Jon Baer And Val Carpenter Elected To Friends Of Los Altos Board of Directors

News from Friends of Los Altos:

Friends of Los Altos, Inc. (FOLA), a non-profit, non-partisan, volunteer-run organization comprised of City of Los Altos residents, announced today that Jon Baer and Val Carpenter have been elected to its Board of Directors.

“I’m delighted to welcome Jon Baer and Val Carpenter to the Friends of Los Altos Board of Directors,” stated Board President David Casas.

“As the former Treasurer of the Los Altos Neighborhood Network Board of Directors, Jon provides our growing organization with another important bridge to the Los Altos community.Former Los Altos Mayor Val Carpenter offers her in-depth knowledge of current challenges faced by the City of Los Altos and her demonstrated track record in proactively addressing issues.”

Jon Baer and his family have lived in Los Altos for the past 16 years.

He has served on the Los Altos Planning Commission and its successor, the Los Altos Planning and Transportation Commission, for the past seven years and has been elected Chair twice. Jon served as Treasurer on the Board of Directors of Los Altos Neighborhood Network from 2005 until its consolidationwith FOLA earlier this year.

He is also a trustee of the MVLA Foundation High School Endowment, and serves on the Friends of Historic Redwood Grove committee, a Los Altos Community Foundation designated fund.

Professionally, Jon is Managing Partner of Threshold Ventures and has worked with early-stage companies for more than three decades.He was the founder and CEO of two venture-backed companies, one a spin-out from SRI International.Earlier in his career,

Jon was a General Partner at Oscco Ventures, a Sand Hill Road early-stage venture capital firm which was one of the pioneering firms in Silicon Valley. Jon now spends his time teaching, mentoring and advising early-stage companies around the world, and is a mentor for Stanford University’s StartX incubator.

He earned a BA in Biology and a BS in Engineering Science from Tufts University and an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business.

Val Carpenter fell in love with downtown Los Altos while earning her MBA at Stanford, and moved with her husband and daughters to a home just across the street nearly 24 years ago.

Prior to building their current home, she completed a 50-hour general contracting course, which proved invaluable in her public service with the City.Val served four years on the Los Altos Historical Commission, including a year as Chair, followed by a year on the Los Altos Planning Commission.

She was twice elected to the Los Altos City Council, serving a total of nine years, and twice served as Mayor of Los Altos. Val currently serves on the Board of Directors of KMVT 15 Silicon Valley Community Media and previously served on five other non-profit Boards.

She also currently chairs the Friends of Historic Redwood Grove committee, a Los Altos Community Foundation designated fund.

A senior marketing executive in Silicon Valley, Val began her marketing career in brand management with Procter & Gamble, and held VP Marketing positions with several publicly-held corporations and venture-funded startups.

She was a 2000 YWCA of Santa Clara Valley Tribute to Women and Industry (TWIN) Honoree. Principal of her own consulting practice, Val teaches business, management, and marketing classes at Mission College in Santa Clara.

A native of Chicago, she earned her MBA at Stanford and a BS in Business with Honors in Marketing at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.

The Board also congratulated Director Ron Packard on receiving a Los Altos-Los Altos Hills Joint Community Volunteer Service Award on December 5, 2014. Ron joins FOLA Board of Directors members Lou Becker and David Casas, who received this prestigious award in 2006 and 2013 respectively.

Founded in 2013, Friends of Los Altos was created to ensure that issues of critical importance and decisions with long-lasting impact reflect the values of the broader community of Los Altans.

The organization is committed to a balanced, unbiased, fact-based approach focused on continuing fiscal responsibility.

Visit www.FriendsOfLosAltos.org for more information and to sign up to receive the organization’s periodic emails on topics of vital concern to City of Los Altos residents, or write to Friends of Los Altos, P. O. Box 3314, Los Altos, CA 94024.