The Port of Oakland has two new Port Commissioners, Pamela Calloway and James Head. The commissioners were nominated by the Mayor of Oakland and appointed by the Oakland City Council. Former Port Board President Darlene Ayers-Johnson and former Port Commissioner Patricia Scates served 2 full terms and retired from the Port Board. “Commissioners Ayers-Johnson and Scates have donated a significant amount of their time over the past eight years to the Port,” said Port of Oakland Executive Director Omar Benjamin. “I thank them for sharing their expertise and providing leadership that resulted in many benefits for our community.”

Commissioner James Head has served as Director of Programs for the San Francisco Foundation, a regional Community Foundation that provides resources and support to organizations serving five Bay Area communities. He has over 30 years of experience in the field of philanthropy and grant making, nonprofit management and technical assistance, community and economic development and public interest law.

Prior to joining the Foundation in 2004, Mr. Head was President of the National Economic Development and Law Center (NEDLC) for 18 years.

Additionally, Mr. Head has served for many years as Legal Counsel of the California Community Economic Development Association (CCEDA) and has been a member of numerous Foundation Advisory Boards, including the Open Society Foundation of New York, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation of Michigan, and the Columbian Foundation of San Francisco. Mr. Head received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Georgia School of Law and has bar memberships in Georgia, Florida, and California.

Commissioner Pamela Calloway serves as Public/Private Ventures’ (P/PV) Vice President of Program Development and as the director of its California office, focusing on developing and managing projects to test innovative anti-poverty efforts in California and the West Coast. Most recently, she served as a principal at Calloway & Associates, where her clients included the California Workforce Association, the City and County of San Francisco, and Oakland Mayor Ronald V. Dellums. Prior to that, she was president and CEO of the Private Industry Council of San Francisco, Inc., the nonprofit agency that administers employment, training and research services to San Francisco employers and job seekers at the direction of the Workforce Investment San Francisco Board. She has also helped displaced Alameda County military base workers find employment as the director of the Workers to Business Owners Project, and served as counsel at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the National Bank of Washington. Calloway is a trustee on the United States Conference of Mayors Workforce Development Council; she also sits on the boards of the California Workforce Association, Workforce Investment San Francisco Board and the Chinatown Community Development Center. She received a bachelor's degree in political science from Fisk University in Nashville, TN, and a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University.

“James Head and Pamela Calloway bring extensive experience to the Port Board of Commissioners that will greatly benefit our Port and surrounding community in moving forward during these challenging economic times,” commented Omar Benjamin. “I am looking forward to working with them over the coming years.”