Lai Jean Quan (born October 21, 1949) is an American politician that served as the 49th mayor of Oakland, California from 2011 to 2015. She previously served as City Council member for Oakland's 4th District. Upon inauguration on January 3, 2011, she became Oakland's first female mayor. Quan ran an unsuccessful campaign for reelection in 2014, losing the mayoral race to Libby Schaaf, a member of the Oakland City Council. Personal life Quan was born in Livermore, California. Her family ties in the Bay Area date back to the 1870s, when her great-grandfather immigrated to San Francisco from Kaiping, Sze Yup. Quan's husband, Dr. Floyd Huen, is a doctor of internal medicine for Alameda County. They met at UC Berkeley as activists on Asian-American issues. Oakland School Board and City Council Quan was on the Oakland School Board for 12 years, starting in 1990 after organizing a citywide parent organization, Save Our Schools. As a parent leader she helped save the music program in the Oakland Schools. She served as chair of the California Urban Schools Association, the Asian Pacific Islanders School Board Members Association (APISBMA), and the Council of Urban Boards Association (the urban caucus of the National School Board Association representing the nation's 100 largest districts). She was appointed by the Clinton Administration to represent School Boards on the Title I Rules Making Committee. In these roles she advocated for more funding for urban and immigrant students, more inclusion of minority community history in textbooks, comprehensive school services and after school programs, and expansion of pre-school and adult education programs. In 1996 with Quan as president, the school board instituted a program using Standard English Program strategies to teach standard English to African American students. The move created national news with the perception Oakland schools were teaching students "Ebonics" because there was discussion about Ebonics being used as a teaching tool. In 2002, Jean Quan was elected to her first term as Council Member for Oakland District 4 (Allendale, Brookdale, Crestmont, Dimond, Laurel, Maxwell Park, Melrose, Montclair, and Redwood Heights). During her time on the Council she led several initiatives, including "Measure Q" to prevent the closure of city libraries and increase funding for materials,"Oakland Wildfire Prevention District" which would funds annual programs of vegetation control, safety inspections and homeowner education, and green waste/composting programs,"Oakland Cultural Arts Funding" which would add Hotel Tax to fund the Oakland Zoo,