Senator Scott Weiner

Senator Scott Wiener represents and northern San Mateo County in the State Senate. Elected in 2016, Senator Wiener focuses extensively on housing, transportation, civil rights, criminal justice reform, clean energy, and alleviating poverty. He chairs the Senate Housing Committee and also chairs the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus. Before being elected to the Senate, Senator Wiener served as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, representing the district previously represented by Harvey Milk, and chaired the San Francisco County Transportation Authority. Before being elected to office, Senator Wiener practiced law for 15 years, including nearly a decade as a Deputy City Attorney in the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. He also served in a number of community leadership roles, including co-chair of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center and on the national Board of Directors of the Human Rights Campaign. Senator Wiener has lived in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood since 1997. He received degrees from and Harvard Law School and spent a year in Chile on a Fulbright Scholarship.

Brendan McCarthy Assistant Secretary, California Health and Human Services Agency

Prior to joining the Health and Human Services Agency, Brendan was the Chief Consultant to the Assembly Business and Professions Committee. Before that, he was a Principal Consultant with the Senate Appropriations Committee, where he covered issues relating to health care programs, health insurance, public health, developmental services, and professional licensure. Prior to that, Brendan worked at the Legislative Analyst’s Office on natural resource and environmental protection issues.

Brendan has a Master’s in Public Policy from U.C. Berkeley.

Teresa Stark Senior Director, State Government Relations, Kaiser Permanente

Teresa Stark is Senior Director, State Government Relations for Kaiser Permanente in Sacramento, CA. Teresa has over 25 years of experience in the public policy and government relations arena, with a with a primary focus in health care policy.

Prior to joining KP as a lobbyist in 2011, Teresa was a lobbyist for the California Medical Association, representing physicians in the halls of state government. Prior to her work in government relations, Teresa was a long-time legislative staffer, having worked in the State Capitol for 12 years for several Assembly Members and the Speaker of the Assembly. She was most recently Chief of Staff for former Assembly Member Paul Koretz of West Hollywood. Teresa also worked for Kaiser Permanente Public Affairs in the Sacramento/Roseville area as a Community and Government Relations representative.

Teresa received her Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and Political Science and an MBA from CSU Sacramento. Teresa has one son and lives in El Dorado Hills. In her free time, she enjoys cycling, golf, kayaking, traveling and volunteering at community events.

Anne Sodergren Executive Officer California Board of Pharmacy

Ms. Sodergren has over 25 years of experience with the Board, having served in various capacities. Most recently she has served as the Board’s Interim Executive Officer and over the last 10 years as the Assistant Executive Officer where she had leadership responsibility for the day to day operations of the Board and worked in partnership with its 13-member board in carrying out their objectives. Most notably, Ms. Sodergren was responsible for expanding licensure options and new licensing provisions that created additional options for pharmacy related services within the hospital setting. This allowed the Board’s regulatory scheme to keep pace with the proliferation of hospital services.

Ms. Sodergren’s lengthy tenure at the Board has afforded her significant experience in the regulation and enforcement of the Pharmacy Law in California, as well as directing the Board’s consumer protection mandate through consumer education campaigns. She has extensive experience in policy development, legislation, strategic planning, budgets and personnel management.

Ms. Sodergren received her bachelor’s degree in communication studies from CSU, Sacramento in 1992.

Clint Hopkins, PharmD, APh, Owner / Pharmacist in Charge, Pucci’s Pharmacy

Clint Hopkins received his PharmD from the University of in 2007. Originally from Kentucky, he and his husband Joel moved to Sacramento from Texas in 2016 to purchase Pucci’s Pharmacy from Tom Nelson. He is thrilled to be in a community pharmacy setting where he can connect with the patients he cares for.

When not working at Pucci’s, he and Joel enjoy traveling, cycling, and spending time with friends as well as their dogs Allie & Ella and Chloe the cat who are all now happy Californians.

Mark Weideman Principal, Weideman Group, Inc.

Weideman has decades of experience representing some of the nation’s most sophisticated and politically powerful clients. He provides strategic advice and counsel to his clients designed to achieve their objectives before government entities and acts as their chief advocate before legislative, regulatory and administrative bodies. He designs grassroots campaigns that provide broad organic support for policy initiatives and he coordinates activity in local, state and national elections. The Hill called Weideman “one of the top lobbyists in Sacramento” and Capitol Weekly has described him as “a first-rate lobbyist and attorney, plugged into the Capitol on major issues.”

Founder and Principal of Weideman Group, Inc., one of California’s premiere lobbying and consulting firms, Weideman has a client list that includes leaders in health care, labor, environmental, high tech, clean energy, public agency and other critical sectors.

Weideman has served as an officer of Blue Shield of California and AT&T of California, with responsibility for legislative, regulatory, legal and political activities in California and Washington D.C. He has practiced law with the international law firm Pillsbury and with the Sacramento firm Wilke Fleury.

Weideman received his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from the University of California at Berkeley. He earned his law degree with honors in written and oral advocacy from the University of California Hastings College of Law. He is a registered lobbyist with the State of California and a licensed attorney with the State Bar of California.

Tim Valderrama Managing Director, Weideman Group, Inc.

Valderrama is a Capitol veteran, having served in staff leadership roles in both the Senate and Assembly. As Managing Director of the Weideman Group, he spearheads strategic engagement with legislative, administrative and regulatory entities. Clients benefit from Valderrama's extensive knowledge of the legislative process and his strong bipartisan relationships with legislators, staff and administration officials. He has experience in all phases of political work including coalition building, grassroots mobilization, strategic planning, PAC management and legislative/initiative campaigns. Valderrama was instrumental in reauthorizing a managed care tax that delivered over $8 billion in federal funding to California’s health care system, organized and co-chaired the opposition to a statewide ballot initiative that was defeated by a 20 point margin and was the chief architect of an issue campaign that successfully raised the legal tobacco purchase age in California from 18 to 21.

Over the last 15 years, Valderrama has served as Chief of Staff to State Senator Ed Hernandez, Chief Consultant to an Assembly Policy Committee, Legislative Director and Special Assistant for two Assembly Speakers. He was also the California Executive Director of TechNet, the bipartisan organization of high-tech companies that promotes the growth of technology-led innovation. There he represented the interests of the nation’s leading companies in the fields of information technology, biotechnology, clean technology, venture capital, e-commerce and finance. Valderrama is a registered lobbyist with the State of California.