Board of Directors
RU WEERAKOON
Vice President
Former Senior Advisor to San Jose Mayors Chuck Reed and Sam Liccardo
Ru Weerakoon, former Senior Policy Advisor for Land Use and Economic Development, guided economic development and land use policy in the City of San Jose for twelve years under Mayors Chuck Reed and Sam Liccardo. Ru was born and raised in Sri Lanka and moved to San José in 1983. She joined the San José Redevelopment Agency in 1989, where she rose to the position of Director of Industrial Development, managing economic development programs and redevelopment projects in five technology parks that house over 2,500 multinational companies employing 80,000 people and a $100-million capital improvement program, as well as the City’s incubator program. Ru received both her B.S. and Master’s degrees in Economics from San José State University. Ru and her husband live in New Almaden in South San José, where they are raising their son.
MATTHEW JAMES
Attorney, Hopkins & Carley
Matthew James is an associate in Hopkins & Carley’s San Jose office and is a member of the firm’s Real Estate Practice. A licensed real estate broker since 2006, Matt has extensive experience in all phases of construction and real estate matters, including contract negotiation, alternative dispute resolution, and trial. Matt’s clients include commercial and residential property owners, prime contractors, subcontractors, material suppliers, architects, engineers, and bonding companies. He also lectures on new developments in construction and real estate law best practices.
KERMIT CONLEY
Resident Representative
Kermit was born in Decatur, Illinois. He attended Millikin University and the University of Illinois. He worked at Illinois Bell Telephone and transferred to Pacific Bell San Francisco (Pacific Telesis) and worked as a contractor on special projects Later he worked as a paid manager of the Glide Memorial United Methodist Church meals program. At Stanford Health Care, Kermit worked on two projects funded by the CDC and Office of Aids: Medical Monitoring Project (MMP) | Surveillance Systems and Partnership for Health - Safer Sex - Effective Interventions – Peer Educator. Currently Kermit works with the Santa Clara HIV Commission and the Office of AIDS as well. In his retirement he enjoys working with architecture, computers, photography, smart transportation and buildings.
JOSH CROSS, CPA
Principal, Audit & Accounting and Nonprofit Group, Abbott, Stringham & Lynch
Josh has over thirteen years of public accounting and audit experience serving privately held companies and nonprofit organizations. His is the current co-chair of the ASL Nonprofit Group and is also involved in the Construction Group. Josh serves privately held companies consisting of engineering services firms, construction contractors, and manufacturing and distribution companies.
GERRY DEYOUNG
President, Ruth and Going, Inc
Although Gerry is now the President of the planning and civil engineering firm Ruth and Going, Inc (est. 1952), Gerry has been with the company since 1973 shortly after graduating from the University of Santa Clara. He represents clients in the development industry with particular emphasis in the processing of land use entitlements. Gerry has served on a wide range of community and non-profit organizations and has assumed leadership positions on the boards of O’Connor Hospital, the Silicon Valley Organization, CreaTV, and the Lincoln High School Foundation. He also participated as a board member of the West Valley Open Doors, an organization committed to finding opportunities for affordable housing in the Los Gatos and Campbell areas of Silicon Valley.
JEFFREY GEE
Vice President, Division Manager, General Manager, Swinerton Management and Consulting
Mr. Gee is a licensed architect and public servant with 35+ years experience leading and directing design, construction, and development projects in the public sector. His 13-year tenure at UC Berkeley oversaw the management and implementation of more than $1.5 billion of capital projects, including extensive work on seismic retrofitting and facility renovation and construction. As Vice President & General Manager with Swinterton, Jeff’s experience expands to k-12 and community college campuses, where the company has completed over 100 projects in excess of $2 billion. Mr. Gee is passionate about streamlining and improving design/build processes, and was the principal author on the development of the Design-Build Guidelines for California Community Colleges. On top of his senior management role at Swinterton, Jeff has served as Mayor, City Councilmember and Planning Commissioner for Redwood City.
DUNIA NOEL, AICP
Secretary
Ms. Noel has been involved in Santa Clara County planning for over a decade. She serves as an analyst for the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) of Santa Clara County, which regulates the boundaries of cities and special districts. She brings an extensive knowledge of the area’s housing needs and growth issues to our Board.
ROBERT C. SHERRARD
VP, Argus Financial
Robert has had a 30-year career as a construction and commercial real estate lender for various Silicon Valley banks. He played an instrumental role in establishing the commercial real estate lending presence at Technology Credit Union, which now boasts a portfolio of over $200 million in commitments. Bob is active in the community and serves as chair of the City of East Palo Alto’s Planning Commission. He is an original founding board member of the Housing Trust of Silicon Valley and Vice Chair of the board of Project WeHope, an East Palo Alto-based non-profit providing services to the homeless and is president of the board of trustees of Koinonia Conference Grounds, a non-denominational Christian camp. He is a past member of Opportunity Fund’s Real Estate Loan Committee, the Housing and Land Use Committee of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and the Sobrato Affordable Housing Fund.
JOYCE RODGER
Resident Representative
Joyce has over fifty years’ experience in individual and community education, program development, and volunteer staffing. Raised in Easton, CT, she received degrees from Bucknell University and the University of Bridgeport. Joyce has taught high school English and Social Studies and worked for the American Heart Association, the Hospice of the Central Coast, the YWCA of Monterey, a continuing care retirement community, and two assisted living properties. Her volunteer experience includes development of volunteer-provided programs for the Carmel Unified School District in response to funding reductions. Her current activities include English literacy tutoring and documenting genealogical history for her family. Joyce has resided in three affordable senior housing communities in California and Oregon.
SUSAN MUYSENBERG
Resident Representative
Susan Muysenberg was born and raised in Michigan’s Detroit area. She’s lived in Boston, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and in San Jose since 1982. Susan has associate degrees from City College of San Francisco, and San Jose City College. She got her bachelor’s degree from San Jose State in 1998 at the age of 45. Now retired, she has worked in retail, office, and factory settings, and as a preschool teacher. Susan has been an activist since the mid-1970s in the areas of antiwar, women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, Black Lives Matter and its predecessors, housing rights and labor/union rights, and has been active with the San Jose Peace and Justice Center since the mid-1980s, and the May Day Coalition since 2006. Susan has lived at an FCH property since 2004, where she has taken part in on-site wellness programs, brown bag programs, various celebrations, gardening, where she tends to the compost, and more.