By Kathy Chouteau
Northern California native Mark Orcutt has surpassed hundreds of applicants to be selected as the new president & CEO/executive director of the East Bay Leadership Council (EBLC) and Contra Costa Economic Partnership (CCEP).
Orcutt’s priorities in his new role will include prevailing over political barriers to deliver “critically needed housing construction” and focusing on equitable access and opportunity in workforce development.
The EBLC said that Orcutt is additionally well-positioned to expand on the success of its political candidate training program and the CCEP’s nonprofit board match initiative.
Orcutt’s early career included working at California Forward on statewide government reform and spearheading Bay Area political campaigns. In his work, which started at the EBLC in 2015, he has earned respect for his “innovation, operational skill set and strategic communications,” according to the EBLC.
EBLC Board Chair, Leo Scott, referred to Orcutt as a “proven leader who has been instrumental in developing programs, driving revenue growth, and increasing EBLC’s regional influence over the last eight years.”
CCEP Board Chair Alex Mehran Sr. echoed Scott’s confidence in Orcutt, saying that he thinks “Mark is up to the challenge” of “unlocking the region’s full economic potential” via a creative approach and willingness to ask hard questions and forge new partnerships.
A summa cum laude graduate in Political Science from San Francisco State University, Orcutt can be found in his spare time enjoying East Bay Regional Parks or catching a show at the Lesher Center for the Arts with his wife, Elizabeth.
Orcutt said that his career has been “driven by a desire to help solve big problems through collective impact.” He added that he is proud of their team’s contributions to “a thriving and equitable East Bay economy for decades” and is honored to help “write our next chapter as president & CEO and executive director.”
