Welcome the New Board. Elected at the Annual Meeting June 4, 2020, our first virtual Annual Meeting. We have two new directors this year Eric Arens for Climate Change and Christine Wenrich for Criminal Justice.

President-Ruby MacDonald

Ruby MacDonald has enjoyed working with the Climate, Voter Services and Civics Education/Prop. 13 Reform Teams of LWVBAE at different times for the last 5 years. She is a retired research biochemist/biophysicist and retired high school biology teacher who would like to continue learning about and contributing to K-12 education, especially pertaining to science and civics and serving the Berkeley, Albany, Emeryville community through the League. president@lwvbae.org

SECRETARY-ELISE MILLS

Elise has spent her entire life working in public higher education.
Upon completing her B.S. in Business Administration at Indiana University of Pennsylvania she worked as an Accountant at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and Pan American University. She then moved back to California which she always loved.
For more than 25 years at UC Berkeley, she has partnered with faculty investigators while also training and leading other administrators in pre and post research administration. After she joined LWVBAE in early fall 2016 she became active in support of candidate forums and in support of amending Prop 13.  She is also very interested in inequality issues of all kinds- from voting and representation to climate change and protection of our natural resources and health. Secretary@lwvbae.org

Treasurer-CYNTHIA CHEN

Cynthia Chen had been a member of LWV Edina (Minnesota) for over 15 years before moving to Berkeley in 2013. She was an active member of LWVE, serving on the board in various capacities for many years. Cynthia joined LWVBAE shortly after arriving in Berkeley, and has been active on the Communications and Voter Services teams, publicizing LWVBAE events, and assisting in all candidate forums every election cycle. Cynthia just completed a 2-year term as chair of LWV Alameda County Council, and looks forward to serving LWVBAE again. treasurer@lwvbae.org

DIRECTORS:

Kandea Mosley

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Social Media
Kandea comes to the Board with a strong background in social enterprise management in the solar and workforce development industries. Kandea has over eight years of nonprofit and program management experience and has a passion for sustainable community development. She received her MBA from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University, her BA in African American Studies from UCLA, and has received professional and academic 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 democratic participation. kandea@lwvbae.org

Jinky Gardner

Action Coordinator
Jinky Gardner joined LWVBAE in 2002 and quickly became very active. She co-led a local study on civics education in our public schools, and shepherded the study through consensus meetings to a good policy statement we can act on. She also served in various capacities on the Board including a two year stint as President.  After a few years of having to put the League on the back burner. With the help of our new member and consultant, Adena Ishii, we are ready to grow our membership and make it more diversified and younger. action@lwvbae.org

LINDA CAROTHERS

Communications
Linda Carothers has worked with and for the League for over 15 years. She graduated from the School of Fine Arts at what is now Carnegie Mellon University. Worked in New York City in the Book industry designing books and jackets. Studied television and animation while living in London. Did further studies of animation and graphics at DeAnza College in Cupertino and the College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. Studied Web Design with the Contra Costa County Regional Occupational Program.  webmanager@lwvbae.org

Adena Ishii

Voter Services
Adena Ishii has been involved with the League since 2009. In 2014, she was honored with the Spirit of the League Award for her work connecting students with opportunities for civic engagement. Adena also served as the youngest and first woman of color to be President of our League from 2017-2019. During her time as President, she pushed for more paid staff to support our work; pioneered our new internship program; and worked to create a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable organization. She currently serves as a liaison to the LWV California State Equity Task Force.
adena@lwvbae.org

Eric Arens

Climate Change
Eric Arens joined the LWVBAE in early 2019 to help on climate action.  Electrification of buildings has been the main focus because of the activity around the City of Berkeley natural gas hook-up ban.  Eric has explained and promoted the use of electricity at fairs and educational events.  He is a physicist and worked at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and at the University of California at Berkeley.  When the Sierra Club was expanding into a national organization in the 1970s, he became the chairperson of the Chesapeake Bay Group, where pollution from farms and cities is the paramount problem. ericarens@comcast.net

Christine Wenrich

Criminal Justice
Christine Wenrich has been a member of the local LWV for many years. She has a BS & MA in Special Education and worked with the SFUSD schools. After retiring, she took on the role of LWVBAE Secretary, followed by that of Archivist. As Archivist, organizing the work of BAE from as far back as the 80’s was awesome. She joined the newly formed Criminal Justice Team that grew from concerns expressed at the 2017 LWVC Convention. As Leader of the Criminal Justice Team, she plans are to continue monitoring policing in light of the new legislation and advocate for the Police Review Commission proposition on the November ballot. archivist@lwvbae.org

Want to send a message to the President and the whole Board?
Email 2020Board@lwvbae.org

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