Judith A. Blackwell

Judith A. Blackwell hails from Cleveland, Ohio and has gained experience and prestige through a plethora of illustrious positions. Her background includes high level posts including her appointment as the first black associate for New York based Thacher, Proffitt and Wood Law Firm; Vice President of the Connecticut based investment banking firm known as U.S. Securities; being the youngest member of the finance committee for former New York Mayor David Dinkins; and working on Wall Street as a municipal and corporate finance attorney. Most recently, Ms. Blackwell served as the Chief Financial Officer for the City of Atlanta. She had eliminated the city's $40 million deficit and nurtured the city's operational budget to a $35 million surplus when she was recruited by Mayor Willie Brown to become City Purchaser and Director of the newly created Office of Contract Administration (OCA). As City Purchaser and Director of the OCA, Ms. Blackwell has used the "power of the purse" to advance the city's social agenda embodied in the Minimum Compensation Ordinance (MCO); the Health Care Accountability Ordinance (HCAO); and the Prevailing Wage Ordinance. She is committed to making the OCA accessible and user friendly to the many individuals and companies who do business with the City and County of San Francisco.