Citizen Editorial Board Members

CURRENT MEMBERS

Oakland - Dori Maynard

Dori J. Maynard is the president of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. Prior to being named president in January 2001, she directed the History Project which leads the way in preserving and protecting the contributions of those courageous journalists of color who broke into the mainstream media against the backdrop of the turbulent 1960s and 1970s. Dori also heads the Fault Lines project, a framework that helps journalists more accurately cover their communities. She is the co-author of Letters to My Children, a compilation of nationally syndicated columns by her late father Bob Maynard, with introductory essays by Dori.

As a reporter, she has experience on both coasts — The Bakersfield Californian, and The Patriot Ledger, in Quincy, Mass. — as well as a stint at the Detroit Free Press, covering senate and mayoral campaigns, and City Hall. In 1993 she and her father became the first father-daughter duo ever to be appointed Nieman scholars at Harvard University. Bob Maynard won this prestigious fellowship in 1966. While at Harvard, Dori specialized in research on public policy and poverty. She worked regularly with her father in researching and preparing for his appearances on This Week With David Brinkley and the MacNeil Lehrer Report.

Maynard graduated from Middlebury College, Vermont, with a B.A. in American history.

San Jose – Michele Lew

Michele Lew joined Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI) as President and CEO in 2005.  Focusing on the diverse Asian American community, AACI’s mission is to improve the health, mental health, and well-being of individuals and their families by providing an array of human services.  AACI empowers the Asian American community by working collaboratively for equality and social justice.  AACI is the largest community-based organization focused on the Asian American community in Santa Clara County.

Michele previously served as the district director for California State Senator Joe Simitian, advising the legislator on education, health care, social services, nonprofit, and Asian American issues.  She also worked with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, and UCLA on education issues.

A native of Palo Alto, Michele serves on the board of the Community Health Partnership, as well as the advisory boards for Adolescent Counseling Services, Chinese Historical and Cultural Project, and Foundation for a College Education.  She holds a B.A. in economics from Yale University and a master in public policy degree from Harvard University.

Tri-Valley - Toby Brink

Toby currently serves as President and CEO of the Tri-Valley Business Council. From July of 2002 to September 2006, he served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the San Ramon Chamber of Commerce. Prior to his position with the chamber, he served as Director of Tri-Valley/Tri-City Operations for Junior Achievement for three years, where he was primarily responsible for fundraising and program management.

From 1994 to 1998, Toby served as Director of Work/Study and University Placement Programs in the United States and Canada for ASPCT International Language Schools, which was acquired by Sylvan Learning Systems in 1998. In this position he was responsible for program design, implementation and development.

Toby graduated from the University of San Francisco with a degree in philosophy, and served on the Senate staff of U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein for two years where he handled constituent inquiries directed at a number of agencies.

In addition, Toby has been active as a board member of the Pleasanton North Rotary Club, President and Program Director of the Economic Round Table of San Francisco, and Treasurer and board member of the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce. Toby is an honorary member of the Rotary Club of San Ramon Valley and a 2004 graduate of Leadership San Ramon Valley.

Marin - Suzanne Swift

Suzanne Swift brings more than 20 years of service with local and national non-profit organizations to the IJ. She has contributed important experience and passion to many of the most pressing Marin County discussions, including affordable housing, education and health care issues. She has served as President of the Board of Directors for Mercy Housing California and the Northern California/Northern Nevada Alzheimer’s Association, as Vice President of the Board of Catholic Charities, CYO and as Trustee and Treasurer of the Marin Country Day School.

Among Suzanne’s many accomplishments, she successfully lead and completed the merger of seven non-profits into one and co chaired a $25 million capital campaign for affordable housing. She is currently a member of The National Alzheimer’s Association Board of Directors, Saint Anthony Foundation Board of Directors and The University of California, San Francisco National Center of Excellence in Women’s Health Leadership Council.

In addition to Suzanne’s non-profit work, she boasts a wide range of executive experience in the food and retail industries. She is a graduate of the University of Denver.

Contra Costa - Don Blubaugh

Don, who serves as Executive Director of the Contra Costa Mayors’ Conference, retired as City Manager of Walnut Creek in 2002 after 14 years of service. Major community projects such as parks, roadway improvements and arts facilities were constructed during his tenure, and Walnut Creek’s commercial center came alive under his leadership.

He previously served as City Manager of Hayward and Palm Springs and Assistant to the City Manager of Riverside after earning his graduate degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Immediately after his retirement he became part time Project Manager for Shaping Our Future, a countywide community-based visioning project to create a plan for Contra Costa’s growth over the next 20 years. He also worked on an effort to create a countywide mutually agreed upon urban growth boundary. Don has also served as Interim City Manager in Orinda and Oakley in 2005 and in Martinez in 2007-2008.

In 1990-91 he served as President of the California City Managers organization and from 1993-95 served on the statewide board of the League of California Cities. He worked tirelessly in the mid 90’s on an effort to redefine the California Constitution with respect to the state’s relationship with local agencies, and in 2002-2004 managed a future growth vision project for all 19 cities and Contra Costa County.

Don holds a masters degree in governmental administration from the Wharton Graduate School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelors degree from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania.

Vallejo - Clarisa Morales Roberts

Clarisa Morales Roberts is the executive director of Independent Arts and Media, a producer’s co-op and media/culture incubator with a mission to expand civic dialogue by increasing access to independent voices. Prior to her work with Indy Arts, Clarisa served as the administrative director of Vallejo Community Access Television and in a wide range of roles supporting the non profit community in the Bay Area.

Clarisa is a U.S. Army veteran and Vallejo native with deep ties to the community. She has participated in a variety of volunteer community service programs throughout the Bay Area and brings an impressive array of professional experience to her role as Vallejo’s citizen editorial board member. She is a graduate of Sonoma State University and holds a masters degree from San Francisco State University.

Vacaville - Ernest Kimme

Ernest Kimme is a long-time Vacaville resident with a long history of advocacy on behalf of the community. For nearly three decades, Ernest has educated Vacaville’s children, struggled to preserve the city’s quality of life and advocated for the community.

Ernest’s hard work and dedication – both professional and civic – have regularly thrust him into leadership roles over the years. As a young Vacaville teacher, he was appointed to the Teachers Association bargaining team and soon became the Association’s president. After founding the Solano County Windsurfing Association in the early 1980s, he was appointed to the Solano County Parks Board and soon became President of that organization as well.

At the end of the ’80’s, Ernest recognized that unchecked growth had stretched Vacaville to the breaking point. When the city government showed no signs of slowing down, he joined an advocacy group seeking to protect farm lands around the city. Ernest was asked to run for City Council and won election in 1990.

Ernest’s eight years on the council were a time of regulated population growth and an influx of new employers like Genentech to the area. Upon leaving the council in 1998, he was elected to chair the Orderly Growth Committee. In addition, he serves on the Vacaville Community Housing Board, which operates about 400 units of rent-subsidized low income apartments.

Oakland - Echa Schneider

Echa Schneider has been writing about Oakland since Spring 2006. Schneider’s unique blend of detailed policy analysis, strong voice, and wit has earned her accolades from such varied media outlets as Oakland Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, Gawker.com, PBS Engage, and the New York Times Opinionator. Her website, ABetterOakland.com, was voted Best Local Blog by East Bay Express readers in both 2008 and 2009.

Schneider is an elected member of Oakland’s Western District Community Development Block Grant Board and sits on the City of Oakland’s Community Stakeholder Group for the Broadway/Valdez District Specific Plan. She is a popular invited guest at community events, having spoken within the past year to the Oakland Builders Alliance, Mix It Up East Bay, and the Bay Area Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club.

Schneider is passionate about empowering people and communities by connecting them to information. She works to further this goal professionally, through her current work at the Oakland Public Library, and previously building virtual learning environments at San Jose State University, as well as personally, through her work with the League of Women Voters Oakland, the Friends of the Oakland Public Library, and as a writing tutor at Oakland’s Fremont High School.

Fremont - Terry Alderete

Terry Roderick-Alderete has assembled a long and varied resume of public service, business success and personal achievement. Following an accomplished 29-year career with Pacific Bell, Terry started her own consulting and full-service event production business, Alderete Business Visions.

Terry currently sits on the boards of several community organizations, including the Hispanic Community Affairs Council, and is President of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Alameda County and past Director of the Northern Region of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce. From 1999-2002, she also served as board director for the Family Bridges Agency and of the California Latino Youth Leadership Program. She is the co-founder of the Camino Nuevo Mentor Project in Newark, CA and a founding director of the Lantinos Unidos de Newark Association.

Terry has received numerous awards, including the Nancy Pelosi Congressional Award for Mujeres de Conciencia, Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s Congressional Recognition Award, awards for Lantina Leadership from the Greater San Jose Hispanic Chamber and the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, Senator Liz Figueroa’s Woman of the Year Award, a California Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Spirit Award, and a Telemundo T48 Business Salute Award.

Hayward - Heidi Finberg

Heidi Finberg is acting director of the Chabot College Foundation in Hayward, California and the former CEO of the San Leandro Chamber of Commerce, the second-largest chamber in the East Bay and the fourth-largest in Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco Counties.

Heidi has seen the changing landscape of the Bay Area’s newspaper industry firsthand, as an advertising and editorial assistant for the independently-owned Alameda Journal. She later served as retail advertising manager and assistant publisher as the Journal underwent two ownership changes: first, to the local, family-owned Hills Newspapers group, then to Knight Ridder.

Heidi later served in a variety of sales management positions with the former ANG Newspapers owned by MediaNews Group. In this position, she helped to reorganize the Oakland tribune’s retail advertising team and served as ambassador and board member to the Oakland, Hayward and San Leandro Chambers of Commerce.

She currently sits on San Leandro’s Planning Commission and the San Leandro Business Development Marketing Team. In recent years, she has also been a member of the San Leandro Recreation and Parks Commission and the city’s Transit Oriented Development Citizen’s Advisory Committee.

FORMER MEMBERS

Oakland - Jayson Landeza

Fr. Jayson Landeza is the pastor of St. Columba Catholic Church in Oakland, the largest predominately African-American parish in the East Bay. A Berkeley native, Jayson attended local Catholic schools before graduating from UC Davis in 1983 with a degree in Political Science/Public Service. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest for the Diocese of Oakland, California in 1987.

Jayson has served in a variety of parish assignments throughout the Diocese of Oakland. He serves as a chaplain for the Oakland Police Department, the Oakland Fire Department, the Berkeley Fire Department and the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department. He also serves on the Emergency Clergy Response Team for San Francisco International Airport. He works with a support group called Family and Friends of Murder Victims (Oakland chapter), and he is a member of NIA (Network for Interfaith Action), Mayor Dellums’ committee of religious/interfaith advisors.

Jayson currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, represents the Catholic priests of California, Nevada and Hawaii to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington D.C., and is Spiritual Advisor and Chaplain to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul for Alameda County. He is on the Board of Directors of several organizations, including the National Catholic Reporter Publishing Company, Catholic Charities of the East Bay and two affordable senior housing corporations in Oakland.

Marin - Andrew Thompson

For the better part of two decades, Andrew Thompson has balanced a thriving commercial real estate career with an unwavering dedication to public service in Marin County. On the business side, Andrew has more than 18 years of experience in all aspects of commercial real estate brokerage. As a public servant, he is widely known for his efforts to preserve open space throughout Marin County and for his reputation as an independent thinker and committed community servant.

Andrew was twice elected Mayor of Tiburon and served on the Town Council for more than 12 years. During that time he also created the popular biannual “Homeowners’ Summit” meetings with the Town Council, led the effort for a new Town Hall without a tax and completed the Tiburon Ridge Trail.  He is a past chair and board member of the Richardson Bay Regional Agency, past chair and founding member of the Marin Economic Commission and Tiburon’s former representative to the Association of Bay Area Governments.

A graduate of the Marin Academy high school, Andrew holds a B.A. from George Washington University in international affairs and economics.

San Jose - Teresa Alvarado

Teresa Alvarado is the former executive director of the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley, which cultivates philanthropic leadership in the Hispanic community. She previously worked in both Public Affairs and Charitable Contributions for Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

Teresa, a San Jose native, serves on the executive board of CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, the board of the San Jose-Evergreen Community College District Foundation and advisory boards of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, Hispanic-Net, Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley, and Emerge: Women Leaders for a Democratic Future.

In 2005, she was honored with the NAACP of Silicon Valley’s “Freedom Fighter” award and as Senator Elaine Alquist’s “City Woman of the Year” for San Jose. She is a graduate of Class XIX of the American Leadership Forum-Silicon Valley, is serving on the City of San Jose’s Envision San Jose 2040 General Plan Update Task Force, and is an active member of the Rotary Club of San Jose.

Ms. Alvarado holds an M.S. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Tufts University, a B.S. degree in Environmental Technology & Management from San Jose State University, and a minor degree in Technical Writing from San Jose State University.

Contra Costa - Laura Abrams

Laura Abrams has been a prominent member of the Contra Costa County civic community for many years, most notably as Mayor of Orinda and as a member of the Orinda City Council from 1994-2006. She is also well-known for spearheading the nine-year effort to preserve and restore the historic Orinda Theater. She is currently the co-director of the Lamorinda Film and Entertainment Foundation.

Laura’s community involvement has been both deep and wide-ranging. She served on the board of the Central Contra Costa Solid Waste Authority from 1995 to 2006 and as that body’s chair from 1005-2006. In addition, she has served as Orinda’s liaison to the East Bay Municipal Utilities District and East Bay Regional Parks, and as a representative to the Caldecott Tunnel Study Committee. Laura has also sat on the Orinda Public Works Aesthetic Review Committee and on sub-committees for the New Orinda Library, Montanera Arts and Gardens, the City Hall Building, the Farmers Market and Downtown Revitalization.

Laura holds an MBA from Golden Gate University and a B.S. from Illinois State University. Currently, she works as a realtor working in Lamorinda, Berkeley and Oakland with Coldwell Banker in Orinda.

San Mateo - Quentin L. Kopp

The Honorable Quentin L. Kopp was appointed to the San Mateo Superior Court on January 1, 1999. Immediately following his retirement in 2004, Judge Kopp joined the Assigned Judges Program of the California Judicial Council. Judge Kopp boasts a long and varied career devoted to public service.

Judge Kopp was first elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1971 and was re-elected four times, serving as president of the board from 1976-1978 and in 1982. He later served in the California State Senate from 1986-1998, becoming the first non-incumbent Independent elected to the state Senate since 1878. On June 13, 2006, the state Senate appointed Judge Kopp to the California High Speed Rail Authority, charged with implementing high-speed rail service from Los Angeles to San Francisco at 200 miles-per-hour. Judge Kopp was elected chairman of the Authority on August 9, 2006.

Judge Kopp maintained his own radio talk show on KGO-AM Radio in San Francisco from 1982 until 1992 and was a weekly commentator on KTVU-TV in Oakland from 1992 until his appointment to the bench. He was born in Syracuse, New York, educated at Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, and served as a lieutenant in the United States Air Force from 1952 until 1954.

Vallejo - Albert M. Lavezzo

Al Lavezzo, a respected attorney and North Bay business leader, brings strong community ties and a deep reserve of historical knowledge the Vallejo Times-Herald editorial board. He has previously served on Vallejo’s City Council, Redevelopment Agency and Housing Authority.

In addition, Al has been active in the community as director of the First Bank of California; director of the Solano County Economic Development Corporation; vice chairman of the Solano County Regional Armed Forces Committee; chairman of the Mare Island Armed Services Conversion Committee; director of the Vallejo Convention and Visitors Bureau; president of the Vallejo Chamber of Commerce; chairman of the City of Vallejo Economic Development Commission and president of the U. S. Navy League Council #1.

Al was educated in the Bay Area’s finest universities, receiving his J.D. from Stanford University Law School and a B.A. with honors from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

###