This is an archive of a past election.
See http://www.smartvoter.org/ca/sm/ for current information.
San Mateo County, CA November 8, 2011 Election
Smart Voter Full Biography for Dave Mandelkern

Candidate for
Board Member; San Mateo County Community College District

[photo]
This information is provided by the candidate

I have a unique blend of Silicon Valley entrepreneurial business experience combined with a lifelong commitment to public service. As you can read below, I've accomplished a lot in the past 30 years!

My professional career has been spent helping start innovative companies that solve problems in new and interesting ways. In the recent past I was the founder, CEO, and Chairman of QuickHealth, Inc. QuickHealth has transformed the delivery of primary medical care, particularly for those who don't have health insurance. The QuickHealth physician provider-based model, located in convenient high traffic retail locations, provides affordable access to health care on a drop-in, no-appointment-necessary basis seven days a week on a cash-pay basis (no health insurance necessary). Our first location was in San Mateo, at the corner of 41st Avenue and El Camino Real. QuickHealth also partnered with pharmacy retailers throughout California. From 2005-2009 QuickHealth completed over 150,000 patient encounters and generated over $10 Million in revenue.

Prior to founding QuickHealth in late 2004, I was the co-founder, Executive Vice President, and Chief Technology Officer of Docent, Inc., a pioneer in on-line learning software, enabling organizations to improve their performance through effective deployment of knowledge. I led the company from its inception in 1996 to a successful initial public offering on the NASDAQ exchange in September 2000, with a market capitalization that was at one time in excess of $1 Billion. As one of the key members of the team that took Docent public, I worked directly with our investment bankers and after our IPO I helped create our investment policy and hired the firms that managed the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars of our cash. In March 2004, Docent joined with its leading competitor (Click2Learn, Inc.) in a merger of equals to form what is now a $150 Million annual revenue company, SumTotal Systems, Inc. I retired from the company at the close of the merger.

In my twenty-five year career spanning six Silicon Valley start-up companies, I was previously CEO of Talarian Corporation, a software company that went public and was ultimately acquired by Tibco Software. I was also founder and president of AlmondSeed Software, and co-founder of V.I. Corporation, which was acquired by Dynatech Corporation, a New York Stock Exchange-listed company.

In addition to serving on the board of directors of a publicly traded corporation, I have also served on the board of numerous privately held companies.

There's a lot more to my life than my business career. Even before I graduated from college I enjoyed spending my spare time working as a volunteer and in public service.

I'm currently proud to be a Trustee of the San Mateo County Community College District, having been first elected in November 2003. It's a tough job but I love it. I'm now serving in my second term, and I've also served as Board President. In over seven years on the Community College District Board I've overseen our $100 million+ annual budget and made sure that it was balanced with adequate reserves every year; helped pass a $468 million general obligation bond measure and the first parcel tax in the state dedicated to supporting a local community college; managed our Capital Improvement Project fund of over $500 million which have been used to renovate and upgrade the District's three campuses for the first time in 40 years; expanded the District's presence to Half Moon Bay and the Coastside communities; developed an innovative new source of scholarship money for students; and consistently asked the tough questions necessary to make sure that the public's money is well spent in pursuit of the District's primary mission of providing access to quality transfer, vocational, and basic skills education to as many members of the community as possible.

For the past 13 years I been on the board and served as Vice Chair of the California State Parks Foundation. In this role I've been instrumental in fighting proposed budget cuts (which currently will close 70 of California's 280 state parks), and have fought to protect our state parks from threats such as toll roads, high-speed rail, power lines, and other development.

Recently I was invited to become a board member of the Silicon Valley/Monterey Bay chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. This is a great medical research and patient services organization that I've been proud to support since 2000. In 2001 they were kind enough to name me Silicon Valley Man of the Year.

I also serve on the President's Council of Skyline College in San Bruno, and have previously served on the San Mateo County Office of Education Internet Task Force. I was also a member of the 1997 San Mateo County Civil Grand Jury, which gave me the opportunity to learn about the many different agencies in our County government and how they work together.

I've also been a keynote speaker at numerous industry events and conferences and have been a founding member of the board of directors of the Convenient Care Association and have served on the national board of directors of the American Electronics Association.

Some of my prior community service includes serving on the boards of the Volunteer Center of San Mateo County and the Symphonix League of the San Francisco Symphony. I'ves also served on the supervisory committee of the Stanford Federal Credit Union and as a volunteer fundraiser and national chair for the Stanford University School of Engineering Fund and am honored to have been a recipient of the School's Frederick E. Terman Achievement Award.

While this is a non-partisan office, I do want to point out that I am a past member of the San Mateo County Democratic Central Committee.

In my spare time I enjoy competing in endurance athletic events to raise money for charitable causes. Some of my personal highlights include completing an Ironman triathlon in 2004 and finishing the Boston Marathon in 2005. I'm pretty sure that I'm the first person to have ever completed a sanctioned triathlon in each of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia. In addition to having completed 100 triathlons, I currently serve on the Southwest Regional Council of USA Triathlon, which is the sanctioning body of the sport for the United States and chooses the US triathletes for the Olympics. The picture to the left shows me running down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. during The Nation's Triathlon.

In terms of my educational background, I hold a Bachelor's degree with distinction and a Master of Science degree, both from Stanford University.

I first moved to San Mateo County in 1981, and I currently live in Hillsborough with my spouse Terilyn Hanko. She is a fabulous person who has also held elective office and is herself a dedicated volunteer in the community. I'm very proud of her.

Next Page: Political Philosophy

Candidate Page || Feedback to Candidate || This Contest
November 2011 Home (Ballot Lookup) || About Smart Voter


The League of Women Voters does not support or oppose any candidate or political party.
Created from information supplied by the candidate: September 17, 2011 18:09
Smart Voter   <http://www.smartvoter.org/>
Copyright © League of Women Voters of California Education Fund   http://ca.lwv.org