About Debi

By Debi Davis

I call Santa Clara my home because of what this city is + a place where people know their neighbors, where they work together, help each other, and cooperate to build a better community. Santa Clara is the city with a heart in the heart of Silicon Valley.

I was raised in New York and first worked there in the sales and marketing industry. I moved to Santa Clara with my husband, Bill Davis, a police officer, after 9/11. From 3,000 miles away, we chose Santa Clara for the same reasons that so many others coming here choose this city + because it is safe, clean and well-run with beautiful parks, its own municipal utilities and superb City services.

As President of Sister Cities, first for Santa Clara and now for Northern California, I am dedicated to fostering international goodwill and understanding through our student exchanges with Coimbra, Portugal and Izumo, Japan. I am working hard with our International Exchange Commission to link our city with Limerick, Ireland and Yeoungcheon City, South Korea. As an executive director for the Grass Roots Summit, I coordinated several convention events bringing people from Japan to Santa Clara for both cultural and economic development.

Santa Clara's Relay for Life raised $200,000 for cancer reserach for a cure in the two years I organized the event. Working with our Chamber of Commerce, I planned a second street dance in our downtown, now in its second year. Organizing the "Best of the Best" fundraisers for Mission College has given me an opportunity to appreciate the great service our community college provides to students of all ages and abilities.

I am always willing to take on a challenge and Santa Clara is facing some challenging times. The economy's turn around is slow so balancing our City's budget and bringing new businesses to Santa Clara remain top priorities. Our City is taking an innovative appraoch to pension reform with our workers involved in the process of coming up with new solutions.

Santa Clara remains one of the best Bay Area cities with a high-safety rating, well-maintained streets and infrastructure, award-winning libraries and parks, the lowest combined utility rates, and the feel of a hometown. Santa Clara is a welcoming city serving a wonderfully diverse community. I want to work to keep it that way and to help resolve the challenges it faces today to prepare for the bright future of tomorrow.