Emerge California Women in Office

Vallejo School Board, Emerge California, Class of 2009

Adrienne Waterman is a recent graduate of the Emerge California program and sits on the Vallejo School Board.

Adrienne is a community activist, political organizer, business woman and parent. Her political foci are GBLT Rights, Women's Issues, Children's Advocacy, Historic Preservation, and responsible economic development for the City of Vallejo and Solano County, California. Some of the many civic projects she has directed include a Youth Mural Arts Program, a Summer Arts Camp for kids, advocacy for historic Mare Island and Vallejo, and the management of important capitol improvements to Vallejo's City Park including the building of a Community Center and orchestration of a Community Built Playground. Adrienne also sits on the Boards of the Vallejo Architectural Heritage Foundation, the Vallejo Charter School, and until recently was the Executive Director of the Vallejo Community Arts Foundation.

Alecia Eugene-Chasten

North Highlands School Board, Emerge California, Class of 2008

Alecia's experience with education includes advocating for children, parents, teachers, and her community as a past PTA President, elementary and high school Site Council member, and Board Director for the North Highlands Recreation and Park District. Alecia has 22 years of civil service with the State of California and currently provides technical support services for the State Department of Child Support Services as an Information Systems Analyst; she is also the CEO/President of "MoneyTree Capital Group" a consulting firm that specializes in account receivable financing, private funding, recruiting and training new entrepreneurs on how to build wealth. Alecia has resided in the North Highlands area for over 40 years, and has three children.

Alix Rosenthal

San Francisco County Democratic Central Committee (AD-13)

Alix Rosenthal is a lifelong Democrat, a woman of action, a Facebook addict, a Burning Man enthusiast and a fierce community organizer.

Alix works as a Deputy City Attorney for the City of Oakland, specializing in public ethics and transparency laws. Having graduated from Northwestern University in 1995, and the University of Virginia School of Law in 1999, she has practiced law for over ten years, starting her career at a big scary law firm defending asbestos manufacturers. After a few years of crushing guilt and working one too many weekends, Alix made her move to the public sector, and hasn't looked back.

Anna Molander

Sacramento City Planning Commission Member, Emerge California, Class of 2006

Anna currently serves as Chair of the Democratic Party of Sacramento County as well as Chair of SAVE Sacramento. In addition, she is an elected delegate to the California DSCC.

Anna became involved in political volunteering at a young age, phone-banking and canvassing for local Chicago candidates. Since her arrival in San Francisco, Anna has volunteered for several Democratic candidates and on behalf of progressive issues. One of Anna's recent accomplishments was being a founding member of DemocracyAction, a political action committee dedicated to aiding progressive state and national politicians and issues. She currently serves as Treasurer for DemocracyAction.

Beatriz Leyva-Cutler

Berkeley School Board, Emerge California, Class of 2007

Beatriz Leyva-Cutler is the Executive Director of The Bay Area Hispano Institute for Advancement, Inc. (BAHIA) located in West Berkeley. BAHIA is one of the only full time bilingual child development programs providing vital early to school age care services to the Hispano/Latino familias in Northern Alameda County. She has been with BAHIA since 1980 and the Executive Director for over 18 years. Her primary responsibility is supervising, administering and managing three programs, Centro VIDA, Bahia School Age Program and La Academia.

Beverly Greene

Alameda County Central Committee, Emerge California, Class of 2005

Beverly Greene's experience in the private sector includes the development and implementation of marketing strategies and plans at The Clorox Company, The Learning Company, and NetNoir.com, among others. She has also served as a Legislative Assistant to California Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. She volunteered as a Board Member of a non-profit literary arts organization before becoming its Executive Director. She is a member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women and currently serves as the Chairperson of the Public Service and Education committee.

Beverly earned a M.B.A. degree from The Anderson School at U.C.L.A. as well as a B.S. Business Administration degree from the University of Southern California

Brigette Hunley

Solano County Democratic Central Committee, Emerge California, Class of 2006

Brigette Hunley has over 10 years experience in the Democratic Party. She is the president and one of the co-founders of the Kowalski Democratic Club; was elected as Chair of the California Democratic Party Computer and Internet Caucus; a delegate for State Controller Steve Westly; the Regional Director for Northern California, Steve Westly for Governor Campaign; co-chair and co-founder of the California Democratic Leadership Network, an organization that promotes state wide candidates; co-chair of the Hillary Clinton Support Network; executive board member and website coordinator of the Solano County Democratic Committee.

Buu Thai

Franklin McKinley School Board, Emerge California, Class of 2005

Buu Thai is currently a member of the Franklin McKinley School Board.

Thai is a bilingual, bicultural Vietnamese American who came to the United States as refugees with her family 24 years ago. She holds a bachelor degree in Human Development and minored in Education from University of California, Davis. She also earned a master's degree in Social Work at San Jose State University.

Thai serves on several community boards including Santa Clara County Commission on the Status of Women, Democratic Activists for Women Now (DAWN), and Silicon Valley Asian Pacific American Democratic Club.

Cecilia Valdez

San Pablo City Council, Emerge California, Class of 2008

In 2005, Cecilia co-founded of the Latina/o Democratic Club of West Contra Costa County. Immediately thereafter she was elected its first president, a position she served in for two years. Also in 2005 she was appointed to the Contra Costa County Democratic Central Committee. A year later she was elected as its vice chair and is presently serving as its acting chairperson.

In addition to political organizations, she serves on the Board member of the following community organizations: San Pablo/Manzanilla Sister City Committee; Abella Home Owners Association; and the San Pablo Community Foundation.

In 2006 she applied for and was appointed to the Contra Costa County Library Commission, a position she presently holds.

She has announced plans to run for the San Pablo City Council in the November 2008 election.

Cynthia Koehler

Marin Municipal Water Board, Class of 2005

Cynthia Koehler has been a public interest attorney and environmental advocate in the Bay Area for almost 20 years. She served as Legal Director for Save San Francisco Bay Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the Bay. In 2002, she was appointed as a visiting scholar at the Center for Sustainable Resource Development, an interdisciplinary research center at the University of California at Berkeley. She also serves on the Board of the National Women's Political Caucus, Marin Chapter.

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Emerge California Women in Office