Quan, Jean, 1949-

Lai Jean Quan (born October 21, 1949) is a Chinese-American union organizer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 49th mayor of Oakland, California from 2011 to 2015. She was the first woman to hold the office.

Born in Livermore, California, she was raised in Oakland. Quan received a scholarship to attend the University of California at Berkeley where she was a student activist. As one of the first Chinese-speaking union organizers in California, Jean led the first Justice for Janitors campaigns in the 1980s and worked with immigrant workers to let them know their labor rights. After organizing a citywide parent organization, Save Our Schools, Quan served on the Oakland School Board from 1991 to 2003. As a parent leader she helped save the music program in the Oakland Schools and 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.

As Mayor, Quan championed Oakland's profile to the world, brought investment to move long-stalled economic development projects, worked to bring thousands of local jobs for residents, and dramatically re-organized the Oakland Police Department to reduce crime through geographic accountability and data-driven strategies. However, Quan's unpopularity grew during her time in office. She placed third in her 2014 bid for re-election behind city council members Libby Schaaf and Rebecca Kaplan.