James W. Head
Vice President of Programs
James W. Head is vice president of programs at The San Francisco Foundation and has more than 25 years of experience in the field of community and economic development. Previously, Mr. Head served as president of the National Economic Development and Law Center for 18 years. A lawyer by training, Mr. Head has significant nonprofit management, programmatic, and legal experience and has worked on nonprofit legal and finance issues as a consultant to foundations, business, and government, and as a professor of law. His past and present affiliations and community service include the community advisory board of Union Bank of California, member and past board president of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association; board member of Northern California Grantmakers, the National Center for Youth Law, and the Neighborhood Funders Group; as well as adjunct professor of law at U.C. Hastings, U.C. Berkeley (Boalt) and Santa Clara University Law Schools in the Bay Area. Additionally, Mr. Head has recently been appointed Commissioner for the Port of Oakland and serves on the Aviation and Commercial Real Estate committees. He has also formerly served as an advisor to the 2001 Race Commission in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a member and chair of the Consumer Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board, and was a founding board member of the California Community Economic Development Lending Initiative. Mr. Head holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Georgia and a law degree from the University of Georgia, School of Law. He holds state bar memberships in Georgia, Florida, and California.