Sid Espinosa (born May 24, 1972) is an American businessman and politician. He is the former mayor of Palo Alto, CA, notably the first Hispanic to be elected to public office in that city's history, and at 38 years old at the time he was elected, he was one of the city's youngest mayors. He is also the Director of Corporate Citizenship for Microsoft Corporation in the Silicon Valley. [1]
Sidney Abel Espinosa was born at Kaiser Hospital in Santa Clara, CA and raised in the agricultural town of Gilroy, CA ("The Garlic Capital of the World"). His father, Abel Espinosa, who is an immigrant from Mexico, arrived in the United States "penniless and speaking only Spanish," [2] and became a successful engineer. His mother, Janet Espinosa, is a retired teacher, professor and executive director of an educational non-profit organization. [3]
Espinosa grew up "surrounded by orchards, animals, and rolling hills," giving him a love of nature and the environment and leading to his "passionate work with numerous environmental organizations." [4] He was an active Gilroy High School graduate where he served as senior class president, an editor of the Yearbook, the president of the California Scholarship Federation, and the French Club. During his teens, Espinosa won several regional art competitions for his paintings and drawings, and was very active in the First Presbyterian Church, track and field team and the community theatre. He later graduated from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT where he majored in government. At Wesleyan, Espinosa wrote for the student newspaper (the Argus), sang in the Ebony Singers gospel choir, and served as the president of MEChA, an advocacy organization for Hispanic students. Espinosa later earned a master's degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he developed a passion for philanthropy and "its power to transform communities and individuals.”
Espinosa’s career has spanned the government, business, philanthropic and non-profit sectors. After working at the Democratic National Committee during the 1994 congressional campaigns, Espinosa joined the Clinton Administration working both at the White House and then as an advisor to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno at the U.S. Department of Justice. To this day, Janet Reno remains "a close mentor and friend" who "shaped who [he] is professionally and as a person.”
"To have someone, while you're in your 20's, mentor you and take you under her wing – especially someone so focused on justice and on doing what's right, someone who has spent her entire career not focused on fame or recognition, but on making the society a better place – she instilled those qualities into everyone who worked for her." [5]
Espinosa briefly worked overseas for Carolyn Curiel, who was then the U.S. Ambassador to Belize.
In 2000, Espinosa joined Hewlett-Packard Company (HP), where he worked on government and public policy issues related to the technology sector at local, state, national and international levels. Eventually, he became HP's Director of Global Philanthropy, leading the annual investment of tens of millions of dollars in non-profit organizations and schools in 60 countries around the world and in all 50 U.S. states. Espinosa traveled around the globe numerous times during this period, and became a frequent lecturer on philanthropic and corporate social responsibility trends. While working at HP, Espinosa resided at 367 Addison Avenue (home of "The HP Garage"), the national historic landmark officially recognized as the "Birthplace of Silicon Valley." [6]
In 2008, Espinosa was listed among the "40 Under 40" of the Silicon Valley, which is an annual list of "rising stars in the Valley … who are the dealmakers and innovators to watch." [7]
In 2009, Espinosa joined Microsoft Corporation as the Director of Corporate Citizenship in the Silicon Valley. There he is developing, "comprehensive programs from grassroots community efforts to establishing effective long-term philanthropic partnerships with non-profit organizations that improve the quality and access to education, improve the environment and assist in workforce development and skills training." Microsoft is ranked third among Silicon Valley corporations for local philanthropic cash donations.
In 2011, the non-profit organization Hidden Villa awarded Espinosa the Humanitarian of the Year Award along with former U.S. Cabinet Secretary Norm Mineta and philanthropist Susan Ford Dorsey.
Espinosa has served on numerous boards of directors for business, non-profit and educational organizations around the world. In Palo Alto, he has served on the board of the Chamber of Commerce, Art Center Foundation and Historical Association (advisory). He is currently on the board of trustees of his undergraduate alma mater, Wesleyan University.
On July 16, 2007, Espinosa declared his candidacy for the Palo Alto City Council, and on November 6, 2008, he was elected by a wide margin, becoming the first and still only Hispanic to be elected to public office in the city's history. [8] At 38, he was the city's fourth youngest mayor. While on the council, Espinosa has been an advocate for fiscal responsibility, library and school investments, services for the homeless, emergency preparedness and the environment. He is considered an independent thinker who is "hard to pigeon hole." [9] In 2008, he was actively involved in the successful Measure N campaign to pass a school parcel tax for the city. In 2009, he served on the campaign committee that sought to pass a library bond for the city. The bond passed with 76% of the vote.
On January 4, 2011, Espinosa was elected mayor of Palo Alto. In his State of the City address, he outlined five city priorities: city finances and economic development; land use and planning; environmental sustainability; emergency preparedness; and community collaboration for youth well-being. [10] Espinosa has also been a vocal advocate for increased transparency in government and the use of technology to better community with and provide services for citizens." [11] After a string of teen suicides in the city, Espinosa has become increasingly focused on the city's youth programs and teen mental health issues. [12]
Espinosa had a public conflict with political watchdog Mark Petersen-Perez about the means by which Petersen-Perez exercised his First Amendment right to petition local government for redress of grievances. [13] Sid Espinosa, has been unable to present a single constitutional reason for disallowing critical comments of local or national politicians. Our constitution through many Supreme Court decisions has enforced this inalienable right. "[I]t is a prized American privilege to speak one's mind, although not always with perfect good taste on all public institutions." [14] Palo Alto Mayor Sid Espinosa has said, "he's going to have a talk with City Hall critic Mark Petersen-Perez, whom he has twice warned about his conduct at council meetings, which included calling a city attorney "diablo" and warned that he may cut off or "censure" people who don't abide by a meeting protocol..."
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley. San Jose is Silicon Valley's largest city, the third-largest in California, and the tenth-largest in the United States; other major Silicon Valley cities include Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Redwood City, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Cupertino. The San Jose Metropolitan Area has the third-highest GDP per capita in the world, according to the Brookings Institution, and, as of June 2021, has the highest percentage of homes valued at $1 million or more in the United States.
Palo Alto is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.
East Palo Alto is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of East Palo Alto was 30,034. It is situated on the San Francisco Peninsula, roughly halfway between the cities of San Francisco and San Jose. To the north and east is the San Francisco Bay, to the west is the city of Menlo Park, and to the south the city of Palo Alto. Despite being called "East" Palo Alto, the city is directly north of Palo Alto. While often incorrectly assumed to be part of the city of Palo Alto, East Palo Alto has always been a separate entity since its founding as an unincorporated community and its incorporation in July 1983. It is also in San Mateo County, while Palo Alto is in Santa Clara County. The two cities are separated only by San Francisquito Creek and, largely, the Bayshore Freeway. The revitalization projects in 2000, and high income high-tech professionals moving into new developments, including employees from Google and Facebook, have begun to eliminate the cultural and economic differences between the two cities. East Palo Alto and Palo Alto share both telephone area codes and postal ZIP codes.
William Redington Hewlett was an American engineer and the co-founder, with David Packard, of the Hewlett-Packard Company (HP).
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material gain; and with government endeavors, which are public initiatives for public good, notably focusing on provision of public services. A person who practices philanthropy is a philanthropist.
David Packard was an American electrical engineer and co-founder, with Bill Hewlett, of Hewlett-Packard (1939), serving as president (1947–64), CEO (1964–68), and chairman of the board of HP. He served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1969 to 1971 during the Nixon administration. Packard served as president of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) from 1976 to 1981 and chairman of its board of regents from 1973 to 1982. He was a member of the Trilateral Commission. Packard was the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988 and is noted for many technological innovations and philanthropic endeavors.
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Saren Joseph Simitian is a California Democratic politician. From 2004 to 2012, he was the State Senator representing California's 11th State Senate district, which encompasses all or part of 13 cities in San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz counties. Approaching his term limit at the end of 2012, he ran for and was elected as a Santa Clara County Supervisor. He was re-elected to the same seat in 2016 and again in 2020.
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is a multinational law firm specializing in business, securities, and intellectual property law. Located in Palo Alto, the firm has been known to partner with technology companies, life science entities, and other emerging industries, as well as with venture capital firms, private equity establishments, and investment banks.
Nancy Regina Heinen of Portola Valley, California, is an American corporate lawyer, business executive, and philanthropist. Heinen is known for being the General Counsel, Senior Vice President, and Secretary for Apple Computer, Inc. between September 1997 and May 2006. Heinen is currently a member of the board of VERB and the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund. She also serves on the board of directors and advisory boards for several other companies and philanthropic organizations.
The HP Garage is a private museum where the company Hewlett-Packard (HP) was founded. It is located at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto, California. It is considered to be the "Birthplace of Silicon Valley". In the 1930s, Stanford University and its Dean of Engineering Frederick Terman began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay in the area instead of leaving California, and develop a high-tech region. HP founders Bill Hewlett and David Packard are considered the first Stanford students who took Terman's advice.
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Silicon Valley International School, colloquially INTL,, is a private grade day school located in Silicon Valley, with two campuses in Palo Alto and Menlo Park.
Mark Petersen-Perez is a watchdog of local governments in various cities in the greater San Francisco Bay region, political activist, financial analyst, and publisher of the online Palo Alto Free Press.
Good Ventures is a private foundation and philanthropic organization in San Francisco, and the fifth largest foundation in Silicon Valley. It was co-founded by Cari Tuna, a former Wall Street Journal reporter, and her husband Dustin Moskovitz, one of the co-founders of Facebook. Good Ventures adheres to principles of Effective Altruism and aims to spend most or all of its money before Moskovitz and Tuna die. Good Ventures does not have any full-time staff, and instead distributes grants according to recommendations from Open Philanthropy.
Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen is an American philanthropist, educator and author.
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Peter deCourcy Hero was an American foundation and college president. He was also the founder and principal of The Hero Group.
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Roy Clay Sr. is an American computer scientist and inventor. He was a founding member of the computer division at Hewlett-Packard, where he led the team that created the HP 2116A. He is the Chief Executive Officer of ROD-L electronics and has been involved with the development of electrical safety equipment.
