Election 2026: The Tiburon Town Council candidates at a glance
- Francisco Martinez
- 30 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Five candidates are running for three seats on the Tiburon Town Council in the Nov. 3 election.
Kathleen Defever, challenger
Age: 48.
Years as resident: 16.
Occupation: Attorney with a solo practice in property- and disability-insurance litigation.
Education: Bachelor’s and law degrees from DePaul University in Chicago; master’s degree in insurance law from the University of Connecticut; doctoral student in insurance law at Ghent University in Belgium.
Civic background: Member of the Tiburon Planning Commission since 2018, president and membership chair of the Rotary Club of Tiburon-Belvedere.
Key issues: Reducing impact of housing mandates, increasing government transparency, decreasing Tiburon Boulevard traffic, improving parks, strengthening emergency preparedness.
Quote: “I love this town. I think it already is amazing, that’s why I’m here. It’s already this world-class, sophisticated, gorgeous town. I want to preserve that — and I want to also be the action that makes it even better. And I do that through listening and collaborating.”
Alice Fredericks, incumbent
Age: 86.
Years as resident: 29.
Occupation: Former behavioral-medicine researcher and lawyer.
Education: Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology from California State University at Sacramento, a law degree from the University of San Francisco and a doctorate in behavioral medicine from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.
Civic background: Tiburon councilmember since 2001, town representative to the boards of the Transportation Authority of Marin and the Marin County Council of Mayors and Councilmembers, appointed to the Belvedere-Tiburon Library Agency board of trustees in 2026, former member of the town Planning Commission.
Key issues: Reducing traffic congestion; improving parks; mitigating impacts from flooding, sea-level rise and wider climate change; opposing state mandates that reduce local land-use authority.
Quote: “It’s always important to have a legacy member of the council. New ideas come up, and some of the new ideas are old ideas, and they’re more likely to work at the present time if we know the context. And the legacy member can often supply that so you can avoid whatever the constraints were the last time it was looked at.”
Chuck Hornbrook, challenger
Age: 59.
Years as resident: 9.
Occupation: Sales and operations adviser to renewable-energy companies.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in economics from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and master’s degrees in business administration and environmental science from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
Civic background: Member of the Parks, Open Space & Trails Commission since 2019; chair of the nonprofit Slide Ranch board of directors; member of the Golden Gate Ferry passenger advisory committee since 2020 and the Zero Waste Marin local task force; former Little League commissioner and youth soccer and basketball coach.
Key issues: Finding “lower cost, quick to implement” solutions to reduce traffic, increasing financial accountability, building new park amenities.
Quote: “I love our town, and I believe that the time is good, and there’s energy here for us to bring more change — small change, a portfolio of change, people might say based on all these studies that we’ve spent millions of dollars on — but really to bring that energy and excitement back to Town Council meetings as well as within the community.”
Web: hornbrook4tiburon.com.
Faris Jafar, challenger
Age: 42.
Years as resident: 4.
Occupation: Founder and chief investment officer of Jafar Management, a wealth-management firm.
Education: Bachelor’s degrees in Spanish, psychology, finance and international studies from Indiana University Bloomington.
Civic background: Parent volunteer at Reed Elementary School, member of the Reed Union School District’s Budget Advisory Committee, donor to the Foundation for Reed Schools.
Key issues: Increasing coordination between the town and other local agencies, including the school district; improving resident quality of life across multiple generations; improving financial supervision.
Quote: “We’re blessed with a community of really talented folks who are really smart and really successful. We put our minds together, and we can come up with some amazing solutions for ourselves right here in Tiburon.”
Jack Ryan, incumbent
Age: 59.
Years as resident: 16.
Occupation: Retired derivatives trading manager.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Civic background: Tiburon councilmember since 2020, member of the Tiburon Peninsula Traffic Alliance, former Yellow Bus Challenge coordinator, former youth sports coach.
Key issues: Improving parks by adding new amenities, advocating for residents to receive government services they pay for.
Quote: “What’s very important to me is that our residents feel like our government is accessible to them in that it is paid for by their tax dollars and it serves at their pleasure and for their benefit. And I just want to make sure people know that and that they feel like they have a conduit to access the government. And if they ever need help doing that, getting the government services that they feel like they’re paying for, they have an ally in me on the council.”