Board of Directors

Amy Casso, San Antonio, TX

Amy is the Senior Policy Analyst for La Fe Policy Research and Education Center and Co-Founder & Associate Consultant for Collective Flatlander. Amy has held positions with PCUN, Oregon's Farmworker Union, and CAUSA, Oregon's Immigrant Rights Coalition. She was a field organizer for the National Organizer's Alliance.

Amy is a graduate of Western State Center's WILD Program (Western Institute for Leadership Development).

Mariotta Gary-Smith, Portland, OR

Mariottta is the African American Sexual Health Equity Program (AASHEP) Health Educator for Multnomah County Health Department, STD/HIV/Hep C Program.

She is a graduate of the Center of Excellence in Sexual Health Scholars Program at Satcher Health Leadership Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine, in Atlanta; and has been awarded a Masters in Public Health from Emory University.

Amy Herzfeld, Portland, OR (Chair)

Amy is the Oregon State Director for Working America, a national community affiliate of AFL-CIO. Born and raised in Idaho, she had been active in statewide progressive movement building for over 12 years before relocating to Portland in 2011. Previously, Amy was the Executive Director of the Idaho Human Rights Education Center.

Her work experience ranges from nonprofit advocacy and community organizing to electoral management and award-winning journalism. Amy is a graduate of Western State Center's Western Institute for Leadership Development.

Cathy Howell, Salem, OR

Cathy is retired as the Leadership Development Coordinator at the national AFL-CIO. Cathy returned to the Northwest after having spent many years in North Carolina as Organizing Director at Grassroots Leadership, Director of the Carolina Community Project and with the AFL-CIO. Previously she worked for NARAL and Oregon Fair Share, and in 1995 to 1997 served as director of Western States Center’s Community Leadership Training Program. 

Francisco Lopez, Salem, OR

Francisco is the Executive Director of CAUSA, Oregon's statewide immigrant rights coalition.  Prior to directing CAUSA, Francisco managed support programs for youth and families in Oregon and was Field Director with Voz Hispana's Vote Project.

He is originally from El Salvador, and a graduate from the University of El Salvador where he organized among students, Christian Base Communities, and the FMLN party. After coming to Texas as a refugee from the war in El Salvador he worked with church and social service groups and as an organizer.

Dan Neal, Casper, WY (Secretary)

Dan is the Executive Director of Equality State Policy Center, having spent much of his career as a journalist with the Casper Star Tribune, where he served as Editor from 2000-2004.  He has also served as a strategist for both Congressional and ballot initiative campaigns.

Angela Park, Hartland, VT

Angela Park is a writer, independent consultant, and founder/Executive Director of Diversity Matters. Angela is a leading expert on equity and diversity in the environmental field in the United States and brings 25 years of experience in that area as well as organizational development, culture change, and sustainable development policy. Angela worked at The White House in both terms of the Clinton administration, coordinated state level sustainable development initiatives at the Center for Policy Alternatives, and co-founded and served as deputy director of the Environmental Leadership Program. She lives on an organic farm and ecological cohousing community in Vermont.

Uma Rao, Seattle, WA

Uma is the Regional Development Organizer, Western Washington. Pride Foundation. Prior to her position at the Pride Foundation, she was Program Director at Social Justice Fund. 

She began organizing 13 years ago, with a focus in communities of colors in issues of violence and social justice.

Lindy Walsh, Portland, OR

Lindy is the Director of Finance and Administration for the Partnership for Safety and Justice. She has more than 30 years of experience in nonprofit finance and administration and has worked for queer rights, river conservation, public safety, consumer issues and against domestic and sexual violence.

Scott Winn, Seattle, WA

Scott is a member of the Organizing Collective of Seattle’s Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites and active with Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), a national network of white people doing base-building work in white communities. He is a member of the LGBTQ Access Project’s National Advisory Board.  As a Policy and Development Lead for the City of Seattle Race and Social Justice Initiative, he is working to transform government-community relations in order to create racial equity.  He also teaches at the University of Washington School of Social Work.

Sharon Gary-Smith, Portland, OR (Emerita)

Sharon is the Executive Director at McKenzie River Gathering Foundation.

Sharon continues her lifelong commitment to racial and social justice through consultations with nonprofits and philanthropies. She is the former national programs director of the National Black Women's Health Project, and former National Programs Director of Be Present, Inc., a national organization dedicated to training black women and girls, other women of color, and white women, to work together to build a social change movement in a world where racism, classism, and homophobia still exist and historical barriers have divided us.

Leah Henry-Tanner, Bremerton, WA (Emerita)

Leah is coordinator of Native American Women's Dialogue on Infant Mortality. She has extensive experience on issues ranging from violence against women of color to tribal sovereignty. She is a member of the Nez Perce Tribe and a graduate of the Center's WILD (Western Institute for Leadership and Development) program.