Community Service Highlights

• City of Mountain View Mayor, 2007
• City of Mountain View Councilmember, 2004 to present
• VTA (Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority) Board Member, 2007
• Grand Boulevard Initiative Task Force Member (El Camino Real Renewal), 2006
• Commissioner, Environmental Planning for City of Mountain View, 2003-2007
• Commissioner including Chair, Parks & Recreation for City of Mountain View, 1995-2002
• Founding Member of Mountain View Trees
• Founding Member of Mesa de la Comunidad
• Board Director, Community Services Agency of Mountain View & Los Altos, 1993-1998
• Board Director including Chair, Support Network for Battered Women, 1993-1998
• Board Director, Old Mill Homeowners' Association including Chair, 1994-1998
• Arbor Day Committee for City of Mountain View, 2000-2004, Founding Commissioner.
• City of Mountain View Centennial Committee including Legacy Chair, 2002
• Mountain View- Los Altos High School District Bond Committee
• Volunteer and Tutor, Alta Vista Alternative High School, Mountain View- Los Altos High School District
• Election Operations, Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, October & November 2003 elections
• Precinct Poll Worker, March 2003, March 2004
• Planners' Institute, League of California Cities, 2003, 2004
• Mayor's Award Selection Committee for City of Mountain View, 2003
• California League of Cities Conference, 2000
• Leadership Mountain View Council Board Member, 1998-1999
• Leadership Mountain View Graduate, Mountain View Chamber of Commerce, 1991-1992

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Employment

• Director of Government/Community Affairs, Comcast, San Jose, 2007-present
• Office of Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, Mountain View, 2005-2007
• Managing Principal, Gestalt Werks, Mountain View, 2001-2005
  Business research, strategies and solutions for start-ups, established corporations.
• Senior Director, Acta Technology, Mountain View, 2000
  Directed Sales operations. Saved $80,000 in annual maintenance contract fees for hosted IT application. Ran seminars nationwide, yielded 500+ prospects.
• Director, Enterprise and Telecommunications Solutions, Compaq/ Tandem Computers, Bay Area CA 1995-2000
  Worldwide director for largest telecom segment, billing and customer care. Integrated solutions with partners and Compaq/Tandem. Presented to customer execs at industry conferences and training events globally. Strategized plans for growth. Managed US$ 6-12M annual budgets.
• Industry, Research and Competitive Analysis Manager, Octel Communications, Bay Area CA
  Produced industry specific applications, competitive lab analysis and oversaw market research group. Managed US$1M annual budget.
• Group Product Manager, ROLM Communications, Bay Area CA
  Managed Installed Base PBX system hardware and software. Designed and installed customer configurations nationwide.
• Associate Director of Admissions, Regis University, Denver CO
  Recruited students nationwide especially Midwest and West. Targeted low-income and minority students to insure more student diversity of all economic and ethnic groups. Organized first Cultural Awareness Week for entire campus.
• Analyst, Legislative Council, State of Arizona

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Education

• MASTER'S Master's in Human Resources and Organizational Development- MHROD
  Master's Thesis on Organizational Resistance to Change, School of Business, University of San Francisco
• Graduate courses in Urban Planning, University of Colorado- Denver
• BACHELOR OF SCIENCE, Psychology, Spanish, Regis University, Denver, CO

Community (Denver, CO)

• Juvenile Justice Advisory Council, State of Colorado (Governor's Appointment)
• Denver Women's Career Center, Board Director
• Hembra, Denver chapter of MANA Latina Group, founding Co-Chair
• United Way, Venture Grant Selection Committee
• National Association of College Admissions Counselors
• Legislative Intern, State of Colorado

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Personal Info

Westerner. Born Phoenix, AZ. Have lived 21 years in California My grandparents all came from Mexico. My family has ties to California since the 1920's and 1910's. My grandfather, Ignacio was an Arizona farmer and during the depression, he brought his family to California as migrant workers. My grandfather, Adalberto helped build the Franciscan Mission San Luis Rey near San Diego. Later he had an office cleaning business. When I was little I sometimes went along with my Dad and Tata in the evenings-- as they cleaned offices in downtown Phoenix. I thought it was pretty cool playing in these important looking offices.

When my Dad returned from serving in WWII, he was a decorated medic with 2 Bronze stars among others. Dad worked in a factory for 36 years; and was a union member. He placed a high priority on education for his children. My generation was the first to go to college. I attended Xavier College Preparatory in Phoenix and started working at 13 to help pay for my tuition. I have continued to work except for slow periods in the economy. In high school since volunteering for the first Earth Day, and in founding a social justice group, the Help Club, I have always been interested in solving social and environmental justice problems.

I attended a small college in Colorado on scholarship and work study. I was very active in student executive government and was elected to the Student Executive Board for 3 years, even serving on the Faculty Rank and Tenure Committee as the only student member. After graduation, as an Associate Director of Admissions at Regis, I recruited traditional, minority and low-income students throughout the US. I also organized the first Cultural Awareness Week for the entire campus.

In 1980, I went to work in the business world. It was obvious to me that there were very few Latinas or any women of color in business. I wanted to be one of the first to challenge stereotypes and try to move up the corporate ladder. I worked for ROLM Corporation starting in the sales support office as an Applications Consultant, then Field Manager, promoted to corporate as a Product Manager and then Group Product Manager. There I was designated as a promising manager in the IBM succession management program. After the Siemens acquisition of ROLM, I next worked at Octel Communications managing Industry, Research and Competitive Analysis Marketing groups. From Octel, I moved to Tandem Computers, which was acquired by Compaq Computers. Starting in Professional Services, I was promoted to Worldwide Marketing and Operations as Manager then Director. I was recruited to a start-up in 2000. I am now working in Governmental Affairs for Comcast.

I have been locally active in the community for about 20 years in MV. My candidacy on the whole is based upon over 30 years of dedicated grassroots service to a variety of community issues producing real results for real people. When you add that to my four years as a Mountain View Councilmember, including my service as Mayor in 2007, along with my previous Mountain View Planning and Parks Commission work, along with my business acumen, I believe the combination is perfect for continuing to stand up for Mountain View.

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Laura and Tucker, the wonder dog!

Laura at her brother Tom's wedding in France