WOMEN'S COUNCIL OF REALTORS ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR FOR 2011!
Cathie Kosel has served 4 decades as a top producing Realtor and as vice president and sales manager of two major real estate firms. She is the owner and broker of The Kosel Company and is currently working together with other excellent, admired, and senior independent brokers to form a real estate "think tank" to improve our knowledge and skills and serve our clients in the best way possible.
Cathie brings an uncommon level of education, creativity and unique life experience to bear when marketing a property. She is a former Mayor of the City of El Cerrito, a retired Commissioner and Vice Chair of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, Co-Chair of the Solano County/Contra Cost County Transportation Commission, and the Bay Area Council Committee on Affordable Housing. She chaired the West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee, the Planning and Governmental Affairs Committee of CCTA, West Contra Costa Mayor's Association, City of El Cerrito Redevelopment Agency, City of El Cerrito Planning Commission, and City of El Cerrito Childcare Subcommittee. She is a past President of the El Cerrito Municipal Services District as well as a former Director of the West Contra Costa Education Fund, Kensington Improvement Club, Friends of Far View Ranch Camp, and the Meritus Foundation. She acted as Executive Producer of Bay Vision East Crosstalk for nine years. She is proud to have been a founding member of Alta Bates Hospice which now has 1,000+ volunteers. She served as Convenor of the policy arm of the Bay Area Consortium for Urban Education.
As an administrator in West Contra Costa Unified School District, Cathie served as Chief Liaison to the University of California during the tenures of Chancellors Tien and Berdahl. She served as Coordinator of Gifted and Talented Education, Coordinator of Family and Community Partnerships, manager of Redistricting, and Coordinator of Charter Schools. She also served as the Director of Cal*West GEARUP, a multi-million dollar federal grant to increase equity and access to higher education for underrepresented minority students. The project resulted in approximately 2,600 students from the Iron Triangle in Richmond completing their education and graduating from 4 year colleges and universities.
She was a Supervisor of Teacher Education at the University of California, Berkeley and a lecturer on The Politics of Education in their Graduate School of Education. The California State Senate and Contra Costa County have commended Ms. Kosel for her leadership in regional transportation issues and her work to establish urban villages at transit hubs. "One of the most brilliant and visionary mayors to ever serve in Contra Costa County. Her record in transportation issues is superb!" Most recently, she served as Chairman and President of Richmond Port Renaissance, a project to redevelop the Port of Richmond as a major (and green!) shipping hub on the West Coast.
Ms. Kosel received her AB degree from UC Berkeley and her Master of Science from California State University at Hayward. She is an avid sailor on San Francisco Bay and swims 365 miles a year – one stroke at a time.
