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Xema Jacobson Biography
Xema Jacobson is a member of the Executive Committee of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. She was appointed by then-Governor Gray Davis to serve a four-year term. The Airport Authority oversees the operations of the San Diego International Airport and was charged to place a ballot recommendation for an air transportation solution to the voters in November 2006.
Xema is a native San Diegan. She is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from San Diego State University in 1974.
After graduating from college, Xema went to work as a Congressional staffer, serving as Casework Supervisor and Field Rep in Chula Vista. During this time, Xema began working with the building trades unions in investigating waste, fraud and abuse in government construction projects. These investigations revealed violations of the Davis-Bacon Act and led to the recovery of wages to workers on federal projects.
In 1990, Xema became the Director of the Public Works Task Force for the San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO. The first woman business agent for the Council, she worked with the affiliated building and construction trade unions monitoring public works projects in San Diego County for compliance with relevant labor laws. She was also responsible for filing complaints for violations, contacting Awarding Agencies regarding the public contracting process and representing the Council on issues involving public works within the County.
In 1993, the Electricians Union, the Laborers Union and the Sheet Metal Workers Union and their contractor organizations hired Xema to monitor public works projects on their behalf. As a member of the Electricians Union, she spent the next seven years monitoring public works projects throughout San Diego and Imperial Counties and working with the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council in creating the Labor to Neighbor political education program.
In 2000, Xema became the first woman Business Manager of the San Diego County Building Trades Council, and the second female Business Manager in the State of California and the only female Business Manager in the nation. Representing 24 affiliated building and construction trade unions throughout the county, she handled the Council’s business affairs, administered the building trades agreements at San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, the Padres Ballpark, the Olivenhein Dam and the Otay Mesa Generating Facility. She was also the Chairman of the Board of the National City Parks Apartments; a 450-unit non-profit apartment community for low-income residents built
owned and operated by the Building Trades. She also served as the Administrator of JOBLINKS, the Building Trades pre-apprenticeship program within San Diego County.
Xema serves on the Board of the United Way of San Diego and its Finance Committee, the Holiday Bowl Committee and was a founding member of the Stan Foster Construction Tech Academy at Kearny High School Advisory Committee.
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