Director Anderson is a retired registered nurse with a Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Cornell University and a Masters in Public Health from the University of California, Berkeley. She started her career in Boston at Boston University Hospital as Assistant Nursing Director and Clinical Nursing Instructor. Anderson later moved to California where she spent 29 years of her career with Contra Costa County as a staff public health nurse for the County Public Health Department, and later advanced to Director of Public Health Nursing. Anderson served as mayor for the City of Richmond, California, between 2001 and 2006. As Mayor of the City of Richmond, she helped save the City from financial disaster by making difficult decisions to change management and reduce the city’s operating expenses, which saved the City from bankruptcy.