Fred Blackwell, Jr. - Oakland

In March, 2014, Fred Blackwell became the city administrator of Oakland, taking over from Deanna Santana.Press release announcing his appointment.

Blackwell joined the department as an assistant city administrator in 2011. He worked a lot on the issue of keeping the sports teams in Oakland and the redevelopment of the Oakland Army Base.

Blackwell was raised in the Trestle Glen neighborhood and attended a school run by the Black Panthers (Oakland Community School). His mother is Angela Glover Blackwell and his uncle is David Glover, both Oakland activists. His mother is a public interest attorney and founder of the Urban Strategies Council and PolicyLink. He has a degree in Urban Studies from Morehouse College and a Masters in City and Regional Planning fromUC Berkeley [source].

On April 2, 2014, it was announced that he will be leaving the city administrator role to become CEO of the San Francisco Foundation. He will stay in his role as city admin until June. Henry Gardner will replace him as interim City Administrator source [source].

In June, 2014, the city stated that Blackwell will stay on as a consultant in charge of the Coliseum City project. Terms of the agreement are still being worked out. (Source)