- Katie Ricklefs (Chair)
- Tanir Ami
- Peter Belden
- Valerie Brown, MSW
- Esperanza Garcia-Walters
- Pratima Gupta, MD, MPH
- Michael Kadel
- Louise McCarthy, MPP
- Bonnie Nijst
- Julie Rabinovitz, M.P.H.
- John Romo
- Alina Salganicoff, Ph.D.
- Beatriz Solís, MPH, Ph.D.
- Allyson Sonenshine, Esq.
- Irwin D. Staller, MPH
Katie Ricklefs (Chair)
Retired, Past Administrator, Kaiser Permanente, Northern California
Katie Ricklefs' professional career spanned almost three decades, working as an administrator with Kaiser Permanente (KP) in Northern California. As an executive in four different medical centers and a director in KP’s regional offices, Katie was devoted to working closely with labor and management to improve and expand quality health care in communities throughout Northern California.
Katie’s twenty year volunteer career has focused on reproductive rights and access to quality health care for all vulnerable populations, especially women and their families. She currently serves on the board of California Family Health Council and Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific (PPSP) and the PPSP Action fund. After graduating from a political leadership training program, EmergeCalifornia, Katie has been active in local and statewide Democratic groups. She currently serves on the board of the Lamorinda Democratic Club.
Tanir Ami
Chief Executive Officer, Community Health Clinic Ole
Tanir Ami is the CEO of Community Health Clinic Ole. Prior to that, Tanir served for four years as Executive Director of the Community Clinic Consortium, a non-profit organization supporting four clinics with 23 sites. As Executive Director of the Community Clinic Consortium she advocated to ensure that clinics had the required resources to provide a wide array of healthcare services to patients with diverse backgrounds and unique needs. Tanir also served as Program Officer for four years at the Center for HealthCare Access, Blue Shield of California where she worked to establish and administer a grantmaking program that increased access to health care for low-income families in California.
Tanir holds a MBA from the University of California at Berkeley, Haas School of Business, and BA in Women's Studies and Latin American Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Peter Belden
Program Officer, Hewlett Foundation
Peter Belden joined the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation in July 2005. He brings with him a decade of experience focused on population and reproductive health. Before coming to the Foundation, Peter managed the San Mateo clinic for Planned Parenthood Golden Gate. Prior to that, Peter served for two years as Director of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood Mar Monte in San Jose. Peter has also worked internationally including serving a two-year fellowship with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Population. After completing the fellowship at USAID Peter was hired as the National Wildlife Federation's Population Specialist.
Peter is a member of the Board of Directors of Teen Success and California Family Health Council and serves as Co-Chair of the Population Working Group for the Funders Network on Population, Reproductive Health Rights. Peter received an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford and a BA with honors from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton.
Valerie Brown
Administrative Director, Stanford University Family Planning Services Research
Valerie Brown is the Administrative Director of Family Planning Services and Research of the Stanford University School of Medicine. In this role, Valerie is responsible for broad administrative and financial oversight of the section’s activities, including research on abortion and contraception, technical assistance to family planning efforts in low-resource countries, and clinical training for Stanford OBGYN medical students, residents, and fellows. Before joining Stanford University, Valerie served as Executive Director of a community-based nonprofit, Teen Talk Sexuality Education. She also served as clinic manager at UCSF’s New Generation Health Center. In addition to her work in reproductive health, she has also managed programs related to sexual assault, domestic violence, and HIV/AIDS. Valerie previously served as Chair of the Advisory Board of the 3rd Street Youth Center and Clinic in the Bayview Hunter’s Point neighborhood in San Francisco.
Valerie holds a MSW with an emphasis on planning, administration, and community practice from Arizona State University. She earned BA in Psychology and English from Washington University in St. Louis.
Esperanza Garcia-Walters, MPH
Esperanza is a retired health professional who most recently served as interim chief executive officer of the Community Health Partnership (CHP), which represents eleven primary care community‐based organizations in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. She previously was the director of the Health Education and Training Center, a CHP division, where she focused on increasing access to quality health care for underserved and culturally diverse communities.
Esperanza currently serves on the board of California Family Health Council, the San Benito Health Foundation, a rural community health center and Planned Parenthood Mar Monte. She was also a member of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) board of directors and in 2004 was elected board chair. In 2001, she chaired a major PPFA initiative that created the national PPFA Vision 2025. For several years, she served as Vice Chair of the California Department of Health Services Breast and Cervical Cancer Advisory Council. She is a senior fellow with the American Leadership Forum of Silicon Valley, which brings together the area’s most effective leaders to work together on public issues. Esperanza received a nursing diploma from the San José Hospital School of Nursing and holds BA and MPH degrees in health education from San José State University.
Pratima Gupta, MD, MPH
Pratima Gupta completed a Fellowship in Family Planning at University of California, San Francisco in 2007. During her fellowship, she also received a Masters in Public Health at University of California, Berkeley with a focus on Global Health. She then joined Kaiser Permanente and established the Kaiser Ryan Residency Training Program in Family Planning and Abortion where she focuses on resident and medical student education. Pratima is a former member of the Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health Board of Directors. She currently serves on the board of California Family Health Council and as the volunteer medical director for St. James Infirmary, an occupational health and safety clinic for sex works and transgendered individuals in San Francisco. Her passions include global health, increasing access to family planning for adolescents, teaching, and volunteerism. Most recently, she spent a month in South Sudan with Doctors without Borders and a week volunteering in the Gulf Coast rebuilding a house with other Kaiser Permanente volunteers from around the country. She has received several teaching awards and co-authored papers and posters on family planning and global health.
Michael Kadel
Vice President, Bank of Marin
Mike Kadel, is the First Vice President and Central/Northern Marin Regional Manager for Bank of Marin. Mike has been with Bank of Marin for five years and has over twenty years of banking experience. As Bank of Marin’s Regional Manager he is responsible for the performance and growth of five branches located in North and Central Marin County. He currently serves on the board of California Family Health Council, the Marin General Hospital Foundation, Hospice by the Bay, and is the current Chairman of the Board of Marin Economic Forum (MEF). In his role with MEF he supports opportunities for local job creation and promote the overall economic vitality of the region. Mike is the past Chairman of the Board of the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce and served on the Board for four years after graduating from their Leadership Institute. Mike holds a B.S. Degree in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University.
Mike is currently enrolled in the prestigious Pacific Coast Banking School, a national graduate school for bankers.
Louise McCarthy
President & CEO, Community Clinic Association of L.A. County
Louise McCarthy is the President and CEO of the Community Clinic Association of Los Angeles County (CCALAC) where she represents the interests of Los Angeles area community clinics and health centers, and those they serve. Prior to taking this role, Louise served as CCALAC’s Vice President of Governmental Affairs. Before joining CCALAC, Louise was the Assistant Director of Policy for the California Primary Care Association, where she worked on statewide legislative, regulatory and administrative issues impacting California’s community clinics and health centers. Louise has also worked for the California Bureau of State Audits, conducting performance evaluations of state agencies, and for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, analyzing policies affecting the business community. She is also on the Board of the L.A. Care Health Plan and the California Primary Care Association.
Louise holds a MPP from the UCLA School of Public Affairs.
Bonnie Nijst
President & CEO, ZEESMAN
Bonnie Nijst is President and CEO of ZEESMAN, an award-winning brand strategy, marketing and design firm where she brings more than 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, public relations and communications consulting to the branding and marketing programs the company creates for corporations, nonprofits and government agencies. Prior to joining ZEESMAN, Bonnie held senior management positions with Medialink Worldwide, MCTV, PR Newswire and Marketwire.
Active in the business community, Bonnie has been president of the National Association of Women Business Owners-Los Angeles (NAWBO-LA), president of Women in Communications-Los Angeles, board member of the International Association of Business Communicators-Los Angeles, and a member of the Beverly Hills Economic Development Council. She currently chairs the Minority Business Enterprise Input Committee and sits on the board of directors of the Southern California Minority Supplier Development Council. She also devotes time and resources to giving back to the community and currently serves on the advisory board of the Barco’s Nightingales Foundation and on the board of California Family Health Council and the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles Education Fund. Bonnie has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Southern California and is a graduate of the Management Development for Entrepreneurs Program at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.
Julie Rabinovitz
President & CEO, California Family Health Council, Inc.
John Romo
Retired, Past President Emeritus, Santa Barbara City College
After having served as a faculty member and administrator at Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) for more than 20 years, John was selected to serve as President in 2002, a position he held until his retirement in 2008. As President, he was responsible for providing educational leadership and strategic vision for the three-campus system and more than 90 satellite locations.
From 1999 to 2002 John served as Chief Operating Officer for Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA). In this position, he provided leadership for all national office healthcare services and operations. He also served as project manager for PPFA’s launch of Mifepristone in the United States. John’s involvement in the reproductive healthcare movement began in 1987 when he served as a member of the Planned Parenthood of Santa Barbara/Ventura/San Luis Obispo Counties Board of Directors, heading the board as President from 1990 to 1992. In 1993, John was elected to the PPFA National Board of Directors. John also served on the Guttmacher Institute Board of Directors (2003-2009), and currently serves on the board of California Family Health Council, Direct Relief International (DRI and the Cottage Health Care System. During his 43 years in Santa Barbara, John has been actively involved in his local community and an active advocate for the Latino community in the U.S.
Alina Salganicoff, Ph.D.
Vice President and Director of Women’s Health Policy, Kaiser Family Foundation
Alina Salganicoff is Vice President and Director of Women’s Health Policy for the Kaiser Family Foundation. She directs the foundation’s work on health coverage and access to care for women with an emphasis on challenges facing underserved populations including low-income and uninsured women, women on Medicaid, and women of color. She also directs KaiserEDU.org, the foundation’s educational website for students and faculty. Widely regarded as an expert on women’s health policy, Alina has written and lectured extensively on health care access and financing for low-income women and children. Alina was also an Associate Director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured and specialized on coverage and access issues facing low-income women and children, Medicaid managed care, and state health reform. She also worked on the health program staff of the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Alina has served on several federal, state and non-profit advisory committees including the U.S. Office on Women’s Health, the Office of Population Affairs, HRSA’s Bright Futures for Women Initiative and the Center for Disease Control’s Select Task Force on Preconception Care, and the California Women's Health Council. She was appointed to serve on the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Committee on Women's Health Research and the IOM Committee on Preventive Services for Women. She is currently serving on the Steering Committee for the VA Women’s Health Research Consortium, the Public Policy Advisory Committee of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unintended Pregnancy, and the California Family Health Council board.
Alina holds a Ph.D. in Health Policy from The Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. A native of Argentina, she is also fluent in Spanish.
Beatriz Solís, MPH, Ph.D.
Director, Healthy Communities Strategies, S. Region, The California Endowment
Beatriz joined The California Endowment in 2007 as the foundation’s Los Angeles Regional Senior Program Officer. In 2009, Dr. Solís was tapped to be Director of Healthy Communities, South Region, for the foundation’s 10-year strategic program Building Healthy Communities. As Director of Healthy Communities, she is responsible for advancing the vision and strategic direction of the initiative and helping achieve established goals and outcomes through the organization’s philanthropic efforts in Southern California, which spans a six county region. Dr. Solís’ vast professional experience includes service as the Director of Cultural and Linguistic Services for L.A. Care Health Plan (2001-2005), Research Associate for the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (1996-2001) and an adjunct faculty member of California State University, Northridge, and California State University, Long Beach. She also taught Central American/Chicano Studies at CSU Northridge and Global Health at CSU Long Beach. Beatriz currently serves on the Immigrant Integration Task Force and the California Family Health Council board. Beatriz is a former member of the Board of Directors for the Guttmacher Institute and has co-authored numerous articles, books, reports and policy briefs. She is a lecturer and trainer to health care providers on a variety of topics including racial and ethnic health disparities and culturally and linguistically responsive health care.
Beatriz received both her master’s and doctorate degrees in public health from UCLA’s School of Public Health.
Allyson Sonenshine, Esq.
Allyson Sonenshine, Esq., has nearly 20 years of nonprofit, legal and volunteer experience in women’s health and reproductive justice. She is the founding Project Director for the Orange County Women’s Health Project, dedicated to facilitating and sustaining improvements in women's health in Orange County through data collection and analysis, policy development, education, and advocacy, and she currently serves on the Leadership Council for the UC Irvine Program in Nursing Science and the board of California Family Health Council. Allyson formerly worked as Special Projects Officer for the Merage Foundations, where she was instrumental in launching the nationally recognized SOS-El Sol Wellness Center. Prior to joining the foundation, Allyson was an attorney with Bingham McCutchen in Los Angeles, where she practiced business litigation with a focus on employment law. She is the former Board Chair for Planned Parenthood of Orange &: San Bernardino Counties and a past board member of the Support Council for the Rape Treatment Foundation. Ms. Sonenshine graduated with honors from the University of Pennsylvania and earned her law degree at the University of Southern California Law School.
Irwin Staller, BS, MPH
Retired, Past Executive Director, Delta Health Center
For over thirty years, Irwin has provided leadership in innovative health care services, senior management, consulting, planning and assisting hospitals and clinics with design and construction of health facilities. During this period, Irwin has been President / Chairman of two statewide, not for profit, health organizations (The California Reproductive Health Association and the California School Based Health Centers Association). He also chaired a number of local organizations connected to public schools, health care services and community groups targeting ways to improve the health of the community. Prior to retirement, Irwin was the Executive Director for 16 years of Delta Health Care, a health clinic for women and teens in Stockton. Irwin has received the Cheryl Kleinhammer Memorial Award for his commitment to family planning in California and recognition for his leadership in health care from the California State Senate and Assembly and other local and state organizations. He currently chairs the San Joaquin Data Co-Op and serves on the California Family Health Council board of directors.
