SAN JOSE, Calif. | Sept. 16, 2008 – San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and Chris DiGiorgio, California Managing Director for Accenture, have been elected co-chairs of the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network board of directors, Joint Venture President and CEO Russell Hancock announced today.
The board also welcomed five new members, including Dr. Emmett Carson, CEO of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and four prominent Silicon Valley business executives.
“Joint Venture is a model organization for tackling regional issues and making Silicon Valley a better place to live and work,” said Reed, who joined the Joint Venture board a month after taking office in January 2007. “Joint Venture is the ideal vehicle for me, a powerful forum where we can accomplish great things together. I am honored to serve as its co-chair.”
“Mayor Reed is more than the mayor of America's tenth largest city,” said Russell Hancock of Joint Venture. “He sees himself and the city he leads as citizens of the region, with a regional stewardship to fulfill. This means that he and Joint Venture are perfectly matched. We greatly look forward to the leadership he will bring.”
“It is a privilege to partner with Mayor Reed as co-chair of the Joint Venture board,” said DiGiorgio, who joined the board in June, 2007. “My prior work in the Valley’s technology industry lends perspective on how much we can accomplish by working together. With our board colleagues from government, business, academia, labor and the community, we will continue to make progress on the important regional initiatives of this visionary organization.”
Among Joint Venture’s current regional initiatives are programs to recruit and retain teachers, establish a disaster resiliency center, create a sustainable building framework, support climate protection efforts, examine workforce development issues, assemble a multipurpose wireless network and beautify the El Camino Real.
As co-chairs, Reed, and DiGiorgio succeed Silicon Valley Bank vice chair Harry Kellogg, who moves to the Joint Venture Senior Advisory Council, and Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss, who remains on the board.
The five new members, elected at the board’s meeting on September 12, are:
- Emmett D. Carson, Ph.D., CEO and President, Silicon Valley Community Foundation
- Barry Cinnamon, CEO, Akeena Solar
- Mary Dent, General Counsel, SVB Financial Group, and COO, SVB Global
- Kevin Gillis, Senior Vice President, Bank of America
- Mark Walker, Managing Director of Global Community Affairs, Applied Materials
