David Kears

Dave Kears currently serves as the Special Assistant to the County Administrator for Alameda County, after retiring in 2009 as County Health Care Services Agency Director, the position he held for over 23 years.  His current role is primarily that of trouble-shooter and coordinator/facilitator of inter-agency collaboratives, chairing both the County and City of Oakland School Districts’ Joint Powers Authority (JPA) regarding children and youth services and the Bay Area Partnership for Children and Youth.

In his previous position as Alameda County Health Care Services Agency Director, he provided overall direction, consultation, and trouble-shooting to the agency’s four major departments: Indigent Care; Public Health Department, including Emergency Medical Services; Environmental Health Services; and Behavioral Health Care Services, including Mental Health and Alcohol and Drug Services. From 1993 to 1998, Mr. Kears assumed the additional responsibility of developing a public/private Medi-Cal managed care program, the Alameda Alliance for Health, pursuant to State of California Department of Health Services directives. The Alliance is now a fully licensed HMO composed of traditional Medi-Cal and safety net county and community providers.

Since 1996, Mr. Kears has chaired Alameda County's Interagency Children's Policy Council. Mr. Kears also completed the development of an alternative governance structure for the County's Medical Care System and the transition of both governance and hospital employees to a separate, public hospital authority in 1999. With the passage of Proposition 10, Mr. Kears led the development and provided initial funding support for Every Child Counts/First 5 Alameda County. He is also Chair of Safe Passages, a Robert Wood Johnson decade-long initiative to improve outcomes for children and youth. This is a City of Oakland-based initiative composed of a partnership of leaders in the City of Oakland, county agencies, and Oakland schools committed to redirecting Oakland’s public and private resources to implement strategies proven to keep kids in school and engaged in positive activities.  Mr. Kears also serves as Chair of Blue Shield of California Foundation’s Board of Trustees. 

In December, 2005, Mr. Kears was appointed by the Senate Rules Committee as Commissioner on the Legislative Blue Ribbon Commission on Autism under legislation authored by Senator Don Perata. In May, 2006, he was appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to the First 5 California State Commission, eventually becoming Vice-Chair until his retirement in 2009. 

Mr. Kears began his career with Alameda County as a Psychiatric Social Worker in 1974 and has held a number of major department head positions in the Health Care Services Agency. 

He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a major in Sociology and a Masters in Social Welfare with a Psychiatric Casework Specialty. He also holds a Clinical Social Work license.