With more than 28 years of public service experience, Ms. Santana served as the City Manager for the cities of Santa Clara and Sunnyvale, City Administrator for the City of Oakland, and Deputy City Manager for the City of San Jose. She is also the only public service executive that has held high-ranking executive-level leadership roles in the Silicon Valley cities that comprise the Nation’s Largest Tech Hub (San Jose, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara), as ranked by Forbes. Amongst her many professional accolades, her appointment in Oakland made her the first Latina in the nation to have been appointed to manage a large U.S. city.
Santana’s deep public service experience includes working nationally, regionally, and locally and her experience spans a diverse spectrum of disciplines such as: investment and financial services; management, service delivery, and operations; research; philanthropy; joint powers authorities, professional sports teams and facility/venue oversight, electric utilities, and working within the complex Silicon Valley ecosystem to balance community needs with business sustainability.
Most recently, Santana served as Acting Chief Executive Officer for MissionSquare Retirement, a financial services corporation focused on public sector retirement services, from April 2023 through September 2024, and as Senior Advisor to the CEO through February 2025. As Acting CEO, Santana was responsible for approximately $84 billion of assets under management and administration, 1.9 million participant accounts nationwide, and 9,300 employer plans across the country. During this time, Santana also led MissionSquare Research Institute, a non-profit organization producing research on public sector workforce trends, and MissionSquare Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on youth civic engagement. Ms. Santana also served on MissionSquare Retirement Board of Directors for seven years before being appointed as Board Chair.
Ms. Santana holds two Bachelor of Arts from the University of California at Berkeley and a Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (focus area was housing, economic, and community development). In addition, Ms. Santana has earned a Corporate Director Certificate from Harvard Business School, focused on Governance, Finance, Audit, and Compensation.
Ms. Santana has been recognized for her contributions to the public sector profession as follows:
- Career Excellence Award from Women Leading Government and Municipal Managers of Northern California (2022);
- VIP Woman of the Year, National Association of Professional Women (2015);
- San Francisco Business Times Most Influential Women in Business Award (2012);
- Silicon Valley YWCA Tribute to Women Award: Honoring Silicon Valley's Executive Women (2010);
- Congressional Recognition as Powerful Women of the Bay Area Award (2012) (Congresswoman Barbara Lee);
- East Bay Express "Best of the East Bay 2012" list as the "Bay Area's Most Courageous City Official";
- Board member of Women Leading Government; and,
- Board member of Silicon Valley Leadership Group Foundation.
