The Mayor’s Strategic Initiatives and Budget team brings expertise from the Public, Corporate and Non-profit sectors. The team also includes a number of fellows every year representing academic institutions and corporations, including Encore Fellows. The team’s partnership approach is to be evidence-based, innovative, transparent, and simple. We look forward to working with you!
Nicholas Almeida
Head of Social Impact Partnerships, Budget Director, and Chief Service Officer
Nicholas Almeida leads the Mayor’s partnerships team and serves as his Budget Director and Chief Service Officer. In these roles, he facilitates the development and implementation the Mayor’s annual budget priorities and develops strategic partnerships focused on better serving the City’s residents through education, workforce development, and service initiatives. Prior to this role, Nicholas served as an Executive Fellow for the City where he assisted in the development of a workforce and entrepreneurship center addressing the unique needs of the City’s diverse populations. Nicholas is also the co-founder of an impact investing firm; served as a senior leader at a foundation where he led new strategic initiatives; and teaches social entrepreneurship as an adjunct professor. Nicholas other experience includes leadership roles in public finance, program evaluation, and government auditing. Nicholas graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy and a Master’s degree in Sociology.
Candace Le
Policy Advisor for Education and Workforce Initiatives
Candace Le is a Policy Advisor in Education and Workforce Initiatives. A native Vietnamese speaker, Candace is deeply rooted in and connected to the Vietnamese-American community locally. She received a Bachelor’s degree from University of California – Berkeley in Sociology with an emphasis on the impact of education in minority communities. Prior to joining Mayor Liccardo’s team, Candace was the program coordinator for an afterschool youth development program at Asian Americans for Community Involvement. Candace continues to be involved as an organizer with community-based organizations and works to connect her direct-service understanding and local government experience to better serve the diverse San José community
Julian Lake
Policy Advisor for Service and Budget
Born and raised in San Jose, Julian completed a Bachelor’s in Political Science from the University of California Berkeley and a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. Before coming to work for the city, Julian was involved in projects to promote equity in Chicago community colleges and researched long-term climate strategies in Brazil. As a policy advisor Julian supports initiatives related to budget and service.
Kendra O’Donoghue
Chief Advancement and Impact Officer
Born and raised in San Jose, Kendra O’Donoghue brings several years of nonprofit management, fundraising, partnership development, and program experience to the Mayor’s office. She will be joining the Strategic Partnerships Team to support programs and initiatives with a focus on securing resources to ensure their continued growth and expansion in local communities. Previously, Kendra led Juma San Jose, a local youth and workforce development organization which employed 140 Opportunity Youth annually at local sports venues. As a former educator, she also has extensive experience in the program development and literacy space as the former program director for Reading Partners Silicon Valley and as a former founding team member for a Bay Area edtech company called BookNook. During her teaching career, she founded and developed a mentoring and college prep program for middle school and high school students designed to provide each child with enrichment, academic opportunities, and advocacy with an emphasis on higher education and promoting quality learning opportunities for all, particularly in the fields of literacy, communications, and social entrepreneurship.