Hon. Jan C. Harnik

Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC)
Phone: (760) 346-0611

In addition to her service on the Palm Desert City Council, Jan Harnik serves on the Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG) Transportation Committee and the Coachella Valley Conservation Commission.

Additionally, she is a member of the board of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), serving on the Regional Council, Transportation Committee, Executive Administration Committee, and as Chair of SCAG’s Legislative/Communications and Membership Committee.

Jan also serves on the Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) as Second Vice Chair and RCTC’s Executive Committee as well as with the Executive Committee of the Greater Palm Springs Convention and Visitors Bureau.

She is chair of the executive board for the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP), the McCallum Theatre’s Board of Trustees, and is co-president of the Girlfriend Factor – an organization dedicated to helping disadvantaged women re-enter the work force/education system.

She is past president of the Palm Desert High School Foundation, a non-profit corporation supporting academic excellence at Palm Desert High School. She worked with the organization from 2002 until 2012 helping to spearhead multi-year efforts to raise funds and to distribute resources to support and improve students’ academic performance.

Recognizing the value of volunteerism and the increased quality of life it brings to our community, Jan is dedicated to volunteering and encouraging others to do so. She believes that volunteering has helped make Palm Desert the wonderful place that it is and that the community’s willingness and commitment to giving back supports an even brighter future.

“We don’t love our community because it is great,” Jan says. “Our community is great because we love it.”

Jan moved to the Coachella Valley in 1977. She and husband Brian have raised five children, all of whom attended Palm Desert High School and since have graduated from U.C. Santa Barbara, Cal State Fullerton, U.C. Riverside, U.C. Davis, and Cal Poly Pomona.

Jan is also a member of Palm Desert Noon Rotary Club and the Palm Desert Chamber of Commerce. In the private sector, Jan works as the manager of a professional office building. Her hobbies include early morning work-outs, hiking desert hillsides, nutrition and cooking, and gardening.