Our Board
Mindy Romero (Board Chair) is the founder and director of the California Civic Engagement Project (CCEP). Romero is a political sociologist and holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Davis. Her scholarly work focuses on the intersection of political behavior and race/ethnicity/age. Romero has been invited to speak about civic engagement and political rights in numerous venues, and has recently provided testimony to the National Commission on Voting Rights and the California Legislature. Her research has been cited in numerous major news outlets, including the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Politico and the Huffington Post. A native of California’s Central Valley, Romero is also active in community leadership. She currently serves as President of the Board of Mutual Housing California, and is a member of the Social Service Commission for the City of Davis.
Dr. Sam Blakeslee (Vice-Chair) is a former scientist, legislator, reformer, and businessman living in San Luis Obispo. He was elected to serve as a CA State Assemblymember, the Assembly Minority Leader, and as a State Senator. Upon leaving the legislature he founded the Institute for Advanced Technology and Public Policy at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo where students and faculty utilize advanced technologies to explore innovative solutions to public policy challenges. His early career as a senior research geophysicist and strategic planner for ExxonMobil informed his non-partisan science and outcomes-based approach toward politics and public policy. In 2016 Sam served as co-proponent with Charles Munger Jr. to pass Proposition 54, a Constitutional Amendment that brought much-needed transparency to the CA State Legislature.
Brian Brennan is Executive Director of the 21st Century Alliance, a statewide effort to promote housing production, better schools and smarter government in California. Previously, he led membership development and various strategic initiatives at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and worked on political development programs for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Russia. Brian has a Ph.D. in comparative government from the University of Oxford, where he studied electoral accountability in California’s special districts, and related degrees from Princeton and Stanford. Proud husband to Wendy and father of three young children, he grew up in the artichoke fields around Castroville, California.
Mary Hanna-Weir is a passionate advocate for civil rights, good government, and her community. Currently, as deputy county counsel for the County of Santa Clara, Mary advises the Registrar of Voters, the Office of Women’s Policy, the Office of LGBTQ Affairs, several other departments, and more than ten boards and commissions. Mary also serves on the board for the American Constitution Society, Bay Area Lawyer Chapter, and Lutheran Outdoor Ministries of Northern CA. She has also served on a city commission proposing sweeping, progressive changes to the city charter, managed a local election for city clerk, and served as an election protection volunteer for two presidential elections. Previously Mary served as a senior attorney at the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Mary is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Kenyon College.
Gary Ferdman served Common Cause for a decade as National Director of Major Gifts. He co-coordinated Common Cause’s conference on the 40th anniversary of Watergate and helped organize the first major demonstration against the Koch brothers. Along with his wife, feminist author Myriam Miedzian, he founded Monumental Women, creators of the first state of real women in New York’s Central Park. He founded Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities/TrueMajority with Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s. Mr. Ferdman served on the boards of The Shalom Center, Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, Nuclear Information and Resource Service, Peace Action and Prepare Tomorrow’s Parents, and volunteers with the California Women’s Museum. He curated an exhibit about Marc Chagall’s life in High Falls, NY. Trained as a grassroots organizer, Mr. Ferdman holds a Masters in Social Work in Community Organization and Planning.
Angélica Salceda is a staff attorney at the ACLU of Northern California, where she focuses on economic justice, immigrants’ rights, and civil rights and civil liberties enforcement in the Central Valley. Prior to joining the ACLU as a staff attorney, Angélica was an Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by Fenwick & West. As an Equal Justice Works Fellow, Angélica led a project to identify and remove educational barriers impacting pregnant and parenting students in California’s Central Valley. She authored a report titled, “Breaking Down Educational Barriers for California’s Pregnant and Parenting Students.” As a result of her report, the California Legislature passed and approved Assembly Bill 302 to ensure that lactating students in K-12 schools have access to a private, secure place to breastfeed or express milk during school hours. Angélica received her undergraduate degree in Political Science and History with a minor in Anthropology from University of California, Los Angeles. She was a 2007-2008 Jesse M. Unruh Assembly Fellow and was subsequently hired as a legislative aid in the California Assembly. There, she worked on a number of policy issues, including environmental justice and immigrants’ rights. Angélica is a graduate of UC Berkeley School of Law, where she participated in the International Human Rights Clinic on a project focused on the human right to water in California. As a student with the clinic, she co-authored a report titled, “The Human Right to Water Bill in California: An Implementation Framework for State Agencies.” While in law school, Angélica served as the UC Berkeley School of Law student body president, External Vice President of the UC Berkeley Graduate Assembly, and President of the University of California Student Association.
Drew Liebert is an attorney who has been one of the longest-serving senior staff of the California Legislature. Most recently serving as the chief of staff to the Senate Majority Leader, Mr. Liebert’s principal legislative role has been as chief counsel to the Assembly Judiciary Committee for almost two decades, where he and his attorney-staff advised state legislators and legislative leaders about virtually all areas of California’s civil justice system. These central roles have placed Mr. Liebert in the fulcrum of many of the most important pieces of democracy reform and voter protections legislation debated and enacted by California policy-makers. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of UC Berkeley, a recipient of a Masters in Public Policy from the Claremont Graduate School. He was also a CORO Foundation Fellow in Public Affairs and a graduate of UC Berkeley School of Law. He has also been honored as a California Lawyer of the Year. He is a frequent lecturer on the California Legislature’s inner workings, and teaches about politics and the Legislature at the Santa Clara School of Law as well as the Panetta Institute for Public Policy. Prior to his work in the California Legislature, Mr. Liebert was in private law practice. This is Mr. Liebert’s second tenure as a member of the board, following a prior five years of service, which included service as the board’s vice chair.
Kristin Nimmers serves as a Policy and Campaign Manager with the California Black Power Network leading and coordinating policy analysis, legislative advocacy and coalition-building. During Census & Redistricting she worked with organizations across the state to engage Black communities in the redistricting process and ensure political districts were drawn fairly and equitably. Prior to joining the Network, Kristin completed the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs in San Francisco. During her year with Coro, she worked on high level consulting projects for campaigns, political nonprofits, NGOs and government agencies across the Bay. Some of her work included national policy research on chronic absenteeism and its connection to state budgets, analyzing SFPD recruitment and hiring practices to provide recommendations on increasing diversity, community organizing around workers’ rights in Oakland and lobbying in Sacramento for policies around affordable housing and extending STEM programs for K-12 students. Kristin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Communication from Humboldt State University, and a Juris Doctor from the McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento with concentration in Capital Lawyering and Public Policy.
Nathan Alonzo is a proud Central Valley native, and the youngest son of Mexican immigrant farm-worker parents. He grew up on a farm in the West Fresno County community of Firebaugh. It’s there that he developed his love and appreciation for the issues facing farm-workers, farmer, and immigrant communities. After graduating from Firebaugh High School he attended Fresno City College, and graduated from California State University, Fresno with a degree in Political Science. During his time in high school and college, Nathan became involved with a number of student, agricultural and political advocacy organizations, which gave way to the start of his career in the fields of government and politics. He has served both on the campaign, and district staffs of a California State Senator representing California’s Central Valley. In this capacity he was the staff lead on issues such as; water, agriculture, air-quality, and education. In his previous capacities as Vice-President of Government Affairs for the Fresno Chamber of Commerce, and as Director of External Affairs for the Caglia Family of Companies he advocated for the regional business community. He is currently a part of PG&E’s Local Government Affairs team, a role which affords the opportunity to build regional relationships, enhance charitable partnerships, and pursue needed regulatory change. He is a resident of Fresno, along with his wife Jessica, and their two rescue dogs, Panini and Cannoli. Alonzo also serves/has served on the Board of the following organizations: City of Fresno, Citizens Public Safety Advisory Board, City of Fresno, Projects Oversight Board, St. Agnes Hospital, Men’s Club, and Fresno Economic Opportunities Commission.