John Gioia is a member of the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors. First elected in 1998, John has been overwhelmingly re-elected five times and represents 210,000 residents in the western most urban and diverse area of the county. He previously served for 10 years on the East Bay Municipal Utility District Board, serving as President in 1995 and 1996.
John is a recognized leader in Bay Area regional government and on air quality and climate change issues. He was appointed by Governor Brown in 2013 to the California Air Resources Board and has served on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District Board since 2006, serving as Chair in 2012. John has served as President of the California State Association of Counties and the California Cities Counties Schools Partnership. He has been a leader on environmental issues and serves on the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) and as Vice-Chair of the San Francisco Bay Restoration Authority where he helped lead an effort to pass an historic measure to raise $500 million for S.F. Bay. John is also Co-Chair of Rise Together, a regional effort to reduce poverty in the Bay Area.
John grew up in Richmond, graduated from El Cerrito High School and the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in Political Science and also earned his law degree at U.C. Berkeley. He completed the Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. John practiced law until his election to the Board of Supervisors. John's public service was inspired by his father, who was a popular civics and history teacher for 20 years at Kennedy High School in Richmond.
John has successfully built coalitions to address issues such as affordable housing, homelessness, violence prevention, environmental justice, access to health care and public transportation, air and water quality, San Francisco Bay restoration, and expanding opportunities for youth. John helped found the RYSE Center, an innovative and popular youth center in Richmond, which is grounded on principles of social justice and youth development. He is currently working with nonprofit Urban Tilth to develop an urban educational farm in North Richmond.