Nancy Nadel is a U.S. politician, businesswoman, and former four-term member of the Oakland City Council. After two terms on the Board of the East Bay Municipal Utility District, Nadel was elected to the District Three Downtown-West Oakland City Council seat in 1996. In 2006, Nadel ran unsuccessfully for Mayor. In 2008, Nadel was re-elected to her fourth consecutive term on Oakland's City Council in a contentious race with two other candidates. She retired from the Oakland City Council in 2012; her seat is currently held by Lynette Gibson McElhaney. Nadel is the founder of a chocolate business. Background Nadel graduated from Alfred University in 1966 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, from San Francisco State University in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science in Geology, and from University of California, Berkeley in 1981 with a Master of Science in Engineering geoscience. Prior to joining the Council, she was a teacher, an artist, a geophysicist, an oil and gas industry scientist,, a small business owner and an environmental engineer with the U.S. E.P.A. Her writings on water policy, affirmative action, environmental justice and sustainable development have been published in journals and periodicals. EBMUD and ABAG Nadel began her political career on the Board of Directors of the East Bay Municipal Utility District where she served two terms. She is a member of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) Executive Committee, ABAG Regional Planning Committee, and chairs the ABAG Earthquake Hazards Outreach Review Committee. Oakland City Council Nadel was elected to Oakland's District Three "Downtown-West Oakland" City Council seat in 1996. The district includes Adams Point, most of Oakland's Central Business District (CBD) including all of Downtown and the Lakeside Apartments District, but excluding the Civic Center district south of 14th Street, and Chinatown. District Three also includes Jack London Square, the Jack London District, Pill Hill, and West Oakland. Nadel is the current chair of the City Council's Public Works Committee. 2008 City Council Election On Tuesday June 3, 2008, in the 2008 District 3 City Council election, Nadel was re-elected for her fourth consecutive term with 51.6% of the vote, narrowly avoiding a run-off election. Her two challengers, both West Oakland residents as is Nadel, were Sean Sullivan, Oakland Covenant House Director, who finished with 27%, and Oakland attorney Greg Hodge, who was elected to the Oakland School Board in 2000 and 2004, who garnered 20% of the