League of Women Voters San Francisco, Board

Board of Directors 2010-2011

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Karen Valentia Clopton, President
Karen is the Chief Administrative Judge for the Public Utilities Commission. Formerly, General Counsel for the California Department of Corporations and CEO and General Counsel for the Workplace Consulting Consortium and Chief of Operations and Corporate Counsel for the San Francisco State University Foundation, Inc., she has been active in San Francisco civic affairs for the last 20 years. She moderated the League’s televised CityWatch debates for several years. Karen was appointed by Mayor Frank Jordan to the San Francisco Civil Service Commission in 1993 and was re-appointed by Mayor Willie L. Brown. She was serving her fourth term as President of the Commission when she was recruited in 2000 to become the first Chief of Operations for the Port of San Francisco. Karen is also an employment law and traditional labor relations expert with over twenty years experience in the field. She is a graduate of Vassar College cum laude and Antioch University School of Law and was awarded the highly competitive Maguire Fellowship by Vassar College for post-graduate study in international and comparative labor management relations in London, England. Karen majored in Political Science and Hispanic Studies at Vassar, studied in Madrid, Spain and speaks Spanish. Her two daughters, Julia and Olivia, attend the French American International School and speak French.

Board Members

Patricia McGovern
First Vice-President

Tricia moved to the Bay Area ten years ago to obtain her Master’s in Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. She is originally from the Boston area. Prior to coming across country, she worked at improving water quality in the Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island. After working many years in the water, wastewater, and water resources industry, Patricia now runs her own company focused on improving water quality in our nation’s waterways. Patricia has always been excited about getting herself and others involved in the political process. She is most interested in educating voters in a simple, clear, and non-biased manner. She serves as the San Francisco League's liaison to the League of Women Voters - Bay Area Chapter.

Julia Fasick
Vice President
Development

Julia has lived in San Francisco since1985 and have a lifelong interest in politics at both the local and national level. Over the years, she has been involved in a number of local and state issues, including work on local and presidential election campaigns and local and state propositions. She is currently the Director of Software Engineering at Clickability, a leading provider of Content Management Systems for media and corporate websites. Her professional focus is managing engineering teams at software startup companies with a particular interest in web technologies. In addition to the political volunteer work described above, she has worked as a volunteer at the League of Women Voters primarily on the Speakers Bureau. She has also worked in the past at the The Shanti Project , Woman Inc (a resource for battered women) and a health clinic focusing on HIV.

Chandra Friese
Voter Services Vice President

Chandra has been a resident of San Francisco since 1973. She is originally from Naperville, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. She is a graduate of Mills College, and served on its Board of Trustees from 1986 until 1992. She remains close to Mills and its alumnae. Additionally, Chandra is a member of the San Francisco Opera Guild, and is a sustainer of both the Junior League of San Francisco and of St. Luke's Hospital Junior Auxiliary. Professionally she is an independent residential real estate broker with Mayne and Company Real Estate. Chandra has become very active in San Francisco election issues, and helped the League design and implement the November 2006 "integrity in elections" program. She will continue working on this ongoing effort. Chandra believes that our vote is the right on which all of our other rights as citizens are founded. She has been married to lawyer Bob Friese for 26 years, and they have 3 teenagers.

Cynthia Foster
Treasurer

Cynthia is a fourth generation Californian and is a graduate of the University of California at Davis where she double majored in Political Science/Public Service and Psychology. She worked in retail for over 25 years where she developed strong organizational and analytical skills. Cynthia is a Past President of the Junior League of San Francisco and is currently serving on the Association of Junior Leagues International Nominating Committee. As a member of the Junior League of California State Public Affairs Committee (SPAC), Cynthia helped promote the passage of bills to fund critical services for low income breast cancer patients and domestic violence victims. Her placement as statewide co-chair for SPAC has led to her commitment to make a difference and influence public policy through advocacy and education. Cynthia served as Treasurer on the Board of Directors for A Safe Place Domestic Violence Shelter for over three years. She is currently the Visitor Services Manager at Filoli House and Garden.

Jolinda Sim
Secretary

Jolinda is a native of Phoenix, Arizona and has lived in the Bay Area since 1968. She holds a B.A. in Education and an M.B.A. from Arizona State University. Her professional background includes ten years as a public school teacher. She is presently co-owner of a family business which buys and sells construction, mining, and material handling equipment. As a former LWVSF Board Member, she has served as Chair for Candidate Forums and also Community Election Monitoring. She has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Red Cross Bay Area Chapter, having acted as Chair of Volunteer Resources and Chair of Service Delivery, and is also a national disaster response volunteer in the activities of disaster assessment and government liaison for the Red Cross. Jolinda resides in San Francisco with her husband, and is the mother of one grown daughter.

Maxine Anderson
Advocacy Co-Chair

Maxine was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, and attended the University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana where she earned a BA in History. After graduation she worked in the insurance industry in the Chicago area before transferring to San Francisco. She continued to work in the industry until she had the opportunity to help develop and manage the claims function in the City Attorney's Office of the City of Oakland. She now works for the City of San Francisco in the City Attorney's Office. She became actively involved with the League in 2003. She also participated in the creation of another nonpartisan organization, San Francisco for Democracy, where she served as the Vice President for two terms.

Aisha Canfield
Chair Pro/Con Guide

Aisha was raised in the Los Angeles area and moved to the Bay area to attend San Francisco State University, where she is currently completing her Bachelor of Art in Communications. She has worked in defense as a case assistant for the Habeas Corpus Resource Center in San Francisco, assisting in the appeals process for deathrow cases. She began interning for the League of Women Voters as part of a class requirement and continued to volunteer with the League for two more years. She plans to attend law school in the Fall and continue serving on the Board.

Fran Finney
Advocacy Co-Chair

Fran joined the League in the early 1980s with an interest in working on studies, advocacy, and good government projects. She worked initially on a local study examining noise abatement issues at San Francisco International Airport. Fran has since worked on various studies, helped with the Pros and Cons Guide, and served on the board as the Vice President of Action. For the past several years, Fran has served as the co-chair of a community church's work on shelter dinners for the homeless. Fran and her husband have lived in San Francisco for more than 20 years. She is currently working as a management consultant with Kaiser Permanente working on leadership development, team development, change management, and projects related to the professional development of health care leaders. Fran has a BS in Physical Therapy from the University of Kansas and a Masters of Public Administration from the University of San Francisco.

Susan Gordon Membership and Events, Calendar Chair

Susan is the Senior Nonprofit Coordinator for Causes on Facebook, an application that allows individuals to use Facebook for activism and nonprofit fundraising. Susan grew up in Minnesota and received her B.A. in History from Dartmouth, where she focused on issues of race, ethnicity, and immigration. She has worked as a political organizer, communications specialist for a women's nonprofit in Cambodia, and leader of an organization providing outdoor activities and mentors for rural youth in New Hampshire.

Katherine Mindel Jones
Fundraising Chair

Katherine (Kat) was born and raised in Sausalito, California and received her B.A. from Duke University, completing a double major in Public Policy and History as well as a minor in Political Science in 2004. After graduating, Katherine spent a year as a paralegal with the Manhattan Office of the District Attorney before returning to California to attend UC Hastings College of the Law, receiving her JD in 2008. Katherine previously worked as an intern for Congresswoman Nany Pelosi and her legal experiences include clerkships with the California Coastal Commission, the Sierra Club, the Department of Justice and the Santa Clara County Office of the County Counsel. She is currently an assistant long-range planner with the Martin County Community Development Agency, conducting legal and policy research and public outreach as the County updates its Local Coastal Program. Katherine has been a resident of San Francisco for five years and lives with her husband in Cow Hollow.

Carolyn Lee
Budget Committee

Carolyn is a native of the Midwest. She made a career as a financial services marketer, letting job opportunities lure her from the Lee family home in Lincoln, Nebraska, through Chicago and Philadelphia to New York City. Wells Fargo brought Carolyn to San Francisco six years ago, though not to work anywhere near any type of lending. While working at Wells, Carolyn began studying for a law degree through an evening JD program, with the objective of being a more effective business person. The appeal of a law practice overtook her drive to be a better banker. In particular, Carolyn is interested in free and fair elections, human rights, and an individual’s right to privacy. The League is a natural outlet for those interests and others, and puts Carolyn’s experience in marketing and communications to good use. Carolyn is an associate with San Francisco-based Benjamin, Weill & Mazer APC, practicing all areas of the law related to businesses and business executives, including tax law. Carolyn has Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln; her JD and LL.M.-Tax from GGU Law School. Carolyn’s previous community work involved HIV-AIDS, needle exchange and other forms of harm reduction, and literacy tutoring.

Barbara McEntee
Co-chair Voter Service

Barbara's career has focused on the field of communication studies for over 30 years. She has recently retired as an adjunct professor of Speech and Communications at San Francisco State University and has taught Business Communication at New York University's Stern School of Business. Barbara was an executive at a new York public relations agency and has since trained numerous corporations, book authors and corporate spokespeople in media training and public speaking skills. She serves on an advisory committee for the non-profit, "Darkness To Light" whose mission is to educate and prevent childhood sexual abuse. She was co-chair of New York Hospital's Pediatric Development Committee. Barbara holds a BA from Marymount College and an MA from New York University.


	Katie Muehlenkamp Gala Chair	Katie currently works at Barbary Coast Consulting, a public affairs and government relations firm in San Francisco. Prior to that she was an aide to San Francisco Assessor-Recorder Phil Ting. She has also worked for the polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, and as the Women’s Vote Director for the John Kerry for President campaign in Florida. She has an M.B.A. in Nonprofit Management from Brandeis University and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. She sits on the Board of Good Ol’ Girls, a professional network for women in the Bay Area and in her free time enjoys reading, hiking, and spending time with friends.

	Emily Proskine League of Women Voters Bay Area Rep	Emily is an investment management and private funds lawyer at Ropes & Gray LLP in the firm's San Francisco office. She also contributes a significant amount of pro bono time to asylum cases and foster youth issues. Outside of work, she is on the Board of the State Bar of California's Young Lawyers Association. Emily graduated with a B.A. in Leadership and International Studies (and a double minor in Spanish and Women's Studies) from the University of Richmond in 1999 and received a Masters in International Policy Studies (with certificates in gender & development and conflict resolution) from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in 2003. After returning from two years in Tunisia where she conducted research on gender policy as a Fulbright and Boren Fellow, Emily attended law school at UC Berkeley Boalt Hall and received her J.D. in 2007. Emily speaks Arabic and Spanish.

	Christine Van Aken Development - Grants	Christine is a Deputy City Attorney in the San Francisco City Attorney's Office, where she primarily litigates consumer protection matters. Before coming to the City Attorney's Office, she was a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Her prior volunteer experience includes working as a crisis hotline counselor and serving on the advisory board to a local Big Brothers Big Sisters affiliate. Christine lives in the Mission District of San Francisco with her husband and infant son.

Staff
	Mary Anderton Program Manger	Before Mary came to the League as the program manager, she worked as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher at San Francisco community organizations, San Francisco City College, and the San Mateo Adult School. Having begun her teaching of ESL during the amnesty program of the 1980’s, she has been involved in teaching immigrants about the laws, rights, and customs of life in America. She believes that voting is one of the most important rights we have in this country. In addition to working as a teacher, Mary was the first paid employee at the AIDS Memorial Grove in Golden Gate Park. She spends her spare time writing fiction.