Santa Cruz County Business Council picks govt director with qualifications in housing policy

Santa Cruz County’s most significant firms are receiving a new main booster.

The Santa Cruz County Business enterprise Council introduced Friday it has chosen its subsequent executive director: Emily Ham, who at present works as a housing professional at the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership.

Ham delivers to the council a qualifications in housing coverage — a essential difficulty that can make recruitment and retention complicated in a area with sky-high housing expenses. She holds a master’s diploma in community administration from the Monterey-based mostly Middlebury Institute of International Scientific studies, where by she focused her research on the housing disaster, in accordance to a enterprise council launch.

“We were amazed with Emily’s expertise in advocacy, approach, analysis, partnership and consensus building, and her alignment with the culture of the council,” Stacy Nagel, the council’s board chair, mentioned in a assertion. “Emily’s expertise in general public administration and knowledge of Santa Cruz and the Monterey Bay’s one of a kind insurance policies and problems will make her an asset to the Enterprise Council.”

A hiring committee voted unanimously to offer the position to Ham out of a group of 5 finalists, according to the council’s launch. She is set to commence as government director June 7.

The council’s prior government director, Robert Singleton, remaining in April for a govt relations job at electric-scooter corporation Chicken. Singleton had led the council considering the fact that 2017. Previous business council analyst Josie Buchanan has considering the fact that served as interim government director.

Started in 1996, the Santa Cruz County Business enterprise Council is a nonprofit advocacy organization. Quite a few of the county’s most significant businesses are between its 80-moreover members, like UC Santa Cruz, Looker and Cruzio Net.