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Two Port of Oakland Leaders named 2015 Most Influential Women in Business

Published

10 years ago

May 11, 2015

Port of Oakland Commercial Real Estate Director Pamela Kershaw and Chief Financial Officer Sara Lee have been selected as honorees for the 2015 Most Influential Women in Business awards for the San Francisco Bay Area business community. The annual awards program highlights women who hold significant positions of influence in the Bay Area and serve as outstanding role models in business.

Kershaw has served as the Port’s director of commercial real estate since 2010. She oversees the Port’s commercial real estate portfolio including Jack London Square, Embarcadero Cove, several properties in the Oakland Airport Business Park and significant areas of public access and open space.

Pamela Kershaw, Port of Oakland Commercial Real Estate Director.

Kershaw is also responsible for the recent closing of escrow of the Oak-to-Ninth district, a former underutilized industrial area on Port property. The land will be transformed into a new Oakland waterfront neighborhood—the $1.5 billion development known as Brooklyn Basin.

Kershaw has over 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.

Lee has led the Port’s finance division since 2009. She directs and administers the financial administration and accounting activities for the Port of Oakland. Lee 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.

Lee has more than 15 years of investment banking experience, largely in public sector finance. She received her master’s degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a Bachelor of Science degree in economics, magna cum laude, from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

The 2015 Most Influential Women in Business awards will be held June 4, 2015 at the Hilton San Francisco.

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Related Topics:2015 Most Influential Women in Business Bay Area Business news Oakland Pamela Kershaw Port of Oakland Sara Lee Women

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Oakland Post: Week of July 2- 8, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 2 – 8, 2025

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3 days ago

July 7, 2025

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Trump Set to Sign Largest Cut to Medicaid After a Marathon Protest Speech by Leader Jeffries

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The bill also represents the biggest cut in Medicare in history and is a threat to the health care coverage of over 15 million people. The spending in Trump’s signature legislation also opens the door to a second era of over-incarceration in the U.S.

Published

6 days ago

July 3, 2025

Oakland Post

By Lauren Burke

By a vote of 218 to 214, the GOP-controlled U.S. House passed President Trump’s massive budget and spending bill that will add $3.5 trillion to the national debt, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The bill also represents the biggest cut in Medicare in history and is a threat to the health care coverage of over 15 million people. The spending in Trump’s signature legislation also opens the door to a second era of over-incarceration in the U.S. With $175 billion allocated in spending for immigration enforcement, the money for more police officers eclipsed the 2026 budget for the U.S. Marines, which is $57 billion. Almost all of the policy focus from the Trump Administration has focused on deporting immigrants of color from Mexico and Haiti.

The vote occurred as members were pressed to complete their work before the arbitrary deadline of the July 4 holiday set by President Trump. It also occurred after Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries took the House floor for over 8 hours in protest. Leader Jeffries broke the record in the U.S. House for the longest floor speech in history on the House floor. The Senate passed the bill days before and was tied at 50-50, with Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski saying that, “my hope is that the House is gonna look at this and recognize that we’re not there yet.” There were no changes made to the Senate bill by the House. A series of overnight phone calls to Republicans voting against, not changes, was what won over enough Republicans to pass the legislation, even though it adds trillions to the debt. The Trump spending bill also cuts money to Pell grants.

“The Big Ugly Bill steals food out of the hands of starving children, steals medicine from the cabinets of cancer patients, and equips ICE with more funding and more weapons of war than the United States Marine Corps. Is there any question of who those agents will be going to war for, or who they will be going to war against? Beyond these sadistic provisions, Republicans just voted nearly unanimously to close urban and rural hospitals, cripple the child tax credit, and to top it all off, add $3.3 trillion to the ticking time bomb that is the federal deficit – all from a party that embarrassingly pretends to stand for fiscal responsibility and lowering costs,” wrote Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY) in a statement on July 3.

“The Congressional Budget Office predicts that 17 million people will lose their health insurance, including over 322,000 Virginians. It will make college less affordable. Three million people will lose access to food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). And up to 16 million students could lose access to free school meals. The Republican bill does all of this to fund tax breaks for millionaires, billionaires, and corporations,” wrote Education and Workforce Committee ranking member Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) in a statement. The bill’s passage has prompted Democrats to start thinking about 2026 and the next election cycle. With the margins of victory in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate being so narrow, many are convinced that the balance of power and the question of millions being able to enjoy health care come down to only several thousand votes in congressional elections. But currently, Republicans controlled by the MAGA movement control all three branches of government. That reality was never made more stark and more clear than the last seven days of activity in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.