Cestra "Ces" Butner
Commissioner
Cestra ‘Ces’ Butner is continuing his service as a Port Commissioner as of July 6, 2023. Commissioner Butner last served as Second Vice President of the Oakland Board of Port Commissioners when he was elected to that role on July 7, 2022, by his fellow commissioners. He has held presidency twice from July 2013 to July 2014 and again from July 2018 to July 2020. Second Vice President Butner joined the Board in 2012.
President Butner is the founder of Horizon Beverage Company, an Oakland-based beverage distributorship that supplied retailers in Northern Alameda County and Western Contra Costa County.
Upon graduating from the University of Missouri in 1975 and working in Minneapolis and Chicago for Fortune 500 companies, Mr. Butner settled in Oakland in 1981, working for a local beverage distributorship. By age 33, he became the youngest owner of an Anheuser-Busch wholesale operation in the country. Through acquisitions and expansions, Mr. Butner more than tripled the size of Horizon Beverage Company revenues, placing it among Black Enterprise's "Top 100 Black Owned Businesses" nationally.
Mr. Butner sold his business in 2015 and funded his charitable foundation – the “Cestra Butner Family Foundation.” The foundation is dedicated to funding educational efforts and opportunities for underserved African American and Hispanic youth in Oakland.
Commissioner Butner lives in Oakland with his wife Teresa and two daughters Raquel and Andrea. He has served on the boards of the East Bay YMCA, Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and as president of Sequoyah Country Club.
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