2010 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:
REBECCA SALTZMAN, PRESIDENT
Email: president@ebyd.org
Rebecca Saltzman is the Associate Campaign Director of The Next Generation, a full-service campaign consulting and management, and issue advocacy firm, specializing in environmental and progressive issues in the Bay Area and across California. Prior to this, Rebecca worked for four years as Chief of Staff of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the largest national member-based organization promoting safe and legal access to cannabis for therapeutic use and research.
Outside of work, Rebecca is a public transit and smart growth advocate. In 2008, Rebecca chaired the No on KK campaign committee in Berkeley, helping to defeat this anti-transit ballot initiative with 77% of the vote. She writes a blog, Living in the O, which focuses on Oakland community, politics, and planning, and she can often be found covering meetings at Oakland City Hall, the AC Transit boardroom, and other regional agencies. Rebecca serves as an associate member for the 16th Assembly District on the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee and the California State Democratic Central Committee.
Rebecca graduated with a BA in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, where she co-founded the school’s chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy and the student-run, harm reduction based Drug Resource Center. She worked with Grassroots Campaigns after graduating, leading an office that raised more than one million dollars for the Democratic National Committee.
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JASON OVERMAN, VICE PRESIDENT
Email: vp@ebyd.org
Jason Overman continues his service to the East Bay Young Dems this year as Vice President. He also serves as the Bay Area Deputy Regional Director for California Young Democrats, and is a former elected delegate to the California Democratic Party.
A lifelong progressive committed to social and economic justice, Jason got an early start in politics. Originally from Washington, DC, Jason began his political career on Capitol Hill working for the late Senator Ted Kennedy in 2002. He moved to California in 2003 for college and made history when he was elected to the City of Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board in 2004 at the age of 19, becoming the youngest person elected in the city’s history. Representing approximately 100,000 constituents, he worked to advance the cause of affordable housing for low income and working families.
Professionally, Jason currently works as a field representative for state Senator Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro), primarily staffing issues relating to K-12 and higher education.
Jason has also worked as a community organizer for a children’s literacy non-profit, was a founding member of Citizen Hope, and has been active in the national Young Elected Officials Network through People for the American Way.
Jason earned his B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley.
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RICHARD FUENTES, TREASURER
Email: treasurer@ebyd.org
Richard Fuentes manages the legislative process for Oakland City Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente and is a constituent liaison to District 5. Prior to joining the Council Office, he served as the Senior Development Officer at the Mission Economic Development Agency. Before joining the non-profit sector, Richard worked for the City of Santa Ana in the Economic Development Division as an Economic Development Representative and for the City of Huntington Park in the Community Development Agency as a Planning and Residential Rehabilitation Consultant. Richard is a West Oakland resident and serves on the District 3 Community Development Block Grant Committee. Richard holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from California State University, Los Angeles.
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ANDY KELLEY, SECRETARY
Email: secretary@ebyd.org
Andy has worked on a variety of legislative races and initiative campaigns including Tuition Relief Now, Hancock for State Senate, and Buchanan For Assembly. A community organizer and grassroots activist, Andy first started organizing as a student at UC Berkeley serving on the Board of Directors for the University of California Students Association. Andy is a California native, born and raised in Arroyo Grande, and recently completed his senior year at UC Berkeley.
Currently Andy works for the Courage Campaign political issues committee. In addition to his position in EBYD Andy serves as the Communications Director of the California Young Democrats LGBT Caucus.
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SCOTT ALONSO, AT-LARGE
Scott Alonso is currently a project associate for Kathleen Russell Consulting, a public affairs firm, in San Rafael. Scott is a Peninsula native, but moved to Oakland in 2009. In the fall of 2008, Scott worked for the California Democratic Party in San Francisco for the coordinated campaign. In Hawaii, he was a legislative intern in the state legislature and served as a public relations intern for a congressional campaign. In 2009, Scott joined EBYD, became involved with the by-laws committee, and is excited for the upcoming elections in 2010. A 2008 graduate of the University of Hawaii, Scott currently lives near Lake Merritt, enjoys running around the Lake, reading about the labor movement and American history, and learning how to cook.
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OLGA BOLOTINA, AT-LARGE
Olga A. Bolotina is EBYD executive committee at large member responsible for event coordination and sustainability implementation.
Olga was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia. She recieved her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine degree from St. Petersburg Academy of Veterinary Medicine, Russia. Olga’s long-term interest and passion for sustainability led her to join Presidio School of Management in spring of 2007. Her education, wide-ranging life and business experience and bicultural background give her great sense of appreciation and understanding of important principles of sustainability.
Olga’s primary focus is to inspire human connections that are deep, transparent, compassionate and respectful and nurture the spirit of collaboration, as well as to help businesses develop and share innovative ideas and practical solutions to make sustainability both profitable and attractive.
Olga’s most recent work experience includes developing marketing strategies for sustainable enterprises and building international alliances for information dissemination in sustainability field through web based platforms and visual media. Olga brings to any project her positive, friendly, outcome driven approach and excellent communication skills that allows her to engage people from diverse backgrounds in a conversation.
In 2009 Olga became an active member of EBYD. Prior to that she worked as intern with assembly woman Loni Hancock as well as volunteer coordinator for Obama campaign.
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REUBEN DUARTE, AT-LARGE
Reuben Duarte graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in Legal Studies & Sociology. He currently works as a paralegal at the firm, Katzoff & Riggs, where he specializes in real estate development. Reuben also serves as a Commissioner on the Waterfront Commission for the City of Berkeley. He is a native of the southern San Joaquin Valley from the city of Visalia. Reuben plans on returning to school to receive his Masters in City Planning.
Reuben began his work in politics with the Hillary Clinton for President Campaign in San Francisco and was even selected as an At-Large Delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. During the General Election, Reuben worked with the California Democratic Party in their Oakland Field Office, where he worked with many local organizations and campaigns. At present, Reuben volunteers with the Kamala Harris for Attorney General Campaign. His favorite political memory was going out for drinks with Terry McAuliffe in San Francisco.
As an openly gay young man, Reuben cares deeply about the issues that affect the LGBT community. His other interests are in Economic Development and Transportation Planning. Personally, the only sport he can play well is baseball. He’s a decent bartender and an excellent cook. Reuben, as well as his family, is a lifelong Democrat and believes strongly in the Party and its mission to improve the lives of all Americans.
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SEAN DUGAR, AT-LARGE
A founding member of the Easy Bay Young Dems, Sean Dugar returns to us
this year serving as the At-Largemember coordinating club positions
on public policy. Sean comes back to us fresh from an 8 year stint
with the NAACP where he served in various positions from Berkeley
Youth Council President to his most recent post as State President of
the California NAACP Youth & College Division.
Born and raised in Berkeley, Sean ran for the position of Berkeley
Unified School Board Director in 2002, making him the youngest person
to run for office in the history of Berkeley. With 9 people running
for 3 seats, Sean came in a close 4th place with over 10,000 votes.
Since then he has remained committed to helping progressive candidates
win office having worked on campaigns for Berkeley City Council Member
Kriss Worthington, Oakland Mayor Ronald V. Dellums and San Francisco
Mayor Gavin Newsom just to name a few. In 2008, Sean chaired the Vote
Hard East Bay campaign which registered over 2000 new young voters in
Alameda County.
Today, Sean seeks to continue to advocate for young people and
communities of color. Helping them find their own voices and identify
key issues and solutions through the creation of his non-profit “Young
People Care”.
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EDIE IRONS, AT-LARGE
Edie Irons is the Communications Director for The Institute for College Access & Success, a Berkeley-based nonprofit working to make college more available and affordable for people of all backgrounds. She was the president of the East Bay Young Dems in 2006 and 2007, and has been involved with the club since then.
Edie is an elected member of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee. She served as the Vice President of Membership for the California Young Democrats in 2007, and on the board of the National Women’s Political Caucus – Alameda North chapter from 2007 through 2009. She has volunteered for a ton of local political campaigns since moving home to the East Bay in 2003. Edie has also worked as an Associate Canvass Director at Grassroots Campaigns, as a research intern at the Alameda County Labor Council, and done volunteer fundraising for the League of Young Voters. She graduated from Barnard College in 2003 with a B.A. in History and a minor in Art History.
Edie is an idealistic progressive pragmatist, and is inspired by politicians like Paul Wellstone, Cory Booker, and Debra Bowen. She’s also into bicycling, cooking, gardening, and progressive tax policy.
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JENNIFER PAE, AT-LARGE
Jennifer Pae is the Northern California Chair of the CDP Asian Pacific Islander Caucus and Commissioner of the Oakland Community Policing Advisory Board. She also serves as Vice President of the APA Democratic Caucus of Alameda County, on the board of the National Women’s Political Caucus – Alameda North, and was recognized by her colleagues, the East Bay Young Democrats, with the first “Kick-Ass Youth Advocate Award.”
Jennifer is a strong advocate on behalf of her community because of her experiences in a working class family, raised by a single immigrant mother. Jennifer worked her way through college at UC San Diego where she led campaigns to expand access to higher education and improving campus safety policies by organizing events to prevent violence against women.
After college she was elected to serve as the President of the United States Student Association, representing over 2.5 million college students before Congress, the White House, the Department of Education, and civil rights coalitions, all while managing a $1 million budget and eleven staff.
In 2008, Jennifer volunteered for Senator Obama’s Presidential campaign. Her efforts won her a seat as a California’s only Korean-American DNC delegate, as well as the youngest Korean-American delegate at the DNC Convention.
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ANTHONY SANCHEZ, AT-LARGE
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IGOR TREGUB, AT-LARGE
Igor is honored to serve as your parliamentarian this year! He has been an active member of EBYD since 2008 and previously was involved with the Cal Berkeley Democrats. He is also an Associate Member of the Alameda County Central Committee and sits on the Communications Committee of the California Young Democrats. In 2008, Igor was elected to the City of Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board, where he adjudicates landlord-tenant disputes and promulgates fair housing policies. He also serves as the Vice-Chair of the Berkeley Commission on Labor, is an Advisory Board Member of the New Leaders Council (if you’re a progressive leader in your twenties and thirties, just as him how you can get involved!), and sits on the Progressive Jewish Alliance’s Economic Justice Working Group.
In the daytime, Igor defends the national security through his work as an engineer with the Department of Energy in Livermore. A graduate of UC Berkeley with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and B.A. in Political Science, he currently attends Stanford University part-time, working towards an M.S. in Management Science and Engineering. However, he still only bleeds blue and gold during every Big Game (GO BEARS!)
Igor enjoys training for his first marathon, volunteering his time to various causes, writing fiction, poetry, and, when properly inspired, serenades (REALLY!), and rebuilding a cherry-red 1992 Nissan 300ZX by the name of Eliza.
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FRIEDA EDGETTE, IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT
Frieda is currently a Senior Project Manager at Barbary Coast Consulting, a public affairs firm specializing in strategic communications, community outreach, and government affairs. At Barbary Coast, she works with nonprofits, businesses, schools, and government agencies on issues ranging from solar advocacy campaigns and education to land use.
Prior to joining Barbary Coast, Frieda was a Project Manager with Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights (ANR) and the ANR Foundation — recognized in the 2006 U.S. Surgeon General’s Report as the first and leading national organization to focus on the need for local smokefree indoor air policies. There, she provided technical assistance to more than twenty states and provinces, assisting them in strategic planning, grassroots mobilization, GOTV, and media outreach – and her campaigns won. Frieda was also a technical assistance liaison for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s prestigious Tobacco Policy Change Project.
Frieda is an elected delegate to the California State Democratic Central Committee and state Senator Loni Hancock’s representative on the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee. She has been an active board member of the National Women’s Political Caucus – Alameda North Chapter for three years, chairing its Communications Committee for two, and is involved in a myriad of host committees, including the Young Professionals Finance Committee for San Francisco DA Kamala Harris’s run for Attorney General. In the summer of 2009, Supervisor Keith Carson appointed Frieda to be District 5’s (Oakland, Piedmont, Berkeley) Commissioner on the Alameda County Human Relations Commission.
Frieda graduated cum laude from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a B.A. in Political Science and double minors in History, and Women, Culture and Development. She interned for the National Coalition of History in Washington, DC and studied in South Africa.