Nonprofit CEO to lead economic development agency
San Francisco Mayor London Breed selected Kate Sofis, the CEO of a nonprofit that helps support local manufacturers, to lead the city’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, an agency seen as key to San Francisco’s recovery from the economic collapse brought on by the pandemic.
Sofis is cofounder and CEO of SFMade, a publicprivate initiative that has boosted local manufacturing and helped diversity employment in the city. She has also served as a member of San Francisco’s COVID19 Economic Recovery Task Force.
“The programs and services that OEWD provides will play a critical role in our city’s economic recovery from COVID19,” Breed said in a statement that praised Sofis’ experience in equitable economic development. “I have full confidence that Kate has the experience and skillset to lead the organization and ensure San Francisco comes back even stronger than before,” she said.
Sofis said in a statement that she’s looking forward to helping lead the city’s efforts to recover from the economic troubles caused by the COVID19 outbreak.
“I am excited to work with our mayor, the Board of Supervisors, the incredible OEWD team, and across the public and private sectors to chart a path forward to economic recovery for the city I love,” she said in a statement.
San Francisco’s economy has been slammed by coronavirus closures that have nearly eradicated the tourism industry — the city’s largest — and prompted hundreds of small businesses across the city to permanently close their doors, unable to afford their rents or pay their workers.
With many offices still closed, the usually busy streets of downtown are nearly empty most of the day with boardedup windows and little pedestrian traffic. Even as COVID19 cases have fallen in recent weeks and the city has gradually allowed more businesses to open, the economy is struggling to recover even a modicum of its usual vigor.
The Office of Economic and Workforce Development promotes programs that attract and retain business, develop the city’s workforce, support small businesses, create international business opportunities and revitalize commercial corridors. Since the outbreak of COVID19, the office has served as the main source of information for businesses and has worked with public health officials.
Sofis will fill a role vacated by Joaquín Torres, whom Breed appointed to be San Francisco’s assessorrecorder last month.
That role was left opened after Carmen Chu was appointed as city administrator, a job left vacant after Naomi Kelly resigned a few weeks after federal prosecutors implicated her husband, Harlan Kelly, in an alleged corruption scandal.