Rebecca Wright

Struck by the breadth of her resume, the school board recently
hired a woman with three decades of management experience to head
up the school district’s business services department.
Struck by the breadth of her resume, the school board recently hired a woman with three decades of management experience to head up the school district’s business services department.

“One of the many things she brings is experience,” school board President Francisco Dominguez said of Rebecca Wright, who will begin her new job as the Gilroy Unified School District’s assistant superintendent for business services on July 1.

Wright, 54, comes to the district with 30 years of management experience in both private and non-profit sectors and has overseen budgets exceeding $157 million. The Mountain View resident holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from University of California, Los Angeles, and a master’s degree from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Her professional experience includes leadership positions at Procter & Gamble, AT&T, Silicon Valley Engineer Magazine, First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto as well as chief financial officer positions at Whisman Elementary School District, Mountain View–Whisman School District and Alum Rock Union School District. Wright also served on the school board in the Whisman Elementary School District for four years.

Wright looks forward to drawing on the various aspects of her background in her new job, she said.

“I’m very excited about joining the team in Gilroy,” Wright said. At past jobs, “I’ve been very involved in construction so I’m very happy to join a team that’s doing bond work and construction work. My background is in engineering and I love that part of the job. I want to make sure Gilroy gets the best value out of its bond dollars. This is a great time to be doing construction but I want to make sure we’re putting things in place that keep ongoing costs to a minimum.”

She will earn an annual salary of $156,034, according to her two-year contract with the district. The district originally advertised for the job with a salary of $133,795 but did not receive an adequate pool of candidates, Superintendent Deborah Flores said.

Wright’s hire marks the first time in about nine months that the school district has had two permanent assistant superintendents heading up the office’s business and educational services departments. Former Deputy Superintendent for Business Services Enrique Palacios resigned at the beginning of the year to take a similar job closer to his Oakland home. The district’s educational services department had been without a permanent head since September, when former Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Basha Millhollen left on medical leave. In May, trustees appointed longtime Gilroy educator Marilyn Ayala to the post.

With a challenging budget picture to address in the coming years, trustees were optimistic Wright would guide them, Dominguez said.

“She’ll bring stability,” he said.

Previous articleMaria M. DeLaRosa
Next articleScrapbook June 25

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here