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Sandra Thompson named to POST board

Sandra Thompson of Woodside, a former vice president at IBM and a corporate tax attorney who grew up on the family farm in Iowa, has been named to the board of directors of the Peninsula Open Space Trust, based in Menlo Park.

"With her business acumen, legal training and deep personal connection to the land stemming back to childhood, she appreciates and understands POST's strategic approach to land conservation," said POST President Audrey Rust of Atherton in a Feb. 13 announcement.

Ms. Thompson, a member of the Woodside Planning Commission, spent 18 years in various sales, marketing and strategy positions with IBM, where she led e-commerce and Internet infrastructure initiatives worldwide as vice president of network solutions, POST said in a press release.

After leaving IBM, she attended law school, graduating from UC Hastings College of Law in 2002. She later joined Fenwick & West as an international corporate tax attorney. She is currently self-employed representing clients pro bono in tax litigation.

Ms. Thompson is a community volunteer and serves on a regional board for Teach for America. Her husband, John, is CEO of Symantec Corp.

She says her farming background and interest in land conservation and the environment motivated her to join POST's board.

"The Peninsula is an amazing place, but it's not like this by accident," she said. "It's the result of hard work over a long period of time by concerned individuals supporting groups like POST."