Faith & the Common Good Lecture

As part of the 2012 Alumni Reunion Weekend, San Francisco Theological Seminary is pleased to invite graduates, friends and neighbors to The Faith & the Common Good Lecture on Thursday, April 19. David Chiu, president of the San Francisco board of supervisors, will be the keynote speaker.

This annual lecture is an opportunity for the SFTS community to be inspired by people of faith who serve others in their vocations.

Chiu ran for San Francisco mayor in the recent election. In November 2008, he was elected as the Supervisor for District 3 – home to many diverse and vibrant neighborhoods, including North Beach, Chinatown, Telegraph Hill, Russian Hill, Polk Street, Nob Hill, Union Square, the Financial District, the Barbary Coast and Fisherman's Wharf. Since then, Chiu’s colleagues have twice chosen him to lead the Board as its President.

Before joining the Board, Chiu was a founder and Chief Operating Officer of Grassroots Enterprise, a public affairs technology company. Prior to Grassroots, he worked as a criminal prosecutor at the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and as a civil rights attorney at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights. In the mid-1990s, he served as Democratic Counsel to the U.S. Senate Constitution Subcommittee and as U.S. Senator Paul Simon's aide to the U.S. Senate Budget Committee in Washington.

Considered a hands-on community leader, Chiu has served as a Small Business Commissioner, chair of the Lower Polk Neighbors, board president of the Youth Leadership Institute, board chair of the Chinatown Community Development Center, judge-arbitrator for the Polk Street Community Court and president of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area.

Chiu has been elected twice to the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee and chaired California's 13th Assembly District Democratic Committee.  He has lived in the Russian Hill and Polk Street neighborhoods for the past 15 years.

Raised in Boston, Chiu is the eldest of three children of immigrant parents. Because of their hard work and sacrifice, he was able to attend and earn his undergraduate degree, law degree, and master's degree in public policy from Harvard University.  In his very spare time, he enjoys biking, surfing and snowboarding.