SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES Aimee Allison President, Democracy in Color Aimee Allison is a thought leader, public speaker, writer, and expert on women of color in politics. She is president of Democracy in Color, a national media organization focused on race, politics, and the New American Majority. In 2016, Aimee organized and moderated the first DNC Chair Forum highlighting the central role of women of color in the future of the Democratic Party. In 2017, she launched “Get in Formation,”, a national call for Black women to support Stacey Abrams, who could be the first Black woman governor in U.S. history. Aimee is also the host of the acclaimed “Democracy in Color” podcast and author of the forthcoming book on women of color and politics, She the People, due out in 2018. She has appeared as a political commentator for PBS, CBS, and Fox and has written for The Hill, Huffington Post, and San Francisco Chronicle. Aimee lives in Oakland, CA. You can follow her on Twitter: @AimeeAllison Elizabeth Barajas-Román Chief Executive Officer, Solidago Foundation Elizabeth Barajas-Román is the CEO of the Solidago Foundation. For more than 20 years she has been a leader in progressive movements including advocating at the national level for the health and rights of immigrant women and their families. Most recently, she was the CEO of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts. She was previously a manager at The Pew Charitable Trusts, and before that, the Director of Policy at National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health where she opened, and directed, the organization’s Washington, D.C.-based office. She is a graduate of Oberlin College, and received her master’s degree in international policy from Harvard University. Nikki Fortunato Bas Executive Director, Partnership for Working Families Nikki Fortunato Bas is the Partnership for Working Families’ Executive Director. She works with its coalitions across the country to harness the power of cities and states to transform our economy, environment and democracy. She has been part of the network since 2006, first as Executive Director of one of its founding affiliates, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE), then as Executive Director of the national network. She brings two decades of experience in coalition building and campaigning around economic development, worker and immigrant rights, and environmental justice. With the Partnership, she is leading bold shifts such as piloting new models of national campaigning, deepening the network’s commitment to racial and gender justice, and building a “leaderful” network that is investing in a new generation of black leaders, women and people of color. In her spare time, she enjoys running, baking and spending time with her family. Alicia Garza Co-Founder, Black Lives Matter; Special Projects Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance Alicia Garza is an Oakland-based organizer, writer, public speaker and freedom dreamer who is currently the Special Projects Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the nation’s leading voice for dignity and fairness for the millions of domestic workers in the United States. Garza, along with Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors, also co-founded the Black Lives Matter network, a globally recognized organizing project that focuses on combatting anti-Black state-sanctioned violence and the oppression of all Black people. Since the rise of the BLM movement, Garza has become a powerful voice in the media. Her articles and interviews have been featured in Time, Mic, The Guardian, Elle.com, Essence, Democracy Now!, and The New York Times. Chung-Wha Hong Executive Director, Grassroots International Chung-Wha Hong is the Executive Director of Grassroots International. As a global justice advocacy and grantmaking organization, Grassroots International connects progressive donors in the US, to high-impact social movements in the Global South. For over 25 years, Chung-Wha has worked on a range of social justice issues locally and internationally, through organizing, policy advocacy, coalition building and philanthropy. Named by the New York Magazine as one of the most Influential People in Politics, Chung-Wha helped to build the political clout of New York State’s immigrant communities through a comprehensive civic engagement program, and helped to win numerous legal, social and economic rights and benefits for those communities. Chung- Wha’s past activism includes working on health care, worker rights and human rights issues at the New York Immigration Coalition, Campaign to Save Public Hospitals, National Korean American Service & Education Consortium, Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance AFL-CIO and the Korea Information Project. Saru Jayaraman Co-Founder and Co-Director, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United; Director, Food Labor Research Center at UC Berkeley President of ROC United & ROC Action (based in Oakland, California), co-founded ROC in New York after 9/11, together with displaced World Trade Center workers, which has organized those who work in restaurants to win workplace justice campaigns, conduct research and policy work, partner with responsible restaurants, and launch cooperatively-owned restaurants. Saru is a graduate of Yale Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She was profiled in the New York Times’ “Public Lives” section in 2005, named one of Crain’s “40 Under 40” in 2008, was 1010 Wins’ “Newsmaker of the Year” and New York Magazine’s “Influentials” of New York City. She was listed in CNN’s “Top10 Visionary Women” and recognized as a Champion of Change by the White House in 2014, and a James Beard Foundation Leadership Award in 2015. Saru authored Behind the Kitchen Door (Cornell University Press, 2013), a national bestseller, and has appeared on many TV shows. Whitney Kimball Coe Director of National Programs, Center for Rural Strategies Whitney Kimball Coe serves as coordinator of the National Rural Assembly, a rural movement made up of activities and partnerships geared toward building better policy and more opportunity across the country. Before joining the Rural Strategies staff, Whitney served as assistant editor of Appalachian Journal, an academic regional journal based in Boone, North Carolina. She has master's degree in Appalachian studies from Appalachian State University in North Carolina and an undergraduate degree from Queens University of Charlotte. Whitney lives in Athens, Tennessee. Larry Kramer President, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Larry Kramer has been President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation since 2012. Under his leadership, the foundation has maintained its commitment to areas of enduring concern, while adapting its approaches and strategies to meet changing circumstances and seize new opportunities. Before joining the foundation, Larry served from 2004 to 2012 as Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and Dean of Stanford Law School. At the start of his career, Larry served as law clerk to U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Henry J. Friendly of the Second Circuit and U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. Following his clerkships, Larry served as professor of law at the University of Chicago and University of Michigan law schools. Larry serves as a director on the boards of a number of nonprofit organizations, including the National Constitution Center, Independent Sector, and the ClimateWorks Foundation. He received an A.B. in Psychology and Religious Studies from Brown University, graduating magna cum laude in 1980, and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School, magna cum laude, in 1984. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including The People Themselves: Popular Constitutionalism and Judicial Review. Wei Lee Program Coordinator, ASPIRE Wei works at Advancing Justice - Asian Law Caucus as the Program Coordinator for ASPIRE, the nation’s first pan-Asian undocumented youth group. Wei first became involved with ASPIRE as a member in the fall of 2011. Since then, he strives to bring more visibility and create safe space for API undocumented immigrants to become their own advocates. Wei was also part of the Eva Lowe Fellowship for Social Justice at Chinese Progressive Association in San Francisco. There he learned more about grassroots organizing and social justice movement building by working with low-income working class Chinese immigrants and community organizers in the Bay Area. Born and raised in Brazil, Wei immigrated to the U.S. when he was 16 years old with his family. He graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2011 with a B.A. in Psychology. Rodney McKenzie Vice President of Campaigns and Partnerships, Dēmos Rodney McKenzie, Jr., Vice President of Campaigns and Partnerships at Dēmos, is an experienced community organizer, movement leader and out person of faith who brings over fifteen years of experience fighting for grassroots political power in marginalized communities. Dēmos is a public policy organization working for an America where we all have an equal say in our democracy and an equal chance in our economy. Previously, Rodney was the Director of the Academy for Leadership and Action at the National LGBTQ Task Force. Earlier in his career, Rodney was the Spiritual Director and Co- Creator of Expansion Church. He also served as Executive Director of Resource Generation and the first Coordinating Director for the Pushback Network. Rodney holds a Master of Divinity from the Union Theological Seminary and currently lives in Washington, DC. David Metz Partner and President, FM3 David Metz has provided opinion research and strategic guidance to hundreds of non- profit organizations, government agencies, businesses, and political campaigns in all 50 states since joining the firm in 1998. Dave has provided opinion research on key message and policy issues to numerous environmental and conservation organizations. Dave has also provided research to win some of the nation’s most expensive and contentious ballot measure campaigns. His research on the issue of “regulatory takings” helped the environmental community reverse a string of ballot measure losses and win five consecutive campaigns in California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.