Libby Schaaf named CEO

Libby Schaaf, Oakland’s former mayor, will become president and chief executive of the Bay Area Council on May 4. (bayareacouncil.org) The Bay Area Council announced Schaaf’s selection on April 13 after what it called a national search run with Heidrick & Struggles. The council’s executive committee approved her unanimously. (bayareacouncil.org) Schaaf served as Oakland mayor from 2015 to 2023, and she told the San Francisco Business Times she had not taken a permanent full-time job after leaving City Hall because she was “waiting for the right fit.” (bizjournals.com) The job puts Schaaf atop one of the Bay Area’s oldest business-policy groups. The Bay Area Council says it has shaped regional policy since 1945 and now counts more than 375 of the region’s largest employers as members. (bayareacouncil.org) That matters because the council is not a city agency or elected body. It is a private membership organization that uses chief executives, lobbyists and policy staff to press for action on housing, transit, economic development and public safety across the nine-county region. (bayareacouncil.org) Schaaf said her agenda includes housing affordability, economic strength, public safety and “expanding opportunity.” In her first interview after the announcement, she also pointed to transit, downtown recovery and relations between business and local government. (bayareacouncil.org; bizjournals.com) The appointment follows a leadership shakeup that started in late 2025. Longtime chief executive Jim Wunderman said in November that he would leave after 22 years, and the council named chief operating officer John Grubb interim president and chief executive. (bayareacouncil.org; bayareacouncil.org) Wunderman left to join California Forever as head of public affairs, tying the transition to one of the region’s biggest land-use and development fights. Oaklandside reported that Schaaf is replacing Grubb, who had been serving in the interim role. (californiaforever.com; oaklandside.org) Schaaf also arrives with baggage from Oakland. In a 2024 settlement with Oakland’s Public Ethics Commission, she admitted violating the city’s municipal code and agreed to pay a $21,000 fine, according to the Mercury News. (mercurynews.com) The board she is joining shows the network she will now manage: directors listed by the council include executives from Google, Amazon, Netflix, Equinix, Delta Dental of California, Recology, the San Francisco Giants and McKinsey. Her first test is whether she can turn that roster into a common agenda in a region that rarely governs as one. (bayareacouncil.org)