Sonja Banford
Senior Office Specialist
Mountain View,CA
Summary
Results-driven professional with extensive experience at Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, specializing in SharePoint administration and enhancing system safety and security. Demonstrated ability to streamline administrative processes and improve committee coordination, resulting in increased operational efficiency. Strong analytical skills and collaborative tactics contribute to a proactive work environment. Seeking opportunities to leverage expertise in organizational improvement and client relations.
Overview
33
33
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Working Out of Class (WOOC)
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)
San Jose, CA
04.2024 - Current
- Managing Executive (Chief of System Safety & Security), calendars, trainings, and appointments
- Ad-hoc projects creating an online application for the Transit Security Advisory Committee (TSAC) for the AB1735 bill passed by legislation
- Create, coordinate, distribute, and manage the agendas, meeting minutes, and additional information for several VTA Committees (i.e., JSC, RSSRB, SEIU, FLSP, IIPP)
- Submit work orders and schedules and maintain general office space and equipment
- Opens, scans, and distributes incoming mail, uploads, and indexes electronic documents
- Schedule and organize weekly staff meetings
- Assist other components within System Safety & Compliance with administrative support
- Respond to departmental inquiries and resolve information requests
- Perform all job duties and responsibilities safely to protect oneself, fellow employees, and the public from injury or harm
- Promote safety awareness and follow safety procedures to reduce or eliminate accidents
- Create purchase requisitions, review and submit invoices and expense reports, compile travel authorizations, and route for approval
- Receives, sorts, and distributes mail, reports, and other materials
- Prepare mailings for the Safety & Compliance Department
- Review and track timekeeping for the Safety & Compliance Department
- Monitors electronic correspondence and responds to requests as directed
- Manage the coordination of special administrative projects
- Timekeeping – Review and approve PEARS/TSARs for the department
- Schedule Weekly Staff Meetings, draft agendas, and distribute them
- Performs other duties as assigned
- Receives, sorts, and distributes mail, reports, and other materials; and prepares mailings for the Safety & Compliance Department
- Schedules and maintains meeting invitations, participant distributions, and the preparation of meeting materials
- Timekeeping – Review and approve TSARs
- Operates all office equipment (i.e., SAT phones, Computers, Calculators, Telephones, Microfiche Readers, Radios, Photocopiers, Printers, and Fax Machines)
- Monitors electronic correspondence and responds to requests as needed
- Tracks customer complaints and follows up with appropriate staff to ensure timely response
Project Assistant/Extra Help/Office Specialist
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)
San Jose, CA
05.2019 - 04.2024
- Schedules multiple complex meetings calendars
- Schedule and oversee the organization of four (Fire Life and Safety Committee, SEIU/VTA Safety Committee, Injury Illness Prevention Program (IPP) Committees, and Joint Safety Committee (JSC) different agency safety committee meetings with various level of management and union representation by creating meeting agendas and distributing minutes
- Distribute and track monthly tailgate topics agency-wide to ensure that policies and procedures are being implemented for the safety of all employees
- Ordering and maintaining an inventory of safe driving supplies
- Manage VTA’s Operator Safe Driving Award Program and track quarterly budget to ensure program costs do not exceed fiscal allowances
- Input into Trapeze Customer Contract Module
- Scheduling and coordinating interview panels
- Maintain Safe Driving Award expenditures
- Digitize agency documents and purge files per the Department’s record retention schedule and employee privacy requirements
- Administered the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Program, which included inventorying and distributing hard hats and safety vests to employees who required personal protective equipment agency-wide
Sr. Administrative Analyst
Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA)
San Francisco, CA
08.2018 - 12.2018
- Scheduled multiple complex meetings and calendars
- Updates and maintains Budget Revision data, which has assisted the department in meeting budget requirements
- Transitions data from the enterprise database to PeopleSoft to ensure city projects are reported accurately upon completion
- Handles expense reimbursements requested by Department employees to ensure consistency with Agency policies and maintain office expenditures
CBG Sr. Remediation Analyst
Bank of the West
San Francisco, CA
11.2016 - 06.2018
- Processed daily exception records created from a customer master system to ensure customers reported their businesses to the state
- Validated and updated missing/incorrect customer attributes enabled the state to recognize that customers' businesses were valid
- Performed data quality review of work completed by the team and reported findings to management to facilitate team goals
- Additional tasks as required to assist with data remediation projects associated with the customer master project
Administrative Assistant - Data Technician
San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans)
South San Francisco, CA
08.2015 - 06.2016
- Implemented ideas to improve efficiency and cost savings and to assist with the department’s budgetary goals
- Collected, prepared, and reconciled information for reports on department bus purchases
- Processed and reconciled all department operating accounts, invoices, check requests, POs/non-PO receipts, capital accounts, and requisitions
- Entered/maintained department databases and records to track bus purchases and contracts
- Purged confidential records to align the department with the district’s record maintenance processes
- Analyzed budget data to run weekly reports
- Searched the internet for competitive vendor proposals
- Handled vendor/constituent requests to provide direct and responsive contact to inquiring parties
University Park Leasing Coordinator
San Francisco State University
San Francisco, CA
07.2014 - 02.2015
- I met and greeted the public, answered phones, and showed them the model unit
- Verified and implemented applications for residency and prepared license agreements on approved new and renewed applications
- Maintained accurate resident records in the rental database and updated all new leads
- Prepared unit availability and occupancy reports
- Problem solved and provided resources for faculty, staff, students, legacy and demographic, and residential complaints
Administrative Assistant III
University of CA (UCSF)
San Francisco, CA
11.2012 - 03.2013
- Prepared examinations utilizing MS Word; scored examinations on the Scantron machine using Par-Score software; and assisted students with the review of exams
- Created course grade book in the CLE and post-test results promptly
- Prepared grade reports for quarterly student status meetings and for the course director to enter the registrar’s office online
- Responsible for monitoring and maintaining accurate academic records for the dental students utilizing MS Excel and CLE
- Prepared and posted all handouts, PowerPoint presentations, course schedules, syllabi, memos, and announcements for the dental curriculum in CLE
Administrative Assistant III
University of CA (UCB)
Berkeley, CA
06.2007 - 01.2012
- First Point of Contact for the office, interacted closely and collaboratively with students, faculty, staff, alums, parents, community members, and other parties involving extremely political, layered, and complex student conduct cases with little to no margin for error (e.g., serious academic dishonesty, campus activism, etc.)
- Independently managed the conduct case files and supporting documentation
- Responsible for case correspondence between students, student advisors (usually outside legal advisors/lawyers), the Office, the Dean of Students, and the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
- Interpreted the Student Conduct Code and answered inquiries and process questions related to the student conduct process and procedures
- Scheduled student conduct hearings, often coordinating schedules of more than eight individuals, i.e., Faculty as Chair of the Hearing Committee, Student Hearing Committee Members, conduct advisors, charged students and their advisors, and key witnesses
- Managing the logistics of these student conduct case hearings is layered and often very complex
- Provided students conduct case maintenance and follow-up, including placing and removing 'blocks' on a student record and handling suspension/dismissal paperwork
- Reviewed and processed office correspondence, including reviewing/redacting confidential student files
- Purged confidential information and student records, as appropriate; assisted the staff in tracking student conduct sanctions
- Responded to RFIs and assisted with explaining the campus student disciplinary process
- Logged police reports and database entries and created a filing system for confidential student files
Executive Assistant - Car/Truck Department
New United Motor Manufacturing Incorporated
Fremont, CA
10.1991 - 06.2007
- Managed Assistant General Manager’s (AGM’s) calendar of meetings, deadlines, goals & objectives, travel, and expense reimbursements
- Organized calendar to comply with deadlines
- Managed and tracked purchase requisitions for the Car/Truck Department
- Input Truck department budget and report on quarterly spending
- Drafted Assistant General Manager’s (AGM’s) correspondences as needed
- Screened, scheduled, placed, and received telephone calls
- Acted as Safety Coordinator for the Car Department and ensured that team members wore the appropriate preventative protection equipment for Maintenance and Production
- The truck department Suggestion Coordinator reviewed, inputted, and tracked all department suggestions and submitted them to the Cost-Savings Committee
Skills
- Skilled in Microsoft Office Tools
- SharePoint Administration
- Experience with Lotus Notes
- Media Connection Expertise
- WebEx Platform Experience
- Remote Collaboration Expertise
- Electronic Signature Management
- PeopleSoft Application Expertise
- Skilled in Google Docs Collaboration
- Client Interaction
- Aerial Trapeze Performance
- Expense Management
- Vector Solutions Expertise
- SAP Proficiency
- MinuteTraq Proficiency
Certification
- VTA COVID-19 Tailgate, Emergency Response Team (ERT) Certified,
- First Aid, CPR & AED Skills Reinforcement Class for Blending Training,
- FY25 All Hazards Awareness and Preparedness for Transit Employees,
- FY25 General Cyber Security Training,
- FY25 How to Survive an Active Shooter,
- FY25 Sexual Harassment Prevention for Non-Supervisory Employee,
- FY25 Employee Drug and Alcohol, Awareness Training, Violence in the Transit Workplace: Prevention, Response, and Recovery.
Timeline
Working Out of Class (WOOC)
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)
04.2024 - Current
Project Assistant/Extra Help/Office Specialist
Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA)
05.2019 - 04.2024
Sr. Administrative Analyst
Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA)
08.2018 - 12.2018
CBG Sr. Remediation Analyst
Bank of the West
11.2016 - 06.2018
Administrative Assistant - Data Technician
San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans)
08.2015 - 06.2016
University Park Leasing Coordinator
San Francisco State University
07.2014 - 02.2015
Administrative Assistant III
University of CA (UCSF)
11.2012 - 03.2013
Administrative Assistant III
University of CA (UCB)
06.2007 - 01.2012
Executive Assistant - Car/Truck Department
New United Motor Manufacturing Incorporated
10.1991 - 06.2007
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