Members

Appointment: 2018-2024
Residence: Alameda
Representing: Public

Amy M. Costa was chief deputy director for budget at the California Department of Finance from 2016 to 2018, where she served as advisor to the director on higher education from 2014 to 2016. She was an account lead at Blue Beyond Consulting from 2012 to 2014 and director of state and local government relations at Safeway Inc. from 2010 to 2012. Costa served as associate director of advocacy and state relations at the California State University Chancellor's Office from 2009 to 2010. She served as policy director in the Office of California State Senator Dean Florez from 2008 to 2009, as a policy consultant in the Office of California State Senate President pro Tempore Don Perata from 2005 to 2008 and district director in the Office of California State Senator Don Perata from 2001 to 2005.

Appointment: 2023-2029
Residence: Los Angeles
Representing: Public

Hildegarde Aguinaldo currently serves as Senior Director & Assistant General Counsel for DaVita Inc., an international healthcare company with over 2,500 clinics and 200,000 patients, where she leads a talented team of litigators and legal professionals handling matters nationwide. There, has held key roles in equity efforts, including having developed transformational mission statements, served on interdisciplinary taskforces, and deployed equity training with enterprise impact.

In addition to health care and the law, Ms. Aguinaldo’s longest commitment has been to advocate for the Filipino American community. From 2014 to 2015, following over a decade of involvement in the organization, she served as the President of the Philippine American Bar Association (PABA), where she sharpened PABA’s efforts to advance judicial diversity and promote civic engagement. In 2018, NAPABA recognized Ms. Aguinaldo as one of its "Best Lawyers Under 40." She currently serves on the Board of Governors of the Asian Pacific American Women Lawyers Alliance, where she continues her long-standing work to celebrate the contributions of the Asian American community and empowering students and attorneys to advance in the legal profession.

Appointment: 2023-2025
Residence: Long Beach
Representing: Faculty

Adrienne Brown has been a faculty member for the Los Angeles Community College District since 2013, where she has served as center counselor/coordinator; Umoja founding coordinator; academic advising analyst; articulation officer; and district Academic Senate Guided Pathways Coordinator. Previously she served as HSI-STEM mentor and outreach coordinator for California State University, Fullerton from 2012 to 2013; program coordinator for the University of California TRIO Upward Bound Math-Science program from 2010 to 2012; and as a site coordinator for Think Together from 2008 to 2010. Brown earned a Master of Education degree in Education Counseling from California State University, San Diego. Her college committee service included: Academic Senate; Assessment, Career & Technical Education; Curriculum, Faculty Hiring Priorities Committee; Guided Pathways; Student Services Cluster; and the Student Success Coordinating Committee. Her district committee service includes: District Academic Senate Designee, Online Academic & Academic Technology, Professional Development College Steering Committee, and Guided Pathways. Her Academic Senate for California Community Colleges committee service included: Curriculum, Legislation & Advocacy AB 1111 Feedback Session. Her California Community Colleges service includes the Title 5 Ethnic Studies Taskforce and the Model Curriculum Workgroup, a subcommittee of the Intersegmental Curriculum Workgroup.

Appointment: 2023-2025
Residence: Pleasanton
Representing: Student

Casey Chang has been a Conservation Technician for the Stanford University Habitat Conservation Program and a STEM Peer Support Specialist with the Mission College STEM Learning Center since 2022. She was a member of the Mission Community College District Board of Trustees from 2022 to 2023; Vice President of Communication for the California Community Colleges Student Senate from 2022 to 2023; and Director of Media for the Virtual Statewide Student Advocacy Group from 2022 to 2023.

Appointment: 2020-2026
Residence: Orinda
Representing: Public

Tom Epstein is a veteran government and public affairs executive who is the longest-tenured member and past president of the California Community Colleges Board of Governors. Previously, he was head of public affairs for Blue Shield of California and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Prior to that, he served as special assistant to the president for political affairs in the Clinton White House and deputy commissioner of the California Department of Insurance.

Epstein earned a J.D. from UCLA School of Law and a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is chair of the board of the Coalition for Clean Air and a Senior Fellow at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Appointment: 2019-2025
Residence: Los Angeles
Representing: Public

Felicia Escobar Carrillo is currently Director of Immigration at The Beacon Fund, which works to unleash individual potential by investing in youth and their families, supporting communities, and removing systemic barriers to success. From 2009 2017, she worked for the White House Domestic Policy Council where she advanced President Obama’s immigration legislative and administrative agenda, including the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Escobar Carrillo also served as the Principal Consultant for the L.A. Justice Fund, a public-private partnership to increase access to legal representation for immigrants in deportation proceedings. She has extensive experience on Capitol Hill having worked for former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle on outreach and engagement strategies, and U.S. Senator Ken Salazar’s legislative team. A native of San Antonio, TX, Escobar Carrillo earned a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University, Masters of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a Juris Doctorate from UCLA's School of Law.

Appointment: 2024-2030
Residence: Bakersfield
Representing: Public

Nan Gomez-Heitzeberg, of Bakersfield, has been appointed to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors. Gomez-Heitzeberg served in several roles at the Kern Community College District from 2006 to 2018, including Vice President of Instruction for Bakersfield College, Acting President, Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs and Student Services, Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dean of Instruction and Executive Director/Associate Vice Chancellor of the District’s Child Development Centers. She is a member of the Kern Community College District Board of Trustees, Vice President of the California Community College Trustees Board and a member of the Association of Community College Trustees Board of Directors. Gomez-Heitzeberg earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art and a Master of Arts degree in Art from California State University, Fresno. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100 per diem. Gomez-Heitzeberg is a Democrat.

Appointment: 2022-2028
Residence: Sacramento
Representing: Trustee

Pamela Haynes was appointed to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2016. Haynes has served on the Los Rios Community College District Board of Trustees for more than 20 years, including four terms as board president. She also sits on the Board of Trustees for the Community College League of California and the Los Rios Foundation Board. Before retiring from state service in 2012, she served for eight years as a deputy director and senior consultant for the California State Assembly, Speaker’s Office of Member Services.

Prior to that, she was the legislative director for the Capitol Office of Assemblymember Mark RidleyThomas. Haynes has also worked for the California Labor Federation, ALF-CIO; the City of Sacramento; the Bureau of State Audits; and Department of Health Services. A Santa Monica College transfer student, she has a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Los Angeles and a master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University.

Appointment: 2020 - term end
Residence: San Francisco
Representing: Lieutenant Governor of California

Eleni Kounalakis is the 50th lieutenant governor of California and the first woman elected to the position. From 2010 to 2013, Kounalakis served as President Barack Obama’s Ambassador to the Republic of Hungary. In 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom designated Kounalakis as his Representative for International Affairs and Trade Development, and as Chair of the corresponding Interagency Committee that oversees the state’s trade, investment and international relations. Kounalakis also serves on the State Lands Commission, and as a voting member of the University of California Board of Regents and the California State University Board of Trustees.

Prior to her public service, Kounalakis was president of AKT Development, where she worked for 18 years building housing for the Sacramento region’s working families. She has served as a member of California’s First 5 Commission and the California Blue Ribbon Commission on Autism. Kounalakis graduated from Dartmouth College in 1989 and earned her M.B.A. from U.C. Berkeley. She is the author of “Madam Ambassador: Three Years of Diplomacy, Dinner Parties and Democracy in Budapest.

Appointment: 2023-2029
Residence: Fairfield
Representing: Public

A nationally recognized leader in student affairs and Vice Chancellor Emeritus of UC Berkeley, Harry Le Grande’s illustrious career spans nearly four decades in higher education. Most recently serving as vice president for Student Affairs in multiple interim roles within the California State University system, he returned to retirement in June 2020 but remains a trusted consultant for leaders across the country.

As Vice Chancellor Le Grande has often said throughout his career, “students are not an interruption to our day; they are the reason we are here.”

Once retired and enjoying life away from the office, Vice Chancellor Le Grande returned to the profession because of his unremitting desire to serve the next generation of students through student affairs work. During a time of transition within the California State University system, he was recruited by campus leadership to assume the position of Interim Vice President for Student Affairs at Sonoma State University, California State University, San Bernardino and California State University, Fullerton. He served as the inaugural vice president for Student Experience at California Institute of the Arts and as special assistant to the vice president of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management at San Francisco State.

Le Grande currently serves on the Boards of the BluPeak Credit Union and UC Irvine Alumni Association. He was appointed by Gov. Newsom to serve on the Board of Governors for the California Community Colleges.

Originally retiring from UC Berkeley in 2016 after 35 years, Le Grande had led as chief student affairs officer for nearly a decade, overseeing 19 administrative units with almost 1,500 career positions and an annual operating budget of more than a quarter of a billion dollars. This was a proverbial leadership opportunity 27 years in the making, with Le Grande beginning his professional life as a Golden Bear as a Student Affairs officer in 1981, successively rising through the ranks — from associate director of Housing and Dining Operations to associate vice chancellor of Residential & Student Service Programs — until his appointment as vice chancellor in 2008.

VP Le Grande’s institutional service and contributions to the higher education landscape are as wide-ranging and diverse as his Student Affairs portfolio. This includes serving as an appointee of then-Gov. Brown on the California Student Aid Commission; chair of the Education Funding Model Committee; chair of the Council of Student Affairs Vice Chancellors; principal investigator of the MasterCard Foundation Scholars Program; and vice president of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators. He is also no stranger to the awards podium, having been recognized with the Pillar of the Profession Award from the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA); the Berkeley Citation, the highest honor awarded by the UC’s founding campus; and the Distinguished Service to the Profession Award as well as the Scott Goodnight Award for Outstanding Performance as a Dean/VP from NASPA Region VI. ACUHO-I Parthenon Award, James Hurd Award and others. In 2017, the University of California established the Harry Le Grande Excellence in Mentorship Award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated consistent leadership and a dedication to mentoring African American students, staff or faculty. He earned a bachelor of arts in social ecology from UC Irvine and a master of education in college student services administration from Oregon State.

Appointment: 2022-2024
Residence: Monterey Park
Representing: Student

Paul Medina has been President of the Associated Student Government at Compton Community College since 2022 and a Business Development Associate at Security National Mortgage Company since 2021. Medina was Student Trustee on the Compton Community College District Board of Trustees in 2022 and Regional Affairs Director at the Student Senate for California Community Colleges from 2021 to 2022.

Appointment: 2021-2027
Residence: Los Angeles
Representing: Public

Jennifer L. Perry has been Executive Director of the Children’s Action Network (CAN) since its inception. By marshalling the immense communications power of the entertainment community, CAN inspires the public to take action on behalf of children. CAN is now involved in a national campaign devoted to raising awareness about the 107,000 children in this country waiting for adoptive homes and improving outcomes for the more than 400,000 children in foster care. Perry is also a co-founder of FosterMore, a coalition of media and entertainment companies, nonprofits, businesses and philanthropic organizations working to create greater understanding, empathy, and action to improve the future of youth in foster care.

Prior to her tenure at CAN, Perry was Director of Public Affairs for Act III Communications and served on the Washington, DC staffs of Senator Alan Cranston and Congressman Mickey Leland.

Perry is a recipient of the Nancy Daly Advocacy Award from the Lewis Hine Awards for Service to Children and Youth, Raise A Child Honors and the Evan B. Donaldson Spotlight Award. Under her stewardship, CAN has received an Adoption Excellence Award from the US Department of Health and Human Services and a Television Academy Honors for A Home for the Holidays, CAN’s annual special promoting foster care adoption.

Perry is currently on the board of the Foundation for California Community Colleges and the Children's Law Center of California. She has served as a board member of the North American Council on Adoptable Children and Para Los Niños, as well as Advisor to the Major League Baseball Player’s Trust for Children and on the Los Angeles Commission on Children Youth and their Families, the Los Angeles City Child Care Commission and the Commission on the Status of Women.

She is a graduate of Yale University and she and her husband Andy Spahn are the adoptive parents of two girls.

Appointment: 2022-2024
Residence: Diamond Bar
Representing: Classified Employee

Bill Rawlings has been a coordinator in the Academic Technology & Infrastructure department at Mt. San Antonio College since 1999, after beginning his career in education in 1993. He is a member of the California Educational Technology Professionals Association (CETPA) and the California School Employees Association (CSEA).

Having previously served on the CSEA Board of Directors and as Chair of their Legislative Committee, Rawlings currently serves as the Chair of the CSEA Community College Committee, which researches, educates and communicates with members on the issues and concerns of community college employees. Rawlings has previously represented CSEA on the California Community Colleges Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Committee, Legislative Program Task Force, and the Budget and Legislative Advisory Committee.

Rawlings also currently serves as Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Watchmen Arts Association, a non-profit corporation that provides performing arts education and experiences to youth from throughout Southern California.

Appointment: 2023-2029
Residence: San Diego
Representing: Public

Born and raised in Chula Vista, Mary Casillas Salas has dedicated her career and life's work to family and to the community. Mary is a product of local schools, graduating with honors from San Diego State University.

She began her public service on the Chula Vista Civil Service Commission in 1991 and was then elected to the Chula Vista City Council in 1996. In 2006, she was elected to the California State Assembly where she chaired the Committee on Veteran's Affairs. She also served on the Jobs, Economic Development and Economy Committee, the Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee and the Health Committee.

She returned to local government and elected to the city council in 2012 and in 2014, she made history as the first elected Latina mayor in Chula Vista and San Diego County.

During her tenure as mayor, Chula Vista received national and international recognition for the efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and prevent climate change, smart cities initiatives, and actions to ensure sustainable development. As mayor, Mary paved the way and advanced the development of the Bayfront in partnership with Port of San Diego and in 2022 broke ground on the largest hotel development project on the west coast.

Appointment: 2021-2027
Residence: Lakewood
Representing: Public

Dr. Blas Villalobos is the Chief Executive Officer of Centerstone’s Military Services. As the Chief Executive Officer, Villalobos leads the organization’s delivery of mental health and substance use disorder services to veterans, active duty military personnel, and military families. Villalobos also leads the organization’s partnerships with other military-friendly organizations, including partnerships with Wounded Warrior Project, Cohen Veterans Network, and the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) program.

Previous to his current position, Villalobos served as Veterans Affairs director at Chapman University, where he established the university’s very first Veterans Resource Center. Villalobos also managed Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Office of Veterans Affairs. Under this position, he developed, and implemented, Mayor Garcetti’s strategic vision to leverage private and public resources to assist veterans and their families reintegrate into civilian life, managing the 10,000 Strong Initiative, a program that helped more than 12,000 veterans find full-time employment. Villalobos also served as the Executive Director of Community Programs and Veteran Services for U.S.VETS Patriotic Hall, where he managed the Outside the Wire program, the Career Development Initiative, and the Supportive Services for Veteran Families program. In 2018, Villalobos served as a member of the Veterans Administration Advisory Committee on the Readjustment of Veterans, and was appointed to the committee by VA Secretary Shulkin in 2018.

Villalobos served in the United States Marine Corps from October 1999-October 2003. During his military service, he was deployed to Iraq during the invasion in March 2003, where he served as a Squad Leader during combat operations earning several awards, including the Combat Action Ribbon, Presidential Unit Citation, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Iraq Campaign Medal with two bronze campaign stars, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Humanitarian Service Medal.

After his military service, Villalobos attended Long Beach City College, then graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and holds doctorate and master’s degrees in social work from the University of Southern California.

Appointment: 2024-2026
Residence: Sacramento
Representing: Faculty

Dr. Cirian Villavicencio has over 18 years of experience in higher education. He serves as Co-Chair and Professor of the Department of Political Science at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, California. Before attaining a full-time, tenured position, Dr. Villavicencio served as a part-time political science instructor at American River and Folsom Lake Colleges in Sacramento, California. He was a faculty intern for the Los Rios Faculty Diversity Internship Program.

In his role as a California Community College Board of Governor, Dr. Villavicencio passionately advocates improving student outcomes while reducing equity gaps for students of color and other historically marginalized student populations. He believes in elevating the voice of all California community college students to ensure they thrive and succeed.

Active in local, state, and national politics, Dr. Villavicencio served as a staffer for the California Asian American Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus in the State Capital. He also served as an elected delegate twice to the California Democratic State and Democratic National Conventions. Locally, he served as a citizen member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Advisory Committee (EEOAC) for Sacramento County. Dr. Villavicencio was also appointed by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. and reappointed by Governor Newsom on the California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs (CAPIAA) whose mission serves to elevate the political, economic, and social issues of California Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) for two terms. In 2015-2017, Dr. Villavicencio served as CAPIAA’s chair. Under his direction, he helped pass data disaggregation legislation for the AAPI community, human trafficking legislation, and helped advocate for Filipino WWII Veterans at the federal level to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. Because of his innovative leadership, Dr. Villavicencio was chosen as the inaugural Chair of CAPIAA’s Higher Education Equity Committee and led the advocacy effort to create the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Student Achievement Program for the California Community Colleges and California State Universities to support the needs of first-generation, low-income AANHPI students.

Appointment: 2020-2026
Residence: Rialto
Representing: Trustee

Joseph R. Williams is an elected member of the San Bernardino Community College District Board of Trustees, which oversees Crafton Hills College, San Bernardino Valley College, and Empire KVCR – the PBS and NPR affiliate station for Inland Southern California on TV channel 24 and 91.9 FM. Williams has served on the board since 2013 representing Area 2 which includes the communities of Muscoy, Rialto, and San Bernardino.

Williams is Community Agent of Strategic Partnerships at the Rialto Unified School District and is a governor’s appointee to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors and California Workforce Development Board. Additionally, he is the founder of Youth Action Project (YAP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to preparing Inland Empire students for college and workplace success. Prior to founding YAP, Williams served the County of San Bernardino for nine years, working in behavioral health, workforce development, and sheriff’s departments.

Williams is an alumnus of Crafton Hills College and San Bernardino Valley College. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Redlands, and a master’s degree in social impact from Claremont Lincoln University.