Marcy Adelman, Ph. D.

Marcy is a national leader in the field of LGBT aging. Her experience as a lecturer, author, researcher and editor in the field of LGBT aging spans more than 30 years. She is the founder and a board member of Openhouse, an innovative nonprofit LGBT senior housing and service organization.  Marcy is also an AARP volunteer policy advisor on livable communities and a clinical psychologist in private practice.

Cassie Hughes Bahan

Over the course of her nearly 20 years marketing and publicity career, Cassie has worked with some the world’s top brands. Before co-founding Grow, Cassie was Vice President, Client Services for Convergence Media Group, a youth focused brand marketing agency. She has also created and executed award winning marketing and publicity programs for companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. and Esprit.

Over the course of her nearly 20 years marketing and publicity career, Cassie has worked with some the world’s top brands. Before co-founding Grow, Cassie was Vice President, Client Services for Convergence Media Group, a youth focused brand marketing agency. She has also created and executed award winning marketing and publicity programs for companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. and Esprit.

Walter M. Bortz II, M.D.

Dr. Bortz is recognized as one of America’s most distinguished scientific experts on aging and longevity. His research has focused on the importance of physical exercise in the promotion of robust aging. He is past co-chair of the American Medical Association’s Task Force on Aging, former President of the American Geriatrics Society and is currently Chairman of the Medical Advisory Board for Diabetes Research and Wellness Foundation. Dr. Bortz lectures widely and is the author of numerous papers and five books, including We Live Too Short and Die Too Long, Dare To Be 100, and Living Longer for Dummies.

Ruth Brousseau, Ph.D.

Ruth has 25 years of nonprofit and philanthropic experience. She has recently left her position as Director of Evaluation and Organizational Learning at The California Wellness Foundation to pursue research and writing related to philanthropy and philanthropic effectiveness. Throughout her career in philanthropy she has conducted research in areas relevant to her philanthropic work, published, and spoken locally and nationally on topics including: creativity and grant making, replication and dissemination of model programs, evaluating core operations, mental health and philanthropy, and building the organizational capacity of nonprofits. She is a graduate of Harvard University where she was the recipient of a National Science Foundation scholarship and did post-doctoral training at University of California, Berkeley. She has served on many advisory groups and boards of directors including Northern California Grantmakers, the Mental Health Association of California and Japan-U.S. Community Education and Exchange.

Lewis H. Butler, J.D.

Lewis is Chairman Emeritus of Ploughshares Fund, a public foundation making grants worldwide to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. He served as Chairman from 1980 to 2005. In 1984, he founded California Tomorrow, a non-profit organization committed to helping make California successful as a multiracial, multicultural society and served as Chairman for the next 18 years. He is a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, dedicated conservationist, and past director of the Peace Corps in Malaysia. He was also Co-Founder and Associate Director of the Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco. He has served on numerous boards including the Rosenberg Foundation, the Walter and Evelyn Haas Foundation, and the Abelard Foundations in San Francisco.

Larry L. Bye

Larry L. Bye is a Senior Research Director and Vice President of Field Research Corporation; he also directs the company’s Social Marketing/Health Promotion Practice Group. He has been a national leader in the fields of social marketing and health promotion for more than 20 years. His work spans a number of public health issues including HIV/AIDS, cancer early detection, reproductive health, tobacco control and healthy eating and physical activity promotion. Clients include the World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health as well as many state and local public health jurisdictions and private voluntary organizations.
In the aging area, Larry has directed studies for the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, University of Southern California, Marin Community Foundation and the Goldman Institute on Aging. In addition to professional interest, Larry has a personal one in aging issues: as an only-child he cared for a mother with Alzheimer’s disease for more than five years. He is also part of a group working to develop of one of the first U.S. continuing care retirement communities designed for people interested in contemplative and spiritual practice.

Katie Cardinal

Katie has an extensive non-profit background. She currently serves on the national board of the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund and the International Museum of Women. She is the former Chair of the Board of California Pacific Medical Center and former President of Children’s Hospital. She has been a trustee of Smith College and San Francisco University High School. She was also a two-term president of the Junior League of San Francisco.

Carol Crawford

Carol Crawford is a strategic communicator with 25 years of experience in public relations and marketing management. As the principal of Crawford Communications, she works with clients in consumer marketing, business-to-business marketing, corporate communications, project management, public relations counseling and crisis communications. Carol has a proven ability to define, develop, manage and execute creative public relations strategies that communicate an organization’s brand and key messages to targeted audiences consistently across all media. She has served as an effective company and client spokesperson and has conducted numerous media training programs and briefing sessions. Carol has taught public relations courses at Golden Gate University and University of California Extension. Some of her nonprofit clients have included American Lung Associations of the Bay Area, Hospice by the Bay, Kaiser Permanente, March of Dimes, Meritus College Fund, Pathways Home Health and Hospice, and Peninsula Volunteers.

Belva Davis

Belva has more than 30 years experience as a public affairs journalist in the San Francisco area. Now semi-retired, Davis continues to work as a special projects reporter at KRON-TV and as host of This Week in Northern California on KQED-TV. Davis’ broadcasting career began in radio and included hosting her own show. In 1966, she became the first African-American woman television reporter and anchor on the West Coast. At KPIX, Davis was instrumental in creating and hosting All Together Now, one of the first prime-time public affairs programs in the country to focus on ethnic communities. She joined KQED-TV in 1977, where she hosted A Closer Look and Evening Edition. She moved to KRON-TV in 1981 as a news anchor and urban affairs specialist. In 1981, Davis became co-host of the Sunday morning news and public affair program, California This Week on KRON-TV, which she hosted for 18 years. Davis has won six local Emmy Awards and has been recognized with awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Association of Black Journalists and numerous local organizations.

Catherine Dodd, Ph.D., R.N.

Catherine has worked in the area of health policy for over 20 years. She currently serves in Mayor Gavin Newsom's Office as Deputy Chief of Staff overseeing Health, Human Services, Aging Services and Children Youth and Family Services. Prior to joining the Mayor's staff, she was District Chief of Staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) and prior to that she served as Region IX Director of Health and Human Services as an appointee of President Clinton. Catherine serves on many non-profit organizations as an enthusiastic board member, among them the Glide Methodist Church, the Homeless Prenatal Program, the Breast Cancer Fund, Zen Hospice and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. She has also held many leadership positions at the state and national level in the American Nurses Association.

Carroll L. Estes, Ph.D.

Carroll is the founding and first Director of the Institute for Health and Aging and the former chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing, UCSF. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and past President of three national organizations in aging: The Gerontological Society of America, The America Society on Aging and the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education. She was national vice-president for the Older Women’s League, and has served as a consultant to US Commissioners of Social Security and the US Senate and House Committees on Aging, as well as multiple federal commissions and advisory boards and private foundations.

Anne Hinton, MS

Anne is the Executive Director of the Department of Aging and Adult Services. Anne offers over 30 years of experience in gerontology, including long tenures with Catholic Charities, the City of South San Francisco and the Institute on Aging. She is Chair of the California Long Term Care Coalition and is past president of the Board of Directors of the In-Home Supportive Services Consortium of San Francisco. Anne is also past President of the Multipurpose Senior Services State Association and the Linkages State Association.

Cheri Jackson

Cheri was one of the original employees of Older Adults Care Management (OACM), a home care and care management organization founded by Rose Kleiner in 1982. Cheri set up the organization’s home care program and was there for 10 years, left to work for different assisted living and home care organizations, and returned in 2002 as OACM’s Director under the Institute on Aging. Cheri graduated from Cal State University Sacramento, did graduate work in human resources and business management, and is a Care Manager, Certified (CMC) and licensed Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFE) Administrator. She is a member of the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers, the American Society on Aging, the National Private Duty Organization (a home care group) and recently completed a 3-year term on the San Mateo County Commission on Aging.

Elinore Lurie, Ph.D.

For over 35 years, Elinore was a researcher in human development, mental health and services for the elderly with particular interests in transitional care from hospital to community, and community-based care. She became a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) in 1985. Based primarily at UCSF, she was a program evaluator for On Lok Senior Health Services and Jewish Home for the Aged among many other programs. Elinore taught gerontology at the UCSF and has lectured and published widely in her field. She has served as Executive Director of the Society for the Study of Social Problems and the San Francisco Mental Health Association, and on the boards of many community-based nonprofit organizations, most recently on PECC, San Francisco (1995-2006.) She currently serves on the Board of the Community Living Campaign, San Francisco.

Amy McCombs

After a 30 year career as a successful senior media executive with the Washington Post and the Chronicle Publishing Company, Amy moved to the nonprofit sector and served as President of Heald College from 2004 to 2006. As a volunteer and civic leader, Amy has focused on the issues of social justice, education, the environment and economic development. She has received national and local recognition for her commitment to an informed public, courageous reporting of issues and an invigorated, innovative media. Amy was the winner of a Medal of Honor for Distinguished Service in Journalism from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, B’nai Brith’s First Amendment Freedom Award and the National Headliner Award from the Women in Communications. She has led broadcast organizations that have earned the industry’s most prestigious awards and the recognitions including: Dupont, Emmy, Iris, Radio TV News Directors Association and Associated Press awards. She is currently on the advisory boards of: The Media Convergence Group, an investment, holdings, and consulting group focused on commercializing digital media content with emerging technologies. And Healthline Networks, a global leader in intelligent health information services. She is currently a Director of the San Francisco Symphony, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, the national advisory board for the Commonwealth Club, and a former member of the Smithsonian National Board and AAA Auto Club Group Board. She is also a past President of the California Chamber of Commerce.

Maureen Samson, L.C.S.W.

Maureen Samson has twenty years' experience serving seniors in a variety of roles. In her private practice, Maureen counsels seniors and caregivers in a support group setting as well as on an individual basis. Maureen accepts Medicare and other insurances, and even makes home visits. For twelve years, she was a case manager at Jewish Family and Children's Services, where she also supervised their conservatorship program. In addition to her counseling skills, she is adept at offering advice on planning for long-term care.

Donna Schempp, L.C.S.W.

Donna is program director for the Family Caregiver Alliance in San Francisco, a nonprofit organization that supports caregivers of frail elders and people with chronic illnesses. Previously, she worked with Kaiser Permanente to increase use of community organizations by patients, and was director of senior services at Jewish Family and Children’s Services of the East Bay. Donna also has experience as a medical social worker in hospice and home care and was a caregiver to her own father with Alzheimer’s.

Rabbi Eric Weiss

Rabbi Weiss is the Executive Director of the Jewish Healing Center, an organization dedicated to providing Jewish spiritual care to those living with illness, to those caring for the ill, and to the bereaved through direct service, education and training, and information and referrals. In addition to his rabbinic seminary work, he is formally trained in Jewish education, clinical pastoral care and spiritual direction. He is a spiritual direction supervisor and a co-founder of "Grief & Growing: A Healing Weekend for Individuals and Families." He is a graduate of University of California at Santa Cruz where he received a B.A. in Biology and Judaic Studies. He holds a Masters degree in Hebrew Letters from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Rabbi Weiss was ordained in 1989. He has served on a number of Boards including the national board of the Central Conference of American rabbis (CCAR), the Reform movement's national rabbinic body. Rabbi Weiss has taught extensively throughout the Bay Area, and has been featured in local and national media. His writing has appeared in many publications.