The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District (District) Board of Directors voted unanimously on Friday, May 17, 2019, to appoint Barbara Pahre as Board President, effective October 1, 2019, to the first year of a two-year term. President Pahre succeeds outgoing Board President Sabrina Hernández, who represents the City and County of San Francisco and has served as President since June 2017.
“It has been an honor to serve our community in this leadership capacity for the past two years,” said outgoing President Hernández. “President Pahre’s extensive experience on the Board and in the community means the District is in good hands for years to come.”
“I first want to thank President Hernández for all of her hard work and leadership over the years,” said incoming President Pahre. “I look forward to building upon her legacy of transparent, thoughtful, and responsive stewardship at the District.”
President Pahre is appointed by the Napa County Supervisors and is the seventh Director representing the County of Napa since the District’s inception in 1923. In 2000, she succeeded Napa representative Ginny Simms, who retired from the Board after serving for nearly 10 years.
President Pahre is the second Napa representative to become President of the Board since Lowell Edington’s presidency service from 1970-1972. Napa’s Nathan F. Coombs was Vice President from 1944 to 1948. Notably, Nathan Coombs was the son of California State Assemblyman Frank L. Coombs who helped write the enabling legislation that created the Golden Gate Bridge Highway District in 1923.
President Pahre has served on the Board since 2000 and has a distinguished career in transportation and public service. She currently serves on a number of District committees as well as a District appointee on the SMART Board of Directors as Vice-Chair. She is a retired associate superintendent for the Napa Valley Unified School District, and a retired adjunct professor at Chapman University/Brandman University. She has served the Napa community as a member and Past President of the American Association of University Women, Napa County Retired Teachers Association, California Dairy Council Advisory Board, as well as Napa’s Civil Service Commission, Wildlife Conservation Commission, the original Napa Open Space Committee, the early General Plan Review Committee, and FEMA Task Force. President Pahre is also proud of her work on the Governing Board of the Covenant Presbyterian Church, an organization that facilitates a free sanctuary food garden for the Napa Food Bank and Latinos Unidos of Napa Valley.