018. He stepped down from his CIO and CEO roles at the end of September 2018. After stepping down as CIO/CEO Gunther served as Chairman through December 31, 2018.
Mr. Stein joined Symphony Asset Management as a portfolio manager in 1999 and became CIO and CEO in 2009. Under his leadership, assets under management grew threefold to nearly $20 billion. At Symphony, Gunther was responsible for a variety of investment strategies including hedge funds, collateralized loan obligations, mutual funds, and institutional accounts. He developed a unique team-based investment platform that invested in levered loans, high yield bonds, convertible arbitrage and equities.
In his investment and research career of more than 30 years Mr. Stein also held roles at Wells Fargo, First Interstate Bank, Standard Chartered and Citibank Investment Bank. He received an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and a BA in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
John Bliss, Member at Large
John is President of SCI Consulting Group, California’s premier local agency infrastructure funding and policy consulting firm. He specializes in establishing balloted funding mechanisms for public agencies providing essential services such as flood control, groundwater sustainability, storm drainage management, fire protection, mosquito and vector control, and local cannabis policy; and he frequently speaks at conferences on the subject. John is active in a wide variety of civic activities in Oakland and serves on the Board of Youth ALIVE!, the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce Foundation, and the Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation (which he co-founded). He co- chaired the Measure Q campaign in 2020, which brings more than $30 million to Oakland each year supporting park maintenance and homelessness services. He also co- founded the well-known model bridge competition at Oakland Technical High School in 1995 and continues to manage it annually.
John is an Bay Area native and a product of the Public K-12 schools – he has a B.S. in Engineering from Brown University and Masters’ Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. John is married to Kim A. Thompson and lives in the Rockridge area of Oakland. They have two adult children.
Calvin Guinn, Member at Large
Calvin has held progressively responsible engineering and managerial positions in the semiconductor manufacturing industry at Applied Materials and U.S. DOE-funded research and development concerns in partnership with the nation’s leading public university, the University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
After 25 years of working in industry, Calvin returned to his adolescent construction roots and provided leadership and management of his family-owned Design/Build custom residential construction business after his father’s health declined. Calvin successfully guided that growing concern for 15 years, until a past colleague approached and persuaded him to partner with him and start a low-voltage division for San Francisco-based Young Electric + Communications company, a privately held, union- supported, electrical contracting company. During his current tenure at YEC, Calvin has managed the steady growth of the low voltage division to $30 million annually and serves as an adjunct advisor to the board of the San Francisco Electrical Contractors Association (SFECA).
One of Calvin’s passions is to be able to introduce the youth of our community to opportunities in the fields of Engineering and Construction, endeavoring to expose them to viable avenues into those professional fields through mentorship and apprenticeship programs provided by the various building trade unions.
Calvin is an Oakland native and a product of the Oakland Public Schools System, has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from UC Berkeley, and is a life-long resident of Oakland, who has three grown children that also attended Oakland Public schools.
Travis Kauzer, Member at Large
Travis is an experienced investment professional, specializing in real estate syndication and acquisition. He has spent his entire career in the Investment Management industry working in both public and private markets at Fisher Investments, Fort Point Capital Partners, and The Grupe Co.
He received his bachelor’s degree in finance from Chico State University and his MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
His extended family has a long history of teaching in public schools and universities around the country and he looks forward to supporting the education community through his volunteer efforts.
Travis is an East Bay native who resides in Lafayette with his wife and two children.
Amy Chou, Member at Large
Amy Chou is a seasoned client services leader with experience acrossinsurance, tech, and education. She’s currently on an intentional careerpause to focus on family and community. She consistently volunteers withlocal and national nonprofits and proudly serves on the board of OaklandMuseum of California on the Finance Committee. She was also a foundingboard member of Camp Common Ground and served for over five years onthe Women in AI EthicsTM Board of Advisors.
Professionally, Amy spent 15 years in the insurance industry driving client success and leading teams atAon and IMA. She was also a proven people-first leader and driver of operational excellence at educationstart-ups including AI4ALL and Clever. She was the founding Corporate Partnerships Manager at AI4ALLwhere she forged strategic, long-lasting relationships with organizations that are committed to fostering adiverse pipeline to artificial intelligence careers. At Clever, she led a growing support team thatconsistently delivered on key metrics and successfully grew relationships with strategic enterprisecustomers.
Amy holds a B.A. in Sociology, a B.S. in Business Administration, and an M.B.A. from the University ofCalifornia – Berkeley. During her MBA, she co-created an award-winning course on Large-Scale SocialChange and was the founding member of the Race Inclusion Initiative.
Originally from NYC, Amy has lived in Oakland since 2008, and is a proud OUSD parent.
Patricio Dujan, Member at Large
Patricio Dujan is General Manager of the Families and Communities business at Scholastic Education, where he leads efforts to strengthen partnerships between schools, families, and communities to improve student outcomes. He brings vast experience at Scholastic and across education organizations, with leadership spanning sales, customer success, professional learning, and operations.
Patricio began his career as a bilingual classroom teacher in Newark, NJ through Teach For America, grounding his work in a deep commitment to educational equity. An immigrant from Argentina and the son of educators, he is passionate about expanding access and opportunity for all students.
He is a proud alumnus of University of California, Berkeley, with a B.A. in Psychology and Spanish and holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of California, San Diego. Patricio lives in the East Bay with his family and enjoys traveling, spending time outdoors, playing sports, and staying active in the community.
Richard M McNeal, Member at Large
Richard is the President and CEO of Citi Capital Mortgage Company and the Founder and Managing Broker of BGC Group, a Bay Area real estate and mortgage firm. He brings more than 25 years of executive leadership experience spanning mortgage finance, real estate, business development, sales leadership, and organizational growth. Prior to returning to entrepreneurship, Richard served in senior leadership roles with several national companies, including Canon Solutions America, where he was recognized as one of the top performing sales directors in the country.
In addition to his professional career, Richard has remained actively engaged in community, governance, and mentorship initiatives throughout the Bay Area. He currently serves in leadership and governance roles within statewide civic and fraternal organizations, including previously serving as Vice Chairman of the Board of Grand Directors for the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of California and Chair of the organization’s Property Progress Committee. He has also served as Director of Corporate Engagement for the San Francisco Chapter of the National Black MBA Association and has participated in mentoring and youth focused initiatives supporting Oakland students and communities.
Richard earned his MBA from San Francisco State University and his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Fresno State University. A longtime Bay Area resident, he is passionate about leadership development, economic empowerment, community advancement, and creating opportunities that positively impact future generations.