Executive Board
Ellen Augustine
In 1994, Ellen was the NWPC-endorsed Democratic candidate for US Congress in CA 10 (Contra Costa and southern Alameda counties). Though she did not win, she received the most votes of any person running against an incumbent of all the West Coast states. She has founded/co-founded four nonprofits, and co-authored Taking Back Our Lives in the Age of Corporate Dominance. During 2003-04, she worked as national staff on the Kucinich for President campaign. Her current work is delivering a talk called "Stories of Hope." She is also a speaker for Social Security Action, and a facilitator for the Pachamama Alliance's "Awakening the Dreamer, Changing the Dream" Symposium.
Sharon Ball
When Sharon became President of NWPC-CA in 2001, her campaign slogan was “50/50 by 2020”. During her 4-year tenure, this became the mantra of NWPC-CA. The group saw the number of women in the state House of Representatives rise to 19, or 36% of the CA Delegation. Sharon works as a Project Control Analyst at the National Ignition Facility, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Previously, she was a senior manager with the Department of Energy and the US General Accounting Office. Personally, Sharon and her husband, Ken, are the proud parents of two wonderful women, Stefanie and Kaitlin.
Pam Belchamber, Vice-Chair
Pam is new to the NWPC Board this year and she is looking forward to working with the many strong and active members of the organization to promote woman candidates and preserve the long standing rights and freedoms we now enjoy. She has lived in Berkeley since 1968 when she moved from Sacramento to complete her B.A. at UC Berkeley. Political activism was a part of the natural landscape and Pam was actively involved in the anti-war and environmental movements during this time. In the 1970s she was busy promoting grass roots recycling and is still active on the Board of Directors of Community Conservations Centers, Inc., one of the long standing organizations committed to the reduce, reuse, and recycle ethic and offering recycling services to the City of Berkeley. In 1980, her career took her to Solano County for 25 years where she developed a public transit system where there was none, including the popular Baylink Ferry service between Vallejo and San Francisco. Now retired, she is looking forward to becoming fit and healthy (Pam has been training and will run in the SF Marathon on July 31st), taking classes to improve her Spanish speaking skills (she was bilingual as a child), and returning to political action via the NWPC network of active woman in my community.
Ronnie Caplane, Chair
Ronnie served for 8 years on the Piedmont School board. Her day job is as a Commissioner, appointed by Gray Davis, on the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board. Her late husband, Joe Remcho, represented the Assembly's democratic caucus for 23 years and she had a ringside seat for all the major initiative battles during those years. Following Joe's death, Ronnie decided to carry on their family's commitment to making California the best it could be by filing to run for the 16th Assembly District. After an outstanding, albeit unsuccessful race, Ronnie has continued to pursure good government and leadership in CA politics.
Ann has been a member of the caucus since 1979 and a board member since 1984, except for a brief leave of two years. She has also served as local Caucus President (3 years), Chair of the Susan B. Anthony Celebration (2 years), Susan B. Auction Chair (3 years) and Representative to the State Board (six years). The caucus supported Ann during her eight years on the Berkeley City Council. There is always a lot of work to do and fun to be had with the dynamic women who belong to and participate in caucus events. Ann is pleased to rejoin the Board and looks forward to the coming year with new adventures.
Amy De Reyes
Amy currently serves as Health and Legislative Policy Analyst for Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson. In that capacity she is responsible for keeping Supervisor Carson’s office in the forefront of the health care debate at a local, state and national level. She is also responsible for tracking state and federal legislation that impacts Alameda County. In addition to Health and Legislative policy Amy is the staff person responsible for transportation, land use and planning policy for Supervisor Carson’s office. Prior to joining Supervisor Carson’s team Amy spent almost four years at Planned Parenthood: Shasta-Diablo where she was the Community Engagement Manager and facilitated an affiliate wide client advocacy program as well worked on state and federal legislation including the budget. Amy is an active member of League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and is involved in their efforts to promote responsible immigration reform and raise community awareness for immigrant issues.
Ms. De Reyes received her Bachelor’s of Public Policy with and emphasis in health and is currently a Master of Public Policy Candidate. In her free time Amy works at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito with the rescue and rehabilitation of Pacific Harbor Seals as well as Hopalong Animal Rescue in Oakland as a mobile dog adoption coordinator.
Patricia Dilks is an Oakland resident and works in Alameda as Business Manager of Children's Learning Center, a nonprofit special education school for emotionally disturbed students. Patty joined NWPC in spring of 2000 as an at-large member, co-chaired the Susan B with Katy Foulkes the following year and served as chair of the event in 2003. In June 2003 Patty was elected President and ended her second term in June 2005, when she took on the role of Treasurer for NWPC-AN as well as a member of the State Board as well as becoming a member of the National Board and National PAC. Patty is also active in the Oakland-Piedmont Branch of the AAUW, serves on the Board of CLC, and is a member of the Alameda Collaborative for Children, Youth and their Families. Patty is widowed and has two adult children and three granddaughters, all living in Southern California. In her spare time, Patty reads, knits, works on home maintenance projects, and enjoys theatre, movies, musical events and travel.
Lori Durbin
Lori has been a community and educational activist for the past thirty years. Her primary interests have been education, women’s issues and women in politics. Lori lives with my husband Gary and have three grown children, Tadish, Nathan and Samantha. When Lori entered the world of political activism, one of her first actions was to join NWPC. She became a member of my local Executive Board in 1995 and has held a variety of positions on the local board: Membership Chair for two years and member of the Membership Committee for two years. Lori served as Co-President for two terms and one term as President and performed the duties as State Director representing the local caucus to the State of California Board for two terms. Lori has been on the National Board for many years; for the past four years Lori has been the Vice President of Membership and prior to that served on the Political Planning Committee and as the interim Vice President of Development. Lori has been involved with the AAUW, the League of Women Voters, and BWOPA (Black Women Organized for Political Action) and served on the campaign committees of several elected local women and candidates.
Karen Friedman, Representative to State Board
Karen Friedman is an Oakland attorney specializing in real estate law. She is also an active real estate investor in residential income property in the East Bay. Other than NWPC (currently president), Friedman's board positions have included the Cooperative Center Federal Credit Union (four term president), MGO Democratic Club (membership chair), Alameda County Grand Jury (two terms, chair of several committees) and International Diplomacy Council (executive committee and president). Friedman loves jogging and has completed four marathons since her 50th birthday. She also very much enjoys the outdoors.
Frieda Glantz
Frieda is a Project Manager with Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights (ANR) and the ANR Foundation -- recognized in the 2006 U.S. Surgeon General's Report as the first and leading national organization to focus on the need for local smokefree indoor air policies. She provides political consulting to thirteen states, assisting them in strategic planning, grassroots mobilization, GOTV, and media outreach. At ANR, her close-to-the-heart projects include countering tobacco industry targeting of young adults and women, and educating on the negative impacts of secondhand smoke on women, such as breast cancer and low birth weights. Frieda is also a technical assistance liaison for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s prestigious Tobacco Policy Change Project. In 2003, she graduated cum laude from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a B.A. in Political Science and double minors in History, and Women, Culture and Development. Frieda believes strongly in the power of local control and is enthusiastic to focus on issues effecting women in her own backyard.
Barbara Kahn
Barbara lives in Alameda, in the same house for 43 years. She has a daughter who is a teacher and a mover and shaker in the school district, and two grandchildren who may really be more fun than politics. She has been active in the local Democratic Club, serving as Newsletter editor for a number of years. She is also part of a group of women called "the Brown Baggers", a name that stems from the fact that some 40 years ago as mothers or school age children they met weekly to discuss school reform in our schools, bringing lunch to the meetings in brown bags ( this was before the age of designer paper bags). They elected two of their members to the school board, and as a group they were instrumental in beginning the process of moving our schools forward. They carry with them a reputation of being powerful political women to this day (Ask Lena Tam about the Brown Baggers) They are nearly all in our 70's but are working at developing a new generation of brown baggers.
Jerrie Meadows
Jerrie is a lifelong activist: Child Care Parents Association, PTA, Congress of Racial Equality, New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Viet Nam, CARAL, Access and a member of NWPC for about 22 years, the last 20 of which she was Treasurer. [Ed. Note: My guess is that she also holds the arrest record for the Board!] She was honored as the NWPC-AN Woman of the Year at the Susan B. Anthony celebration in 2004. Married, two children and two grandchildren. Before Jerrie retired she worked mostly for trade unions, the poverty program, and staffed (for pay or as a volunteer) numerous political campaigns, first in San Francisco and later in Berkeley.
Anna Rabkin
Anna has been a member since 1978 and has held many positions on the Board. With NWPC help she was elected four times to the position of Berkeley City Auditor and retired in 1994. Since becoming a free agent she got a graduate degree in history and served as the President of the Berkeley Public Library Foundation for six years.
Maggie Raife
Maggie Raife moved to the Bay Area in 2004 after growing up in the Midwest and graduating from Oberlin College with a B.A. in English and Women’s Studies. In the summer of 2006 she left the non-profit sector to work as the Field and Finance Director for Courtney Ruby’s successful campaign for Oakland City Auditor. In January she proudly joined Auditor Ruby’s staff as Executive Assistant to the City Auditor. Maggie’s background also includes work in non-profit finance and development, and student organizing. She is passionate about women’s health issues and reproductive rights, and spent two years working at the national office of Medical Students for Choice in downtown Oakland.
Rena Rickles, PAC Co-Chair
Rena is the founding Chairperson of this Chapter of NWPC (1973!) and has served our our Executive Board almost continuously since, as PAC Chair in the 1980's, Co-Chair of the Susan B. Anthony Fundraiser, then as Chair in 2002-03, and again as co-PAC Chair since 2003. While in law school, Rena ran for and was elected as the first woman on the Emeryville City Council (with a lot of NWPC help). In 1980 Rena married, moved to Oakland to raise her family. Rena ran unsuccessfully for the At Large Seat for Oakland City Council. Rena has worked actively on the campaigns of many of our endorsed candidates and now also serves on the Executive Board of Metropolitan-Greater-Oakland Democratic Club (through 2005); Democratic Lawyers of Alameda County; and Sisterhood Temple Sinai. Rena has a land use practice in downtown Oakland.
Susan Rosenthal, PAC Treasurer
Susan Rosenthal has been an active member of NWPC-AN since the early 1980's and has served in many capacities including Chair, Vice Chair, PAC Treasurer and Fundraising Co-Chair. Although she was not successful in either her1985 campaign for the Oakland School Board or her 1998 run for the Peralta Community College Board, she continues to be involved in Alameda County politics as a board member and Democratic Party activist. Susan has worked for several elected officials and unions and currently works for Kaiser Permanente as a Government Relations Specialist. She is married to Howie Perlin and they have a 12 year old son, David.
Nancy Skinner
Politics began for Nancy when she was elected the first "girl" president at her high school. She wasn't involved in student government, and ran because a boy, active in student politics, told her a "girl" couldn't win. At UC Berkeley in the early 70s Florence McDonald knocked on her door –she told Nancy to vote for her and Ron Dellums and to volunteer for their campaigns. Nancy was so blown away that Country Joe's mother had come to her door that she volunteered and has worked on almost every Berkeley election since. In 1984 she was the first UC student and youngest person elected to the Berkeley City Council. On Council through 1992, she made a record of environmental firsts including passing the first laws in the US to ban Styrofoam, to set the goal of recycling 50% of our garbage and to ban CFCs and other chemicals that destroy the ozone layer. During her time on Council Nancy helped start a worldwide association of local governments dedicated to environmental protection. For that association she was the Director of the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign which involved over 500 cities worldwide in an effort to stop global warming. Her current job is with The Climate Group, a leadership coalition of Fortune 500 companies, national and state governments and other institutions working proactively to reverse global warming. Nancy's ongoing political involvement includes coordinating Loni Hancock's 2002 Assembly Campaign, coordinating field for Congresswoman Barbara Lee, being a delegate to the California State Democratic convention and serving on the E- board of NWPC. Most importantly she also raised a great daughter, Sirona, who's now in culinary school.
Catherine Trimbur, PAC Co-Chair
Catherine became involved in local politics in 1985, when she was treasurer of Loni Hancock's first campaign for Mayor of Berkeley. Since that time, she has been an active volunteer on many campaigns. Catherine served on the Berkeley Fair Campaign Practices Commission from 1987 to 1990, and on the Berkeley Citizens' Budget Review Commission from 1999 to 2002. She has been a member of the NWPC-AN Executive Board since 1995. During these past 10 years, she served at various times as Co-Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Newsletter Editor, and now PAC Treasurer. Catherine lives in Berkeley, with her husband, Mal Burnstein, They have two grown daughters and three grandchildren. Catherine has a law practice in West Berkeley, specializing in non-adversarial family law, wills & trust, and advice on employment practices.
