Sam Liccardo
VTA Board Chairperson

San José City Council Member Sam Liccardo serves on the VTA Board of Directors representing City Group 1 (City of San José), having done so since 2007.  Member Liccardo is chairperson of the VTA Board of Directors for 2010, and served as vice chairperson during 2009.  He is a member of VTA’s Transit Planning and Operation Committee, having previously served on the Congestion Management Program and Planning Committee.  He also serves on the Silicon Valley Rapid Transit Corridor/BART Warm Springs Extension Policy Advisory Board, and on the Downtown/East Valley Policy Advisory Board, where he is serving as the vice chairperson for 2010, as he did for 2009.  Member Liccardo also serves on the Executive Evaluation Committee, and is that committee’s chairperson for 2010.

Chairperson Liccardo serves on the San José City Council representing Council District 3 (San José’s Downtown and surrounding neighborhoods).  He was elected in 2006.   He is the vice chair of the San Jose City Council’s Transportation and Environment Committee, the co-chairperson of the city’s General Plan Task Force, and also sits on the Economic and Community Development Committee.

Prior civic service includes tutoring homeless children within the community, serving on the boards of several affordable housing organizations, and advocating for the successful countywide transit ballot measure in 2000 (Measure A).   He serves on the boards of several regional bodies, including the Association of Bay Area Governments, the Santa Clara Cities Association, and the regional Joint Policy Committee.  

Chairperson Liccardo grew up in the Santa Clara Valley.   He is a graduate of Bellarmine College Prep and graduated from Georgetown University.   After obtaining a law degree at Harvard Law School and a master's degree in public policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Chairperson Liccardo returned to the Bay Area in 1996.   Prior to his election, he worked as a prosecutor of sexual assault and child exploitation crimes in the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.  He also worked as a federal prosecutor, and with private law firms.