Candidate for
Board Member; San Mateo County Community College District

Richard Holober lives in Millbrae with his wife Nadia, and their two school-age sons. He has lived in the Bay Area for 25 years.

Richard grew up in New York City, where he graduated from the public school system. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Rochester, and attended the Graduate School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. Both of his children attended local public schools. His wife, Nadia is a graduate of San Mateo County's community college system. She received her associate degree from Canada College in Redwood City, her BA from UC Berkeley and her JD from Hastings College of the Law. She is an attorney in private practice and an elected City Councilwoman in Millbrae.

Richard was elected to the San Mateo County Community College District in 1997, and has served as the College District's President. Richard was elected to the Millbrae School Board in 1993, and served four years, including a term as School Board President. He has served on the State School-to-Career Curriculum Committee, the Vocational Education Plan Committee, the Board of Trustees of the United Way of the Bay Area, the San Mateo County Growth Policy Council, and the Caltrain Citizens Advisory Council.

Richard Holober serves as Executive Director of the Consumer Federation of California. From 1981-1984 Richard served as the Executive Officer of the San Mateo County Central Labor Council. In the Mid-1980's, Richard served as Senator Alan Cranston's Southern California Director. Richard returned to the Bay Area in 1987, and worked as a legislative advocate for the California Labor Federation and the California Nurses Association.

In 1995, Richard founded the Liveable Wage Coalition. He managed the statewide campaign that won an increase in the minimum wage for some two million hard working Californians when voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 210 in 1996. In 1999, Richard served as the legislative manager of Assembly Bill 60, which made daily overtime pay (eight hour day) the law in California.

In 2002, he co-founded Californians for Privacy Now, which was instrumental in winning the nation's strongest Financial Privacy Law (Senate Bill 1 of 2003). He has also advocated for legislation to expand health care consumer rights and to protect the public from defective products.