Thomas R. Owens earned a B.A. and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He moved to California in 1970, where he practiced real estate law for ten years. Starting in 1980 he has served as partner, COO, and principal of Pacific Union Co. In 1998 Thomas formed Sagamore Equities, which became New Urban Properties in 2004. Since then, he has operated New Urban Properties, which acquires and manages office buildings throughout the West. Mr. Owens is now New Urban’s CEO and sole investor. Thomas has served on numerous boards and commissions. He is currently a trustee of the California Historical Society. He is also a member of various professional organizations, including Lambda Alpha Honorary Real Estate Society and the California and Federal Bars. Tom resides in San Francisco with his wife, D’Arcy, and their two children.

Charles Fracchia (1937-2021), a renowned San Francisco historian founded the San Francisco Historical Society in 1988. He was the Society’s president prior to the merger with the Museum of the City of San Francisco, and served as the president of the San Francisco Historical Society through February 2005. Fracchia continues to serve on the Board of Directors, chairs the Council of Advisors, and manages the Society’s publications. He is a native San Franciscan who attended local schools and received his B.A. in history from the University of San Francisco. He did graduate work at the University of San Francisco Law School; University of California, Berkeley; San Francisco State University; and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.

Fracchia has taught at City College of San Francisco and the University of San Francisco, lectures extensively throughout the Bay Area, and has been an investment banker for over 30 years. He has written several books including Fire and Gold: The San Francisco Story, City by the Bay: A History of San Francisco 1945 to the Present, and When the Water Came Up to Montgomery Street: San Francisco During the Gold Rush. He has been a trustee of the California Historical Society, and is a member of the Leadership San Francisco Advisory Board of the Chamber of Commerce.

Kevin Pursglove is the former senior director of corporate communications at eBay. He has also served as director of communications for former San Jose mayor Susan Hammer. For many years he was a well-known voice on the radio: from 1979 through 1992, he was a reporter, program host, and public affairs director at KQED radio. Pursglove holds a B.A. in political science from San Francisco State University. He has served on the SFHS board of directors since 2012 and has extensive volunteer experience with the World Affairs Council of Northern California, Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, San Francisco State University, Commonwealth Club of California, and more.

Jack Lapidos was born in Chicago and received his B.S. in mechanical engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology in 1965 and MBA in tax and finance at the University of Chicago in 1967. He moved to San Francisco in 1969 and developed a great fondness for the history of the Bay Area. To pursue this interest, Jack has supported numerous nonprofits devoted to the preservation of San Francisco Bay Area history. He is currently on the boards or treasurer of: San Francisco Maritime Museum Association, Potomac Association, and Presidio Historical Association, Nature Bridge, Touch Inc. (his own private foundation). He is the former director of Museum of American Heritage and Jeremiah O’Brien Liberty Ship. In real life, in 1974 he founded an accounting practice that caters to small businesses and well-to-do individuals.

San Francisco poet, author, lawyer, and UC scholar John Briscoe is a founding partner of the law firm Briscoe Ivester & Bazel LLP in San Francisco. He has written extensively on history, international environmental law, and law of the sea. He has tried and argued cases in The Hague, the U.S. Supreme Court, and scores of other courts. He is also an author: The Tadich Grill: The Story of San Francisco’s Oldest Restaurant, with Recipes (2002); The Lost Poems of Cang Jie (2016); and Crush: The Triumph of California Wine (2018). He is a trustee of the San Francisco Maritime National Park Association; a board member of the Historical Society of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and a Distinguished Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.

Michael Okada, a partner at Tech Law Partners LLP in San Francisco, specializes in technology and intellectual property law. Born in Berkeley and raised in Southern California, he has called San Francisco home for the past 25 years.
His legal career spans over three decades, including roles as a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Vice President of IP Transactions and Legal Affairs at Dolby Laboratories. He also served as a board member for the San Francisco Circus Center. Michael holds degrees from Columbia University (A.B., Economics) and the USC Gould School of Law ( J.D.).

​Tom Gille is a fourth-generation San Franciscan who, after graduating from Polytechnic High School, earned his B.S. and M.A. in Political Science from San Francisco State University. His four-plus decades of experience in the commercial real estate industry include his current role as founder (1996) and principal of REAL Systems, providing consulting services on operational issues. Tom’s love of San Francisco began as a child listening to stories from his grandmother about surviving the 1906 earthquake and fire. His wife Nancy served nine years on the SF Heritage Board and was Chair for three years. They live in San Francisco and have two sons, who both work in the city.

Richard Johns served as SFHS President from October 2006 through June 2010. He has been a member of the board of directors since 2002. Prior to the merger creating the SFHS, Johns was a Director and Vice-President of the Museum of the City of San Francisco. Johns occupies the Historian’s Seat on the San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission, and is a major collector of San Francisco music.

Rachel Makool is an experienced marketing professional specializing in community strategy and implementation. She’s helped large companies, start-ups and non-profit organizations develop and implement strategies that acquire and engage customers to strengthen brands and drive business growth. She’s worked in the Tech industry for over 25 years for brands including eBay, GoDaddy, Facebook, The Learning Company and Mattel Interactive. As a team leader, Rachel has led efforts to build customer loyalty, capture and analyze feedback through an advocacy program, increase word-of-mouth and sustain the relationships with customers through consistent engagement and communication. Her extensive tenure working with online communities makes her an effective mentor, strategist, and public speaker. She has a small business side hustle selling unique items online. Rachel grew up in Wisconsin and has a BS in History from the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh. She has resided in San Francisco for over 30 years and lives with her husband and 2 Cairn Terriers in the Inner Sunset.

 

David Kvaratskhelia was born in 1969 in Georgia, former Soviet Union, and immigrated to the United States in 1991.
He attended UC Berkeley on a tennis scholarship and graduated in 1994 with a B.S. in Slavic languages and literature. He completed one professional tennis tour. Currently, he is the CFO/CIO of the Inner Spark Foundation. David is on the board of the Bay Area Hall of Fame and an honorary board member of Meals on Wheels America. He is also involved with the Project Glimmer and Harper for Kids Foundations and in the past was involved with the Olympic Club Foundation. He lives with his wife and two children in Olympic Valley (Lake Tahoe).

Sarah Garlinghouse grew up in San Francisco and attended Convent of the Sacred Heart High School. She earned a degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania before pursuing graduate studies in historic preservation at Columbia University in New York. While in New York, Sarah worked at the Municipal Art Society (MAS), a non-profit organization focused on advocating for New York City’s built environment.

For the past 19 years, Sarah has taught history at Convent and Stuart Hall High School, specializing in U.S. History and Art History. As the 9th Grade Chair, she also supports the progress of each freshman during the first year of high school. Sarah is particularly proud of her students’ achievements, including two Fracchia Prize winners.

Cynthia So Schroeder is a marketing executive and startup advisor. She’s a venture advisor at Next 10 Ventures, a venture group focused on the global Creator economy and ecosystem. For over 20 years, Cynthia has worked in internet commerce, technology and management consulting in the US, Asia, and Europe, ranging from Fortune 500 clients to internet startups. Previously, she led eBay’s Global Community Development and Engagement group, and managed corporate acquisitions and divestments for eBay Inc. Cynthia is passionate about educational opportunities, especially for first-generation students. Cynthia is a Regent Emerita at the University of California’s Board of Regents, and currently serves on boards at the San Francisco Friends School, U.C. Berkeley Library and the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. Cynthia received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.A. from UCLA. As a SF native, she loves discovering new culinary finds in the City, learning new San Francisco trivia and traveling with her family.

A native grandson of teenage immigrants to San Francisco, from Bohemia and Bavaria, I grew up in the family leathergoods manufacturing business, South of Market, the first to depart, to University of Oregon Architecture after service in the U.S. Coast Guard, then teaching and practicing in the Bay Area. Most architectural work has been with historic buildings, in North Africa, in the U.S. Foreign Service, directing Peace corps volunteer architects and planners, to San Francisco and Oakland downtowns, more recently in Marin, as Storek Studio/Architecture. Initiating an architect-in-schools program in San Francisco elementary schools then growing it to Marin introduced me to San Rafael’s Canal, “The most segregated community in the Bay Area” ––crowded, immigrant Latino: the essential workforce for Marin County. The nonprofit I manage, The Canal Arts has grown from designing and building, and creating public art projects: now planning a 20,000-year, 2-mile shoreline interpretive history of the Bay Area, its land and people.

Sunny Patpatia has focused his consulting practice on transforming leading financial services firms to capitalize upon emerging business opportunities.  He has applied his unique integration of strategic marketing, distribution channel diversification, technology innovation, and operations redesign across insurance, retirement services, brokerage, banking, and asset management businesses.

He launched his consulting practice in 1992 to apply his corporate development and operational expertise to help evolve global financial enterprises through the implementation of focused distribution, product, and infrastructure initiatives for a global clientele.  His consulting practice has also advised a wide array of both established and emergent FinTechs to help disrupt inefficiencies in the wealth management, retirement, and insurance markets.

He received his undergraduate and Master's degrees in Management from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.



 

Mark Scheuer was raised in the Sunset and attended Parkside Elementary, Hoover Junior High, and Lincoln High and currently lives with his wife Janet in the Lower Haight. He graduated from the University of Washington in 1967 with a degree in Advertising and then served two years in the Army, including a year in Viet Nam, as a Communications Chief.

He had a 40-year career in retailing and owned Scheuer Linens on Sutter Street in the Union Square neighborhood. He has been on the board of Friends of Duboce Park since 1990, was appointed to serve four two-year terms on the Park and Recreation Open Space Advisory Committee, and was on the board of the Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association for over 20 years. He currently is on the Park Station Community Police Advisory Board.

He loves sports and was a competitive long-distance runner. He was one of the founders of the first city-wide San Francisco Marathon. He enjoys art, both in museums and on the street, and is an avid collage artist. He is a huge Warriors fan.

 

Bio coming soon!

After graduating from law school, Mr. Reid worked as a National Bank Examiner and Senior Representative in Trusts for the U.S. Treasury Department. He then joined Wells Fargo Bank for 20 years, becoming Vice President and Managing Senior Compliance Officer. Later, he was manager of the Legal and Government Relations Department, a member of the Executive Committee, and the Chief Compliance Officer of Sumitomo Bank of California. His next position was Director, Treasurer, and Secretary of Stellar-Net, Inc. Mr. Reid co-founded AML Specialties, LLC, a consulting firm focused on anti-money laundering and other measures to counter terrorist financing.

Mr. Reid’s long list of awards and honors includes the first Wells Fargo President’s Achievement Award for Social Service, Korean Veterans Medal by the Republic of Korea, and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Certificate of Honor. In 2008 his Alma Mater presented him with its Medal of Honor. He has endowed academic scholarships for deserving students at St. John’s University and the University of San Francisco. In 2009 he co-founded the Korean War Memorial Foundation, where he serves as Treasurer. Mr. Reid is a life member of the San Francisco Dolphin Swimming and Boating Club and has completed 69 marathons and 11 swims from Alcatraz, including the first 7 “Escapes from Alcatraz.” He continues to swim regularly (but more slowly) in San Francisco Bay.

Attorney Diane L. Gibson practiced complex commercial litigation for more than 30 years, representing national and international clients. She retired from Squire Patton Boggs LLP several years ago. Diane now serves on the board of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library and formerly served on the board of Legal Community Against Violence (now known as the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence). She grew up in the Santa Cruz Mountains and has enjoyed exploring San Francisco and its history since she adopted the city as her home in 1981. Diane earned her undergraduate degree in English and political science) at UC, Berkeley, and her law degree at Hastings College of the Law.