Lynette Sweet

Lynette Sweet is a member of the BART's Board of Directors. Voters elected her to the District 7 seat in November 2004 after the Board first appointed her on February 20, 2003 to replace Director Willie B. Kennedy who resigned. Sweet represents the only BART District to span the Bay. She has constituents in all three of the BART District's counties, which are Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco. The cities she represents include: Albany (partial), Bayview, Berkeley (partial), Crockett, East Richmond Heights, Emeryville, Oakland (partial), El Cerrito (partial), El Sobrante (partial), Hercules, Kensington (partial), Montalvin Manor, North Richmond, Pinole, Richmond, Rodeo, Rollingwood, San Pablo, San Francisco (partial) and Tara Hills. On December 15, 2005, BART became the first major transit agency in American history to be led by two African American women after the nine member Board unanimously elected Sweet to the Vice President's position and Carole Ward Allen to the President's position. The positions are BART's most powerful posts. The term of Board President expires after one year. Typically, the Vice President of the Board becomes the Board President in the following year. The Board unanimously elected Sweet to the post of President on December 21, 2006. Director Sweet serves as Chairperson of BART's Finance, Budget and Internal Audit Committee. She also serves as a member of the Board's San Francisco Transportation Authority Liaison, Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Board and Joint Development Liaison committees. Sweet was appointed to the San Francisco Redevelopment Commission in 1996 and was elected its chairperson in 1998. In 2000 she was appointed to the San Francisco Taxi Commission and then elected to the be the Commission’s president in 2001. Sweet's banking career began while in college and continued for the next twenty-two years. She has been an officer of Crocker Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, Barclays Bank, Bank of America and Union Bank of California. While working as the Vice President and Manager of Union Bank of California in Bayview Hunters Point, she became very active in community related causes. Through her efforts, Union Bank of California began a yearly donation program specifically for Bayview Hunters Point. Director Sweet is a native of San Francisco, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley.