The city of Pleasanton has appointed former BART official Veronica Thomas as the city's new director of human resources and labor relations.

Thomas, who has more than 25 years of experience in the public sector human resources field, started her first day on the job Monday. She succeeds former director Debra Gill, who officially retired in April after working for the city for 22 years but has stayed on in an interim capacity during the transition period.

"The city of Pleasanton is a vibrant community with an incredibly talented staff committed to providing the highest quality service to its residents," Thomas told the Weekly. "I am eager to begin contributing to this organization as we work to develop and implement initiatives that support the amazing employees that serve our community."

Thomas has worked in different cities and counties as well as higher education institutions such as California State University, Sacramento and University of Nevada, Las Vegas. More recently she served as the human resources director for BART, where she helped implement a human resources COVID-19 team, remote work policy and a progressive policing community panel program.

"We are excited to welcome Veronica to the city of Pleasanton team," new Pleasanton City Manager Gerry Beaudin said in a statement. "Her broad public sector knowledge, deep experience in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and key roles in developing and implementing administrative policies are a complement to the city's values and I am ready to begin working together as we continue moving the city organization forward."

Thomas has a Bachelor of Science in psychology from San Francisco State University and a master's in public administration from the University of San Francisco. She also holds leadership and diversity certifications from Cornell University and the University of California, Davis.