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Directors
Directors
The San Pablo EDC has a five-member Board of Directors, composed of three business community members and two City Council-nominated members who may or may not be City Council members. The diversity of backgrounds enables the organization to strategically link business and educational needs with the San Pablo community.
Xavier Abrams
Board Chair
Xavier C. Abrams is an Area Manager and Vice President of Mechanics Bank in Richmond where she oversees operations of four retail branches, executes planning and implementation of the business development strategy for retail branches, serves as a team leader, and manages solutions standards to provide excellent customer service.
With over 22 years of banking experience, Ms. Abrams is revered for her reputable problem solving, effective communication, strong interpersonal relationships and exceptional customer service skills. She has extensive board experience, including AnewAmerica, Richmond Chamber of Commerce, Richmond Workforce Development and For Richmond. Ms. Abrams studied Business Administration and Spanish at Cal State University, Hayward (now CSU East Bay).
Genoveva Garcia Calloway
Vice Chair
Genoveva Garcia Calloway is a retired mental health professional and former Mayor and served 16 years as a City Council member of the City of San Pablo. Ms.Calloway is dedicated to better opportunities for youth, investing time in cultivating the next generation of civic leaders, and supporting early childhood literacy, career pathway, and health initiatives. She spent 35 years with the Contra Costa County Mental Health Division as the Program Manager. She further served the City as its elected City Clerk from 1998 to 2002. Ms.Calloway has extensive community involvement and serves or has served on many boards and council committees, including the Contra Costa County Mayors’ Conference, Association of Bay Area Government, West Contra Costa Unified School District Citizens Bond Oversight Committee, West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory, and many more. She is bilingual in English and Spanish and holds a Master of Arts in Social Work from UC Berkeley.
Kanwar Singh
Treasurer
Kanwar Singh is Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for La Clinica, providing tactical and strategic oversight in a number of areas (i.e., accounting and reporting for Board of Directors and government agencies, financial planning and analysis, cash management and investments, financial systems, and organizational development). Mr. Singh is responsible for the management of the organization’s finances and property portfolio, across On Lok’s programs and services, including On Lok PACE, On Lok 30th Street Senior Center and On Lok’s Mission Nutrition program. Mr. Singh has more than 25 years of healthcare executive and management experience, including senior finance roles at nonprofit entities and city agencies, including LifeLong Medical Care in Berkeley, Seneca Centers, Thunder Road (Sutter Health affiliate), Axis Community Health, and the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Mr. Singh holds a Bachelor of Economics and MBA with a concentration in Finance. He also attended the Clinical Leadership Institute (CLI) Executive Excellence Program at UCLA.
Patricia Ponce
Director
Patricia Ponce serves as the City Clerk of the City of San Pablo since her election in November 2018. She has worked her way up at Swinerton Incorporated where she is currently the Accounts Payable Supervisor. Prior to Swinerton, Ms. Ponce worked in the insurance industry. She has been a long-term volunteer at Lake Elementary, serving as PTA President. She is also a community organizer who values teamwork. Ms. Ponce holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Services from the University of Phoenix. She is a 30-year San Pablo resident, and is bilingual in English and Spanish.
Saman Farid
Director
Saman Farid is the CEO of Formic Technologies, a robotics solutions technology company providing robotics solutions and equipment financing for US factories. Mr. Farid has extensive experience launching start-up tech companies in China and the US. He is committed to proficient utilization of AI in robotics for a wide range of applications.
Mr. Farid is committed to mentoring young people in the community with a focus on empowering and personal skills development, and serves on the Board of Meridian Health Foundation. He serves on the boards and committees of several tech ventures, including Kebotix, AutomationHero, Veo Robotics and Cubeworks. Mr. Farid has an engineering degree from The Cooper Union in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in Control Systems and holds an MBA from a joint program between MIT Sloan School of Business & Tsinghua University.