Spotlight on Ohlone
Mike Calegari named new VP of business
By Inez Black, Staff writer.
Thursday, September 6, 2007 — Monitor.
Mike Calegari, Vice President of Business Services.
— Photo by Inez Black.
From campus expansion to usability to financial stability, new Vice President of Business Services Mike Calegari envisions Ohlone as a larger player in the Fremont community.
Calegari, who took the position in June, will be overseeing construction as well as negotiating for major capital improvements at the college.
Furthermore, he aims to create more of a draw for students by attracting student-friendly retailers and shops to the area, especially in the college’s to-be-developed frontage property.
Within a few weeks, Calegari will be sending a Request For Proposal (RFP) regarding the Ohlone Fremont Campus frontage property along Mission Boulevard to approximately 150 firms.
A possible composition of the site could include an upscale grocery store and some retail stores. These could be restaurants, a copy center, a bookstore or a fitness center.
To provide the needed parking for the retail frontage property and the students, the Ohlone Board of Trustees is considering moving the baseball field to the Newark Campus and converting the field to parking.
In fact, there is a possibility of a minor league building a baseball stadium on the Newark Campus with the provision that Ohlone be able to use the field when it’s not being used by the minor league team.
Calegari will be sending a RFP for multiple-story parking structures - one adjacent to Smith Center, with a capacity up to 1,000 parking spaces, Photo by Inez BlackMike Calegari, Vice President of Business Services contingent upon the response of developers. The second parking structure would be adjacent to the Student Services Center.
Concerning the Newark Campus, its $5 million shortfall is covered by the $2.5 million challenge-matching fund created by the Valley Foundation, which Ohlone has three years to match.
However, in the short-term, Calegari will re-allocate funds to enable the necessary equipment to be in place to begin the Spring ‘08 semester.
Then, as the funds come in for the challenge-matching fund, he plans to reworkthe budgets used for the short-term equipment purchases.
Born in San Francisco and raised in Daly City, Calegari returned to San Francisco at 20.
He and his family were living in the San Francisco Marina during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and, as a PG&E manager, he worked extensively on repairs.
He earned his Bachelor’s at the University of San Francisco in Accounting and his Master’s in Business Administration at Golden Gate University.
As to his reasons for accepting the Ohlone position, Calegari stated, “it’s a single-college district and less of a commute from Alameda. (It’s 50 miles to San Jose/Evergreen and about 28 miles to Ohlone.)
The opportunity to be the chief business officer at a community college was important.
There are only 73 community college districts in California.”
As controller for the San Jose/Evergreen Community College District and previously for the Chabot-Los Positas CCD (both two-college districts), he dealt with two colleges vying for the same budget dollars.
For leisure, Calegari enjoys reading history, golfing and movies.
His favorite movie is Casablanca.
He spends time taking care of his family’s two dogs and two cats.
Calegari’s three adult sons still live in San Francisco.
Anthony, 27, was recently discharged from the Marines after serving embassy duty in Paris, Havana and Nairobi, Kenya where he met President Bush and Secretary Rice.
Christopher, 25, is working and rying to get into the apprentice electricians program.
Michael, 20, at 6’7”, 300 pounds, is playing offensive line at Laney College, and ready to transfer to a four-year college.
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