Liz Kniss
VTA Board Chairperson

Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss serves on the VTA Board of Directors representing Group 5 (County of Santa Clara), having done so since 2005.  Member Kniss is Chairperson of the VTA Board of Directors for 2008, having served as the Vice Chairperson for 2007.  She also serves on VTA’s Congestion Management Program and Planning Committee and on the Executive Evaluation Committee.  She previously served on VTA’s Policy Advisory Committee representing the County of Santa Clara.

Chairperson Kniss serves on the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.  Elected in 2000 and again in 2004, Chairperson Kniss represents Supervisorial District 5, which includes the cities of Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Cupertino, Saratoga, Monte Sereno, portions of Sunnyvale and West San José, the southern portion of Sunnyvale, and the area encompassed by Stanford University. 
 
Prior civic service includes the Palo Alto City Council, where she served twice as mayor, and the Palo Alto Unified School District Board of Directors.  Her community service includes the League of Women Voters, the United Way Board of Directors, the Rotary, and multiple community organizations and non-profits.

Chairperson Kniss was born in Massachusetts and received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Simmons College in Boston and a MPA in Public and Health Care Policy from the California State University system.  She has also completed graduate work in Health Policy and Economics at the University of California, Berkeley.  Chairperson Kniss worked as the Marketing and Communications Manager at Sun Microsystems until 1999.  As a Registered Nurse, Chairperson Kniss’ work includes acute care, public health for San Mateo County, and school-based care for the Cupertino Union School District.