Candidate for Director:
James Villanueva
Hi everyone! I am asking for your support and vote for a position as a member of the 2022-2023 FBANC Board of Directors, serving as a Mentorship Committee Co-Director. I have served on the FBANC Board of Directors the last three years and am currently serving as a Social Committee Co-Director.
While the pandemic provided difficulties in reaching our membership, FBANC has thrived through this adversity. Through the great leadership of its presidents and the support of the Board, FBANC was able to provide resources and benefits to its members while taking the opportunity to create virtual programming that can better reach parts of our community that were previously more difficult to reach in person. After serving as a Co-Director for the social committee in 2020-2021 with only virtual events, I desired to continue serving in this position for 2021-2022 for the opportunity to help bring us all back together. My Co-Director and I focused on creating and recreating FBANC events that were in person. This past year, we’ve returned to our annual in-person fall picnic and Christmas party. We also brought the community together for a charity basketball game at the Chase Center. The last major event the social committee is hosting for this term is a Golf Tournament that has been in the making for the last 3 years and one which I am very excited to host. I’ve enjoyed my time as a social Co-Director, but I believe after this year that I can move on to another aspect of the FBANC Board that I find vital to its growth, Mentorship.
As a Mentorship Co-Director, I desire to continue the success of Komunidad. I want to focus on maintaining the partnerships of the law schools and its students throughout Northern California, while also making the programming available virtually to students outside of the area that could benefit from the networking and advice provided. I also want to continue building our pipeline of Filipinx lawyers by providing and emphasizing mentorship opportunities we as attorneys can provide for these students. It is important that we reinforce that lawyers can be in the highest legal positions of their fields, regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc.
If elected, I look forward to continuing the work of past Mentorship Directors and joining the 2022-2023 FBANC Board. Thank you for your time and I hope to have your vote for this upcoming election.
Sincerely,
James S. Villanueva