Meet the Commissioners

kat andersonCommissioner Kat Anderson | President

Kat Anderson’s appreciation for nature and open space was sparked while growing up in the San Fernando Valley and Little Rock, Arkansas. Today, Kat is happiest walking a park trail or along the Marina, especially if her kids, Patrick and Deedee, join her. She is an avid backpacker and loves to say hi to her friends at Camp Mather before hiking up into the Hetch Hetchy wilderness.

 

Kat combines her love of the outdoors with her support of many local recreation/conservation projects and advocacy groups, including the SF Parks Alliance, The Francisco Park Conservancy, the Japanese Tea Garden, the Marina playground renovation, tree-planting in partnership with Friends of the Urban Forest, and the Sierra Club. She has supported all parks bonds to hit the SF ballot box.

 

In 2023, Kat became a California-certified Climate Steward and is trained to speak with any and all communities about climate change. In August 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Kat to a California Parks Commission for Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation. You might find her operating a side-by-side or a motorcycle. 

 

Kat moved to San Francisco in 1988 to attend Hastings College of the Law. She specialized in labor and employment law for many years. She retired as interim Executive Officer of Pacific Media Workers Guild – the news union, where she created and co-founded a mentorship training program for college journalism students called “Bay News Rising.”  From 2018 through 2021, Kat opened and operated a cafe in the Bayview district called “Word. A cafe.” 

 

Kat graduated with distinction from Stanford University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. She volunteers on the boards of the Foundation of City College and Bishop’s Ranch in Healdsburg, and is President of the City Democratic Club. Her favorite food is tacos. 


Hallisy_Joe 2023Commissioner Joe Hallisy | Vice President

Joe Hallisy is a native San Franciscan. He grew up in the Ingleside District, where he spent much of his youth in the parks, playgrounds, pools, and gymnasiums of the City. He began coaching youth sports following his graduation from St. Ignatius, serving as Athletic Director at both St. Anne and St. Cecilia schools. He was inducted into the CYO Hall of Fame in 2018. He continues to be an advocate for youth fitness, following his 50 years of teaching P.E. at St. Thomas Apostle School. 

Hallisy retired from the San Francisco Fire Department in 2011 after 30 years of service. He ran the SFFD FLAME Program for the last six years of his career, sponsoring athletic leagues, tournaments, and activities for SF youth. From 2005 to 2011, he served as the Chair of the San Francisco Youth Baseball Board, a joint partnership between the SFFD and SFRPD. He holds a BA in Broadcasting from San Francisco State University and has announced the SFSU graduation at Oracle Park since 2018. In addition, he has served as the public address announcer for USF Dons men’s and women’s basketball since 1985. He was honored by USF for his service to the University with the Cable Car Award in 2010 and was named Don of the Year in 2019. He is no stranger to Civic Center, as he has served as M.C. for the St. Patrick’s Day Parade since 2014. 

He and his wife, Claudine live in the Inner Sunset. They have three children.




Jupiter-Jones_Annie 2023Commissioner Annie Jupiter-Jones

Annie is a proud daughter of San Francisco, born & raised in the Mission District where she proudly still works and lives with her own family.

Annie has spent the last 25 years working to empower and uplift our city’s youth and using art as a form of activism to create positive change. Annie holds a BA in Liberal Studies/Spanish and a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from San Francisco State University. Annie has served as an Elementary and High School teacher in the SFUSD and in leadership roles in community based arts and youth development organizations. Most recently Annie spent 9 years as the Executive Director for Loco Bloco, a youth and family Arts+Activism organization which Annie first joined as a student when she was 16 years old. As the Director of Loco Bloco Annie facilitated a cultural exchange to Salvador, Brazil for 32 youth and artists, produced the creation and tour of "On The Hill" (a musical docu-theater project based on the life and death of Alex Nieto) and successfully negotiated and managed an organizational merger with the Jamestown Community Center. Additionally, under Annie's leadership Loco Bloco was honored with a 1st Place Award from Carnaval San Francisco, a Superbowl 50 Playmaker Award and was named to the 2019 YBCA 100 list.

Annie was selected as Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Collective Safety Fellow for their 18-19 cohort and her project City Kids was featured at the 2019 YBCA Public Square.

Annie works to increase gender equality in sports through Girls Baseball advocacy and currently serves as the Girls Baseball Commissioner for the San Francisco Youth Baseball League and the manager of the San Francisco Bay Sox Girls Baseball Program. Annie co-leads the recently launched "Hella Wellness Collective", teaches group fitness classes and can most often be found shuttling her three very active daughters around the city to their practices, games and performances.


Louie_Vanita 2023Commissioner Vanita Louie 

Vanita Louie is proud to call herself a native San Franciscan. Born and educated in San Francisco, she attended St. Mary’s in Chinatown and Cathedral High School. A graduate of San Francisco State University with a BA in Business Administration, she was an entrepreneur and pioneer in the travel industry with a nearly three-decade career. She has helped shape and level the competition in airline travel for many retail travel agencies across the nation as a wholesale airlines consolidator since the 1980s. She was a board member of a variety of tourism boards and assisted with determining popular flight routes and airline destinations before she retired in 2010.

Vanita has deep roots in Chinatown as her parents operated a Chinese arts business on Grant Avenue and her grandparents were famous candy makers for over 50 years. Vanita was raised in the community by the community.  She utilized many of the playgrounds, parks and recreation programs that the Rec & Park Department has to offer. She is an avid yogi, guitar and pickleball player.

As a community advocate and commitment to anything that supports community, she is ready to serve. She was the recipient of the “Community Building Award” from (CEDAW) the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and received the “Community Hero Award” with Gum Moon & the Asian Women’s Resource Center in the same year.

Now retired, she lives in the Anza Vista neighborhood with her husband Austin and doggie. They have two grown daughters Lindsey and Julianne.


Mazzola_Larry 2023Commissioner Larry Mazzola

Larry was born and raised in San Francisco. He went to St. Stephen’s grammar school and graduated from Sacred Heart High School and then attended San Mateo Junior College.

Larry then entered the Local Union 38 Plumbers Apprenticeship Program for the next 5 years until he became a journeyman plumber. After working as a journeyman plumber, he then went to work as the Assistant Apprentice Coordinator to the Local 38 Training Program.

He went on to other various jobs with the Union such as Organizer, Business Agent, Assistant Business Manager, until he was elected Business Manager & Financial Secretary-Treasurer in July 2013.

In 2015, Larry was elected President of the San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council. He is also a Vice President of the San Francisco Labor Council and Vice President of the California State Federation, AFL-CIO.

Larry has always been eager to donate his time to help the community. He started out on the San Francisco Film Commission for 4 years then on to the Treasure Island Development Authority Board for 6 years and now is excited to be appointed to the San Francisco Recreation & Park Commission, where he feels he can serve our community well.




Wintroub_Carey 2023Commissioner Carey Wintroub

Carey Wintroub grew up in the Adirondacks Mountains in Upstate New York and made San Francisco her home more than 25 years ago. She received her BA from Northwestern University and her MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. 

After spending six years in financial services, she chose to dedicate her time to building community with a focus on youth development and excellence in education. In 2002 Carey launched Girls on the Run of the Bay Area, an independent 501(c)(3) that has provided more than 30,000 girls in the Bay Area with curriculum-based running programs that build confidence and inspire healthy, active lives. She has also served as a trustee of the French American International School, as a board member of the BAYS Foundation, and in leadership roles at The Hamlin School and in local Jewish organizations. 

A lifelong runner and cyclist and a chronically aspiring tennis player and golfer, Carey is happiest outside in the Northern California sunshine. She and her husband have three daughters who all enjoy San Francisco’s wooded trails, playgrounds, and athletic fields, as well as the occasional chilly swim in the Bay.


Zwart_Breanna 2023

Commissioner Breanna Zwart

Breanna Zwart was born and raised in Southern California and has made San Francisco her home for over 10 years.

A Tartan twice over, Breanna earned a bachelor and master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University.

Professionally, Breanna’s career began in local government in San Diego, followed by service as an appointee in the U.S. Department of Treasury during the Obama administration. Her leadership spans some of the largest companies in technology and civic innovation, drawing on her extensive background in public policy and international relations. Her achievements include leading private-public collaboration between Google, USAID, and the government of Liberia to bring high speed fiber to the capital city of Monrovia and launching the $100 million YouTube Black Voices Fund and a fund for leading voices in racial justice.

Public service is a value Breanna holds deeply, instilled by her grandparents, who are civil rights activists that have made great contributions to their community. She currently works in the technology sector, overseeing operations and business strategy for global teams. 

Breanna has served as commissioner and president on the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women, where she led efforts to develop and implement city-wide policies to promote pay equity, combat domestic violence, and advance an inclusive agenda to empower women, girls, and non-binary people. 

She is a frequent user of our city's park facilities, with a particular affinity for Balboa Park Pool, and tennis courts.

When not working, you can find her practicing yoga, chasing her son, listening to Beyonce, and manifesting the life her ancestors deserved.