Ruben Barrales

Ruben Barrales is senior vice president of external relations at Wells Fargo. Previously, he was president and CEO of GROW Elect and of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. He served in the White House as deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs for President George W. Bush. He was also president and CEO of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network. In 1998, he was the California Republican Party nominee for state controller. In 1992, he became the first Latino elected to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. He serves on the PPIC Statewide Survey Advisory Committee and was on PPIC’s board of directors from 2007 to 2019. He has served on the California Speaker’s Commission on State and Local Government Finance and on the California Commission of Local Governance for the 21st Century. He grew up in Redwood City, California, and received a BA with a joint major in political science and administrative studies from the University of California, Riverside.