Meet Our Team
We don’t just talk about equity and inclusion, we practice it everyday. Meet our unique crew of changemakers who take on the hard work of building a fair and just future where our communities thrive.
Debra Gore-Mann
President & CEO
Alvaro S. Sanchez
Vice President of PolicyAlvaro S. Sanchez is an urban planner with extensive experience crafting, implementing, and evaluating strategies that leverage private and public investments to deliver community benefits to impacted communities. Alvaro leads our work on SB 535 (de León) which directs at least one quarter of California’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to disadvantaged communities. He also leads our neighborhood-scale sustainability initiative, a comprehensive and scalable approach to greenhouse gas reduction that leverages private and public investment while improving underserved communities throughout California.
Prior to joining Greenlining, Alvaro led Green For All’s stormwater infrastructure strategy. As a member of the State and Local Initiatives team, he led the organization’s strategies for connecting impacted communities to economic opportunity related to national stormwater infrastructure investments. He wrote several reports detailing the untapped opportunity of using green infrastructure as a cost-effective stormwater management tool that creates job and business opportunities for underserved communities. Several leading water and stormwater utilities throughout the country have used the framework he presented to deliver triple-bottom-line benefits.
Alvaro has over nine years of experience working on economic development and land use issues throughout California and nationally. In 2011 he received a Master of Planning degree from the University of Southern California, where he focused on affordable housing and economic development. He is the President of the Board of Directors at Dolores Street Community Services, an immigration and community development organization in San Francisco. He also created the Triple Bottom Line Hub, a social media platform that celebrates projects that deliver triple-bottom-line benefits. Alvaro, who believes you can never be too wonky, lives in North Oakland, grew up in Los Angeles, and was born in Mexico City.
Tel.:510.926.4018
Jane Duong
Vice President of Development & CommunicationsJane Duong is the Development Director at The Greenlining Institute, where she leads a team responsible for engaging foundations, corporations, individuals and other supporters to raise resources for the organization and its mission. Jane brings 15 years of experience working with communities of color to advance economic opportunity. Previously, she worked at the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (CAPACD), a social justice organization improving the lives of low-income Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders across the country through a coalition of grassroots organizations. She played many roles, including Director of Programs and Advocacy, where she developed the first national network of AAPI-serving housing counseling agencies in the country. She also supported the growth of asset-building and financial capability programs in the AAPI community and contributed to groundbreaking research on how AAPI communities access financial services and products. Most recently, she served as the Director of Development and Strategic Partnerships, leading efforts to centralize fundraising efforts and grow the organization’s influence.
Jane’s perspective is grounded in her experience working in grassroots , community-based organizations at the frontlines of building community. She worked as the Housing Program Manager for the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA), supporting existing and aspiring homeowners in the Latino community. She also spent time working with the East River Development Agency (ERDA) in Long Island City, New York, and at the Chinatown Community Development Center in San Francisco, CA. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and received her Master of Public Administration from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service.
Jane is the daughter of immigrant parents from Vietnam and enjoys spending time in the outdoors with her husband and daughter.
Tel.:510.809.1819
Sandra Ruiz
Vice President of TalentSandra has a deep commitment to serving mission-driven organizations and joined The Greenlining Institute to help foster a workplace culture where values are reflected in how we stretch and support our staff and how we as leaders show up each day. As a recent addition to the Greenlining team, she hopes to bring about systems and tools that will help the organization become even more effective. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University, academically trained in the field of Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and was indelibly transformed by her experiences working for social justice organizations La Clinica de La Raza, Center for Elders Independence, Juma Ventures, and Proyecto Contra SIDA Por Vida. As a queer Mexican immigrant raised in a working-class community in South Central L.A., she feels a great sense of responsibility to lend her expertise and lived experiences to uplift her community and can think of no better way to do so that by supporting this amazing organization.
Tel.:510.926.4029
Carmelita Miller
Senior Director, Climate EquityCarmelita Miller was born in the Philippines and grew up in South San Francisco, California. She graduated from Sacramento State University where she became a Ronald E. McNair Scholar and earned a B.A. in History with a minor in Greek studies. After a graduating from UC Hastings College of the Law, she became a Greenlining Legal Fellow in 2013-14, focusing on telecommunications policy.
While at UC Hastings, she served as the President of the Pilipino American Law Society and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal. Inspired by her personal experiences living in low-income, immigrant, and working class communities, she dedicated her free time in law school to providing legal assistance to the low-income population by interning and volunteering at various pro bono organizations such as Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County, UC Hastings Civil Justice Clinic, Legal Aid of San Francisco’s Workers Rights Clinic, the Veterans Equity Center, and the Filipino Community Center.
When she is not studying or fighting for justice, Carmelita enjoys lounging, hiking, and playing with her two black labrador retrievers named Maximus and Athena.
Tel.:510.926.4017
Molly Tafoya
Director of CommunicationsMolly Tafoya is the Director of Communications at The Greenlining Institute, where she leads the communications team responsible for the organization’s strategic communications as well as earned and digital media strategies. Molly brings 13 years of experience executing comprehensive public education campaigns, including policymaker and legislator engagement strategies to advance equity and justice for all. Her most recent roles have included Director of Nonprofit Partnerships with Open to All, where she directed a coalition of more than 200 intersection national and state advocacy organizations in advance of the vision that when a business opens its doors to the public, it should be open to all. She also served as the Director of Community Engagement with the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) maximizing the organization’s work advancing equality for LGBTQ people focusing on state-level engagement, coalition building, and advocacy. She has also served as Senior Field Representative with Asm. Rob Bonta, Director of Public Affairs with Early Edge California, and Director of Communications with One Iowa.
From her work advancing LGBTQ equality, to lobbying for increased investments in early childhood education, Molly’s lifelong work for social justice and equity is grounded in her deep commitment to intersectional community engagement and a strong love of strategic communications. She is the Board Chair for the City of Oakland Head Start program, a Head Coach with the Oakland Girls Softball League, and a volunteer with Brown Girl Surf. Raised in Hawai’`i, she misses it every day as she now lives in Oakland with her 2-year-old and spouse. She holds a BA from Georgetown University.
Bruce Mirken
Associate Director, Media RelationsBruce Mirken brings two decades of journalism and communications experience as well as a long history of activism to his position as Media Relations Director. An award-winning writer who serves as Greenlining’s resident editor and all-purpose wordsmith, Bruce’s work has appeared in wide range of publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Men’s Health, and The Advocate. From 2001 through 2009, he served as Director of Communications for the Marijuana Policy Project. In that capacity, he appeared frequently on radio and television, including ABC World News, Anderson Cooper 360, and The Rachel Maddow Show, and was quoted in newspapers and magazines worldwide. His activist career began in the LGBT community (starting just out of college with the campaign against Proposition 6, which would have fired gay or lesbian schoolteachers in California) and quickly branched out to a wide array of social justice issues.
In his spare time, Bruce enjoys hiking, cooking and gardening – hoping that the San Francisco fog will burn off enough to permit a decent tomato crop each summer. He claims to make the world’s best spaghetti sauce, though our Research department considers this claim unverified.
Tel.:510.926.4022
Emi Wang
Associate Director, Capacity BuildingEmi holds a deep commitment to supporting communities of color to access the resources and skills needed to achieve self-determination. Our neighborhoods have been shaped by racist and exclusionary public policies, and we must double down on community ownership over the solutions. At Greenlining, Emi leads our capacity-building and locally-based work, helping to build the capacity of under-resourced communities to gain equitable opportunity to achieve our own transformations. Prior to joining Greenlining, Emi supported grassroots community improvement initiatives in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods across New York City.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Emi has mad love for the 718. She is happiest in sunshine, cities, mountains and the ocean. Emi graduated from Vassar College in 2011 with a B.A. in History, focusing on modern American social and political history, and a minor in Japanese.
Tel.:510.926.4025
Mariah Gonzalez
Associate Director, Events & Donor EngagementMariah coordinates Greenlining’s Annual Economic Summit, Academy Graduation and various events throughout the year. Prior to joining the Greenlining team, she helped to start-up Insight Garden Program, a nonprofit that builds gardens and offers job training in prisons across California. After receiving a degree in Food Systems, Ethnic Studies and Political Economy from UC Berkeley, her love of traditional foods and non-profit life led her to La Cocina, a food business incubator in San Francisco. It was there that she fell in love with the adrenaline rollercoaster that is event management — helping pull off the San Francisco Street Food Festival, an event that attracts 60,000 attendees to highlight La Cocina’s women-of-color-owned businesses. Mariah is committed to work that helps provide good jobs, meaningful work and economic opportunity to low-income communities.
Tel.:805-714-2343
Rosa María Martinez
Operations DirectorRosa María Martinez is The Greenlining Institute’s Operations Director, overseeing the management of our office and building. Previously, she worked with the Health Equity Team managing Greenlining’s Diversity in the Health Workforce initiative, looking at current representation of people of color at all levels within the health field. She also worked on ensuring that information about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was reaching limited-English communities throughout California, conducting presentations across the state. Rosa María co-authored an issue brief designed to help ethnic small businesses understand key elements of the ACA affecting them.
Rosa María served on the Advisory Council to the San Francisco Mexican Consulate (2012-2014) and was the secretary for the Council’s Committee on Health and Sports. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Language and Literature with a minor in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley.
Originally from Zacatecas, México, Rosa grew up the Bay Area where she currently lives with her husband and daughter. In her spare time she loves to go horseback riding.
Tel.:510.926.4015
Sona Mohnot
Associate Director, Climate ResilienceSona comes to us from New Orleans, and recently moved to the Bay Area to work on environmental equity issues. She became interested in environmental equity after witnessing the disproportionate environmental burdens that communities of color face in New Orleans, especially after Hurricane Katrina and the B.P. oil spill. Sona interned at several environmental nonprofits throughout law school and realized that she wanted to pursue a career in public interest environmental law. As Environmental Equity Manager, she looks forward to advocating for environmental equity and learning how to effectively empower communities of color.
Tel.: 510.926.4004
Rawan Elhalaby
Senior Program Manager, Economic EquityRawan Elhalaby is the Senior Economic Equity Program Manager at the Greenlining Institute where she oversees bank accountability efforts using the Community Reinvestment Act. As the daughter of working class refugees, Rawan is all too familiar with the obstacles to achieving self-sufficiency in the United States for low-income and immigrant families. As such, she has spent her career addressing these obstacles at Greenlining and one-on-one with recently arrived refugees from Iraq, Somalia, Syria, and Afghanistan (among others) to San Diego at the International Rescue Committee. She has also worked as a policy consultant to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the County of San Diego, the Western Regional Advocacy Project, and the Dellums Institute for Social Justice. Rawan holds a degree in Political Science from San Diego State University and a Master of Public Policy from UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy.
Tel.: 510.926.4012
Mercedes Gibson
Senior Program Manager, Small Business StrategyMercedes Gibson is an Economic Equity Strategist at the Greenlining Institute, where she partners with the Business Team inside City of Oakland’s Economic & Workforce Development Department to better support small businesses of color, as outlined in Oakland’s 2018 -2020 Economic Development Strategy.
As an East Oakland native, Mercedes is familiar with barriers to wealth for black and brown families living in parts of Oakland that have been historically underdeveloped, ignored and redlined. Since 14, she has advocated for the needs of communities often not invited to sit at the table: poor folks, people of color, queer people and women. She has also worked at various nonprofits that serve these communities: Hack the Hood, LYRIC and Young Women United For Oakland. As a San Francisco State University alum and a certified life coach in positive psychology her passions are communication, strategy and performing on stage. In her downtime she tries to be in a lake or river as much as possible, stargaze around a fire, and read graphic novels.
Tel.:510.238.7090
Ashley Myrriah
Senior Digital Strategy ManagerAshley Myrriah works to build up The Greenlining Institute’s robust digital communications and social media operation. Ashley got her start in advocacy fundraising on behalf of the Democratic National Committee while at Grassroots Campaigns during the 2008 general election and continued grow her campaign skill sets at GMMB. Prior to joining the Greenlining team in December 2018, Ashley worked in public affairs and strategic communications at several major political organizations in Washington state and D.C.
Ashley Myrriah earned a Master of Communication in Digital Media from the University of Washington and a B.A. in Government & Politics from The University of Maryland, College Park.
Tel.:510.926.4026
Chagan Sanathu
Senior Program Manager, Casa JoaquinChagan Sanathu has a long history of engagement with the youth leadership programs — first as a 2010 Young People For (YP4) Fellow and later as a Center for Progressive Leadership Fellow. For 3 years, Chagan worked at the Young People For offices in Washington, DC, where she worked with the 12-person alumni board to help support the YP4 program. Chagan graduated in 2012 from Goshen College with a degree in business and public relations. During her time as an undergraduate, Chagan interned at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities where she researched the effects of child tax credit and earned income tax credit of low-income communities, with an emphasis on women who survived domestic violence.
Chagan is a former board member for the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum-DC Chapter, focusing on fundraising to support the chapter’s work on immigration reform, reproductive justice, and other issues impacting the API community.
Since her relocation to the Bay area, Chagan likes to explore the nearby region, cook, ride her electric blue bike and organizing with the local Desi (South Asian) community.
Tel.:510.540.1984
Hana Creger
Senior Program Manager, Climate EquityAs Environmental Equity Program Manager, Hana contributes to the development and implementation of policies leading to clean transportation and mobility investments in California that result in positive health, environmental, and economic outcomes. Her work is focused on the intersection of transportation, climate change, and economic opportunities for low-income communities of color. Prior to Greenlining, Hana implemented innovative campaigns for Alameda County’s Clean Commute Program, to promote long-term sustainable behavior changes. Hana has also worked as a community organizer, advocating for climate change action and public transit policies in San Diego.
Hana was born and raised in Berkeley, California. She graduated magna cum laude from San Diego State University with a degree in Sustainability, with a particular interest in environmental justice and equity. Outside of work, Hana enjoys spending time with family and friends, hiking, cooking, and traveling. Her greatest fear is being stuck inside on a sunny day.
Tel.:510.809.1810
Irma Hurtado
Senior Coordinator, FinanceAs the Operations Coordinator at The Greenlining Institute, Irma is responsible for overseeing the organization’s accounts payable and accounts receivable as well as offering support to the Development team on grant and data processing. Previously, Irma worked at Briones International, LLC as a bookkeeper, where she provided bookkeeping services to various nonprofit organizations in the Bay Area.
While volunteering at Mujeres Unidas y Activas, Irma became passionate for human rights and social justice as well as the work of the nonprofit sector. This is what drew Irma to The Greenlining Institute.
Irma holds a B.A in Political Science from Cal State East Bay. She grew up in the Bay Area, where she currently lives with her husband. During her free time Irma enjoys dancing, hiking and spending time with her family.
Tel.:510.926.4014
Isa Gillard
Transformative Communities Program ManagerIsa Gaillard is an urban planner and environmental justice advocate who is passionate about creating a future in which all communities have access to clean, healthy, and affordable transportation options. As a Program Manager at the Greenlining Institute, he helps facilitate and lead the Towards Equitable Electric Mobility (TEEM) Community of Practice. He also works to grow Greenlining’s capacity-building efforts so that the organization can scale its racial and environmental equity approaches. Isa holds a Master’s degree in City Planning from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelors in Public Policy from the University of Michigan.
In his off time, Isa enjoys playing basketball, soccer, and learning Spanish
Katherine Cabrera
Program Manager, Capacity BuildingAs Capacity Building Program Manager, Katherine Cabrera supports local stakeholders in Los Angeles to advance community-driven, equitable climate solutions. Katherine’s passion for social change stems from her lived experience growing up in the city of Ontario in the Inland Empire. As a youth activist, she actively organized against the policing of her immigrant community and witnessed how the logistics economy impacted her hometown as it expanded in the region. This led her to combine her passion for immigrant rights with environmental justice and advocate for increased resources to grassroots-based organizations. Katherine holds a master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles, a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Analysis from Pitzer College and is also a Fulbright recipient. During her free time, she enjoys trail running and summiting Southern California’s peaks.
Leslie Aguayo
Program Manager, Transportation EquityLeslie Aguayo is an urban planner and advocate with experience in poverty alleviation, asset building, affordable housing, equitable transportation and community outreach strategies using both quantitative, qualitative and ethnographic methodology in an effort to increase upward mobility in urban, suburban and rural spaces. As Environmental Equity Program Manager Leslie works to further equitable electric vehicle policy and investments. She leads Greenlining’s transportation equity work, advocating to increase racial equity in transportation planning and investments, implementing the Charge Ahead California Initiative–a law that works to make electric vehicles accessible to low- and moderate-income Californians — and advocating for equitable EV charging infrastructure investments at the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Energy Commission, and within the Volkswagen Diesel Settlement.
Prior to joining Greenlining, Leslie attended graduate school where she studied affordable housing development, researched environmental racism impacts in Bayview Hunters Point, conducted a transit oriented development assessment of the Fruitvale BART station, and reimagined the Oakland Coliseum Neighborhood using urban design solutions for sea level rise. She has also worked for the Center for Responsible Lending, advocating for predatory lending protections in communities of color, and at TransForm assisting on the LyftUp East Oakland project to improve equitable access to new mobility transportation in East Oakland.
Leslie was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Master of City Planning and holds two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Anthropology and Urban Studies from the University of California, Irvine.
In her free time Leslie loves to dance, play tennis, practice her Portuguese, enjoy a good cup of tea, and collect handicrafts. She is always on the lookout for anything floral print.
Tel.:510.926.4006
De’Zhon Grace
Coordinator, Economic EquityDe’Zhon Grace, 2019 Economic Equity Fellow, comes from Oakland, California. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley as a first-generation college student, with a major in Sociology & minor in African American Studies.
Growing up in a single-parent household, he witnessed the persistent challenges Black mothers face when raising a family in today’s America.This experience developed in him a passion for love in all forms (mentally, physically, spiritually), problem-solving, and a desire to strengthen the Black household. He believes that Black and Brown communities have a shared struggle that encompasses both economics and spirituality. Furthermore, he perceives this struggle to have persistently been the greatest obstacle in mastering self-sufficiency, prosperity, and love of self. De’Zhon has dedicated his life to searching for a solution to this struggle, which would allow for a collective shift of focus away from basic survival towards a household that thrives.
In the future, De’Zhon intends to pursue a dual J.D. and M.A. in Public Policy in his quest to establish large-scale solutions to provide economically sustainable practices, services, and policies that ensure the mental and physical well-being for historically marginalized and oppressed communities. At Greenlining, he will primarily focus on working with financial institutions to provide communities of color with access to capital, avenues to homeownership, and promoting both leadership and supplier diversity. De’Zhon will also conduct research pertaining to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) and supplier diversity. Finally, he will identify and engage POC-led organizations to assess community needs and build a stronger base for Economic Equity advocacy.
He loves to meditate, read, have thought provoking conversations, and enjoy life with his loved ones.
Tel.:510.809.1808
Aminah Luqman
Program Manager, Capacity BuildingAs Capacity Building Program Manager, Aminah Luqman leads the capacity building work in Oakland and supports local stakeholders to advance community-driven, equitable climate solutions. Prior to joining The Greenlining Institute, Aminah worked at Shared Value Media as the Community Partnership Manager for the California COVID-19 Workplace Outreach Project. As the Community Partnership Manager, she worked with community-based organizations in the Bay Area, Sacramento and Los Angeles regions to reach workers who were disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic about their rights in the workplace. She was also the Census 2020 Program Manager at United Way Bay Area, where she worked in coalition with 100+ community-based organizations to make the 2020 census more accessible and culturally relevant for “hard-to-count” communities in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Marin counties. Prior to moving back to Oakland to work at United Way Bay Area, Aminah lived and worked in Colombia for two years as a Fulbright grantee. Aminah was born and raised in Oakland and in her free time she loves to play sports, dance hip-hop and salsa, read, and spend time by bodies of water.
Vinhcent Le
Legal Counsel, Technology EquityVinhcent Le is a Technology Equity attorney at the Greenlining Institute, where he develops Greenlining’s strategy to protect consumer privacy, prevent algorithmic bias in economic opportunity and to close the digital divide. As an attorney practicing before the California Public Utilities Commission, Vinhcent helped secure multi-million dollar commitments to increase broadband access in California, modernization of the Lifeline program and the development of a program providing laptops to low-income students across the state.
Vinhcent received his J.D. from the University of California, Irvine School of Law and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego. Prior to Greenlining, Vinhcent advocated for clients as a law clerk at the Public Defenders Office, the Office of Medicare Hearing and Appeals and the Small Business Administration.
Tel.:510.809.1813
Román Partida-López
Legal Counsel, Transportation EquityAs Legal Counsel with the Environmental Equity team, Román works to ensure that lower-income communities of color have a seat at the table in order to drive climate investments to help improve air quality and economic opportunities within their communities. He believes that communities and their members must be prioritized, engaged and heard. Román grew up near San Diego in National City, two blocks away from the freeway and across the street from a car body shop that regularly violated city codes by sanding, chroming and painting vehicles out in the open. His exposure to these toxic chemicals and pollution inspired him to work on addressing environmental concerns in his community.
Román was the Environmental Equity Legal Fellow from 2013-2014 where he worked on SB 535 implementation and the development of the Charge Ahead Initiative, creating pilot programs to increase access to cleaner vehicles. More recently he was Senior Equity Specialist at the Center for Sustainable Energy, where he worked with CSE’s reneweables and transportation teams.
Román received his B.A. from the University of San Diego and J.D. from Thomas Jefferson School of Law. In his down time, he loves to spend time with his partner and two kids, coaches their sports teams and tries to live out his long lost dream of making it to the Major leagues by playing on an Adult Baseball League team with his three brothers.
Tel.:619.279.4766
Sonrisa Cooper
Program Manager, Transformative CommunitiesSonrisa Cooper is a city planner and affordable housing advocate who leads Greenlining’s community development strategy and housing policy. She is passionate about equitable policies and strategies that protect low-income communities of color from displacement. Sonrisa got her start in housing as an intern at the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation in Boston, where she worked on affordable real estate development and organized tenants around energy issues. She also has experience as a program evaluation consultant for utility energy efficiency programs. Sonrisa is a recent graduate of Greenlining’s Leadership Academy, and holds a master’s in City Planning from UC Berkeley and a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College.
Sonrisa is a Jeopardy! champion and trivia enthusiast with a tendency to sprinkle useless facts into every conversation. In her free time, she enjoys experimenting with sourdough bread, spending time outdoors, and rooting for the Portland Trail Blazers.
Tel.:510.926.4005