Board
Our board of directors reflect the people, communities, and interests of California’s vast social makeup and help guide the Budget Center’s strategic work and growth.
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Judith Bell
Chief Impact Officer, San Francisco Foundation
As San Francisco Foundation's Chief Impact Officer, Judith brings extensive experience in policy
and systems change, working in partnership with movement and power-building efforts, to
achieve greater racial equity and economic inclusion. She leads the Foundation’s community
impact efforts across the Bay Area focusing on the people, places, and power that can advance
the Foundation’s equity agenda.
Chris Benner
Director, Everett Program for Technology and Social Change
University of California, Santa Cruz
Dr. Chris Benner is a California native and received his Ph.D. in city and regional planning from the University of California, Berkeley. Chris can be found riding unreasonable distances on his bike, rafting, pondering technology and social inclusion, and working with students on social change. His background in activism and fighting inequality has greatly influenced his work in social and economic dimensions of technological change, workforce development policy, the structure, dynamics and evaluation of workforce intermediaries, and strategies for promoting regional equity.
Veronica Carrizales (she/her)
Interim Chair
Managing Director of Programs, The California Wellness Foundation
Veronica Carrizales is the Managing Director of Programs for The California Wellness Foundation. Previously, Veronica served as the Vice President of Policy and External Affairs for California Calls, a powerful statewide alliance of 31 grassroots community-based organizations in 12 counties. Veronica is a first-generation Chicana who was raised in the Coachella Valley with nine siblings in a farmworker family. She is passionate about advancing the cause of social and economic justice.
Why did you join the Budget Center's Board of Directors?
I joined the board because I was always impressed with the policy analysis that the Budget Center did and I wanted to help them build strategic partnerships with organizations doing advocacy and working in low-income communities of color. As a Latina from the Coachella Valley, it was also important to me that the analysis incorporated a racial equity lens and covered issues that impacted rural and inland valley regions.
Cathy Cha (she/her)
Vice Chair
President and CEO, Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund
Cathy Cha is president and CEO of the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. Under her leadership, the San Francisco-based family foundation is investing in grassroots organizing, movement building, and policy advocacy to advance equality and justice for immigrants, communities of color, and young people in the Bay Area and across California.
Why did you join the Budget Center's Board of Directors?
With the pandemic and racism challenging California in profound ways, I wanted to be part of an organization that was rebuilding the tattered safety net, thinking of our poorest neighbors in the state, and advancing equity in state budgeting and policy reform. There's no better place than the California Budget and Policy Center to change the lives of low-income Californians.
Crystal Crawford (she/her)
Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships, Weingart Foundation
Before she was Western Center’s executive director, Crystal Crawford was a program director at Cal Wellness, where she developed and led the groundbreaking Women’s Initiatives designed to advance the health and economic security of women of color. She also helmed the development of the Leading for Power and Change portfolio which was created to amplify the voices, leadership and power of people of color. Previously, Crawford was CEO of the California Black Women’s Health Project.
Why did you join the Budget Center's Board of Directors?
I've always deeply appreciated the work of the California Budget and Policy Center, so it was an honor to join the board and serve the organization.
Natalie Foster (she/her)
President, Economic Security Project
Natalie Foster is the president and co-founder of the Economic Security Project, a network dedicated to advancing a guaranteed income in America and reining in the unprecedented concentration of corporate power. She's a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative, and former director at Obama's Organizing for America, MoveOn.org, and Sierra Club.
Why did you join the Budget Center's Board of Directors?
The Budget Center does such good work to balance the speed and nimbleness needed to move policy, with the thoroughness and precision needed to do it right.
Shimica Gaskins (she/her)
Board Chair
President, GRACE Inc.
Shimica Gaskins is the President & CEO of GRACE/End Child Poverty in CA. She has worked in law and public policy specializing in legislative, regulatory, and policy issues associated with criminal justice reform and children’s rights. Prior to joining GRACE, she was executive director of Children’s Defense Fund-California, where she led statewide advocacy, policy, program, and organizing efforts to ensure access to quality affordable health coverage and care for children and low-income families, reform the juvenile justice system, promote educational equity, end child poverty, and improve outcomes for children of color.
Why did you join the Budget Center's Board of Directors?
Because I believe in the work and its impact for communities and policymaking.
Tracy Gordon
Co-Director and Acting Robert C. Pozen Director, Tax Policy
Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center
Tracy Gordon is co-director and the acting Robert C. Pozen director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Before joining Urban, Gordon was a senior economist with the White House Council of Economic Advisers. She was also a fellow at the Brookings Institution, assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, and fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. Gordon holds a PhD in public policy with a concurrent MA in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Emily Gordon (she/her)
Secretary/Treasurer
Associate Executive Director of Research and Communications, California Teachers Association (CTA)
Emily Gordon is the Associate Executive Director of Research and Communications at the California Teachers Association (CTA). Prior to joining CTA, Emily was the Director of Strategic Research and Policy at the Center for Popular Democracy and also worked as the Research Director at the California Federation of Teachers (CFT AFL-CIO). Emily has a Bachelor’s degree from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota and earned a Master of Science in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics and Political Science in London. She lives in Oakland, CA.
Why did you join the Budget Center's Board of Directors?
I have long been a fan of the Budget Center's work and used analysis from the Center in many campaigns and advocacy efforts I worked on. I was thrilled to be able to support the organization as a board member!
Ruth Holton-Hodson (she/her)
Retired health policy and consumer advocate
Ruth Holton-Hodson had a thirty year career as a health policy and consumer advocate in the non-profit, philanthropic, and government sectors. Her career has been driven by the desire to advance policies that improve the lives of Californians with low incomes.
Why did you join the Budget Center's Board of Directors?
I was one of the original founders of the Budget Center. I believe the Budget Center plays a unique and critical role in educating policymakers, media, and advocacy groups about the needs and opportunities to improve the lives of low- to moderate-income families in California.
Hilary Hoynes
Professor, University of California Berkeley
Hilary Hoynes is a Professor of Economics and Public Policy and holds the Haas Distinguished Chair in Economic Disparities at UC Berkeley. She studies poverty, inequality and the impact of government tax and transfer programs on low-income families. Hoynes is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Reducing Child Poverty and the California Task Force on Lifting Children and Families Out of Poverty.
Why did you join the Budget Center's Board of Directors?
To learn more about California policymaking and to lend my expertise where useful.
John Kim (he/him)
President & CEO, Catalyst California
John Kim is the President & CEO of Catalyst California. He has a long track record as a coalition-builder and facilitator of multi-stakeholder collaborations. He has established a wide range of partnerships with community-based organizations, elected officials, governmental agencies, academic researchers, and foundations across the state.
Why did you join the Budget Center's Board of Directors?
The Budget Center is a great institution with phenomenal staff. I am interested in strengthening its ties and alignment with the racial justice movement in the state.
Joseph Tomás McKellar
Executive Director, PICO California
Joseph Tomás Mckellar is Executive Director of PICO California, the largest faith-
based organizing network in California, whose mission is to catalyze faith-based and
spiritually-centered people power in California to create systemic change for the
most vulnerable so that all Californians can belong and thrive.
In his role, Joseph provides strategic leadership to 10 multi-faith, multi-racial
community organizations representing 450,000 Californians, and accompanies a
talented staff team running power building and leadership programs for 2,500
grassroots volunteers.
Tia Orr
Executive Director, Service Employees International Union California
Phil Ting
Assemblymember Emeritus and Founder of Illum Advisors
Michael Tubbs (he/him)
Founder, End Poverty in California & Mayors for a Guaranteed Income
Michael is Executive Director of EPIC and Executive Chairman of Mayors for Guaranteed Income. He also serves as Special Advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom for Economic Mobility. Michael was elected Mayor of Stockton in 2016 at just 26 years old. As Mayor, he was lauded for his leadership and innovation — most notably for piloting the first mayor-led guaranteed income pilot in the country. In 2021, Tubbs released “The Deeper the Roots: A Memoir of Hope and Home.” The book not only relates his story of growing up in poverty, but lays his vision for leadership and policy that is more empathetic and responsive to people who are struggling.
Why did you join the Budget Center's Board of Directors?
I believe deeply in the Budget Center's mission and to end poverty in California.
Anthony Wright
Executive Director, Families USA
Anthony Wright has served as executive director for Health Access, California’s health care consumer advocacy coalition, since 2002, leading campaigns to win key patient protections, coverage expansions, and public health investments. He also worked for NJ Citizen Action, Center for Media Education, The Nation, and Vice President Gore's office in the White House. Wright was born and raised in the Bronx, graduated from Amherst magna cum laude, and lives in Davis.
Why did you join the Budget Center's Board of Directors?
I have always appreciated the Budget Center's analyses, and the advice it provides advocacy organizations on the policy and politics of the state budget and a myriad of issues impacting families with low- and moderate-income.