Oakland Port Executives Named ‘2015 Most Influential Women in Business’
Port of Oakland Commercial Real Estate Director Pamela Kershaw and Chief Financial Officer Sara Lee have been named the 2015 Most Influential Women in Business in the San Francisco Bay area. The annual awards program spotlights women in significant positions of influence who serve as outstanding role models in business.
Ms. Kershaw oversees the port’s commercial real estate portfolio including Jack London Square, Embarcadero Cove, several properties in the Oakland Airport Business Park and extensive areas of public access and open space. She was responsible for the recent closing of escrow of the Oak-to-Ninth district, a former underutilized industrial area on port property that will be transformed into a new Oakland waterfront neighborhood – the $1.5 billion development known as Brooklyn Basin. Ms. Kershaw has more than 25 years of experience working for various public agencies in the Bay Area in the fields of land planning, real estate and development. She has a bachelor's degree in geography from the University of California at Berkeley and a master's degree in public administration.
Ms. Lee directs and administers the financial administration and accounting activities for the Port of Oakland. She reviews, recommends and implements financing strategies for the issuance of short and long term debt and is responsible for refinancing the port’s bonds saving the organization approximately $100 million. She has more than 15 years of investment banking experience, largely in public sector finance. She holds a master's degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a BS in economics, magna cum laude, from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
The awards ceremony will be held June 4, 2015 at the Hilton San Francisco.
Pamela Kershaw (left) and Sara Lee
Photos/Port of Oakland