Chris has been a League member for forty years, serving at the local, county, state, and national levels. She served many different roles for her local League, including several terms as president. She served on the Board of the LWV of Los Angeles County as Transportation Director as well as Director of Communications. After that, she served for two terms on the Board of the LWV of California as Government Director, from 2005 to 2009. After participating on several LWVUS committees and task forces, Chris was elected as a director of the LWVUS in 2014.
Adena Ishii has been involved with the League since 2010 when she volunteered to register her peers to vote, and support candidate forums and advocacy campaigns. In 2014, she won the Spirit of the League Award from the Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville League (LWVBAE) for her work getting students civically engaged. She was later hired as a consultant to increase the number and diversity of LWVBAE members, which led to a 50% increase.
Gloria is Second Vice President for Advocacy/Program of the League of Women Voters Board, and chair of the LWVC Diversity Equity Task Force, and serves on the state Legislation Committee, and is the board liaison to the Climate Change Task Force. Prior to joining the state board, Gloria served a two-year term as the chair of the LWV Santa Clara County Council, and was a director on the LWV Bay Area ILO board of directors, and was president of LWV San Jose/Santa Clara for three years.
At the state level, Caroline currently serves as Secretary, and is a member of the Executive Committee. She is also the Southern Coordinator of the LWVC Local League Coaches Program (LLCs), and the LLC for several local Leagues. She chaired the 2013-2015 LWVC Nominating Committee, and served on the Board of Directors from 2009-2013.
Fran comes from a diverse background of a bicultural military family that instilled a sense of pride and a drive that is seen throughout her life. She started her career in managing nonprofits over 25 years ago. She has done everything from operations, finance, human resources, and marketing for a variety of nonprofits both locally and statewide in social work, the arts, education, and politics. Currently she manages the operations for an architecture and planning firm in San Diego which has afforded her the time to dedicate to nonprofits.
Karen brings deep knowledge, demonstrated operational expertise, and non-partisan insight into the political and regulatory arenas. She has served in top leadership, board, and executive roles in both governmental and non-governmental organizations across many highly regulated industries. She discreetly assists both private and public companies navigate complex domestic and global compliance, governance, multicultural, human resource utilization, and regulatory/legislative challenges. General Counsel and Vice President of Access and Inclusion for Incendio International, Inc.
Over the past twenty-five years, Cynthia Heard has been an intricate partner in the field of social services. As a strong Child Welfare supporter and executive leader, Cynthia worked alongside others to create a nationally acclaimed community and educational model that help create systemic change for at risk youth and families across the United States.
Jody first joined the Oakland league in 2012 and served on the board from 2020 through 2022. While on the board she also chaired the Reentry Task Force. She is now a member of the Sonoma County league and member of the Advocacy Committee, focusing on criminal justice reform.
Maya Paley is a consultant, advocate, researcher, and evaluator who co-owns Cities & People Advisors, a boutique consulting firm that conducts research, evaluation, and analysis to support building public-sector decision-making power for Black people, Indigenous people, people of color, and low-income people in communities throughout the country.
Lorrel joined the League of Women Voters in 2017 where she has served as the Communications Director and Webmaster for the League of Women Voters of Piedmont and is currently serving as their President. Within her League she helped plan and moderate live interviews with nationally and internationally recognized speakers on policy issues that reached members from dozens of local Leagues in over a dozen different states.
Alejandra is a civil rights leader dedicated to achieving more significant racial and economic equity for communities of color. She currently serves as the Policy Director for OC Action where she leads policy advocacy research and development to create structural change that can lead to more equitableoutcomes for low-income people of color. Alejandra facilitates coalitions, engages in policy analysis, and conducts research that is grounded in the priorities of impacted communities.
Ashley participates in collaborative policy-making for local, state, and national groups, using data-driven solutions to address public safety, open government, and human rights issues. Her primary focus is to grow a more resilient community with directed attention to the needs of disadvantaged and marginalized populations.
Shelly first joined the League of Women Voters in 2011 and served as the Voter Service Chair from 2012 to 2014 of the San Jose/Santa Clara League. She helped produce and host a local televised program in San Jose called “League of Women Voters Presents Insights and Perspectives.” She joined the San Francisco League in 2015 and the Solano League in 2017.
Pamela is the Founder and Principal of Urban Land Matters, (ULM), a woman-owned small business providing land use planning and management consultant services. ULM’s business capabilities include feasibility studies; master planning; land use analysis; entitlement preparation and representation; community/public engagement and construction project management.
Pamela is a committed community leader with more than two decades of volunteer experience, including serving as past president of the League of Women Voters of Torrance Area, (LWVTA).
