|  | Board & Executive Staff
 | THOMAS FIELDS, CHAIR
A longtime resident of Long Beach and current Chair of the Agency, Thomas Fields is a writer and producer and owns his own marketing company, Thomas Fields Associates. He has written commercials and advertising for such clients as Nissan, Chevrolet, Toyota, Evian, Burger King, California Angels and Prudential. Thomas has long been active as a volunteer in the City of Long Beach and is former Chair of the Long Beach Planning Commission. He currently serves as Vice President of the Board for the Long Beach Ronald McDonald House. |  | WILLIAM BAKER, VICE CHAIR
William Baker is a Long Beach native and graduate of Long Beach public schools. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1946; when he came home, he got married and raised two children. Bill lives in the same house he bought in 1948 and is a 60-year member with the Building Trades Union. In 1955 he and his partners started Besteel Company, a design and engineering business that fabricated structural steel and metal buildings and grew to a national firm with plants in California, South Carolina and Texas. Bill has been an active volunteer in the City of Long Beach for almost 50 years, serving on a variety of committees and commissions since the 1960s. |  | DIANE ARNOLD
Diane Arnold has operated a family-owned barber supply business on Pine Avenue for more than 40 years, and is a Long Beach native and mother of six grown children. Mrs. Arnold is a graduate of Poly High and Long Beach City College. She has been a longtime volunteer in the city, involved in the Downtown Long Beach Associates, Central Long Beach PAC and a number of other civic and school organizations. Diane retired in 2005 and keeps busy devoting her time to the Redevelopment Agency Board as the Central PAC representative, and is involved in numerous other community activities. |  | JOHN THOMAS, AICP
Born and raised in Fullerton, John considers Long Beach to be his adopted home. After moving to Long Beach in 1990, he became active in many community organizations, serving on the Boards of the Historical Society of Long Beach, Long Beach Heritage and the Bluff Heights Neighborhood Association. He is a passionate collector of art deco and a period enthusiast and is co-author of Long Beach Art Deco. He is currently a Manager in the Community Development Department at the City of Rancho Cucamonga, and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. John has owned and operated two small businesses in Long Beach for over 10 years, and was appointed to the RDA Board after serving 7 years on the Community Development Advisory Commission. |  | JOHN CROSS
John Cross has lived in Long Beach since 1961. He has served the City as Chair of the Citizen Police Complaint Commission, and has also served on the Code Enforcement Team for West Long Beach, the Mayor's Task Force on Commissions, Senator Lowenthal's Environmental Advisory Group and as President of the West Long Beach Association. Mr. Cross is retired from ARCO, and has been an active Member of the Westside PAC for many years. |  | VIVIAN TOBIAS
Vivian Tobias was born and raised in Long Beach and is a graduate of Poly High School, Stanford University and UCLA. She is currently a teacher and administrator for a charter school for at-risk youth in Long Beach. Vivian has long been active in community and political organizations, and has served on numerous committees including the Mayor’s Multi-Cultural Advisory Committee, the Long Beach Affordable Housing Coalition and the Fair Housing Foundation of Los Angeles. She has also served on the Los Angeles County Democratic Central Committee and is a longtime community advocate in Central Long Beach, having served on the Central Project Area Committee until she was appointed to the Redevelopment Agency Board. |  | CRAIG BECK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Craig Beck is the Executive Director of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency, and is also Director of Long Beach Development Services (LBDS), which includes the city's Building, Planning and Redevelopment Bureaus. As Director of LBDS, he oversees 125 staff and an annual budget over $120 million. Craig’s background is in community building, public finance and redevelopment, and he has over 21 years of experience working for the City of Long Beach. | | Click here to Watch RDA Board Meetings. | |
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