LWVC Convention 2023
President
Chris Carson
Local League: Greater Los Angeles
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. In 2016, she was elected as the president of the LWVUS, and served two terms, until 2020. Since then, she has returned to working on redistricting throughout California and other areas of action and advocacy for LWV Greater Los Angeles.
In the midst of all that, in her professional and volunteer life Chris was immersed in the history and governmental processes of our region and nation. Her volunteer work is really an extension of teaching and thinking about history. Her “achievements” in her volunteer work stem from the work she did as an academic. Chris was trained to research, synthesize, talk about and persuade people to view our system of government in a systematic, objective way. This is what she does as a member of the League of Women Voters.
Chris learned that you have to take risks, be willing to visualize an organization being able to be different from what it is now and be open to using new tools to communicate the message. She was one of the major voices on the national Board insisting that we needed to reevaluate how we carry out our mission; indeed insisting that we need to understand what our mission really is. She jokes that she always asks myself – What would Sam Adams do? What would the suffragists do? Invariably the answer is Challenge the Status Quo. Whatever Chris has achieved, it’s because of what she learned from the careers of all those men and women.
1st Vice President
Adena Ishii
Local League: Berkeley/Albany/Emeryville
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.
Adena realized that to make the League a more diverse organization, she needed to be on the board to make the change. In 2017, she was elected from the floor and became the youngest and first woman of color to serve as president of the LWVBAE. As president, she pushed for more paid staff; pioneered a new internship program; and worked to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization. After serving two terms as president, she served on the LWV Futures Committee and as LWVBAE Voter Services Director during the 2020 election. Currently, Adena chairs the LWVC Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) and Governance Committees, as well as serves on the Development Committee, the Drag for Democracy Subcommittee, the Strategic Planning Task Force, and the LWVC DEI Consultant Task Force.
Outside of League, Adena recently graduated from Santa Clara University School of Law. She serves on other nonprofit boards and enjoys cooking and arts and crafts projects. She and her family live in South Berkeley.
2nd Vice President
Gloria Chun Hoo
Local League: San Jose/Santa Clara
Gloria is currently Second Vice President for Advocacy/Program of the League of Women Voters Board, chair of the state Legislation Committee, and member and past chair of the LWVC Diversity Equity Task Force. Prior to joining the state board, Gloria served a two-year term as the chair of the LWV Santa Clara County Council, served as a director on the LWV Bay Area ILO board of directors, and was president of LWV San Jose/Santa Clara for three years. She has been a League member since 1995 but did not become actively engaged until retiring in 2010.
A resident of San Jose, Gloria worked in marketing and communications/public relations in the science/history/culture museum industry working at The Tech Museum of Innovation, the Campbell Historical Museum and the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo, Hawaii.
Before moving to California, she worked in the Boston area in PR, marketing and training in the corporate sector. She has served on numerous nonprofit boards, including the Boston locally and then the YWCA of the USA Board of Directors (1985-1997). She was past chair and a member of the City of San Jose Planning Commission (2001-2008). She just stepped down as co-chair and continues as board member of CreaTV San Jose, a public access media station with a mission to foster civic engagement.
Gloria was born and raised in Honolulu, HI, attended the University of Hawaii, and is a graduate of Boston University with a degree in journalism and minor in East Asian history. She was the founding editor of a bilingual community newspaper, The Sampan, and was host of a public affairs program, “Asian Focus,” on the CBS-affiliate in Boston for ten years.
Treasurer
Fran Carrillo
Local League: San Diego
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.
As a founding member of Women’s March San Diego, she now serves on the state Executive Team for Women’s March California. In addition, Fran serves as Treasurer and Chair of Voter Empowerment for the League of Women Voters of San Diego. Her extensive experience with nonprofits provides a unique understanding to the value nonprofits need to put into creating solid foundations for growth. She has worked with professional teams in strategic planning and rebranding for nonprofits.
Secretary
Caroline de Llamas
Local League: East San Gabriel Valley
At the state level, Caroline currently serves as Secretary, and is a member of the Executive and Governance Committees. 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.
Caroline has enjoyed continuous LWV membership in various California Leagues since initially joining the LWV Tulare County in 1968. She currently serves as President of the LWV East San Gabriel Valley and on the Los Angeles County ILO Board of Directors.
At the national level, Caroline joined the LWVUS Shur Fellow Program, and served from 2015 through 2018. She previously participated in the LWVUS MRI Program (known as MGIK in CA) as a coach to five California local Leagues.
A retired Professional City Clerk/Treasurer, she is a past president of the City Clerks Association of California and holds membership in various professional organizations, including the National Association of Parliamentarians. Caroline resides in Covina with her husband Lloyd de Llamas. They have two daughters and a grand dog.
Director
Karen Clopton
Local League: San Francisco
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. A nationally recognized civil rights advocate, she also serves as a San Francisco Human Rights Commissioner.
She has had a career of many historic “firsts” as an African American woman, challenging leadership roles, and bi-partisan political appointments across three decades and several diverse administrations, including serving as the Chief Administrative Law Judge for the California Public Utilities Commission for nine years; General Counsel for the Department of Corporations, a gubernatorial appointment; and two term President of the League of Women Voters of San Francisco. An active and proud cum laude graduate of Vassar College; Antioch School of Law, (now an HBCU University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law), Washington, D.C. and a Maguire Fellow in international and comparative labor management studies, she is an accomplished speaker, author and lecturer.
Commissioner Clopton joined the League of Women Voters San Francisco Chapter in 1991 to become a moderator for televised debates on local ballot measures. In 2007, the League’s first African American President, Karen Clopton, resurrected the concept of the Women Who Could Be President Awards, which reduced costs and increased revenue for LWVSF. In 2011, the League’s gala reception and fundraiser was dedicated to educating the San Francisco Bay Area about the importance of the 100th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage and to generate much needed funds for the League’s voter education programs. League members, including President Clopton, provided lectures at local universities, articles in local papers and law reviews, and several centennial events throughout the year about women’s suffrage. As Immediate Past President, she continued to shepherd the Women Who Could Be President Awards Gala Reception each year, which generated the revenue to fund a paid staffer as well as the Pros and Cons Guides and translations into Chinese and Spanish.
Director
Cynthia Heard
Local League: Los Angeles
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. Most recently, Cynthia has helped to build and secure funding for collaborative child welfare initiatives, public/private partnerships, educational partnerships and innovative programs focusing on at-risk and foster youth throughout the country as well as in Belize, Bermuda Bahamas and in Ghana. She has developed and structured national models that are replicable and now demonstrate success and innovation. Cynthia has developed a multitude of state and federal program initiatives. She has worked across party lines using legislative advocacy to focus on new avenues to break down the barriers of injustice that surround at-risk youth and families in poverty.
In 2003, Cynthia Heard continued her community spirit and joined forces with Children Uniting Nations, as the Executive Vice President of Programs. She continuously works to establish community advocacy, national agendas/strategies, social services collaborative partnerships and programmatic support for at-risk individuals and communities in America and Internationally. As a strong community leader, Cynthia has provided guidance to our local and national political leaders and corporate executives to focus and design fundamental concepts and laws that focus on changes for communities, children and families who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods throughout the country.
For many years she worked nationally to highlight initiatives and promote legislation on many key child welfare models across the United States, working along Congresswoman Karen Bass, Chair of the House Financial Services Committee Maxine Waters, Congressman Adam Schiff, former Senator Kamala Harris, former Secretary Hillary Clinton, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. In 2013, Cynthia joined the YWCA Greater Los Angeles as the Vice President of Business Development, Advocacy and Communications. Her role is to increase the visibility, sustainability, advocacy both legislatively and through public /private partnerships and stakeholders.
Cynthia received her Bachelor of Art in Psychology from the University of Southern California and went on to pursue her master’s degree from Howard University in Washington D.C. Cynthia continues to work diligently to facilitate social changes within at-risk communities throughout Los Angeles County and across America. In 2018, she joined the New Strategies Global Social Enterprise Initiative Team. Cynthia currently serves on the Black Alumni Association Advisory Council as well as numerous other boards to support foster care, international policy for countries of color and sickle cell disease.
Director
Jody Nunez
Local League: Sonoma County
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.
Jody is a retired public defender. She worked for the Alameda County Public Defender’s office for more than 30 years, handling misdemeanor and felony cases as well as managing branch offices across the county. Ensuring judicial excellence at county and state levels is important to Jody as evidenced by her years of service as Chair, Vice Chair, and member of both the California State Bar Judicial Nominees Commission and Review Judicial Nominees Commission. Additionally, her commitment to criminal justice reform guided her work on the Oakland City Safety and Services Oversight Commission, overseeing local violence prevention program funding and implementation.
Director
Maya Paley
Local League: Los Angeles
Maya Paley is a gender and social justice advocate who is passionate about making advocacy accessible to all. She recently served as the Senior Director and Co-Founder of Change the Talk for the National Council of Jewish Women, Los Angeles (NCJW|LA). Maya co-founded Change the Talk in 2015 and grew it into a successful and impactful peer-to-peer sexual violence and consent education program for thousands of youth in Los Angeles County. Maya transitioned the program over to a national organization in 2020.
Maya also served as NCJW|LA’s Director of Advocacy and Community Engagement for several years and was responsible for the organization’s advocacy and policy agenda as well as organizing and training volunteers to advocate for NCJW|LA’s priority bills. Maya played a leadership role in advocating, as well as organizing volunteers to advocate, for paid sick days for workers in Los Angeles, an expansion of paid family leave in California, numerous state bills in support of reproductive rights, health, and justice, and leading the grassroots campaign for three state bills to decriminalize survivors of human trafficking. Maya also created and launched NCJW|LA’s Advocacy Training Project, which provided accessible trainings to anyone interested in gaining advocacy skills, and the Human Trafficking Outreach Project, which helped implement a state law focused on human trafficking prevention through door-to-door volunteer outreach. Maya also served on the Executive Committee of the Los Angeles Coalition for Reproductive Justice for five years and on the Steering Committee for the California Work and Family Coalition for three.
Maya earned her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from UC Berkeley and her Master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University. She received the Outstanding Woman Leader Award from the City of Santa Monica in 2018 and the Women in Leadership Award from the City of West Hollywood in 2019. In 2020, she was featured as a “hero” in Transcendients: Heroes at Borders, a contemporary art exhibit by multi-media artist Taiji Terasaki at the Japanese American National Museum.
Director
Lorrel Plimier
Local League: Piedmont
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. She overhauled her League’s technology systems to enhance their communications and outreach, which resulted in increased membership and a 15-fold expansion of their newsletter subscribers. She regularly teaches communications and web development classes to groups of League leaders from across the country.
Lorrel is an attorney and data scientist with a BA from Mount Holyoke College, a JD from Boston College Law School and a Masters in Information and Data Science from UC Berkeley. She is well-versed in policy analysis and has over 15 years of experience as a practicing patent attorney specializing in software technology. She currently works as a technology consultant specializing in digital communications and data science.
She lives in Piedmont with her husband, two teenagers and their middle-aged dog, Duncan. When she’s not creating graphics or tinkering with a data science project, she can be found baking sourdough bread or out walking the dog around town with a political news podcast in her ear.
Director
Alejandra Ramirez-Zarate
Local League: Greater Los Angeles
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 equitable outcomes 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.
Alejandra previously served as Policy Director and Campaigns Manager for Chispa, a program of the League of Conservation Voters. In this capacity, she led democracy and climate advocacy to create healthier environments for people of color disproportionately impacted by climate change and worked to increase government responsiveness to their needs. Formerly, Alejandra also served as a Senior Policy and Research Analyst for Catalyst California’s democracy team. In partnership with community-based organizations, she supported the long-term power-building goals of grassroots partners that resulted in notable successes. These include establishing the We Count L.A. Census Table (a collaborative network of nearly 200 organizations and government entities); supporting the California Census Policy Advocacy Network, helping secure an investment of $187 million for the state’s 2020 Census campaign; advocating for the creation of a California Office of Racial Equity; co-leading the People’s Bloc coalition, and leading local redistricting efforts across Los Angeles County; and encouraging the City of Los Angeles to establish an Office of Civic Engagement by co-authoring “Making Public Participation Equitable: Recommendations for an Office of Civic Engagement in Los Angeles.”
Alejandra is a proud immigrant from Jutiapa, Guatemala, and grew up in the San Fernando Valley in the Greater L.A. region. Alejandra enjoys traveling with her family, dancing bachata and cumbia, coaching basketball, and spending time with her children.
Director
Ashley Raveche
Local League: Marin County
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.
She participates in interagency collaborations through her various roles as elected Director of the Southern Marin Fire District Board, Commissioner of the Mill Valley Emergency Preparedness Commission, founding stakeholder to the Marin D.A. Oversight Committee, founding stakeholder to Marin Sheriff Community Oversight Group, and stakeholder to the San Francisco Police Department’s Executive Sponsor Working Group on Bias and Executive Sponsor Working Group on Use of Force.
Ashley volunteers as the Deputy Area Director of Social Policy for LWVC where she seeks to advance human rights in all aspects of social policy. Under her tenure as President of the San Francisco League of Women Voters, the organization was recognized with the HERO Award from the Mayor and Human Rights Commission for her advocacy, leadership and community activism.
She currently serves as a member of the United Nations Association Ratify Steering Committee for the Convention to Eliminate all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In 2020, she was honored with the Emerging Public Leader for the United Nations Agenda 2030 Award for her advocacy in human rights and racial justice. She is a delegate to the UN Climate Conference of the Parties (COP-26 and COP-27) representing the League of Women Voters-US and the Women and Gender Constituency.
Ashley is a Bay Area native and enjoys raising her two young girls in Marin County.
Director
Shelly Saini
Local League: Solano County
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.
Shelly has a B.A. in Politics and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco. In her professional life, she is an active attorney practicing criminal law as a Deputy Public Defender zealously protecting and defending the Constitutional rights of her clients. Prior to her legal career, she taught at an elementary school in San Jose and worked as a mediator for Santa Clara County resolving community disputes. Aside from binge watching programs on multiple streaming services, Shelly enjoys traveling, reading, and cooking.
Director
Pamela Thornton
Local League: Torrance Area
Pamela is 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).
Through her dedication and skills, she remains focused on land use and zoning issues which negatively impact the residents and stakeholders of the Harbor Gateway North community and throughout Los Angeles County. She was recognized for her community advocacy and is the recipient of the Unsung Hero Award from the California State Legislative Black Caucus and 64th State Assembly District.
Pamela is the host of Land Value – The Podcast, where she has thought provoking conversations with guests regarding the intrinsic value of land, land development, systemic practices which devalue or have marginalized people of color from land rights and ownership.
2023-2025 Nominating Committee Nominees
Maxine Anderson, Co-Chair
Local League: San Francisco
Maxine is a Director for the League of Women Voters of California. Maxine came to the San Francisco League through her political activity during the 2004 election. Her political involvement began in anger, which led to partisan activism, and then to the League where she was recruited to Voter Service work. She has served on the San Francisco League board and as chair of their Advocacy and Action Committee. She also currently serves on the state Criminal Justice Reform Committee.
Maxine was born and raised in Chicago and attended public schools there. She has worked in both the private and public sectors: first as a private industry insurance adjuster and then as a claims adjuster in San Francisco’s City Attorney’s Office. The San Francisco Human Rights Commission gave her the HERO award for her outstanding contributions to voting rights. She also serves on the Older Women’s League board. For fun, she enjoys traveling and reading.
Kandea Mosley Gandhi, Co-Chair
Local League: Berkeley/Albany/Emeryville
Kandea has served as the Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and on the Communications team for over four years. She has structured her local League’s internship program for high school and college students, encouraging them to take on important projects and report on them in online articles so members and supporters are connected to the important work of the League. She earned an MBA from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University and a BA in African American Studies with a Philosophy Concentration from UCLA. Her career has been in nonprofit and social enterprise management with a focus on workforce development in the solar and tech industries where she has received awards for outstanding service and achievement. Kandea strongly believes in the League’s mission to create a more just, equitable society by actively promoting and building participation in our democracy. Currently, Kandea is the League of Women Voters of Berkeley, Albany, and Emeryville’s first African American President.
Marilú Guevara
Local League: Los Angeles
Marilú has almost 20 years of experience working in civic engagement and empowering communities as a promoter of higher education and voter resources. Prior to joining the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles in 2010, where she was the Executive Director, she worked on behalf the Department of Education to administer Title IV funding. Marilú has worked with mayoral and senate-level campaigns and Get Out the Vote grassroots efforts. Currently serves on the Action Civics L.A. Partners Board, is a member of the Los Angeles County Community & Voter Outreach Committee and is First Vice President on the LWV Los Angeles County board of directors. She has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California Irvine and a Masters of Arts from California State University Long Beach, both degrees in Political Science.
LWVC Convention 2023 