Mayor Liccardo is a long-time San Josean, and the 65th Mayor of our city. Since taking office in 2015, he has worked diligently to build a safer, stronger, and more prosperous city. In 2018, San Jose residents re-elected Sam to serve San Jose for four more years.

In Sam’s prior public service, he prosecuted a range of felony cases as a federal and local criminal prosecutor, from sexual assault and child exploitation to international narcotrafficking. In 2006, voters elected Sam to the first of his two terms on the City Council, where he led efforts to revitalize its downtown, preserve San José’s hillsides and open space, create an inclusionary housing policy to boost funding for affordable housing, and open a world-class soccer stadium for the San José Earthquakes. He served as a founding board member of Cristo Rey San Jose High School, an innovative Jesuit school that propels students from low-income immigrant families to college and beyond.

Sam serves on a number of boards, including the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Valley Transit Authority (twice as Chairperson), and serves as co-chair for Joint Venture Silicon Valley. He is a senior fellow for the American Leadership Forum-Silicon Valley, and is a Rodel Fellow at the Aspen Institute.

Sam graduated from San José’s Bellarmine College Prep and from Georgetown University, where he was captain of the heavyweight crew. He received a law degree from Harvard Law School, and a master’s degree from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Sam and his wife, Jessica, live in the Northside neighborhood, north of Downtown. They live within blocks of Jessica’s childhood home, the home of three of Sam’s grandparents, and the neighborhood grocery store that Sam’s grandparents owned and operated in the 1950’s. Sam descended from Sicilian and Irish immigrants, as well as from the first Mexican settlers in the Bay Area.

Jeff Birdwell joined Sares Regis Group in 1994 and manages the Northern California Commercial Division, overseeing Office, R&D, Industrial, and Retail developments. Prior to moving to Northern California, Jeff was employed with our affiliate Sares Regis Group in Irvine, California for seven years, responsible for development activity in the Los Angeles/Ventura County Regional office.