Henry C. Levy, Treasurer, Alameda County

Henry C. Levy (Hank) is honored to begin his work at the County Treasurer-Tax Collector (TTC), and is looking forward to working diligently with his expert staff of 54 dedicated employees in Oakland and Hayward. Hank intends to lead the office with integrity, efficiency and transparency, and looks forward to collaborative working relationships with all other departments and leaders of the County. Hank was appointed by the Board of Supervisors to fill the remaining term of the former TTC through December, 2018. This position is an elected position, with the election taking place in June, 2018.

Hank is dedicated to educating all County residents about the County's financial affairs and welcomes questions and concerns from all constituents.

The office of the TTC has three major components:

• To provide efficient and effective tax collection of property taxes (secured and unsecured), to collect business, utility and hotel taxes in the unincorporated areas of the county, and to sell property which has become delinquent. There are over 470,000 secured property parcels in the County.
• To manage and protect the County's financial assets, by acting as the County's banker and directing the investments of the County's funds, which are invested in a portfolio of credit instruments called an "investment pool." These funds also belong to school districts and other related agencies, and it is the job of the TTC to provide all pool participants with safety, liquidity and yield on their investments. The pool currently has approximately $5.5 billion.
• To act as the fiduciary for the deferred compensation program for County employees who choose to participate. Almost 60% of the County's employees choose to participate in this program, and there are over $650 million of employee's funds currently invested.

Hank is also an ex-officio trustee on the Alameda County Retirement System (ACERA), which has responsibility for providing pension and other post-employment benefits to County retirees.

Hank has been a CPA since 1987, worked for large accounting firms, and began to build his practice in Oakland in 1991, where he created a firm from its beginnings in his home to a bustling practice centered at College Avenue in Oakland that employed over 30 people in 6 offices in Northern California. Although Hank is no longer an owner, The Henry Levy Group, A CPA Firm, still exists, specializing in tax compliance and planning, small business accounting, entity and tax structuring, political treasury reporting, non-profit & labor union accounting work, litigation support, and forensic investigations. In the early part of his working life, he was a car and forklift mechanic and a journalist.

Hank has long been extremely involved in trying to better his community, serving on numerous non-profit boards and civic committees. He has been involved either as a member or board member of OCCUR, Machinists Local 64, Plant Closures Project, Oakland School District Budget Advisory Committee, City of Oakland Citizen and Business Budget Advisory Committees, City of Oakland Political Reform Act Advisory Committee, North Atlantic Books, La Pena, Conciliation Forum, Pogo Park, Rockridge Soccer Club and Rockridge District Association, the East Bay Chapter of the California Society of CPAs, among others. He was a board member and president of the KPFA Radio Station Board from 1992 to 1997, served on the Alameda County Assessment Appeals board from 2004 to 2017, and was the proud PTA president of Peralta Elementary School during the years 1983-1985. Hank continues to train income tax preparers in the VITA (Voluntary Income Tax Assistance) program at the Hayward Area Recreation District.

An Oakland and Berkeley resident for over 45 years, he has raised 4 children, and assisted their sports and school clubs and teams. Hank began umpiring baseball games during his youngest son's involvement with the sport and went on to train as a high school and college level umpire. He has umpired games, including men's baseball, vintage baseball, and women's softball, all over the county and surrounding counties, including umpiring at San Quentin prison. He recently authored a personal memoir in a book on umpiring.

Hank is an accredited community college instructor. He has taught accounting, employee benefits, and economics at San Francisco Community College, Laney College and San Francisco State University, as well as teaching through the UC Labor Center and Haas School of Business.

An East Coaster by birth, Hank came out to California in his early twenties. Hank was married to Marcia Goodman for almost 32 years until she passed away from complications from Ovarian Cancer on December 5th, 2017. He is proud of the happy family they created together.

Hank received his B.A (History) from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, his M.A (Industrial Arts) from San Jose State University, and his accounting education from California State, Hayward (now Cal East Bay) and Golden Gate University.