Disgraced SF human rights chief collects city retirement benefits as corruption case moves through courts

A former San Francisco human rights boss accused of squandering city funds to pay for personal projects and her son’s tuition is still collecting a taxpayer-backed check as she faces a battery of criminal charges in court.

Sheryl Davis — 57-year-old former head of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission who resigned in September 2024 after she was accused of conflicts of interest — is receiving a retirement benefit of $4,952.23 per month, according to the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement system.

Davis was hired in 2018 to lead the troubled Human Rights Commission and earned close to $340,000 in total comp in her final full year of employment.

She left eight years later after revelations that she steered contracts towards Collective Impact, a nonprofit run by her live-in partner James Spingola that raked in $8.5 million through the Dream Keeper Initiative, a flagship city program intended to help San Francisco’s black communities after the George Floyd police murder in 2020.

A subsequent city audit and ethics probe alleged that Davis — as head of the Human Rights Commission and later the Dream Keeper Initiative — burned taxpayer dollars in “frivolous” and “unethical” ways and skimmed funds for personal use.

Prosecutors have accused Davis of using Collective Impact as a “slush fund” to help pay for parties and personal projects — such a premium flight upgrades, wine tastings, concerts, tables and admissions at VIP events in Beverly Hills, Martha’s Vineyard and New York City, and “multiple PR firms” to promote her children’s book, “Free to Sing,” and personal website.

An audit published in 2025 by the Controller’s Office detailed millions in “misused” city funds, including more than $685,000 on sports tickets, flight upgrades, hotels and events, $350,000 on restaurant buyouts and catering, and $80,000 for a house rental and other expenses in Martha’s Vineyard.

Davis was accused in another city probe of using $19,000 for her son’s graduate school tuition at UCLA.

Spingola is facing four felony counts of aiding Davis’ alleged self-dealing schemes. Davis is facing 17 felony counts and two misdemeanor charges of misusing public funds and conflicts of interest.

Davis’ attorney, Tony Brass, has denied the criminal allegations and said she had begged for help in managing her department’s finances.

She has cooperated with the investigations, he said.

“She’s not a crook, she’s not hiding anything,” Brass told reporters after Davis’ arraignment last week.

Davis pled not guilty to 19 counts of self-dealing and misusing taxpayer funds stemming from her time in charge of the Dream Keeper Initiative.

“She was the one asking for accountability. If she was profiting from the system, why would she have ever done that?” Brass added.

City pensions are typically a mix of employee and city contributions, but Davis could have her benefits revoked if she found to have engaged in “moral turpitude,” according to the retirement system.

“Under the San Francisco Charter, if Ms. Davis is convicted of a crime of moral turpitude in connection with her employment, she will forfeit entitlement to receive benefits from the City,” a spokesperson wrote in an email.

It is relatively rare for former city employees to lose their pensions due to criminal convictions.

Another former department head, ex-Public Utilities Commission director Harlan Kelly, was stripped of his $22,000 annual pension after he was convicted of fraud in a long-running federal probe of San Francisco City Hall officials.

Kelly appealed his conviction last year.