Good Vibrations president and CEO Theresa Sparks was sworn in on Thursday, April 26 for a second four-year term as a member of the San Francisco Police Commission. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors confirmed Sparks' reappointment to the police commission last week in a unanimous vote of confidence.
Attended by a delegation of elected officials and representatives for the San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's office, the official swearing-in ceremony was administered by Supervisor Tom Ammiano at the Hotel Monaco.
"Theresa Sparks represents the best in a leader, a teacher, and a role model as a police commissioner in the transgender community and the city of San Francisco," Ammiano said.
The ceremony for Sparks took place during the beginning of a new city-sponsored program initiating a recently approved economic empowerment program designed to help reduce unemployment and underemployment in San Francisco's transgender community.
"The transgender community is among the most disenfranchised groups throughout the United States, and this is the first program of its kind anywhere in the country," Sparks said. "I am honored to represent the transgender community and our entire city as a police commissioner."
"It is a little unusual, even in politically correct San Francisco, for the head of a company like Good Vibrations to also serve in a leadership role in law enforcement," said Dr. Carol Queen, Good Vibrations' sexologist and a member of the company's board of directors.
"As our great Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi would say, 'San Francisco values at their absolute best,'" Queen concluded.
Prior to her initial appointment to the police commission in 2004, Sparks served two four-year terms as a member of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.
The San Francisco Police Commission is the seven-member civilian oversight board responsible for developing policy for the San Francisco Police Department. It also conducts hearings and administers discipline in cases of alleged police officer misconduct.
Sparks has been president and CEO of Good Vibrations for two years, having previously served as the company's chief financial officer. She originally joined Good Vibrations in 2001.
Good Vibrations is a San Francisco-based retailer trusted for nearly three decades to provide a comfortable, safe environment for finding sex-positive products and educational materials to enhance one's sex life. Good Vibrations offers its products through its retail stores, mail-order catalog, and its e-commerce website.
