Board of Advisors

Evan Bayh

Evan Bayh is a Partner with McGuireWoods, a strategic advising firm in Washington, D.C., as well as a senior advisor to Apollo Management in New York. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1999, representing Indiana for two terms before retiring in 2011. As a leading moderate, Bayh worked in a bipartisan manner to seek consensus on several key issues, including financial services reform and health care. He also was a leading voice advocating fiscal restraint on government spending. Prior to serving in the Senate, he was elected to two terms as governor of Indiana from 1989-1997, where he enacted welfare reform, cut taxes, and brought about fiscal discipline to the state’s budget. He also served as Indiana’s Secretary of State from 1986-1989. Bayh holds a law degree from the University of Virginia and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco.

Henry Cisneros

Henry Cisneros is founder and Executive Chairman of CityView, an institutional investment firm that works with urban homebuilders to create homes priced within the range of average families. CityView is a partner in building more than 60 communities in 13 states, incorporating more than 7,000 homes with a home value of over $2 billion. In 1981, Mr. Cisneros became the first Hispanic-American mayor of a major U.S. city – San Antonio, Texas, serving four terms. In 1992, President Bill Clinton appointed Mr. Cisneros to be Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he was credited with initiating the revitalization of many of the nation’s public housing developments and with formulating policies that contributed to achieving the nation’s highest-ever homeownership rate. Cisneros holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Texas A&M University. He earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University, studied urban economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, holds a Doctorate in Public Administration from George Washington University, and has been awarded more than 20 honorary doctorates from leading universities.

Richard Costigan

Richard Costigan is a recognized political and policy strategist and advocate in California for over two decades, bringing unique insight and practical experience from the public and private sectors. He served as deputy chief of staff and legislative affairs secretary to Governor Schwarzenegger, and was involved in all aspects of administration policy. His responsibilities included being the liaison between the Governor, the Legislature, and California's many agencies and departments on policy development and implementation. Mr. Costigan has previously served in the California State Assembly as the chief of staff to two minority leaders and the Caucus Policy Director. Since 2011, Richard has served on the Board of CalPERS, the largest public pension fund in North America. As Chair of the influential Finance and Administration, he has oversight of the $1.7 billion operating budget and 2800 positions, setting the fund’s discount rate, risk management, liquidity and treasury management and other financial issues. Currently, he is the senior director of State and Government Affairs for the national law and consulting firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips. Mr. Costigan is a graduate of the University of Georgia and the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama.

John Danielson

John Danielson is an accomplished nationally and internationally respected executive who believed early in his 25-year career that the private sector, working closely with the public entities, had an important role to play in the creation of improved education systems and technologies for all children. Along with former United States Secretary of Education Rod Paige, John co-founded the Chartwell Education Group, LLC, an international education-consulting firm headquartered in New York City with offices in Washington, D.C. and London. Chartwell has successfully executed a variety of global education projects in Europe, India and South America with a particular expertise in Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan where John has worked extensively. In 2009 Chartwell was restructured into the Chartwell Hamilton Group LLC; John serves as its Chairman and Managing Director. Currently John provides thought-leadership, advice and counsel across the domestic and international education sector through targeted consulting assignments and board service to a range of companies including EDMC, Declara, Vatterott Educational Centers, and The University of the Potomac. He is a Senior Advisor to American Prison Data Systems, Ayata and Speakaboos. John is a native of Houston, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in business. He has three children and resides in Washington, DC.

Lord Ian Duncan of Springbank

Ian Duncan is a member of the House of Lords, the upper chamber of the British Parliament, having been ennobled by Her Majesty the Queen in 2017. He is a serving Minister in the UK Government, with responsibility for Northern Ireland and for Scotland. His ministerial portfolios include energy and climate change, environment and rural affairs. Ian was formerly a member of the European Parliament for Scotland from 2014 until 2017. Prior to his election Ian was head of the Scottish Parliament’s EU Office in Brussels, responsible for relations between the Parliament and the EU institutions, and later European Advisor to the Parliament and Clerk to the Parliament’s European & External Relations Committee. Previously Ian held a number of high profile public affairs positions in Scotland, including Secretary of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation and Head of Policy & Communications for the Scottish Refugee Council. Ian began his career as a researcher with BP focusing upon Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics. Ian holds a first class degree in geology from St Andrews University and a doctorate from Bristol University. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society. Ian interned at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, and at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University. After completing his studies, Ian was a teaching fellow at Bristol University. In his spare time, Ian paints and has exhibited his work in Brussels, London and Glasgow.

Werner Faymann

Kathay Feng

Kathay Feng is Common Cause’s National Redistricting Director and California Common Cause’s Executive Director. Feng spearheaded two successful initiative campaigns to create an independent commission to redistrict state and congressional districts in California. The Citizens Redistricting Commission attracted 30,000 applicants, took testimony from 20,000 people, and drew maps for Ca. congressional and state districts.
Feng also led efforts to successfully pass Online Voter Registration and Same Day Registration in California. In its first month of implementation in 2012, Online Voter Registration brought in 800,000 new voters, with 1/3 under the age of 25. Since 2006, she has helped anchor California’s Election Protection efforts. In Los Angeles, she helped win improvements to the Matching Funds system to incentivize candidate interaction with small donors and regular voters. Prior to Common Cause, Feng directed the Voting Rights and Hate Crimes Unit at Asian Americans Advancing Justice.

Vicente Fox

A visionary leader with a deep understanding of the economic and social challenges facing Latin America, Mexico’s former president Vicente Fox is one of the world’s most important voices on the contemporary geo-political landscape, and in particular regarding the role of business in the developing world. When elected to the presidency of Mexico in 2000, Fox broke the stranglehold that the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party held at the federal level for seven decades. A charismatic reformer, he is credited with playing a vital role in Mexico’s democratization and strengthening the country’s economy. During his six-year tenure, Fox succeeded in controlling inflation and interest rates, and in achieving the lowest unemployment rate in Latin America. Prior to entering politics, Fox served as president of Coca-Cola in Mexico. Both as a business leader and politician, President Fox always sought the common good and gave his support to Mexico’s people.

Monika Langthaler-Rosenberg

Director, The Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative

Evan McMullin

Evan McMullin is a co-founder and executive director of Stand Up Republic (SUR), a national grassroots organization advancing American democracy through political reform and government accountability. Since 2017, SUR has mobilized cross-partisan coalitions including Democrats, independents and center-right Republicans in support of pro-democracy candidates and initiatives, often providing critical swing votes in the competitive elections it enters. In August 2016, Evan announced his candidacy for President of the United States as an independent conservative, attracting support for his principled defense of liberty, equality, and the Constitution. Evan selected Mindy Finn as his running mate and, after winning 21.5% of the vote in Utah, their three-month campaign became one of the most successful third-party presidential candidacies in U.S. history. Prior to his campaign, Evan served as chief policy director for the House Republican Conference where he led a team of advisors covering all matters of domestic and foreign policy. Evan had previously served as a senior advisor to the House Foreign Affairs Committee where he conducted oversight of U.S. foreign policy and advised members of Congress on related issues. Evan started his career with the Central Intelligence Agency in 1999. He spent much of his service as an undercover operations officer running clandestine counter-terrorism and traditional intelligence operations in conflict zones and other hostile environments in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Evan earned various citations and advancements for his efforts. After over a decade with the Agency, Evan joined Goldman Sachs’s Investment Banking Division in San Francisco where he worked on a variety of strategic and capital raising projects in the industrial, consumer products, renewable energy, and other industries. Evan currently serves as a board director at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, appears regularly in national media to advocate for founding ideals, government accountability and political reform, and is a lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. Otherwise, he spends as much time as possible in the mountains of Utah where he was born and now lives. Evan earned a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies from Brigham Young University and earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Thurgood Marshall Jr.

Thurgood Marshall Jr works at the intersection of law, business, politics and policy. He has practiced law, held senior government appointments, and he serves on an array of corporate and non-profit boards. During nearly two decades as an international law firm partner, he represented witnesses and companies involved in congressional investigations and public policy. Thurgood served in each branch of the federal government. He was a member of the White House senior staff in the Clinton Administration, holding the position of Assistant to the President & Cabinet Secretary from 1997 to 2001. He was Director of Legislative Affairs to Vice President Al Gore during the first term. Before that, he held a series of counsel positions on three U.S. Senate Committees and he began his legal career as a law clerk to US District Judge Barrington D. Parker.

Mary D. Nichols

Ronald L. Olson

Ronald L. Olson is a name partner in the Los Angeles office of Munger, Tolles & Olson. Mr. Olson’s practice involves a combination of litigation and corporate counseling. He counsels individual executives and boards of directors in a wide range of matters, including transactions and corporate governance. Mr. Olson has also been the lead partner in numerous high-profile litigation matters. Mr. Olson is a director of Berkshire Hathaway, Edison International, City National Corporation, Graham Holdings Company, and Western Asset Trusts. He serves as a director of several non-profits, including the RAND Corporation (formerly chair), the Mayo Clinic, and the California Institute of Technology. He was chairman of the American Bar Association’s Litigation Section (1981-1982) and the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary (1991-1992). He was also chairman of the board of trustees of Claremont University Center and Graduate School (1984-1994), founding chairman of the board of trustees of Southern California Public Radio (1999-2004) and a director of the Council on Foreign Relations (2002-2010).

Ben Paul

Ben Paul is the CEO of After-School All-Stars (ASAS), a national non-profit founded by Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1998. ASAS provides after-school programs to over 75,000 students from low-income families in over 50 cities from New York to Hawaii. Today, ASAS is the largest national after-school program uniquely focused on providing comprehensive school-based programs. Ben combines his passion for helping kids and families with nearly 20 years of business management and entrepreneurism. Prior to ASAS, Ben was a founding partner of a Los Angeles real-estate investment group; worked at International Consultants on Targeted Security, an anti-terrorism flight-security firm; and served four years in the Israeli army, retiring as a company commander. Ben has served on numerous non-profit boards, including the Board of Trustees of America’s Promise Alliance, a collaborative network founded by Colin and Alma Powell. Ben was the co-founder and Board Chair of three charter school networks, Larchmont Charter Schools, Valley Charter Schools and City Charter Schools.

Fran Pavley

Fran Pavley has served three terms in the California State Assembly. She became known as one of the most effective legislators in Sacramento. Serving with integrity and vision, the former Mayor of Agoura Hills and longtime public school teacher, had over 70 of her bills and resolutions become law. During her tenure in the Assembly, Fran focused on education, the environment, consumer protection, public safety and creating a clean, secure energy future for California and the U.S. Her landmark legislation on global warming has become a model for other states and countries to follow. For example, 11 other states and Canada have modeled their laws after Fran's Clean Car Regulations, AB 1493, (also known as the Pavley Bill). As the author of the "Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006" (AB 32), there will now be a cap on greenhouse gas emissions emitted from California. This will help spur an increased investment in alternative fuels, renewable energy and clean technologies. Her leadership on the most important environmental issue facing our world in the 21st Century has been recognized by many entities, including being selected as one of Scientific American's Top Technology Leaders in Transportation, and receiving the 2006 California League of Conservation Voters "Global Warming Leadership Award" along with former Vice President Al Gore.

Rick Saines

Rick Saines is a Partner at Pollination, a global climate change advisory and investment firm. He is a globally recognized as a leading climate change lawyer, and for two decades has advised governments, multinational companies, financial institutions, funds and project sponsors on the economic transition to a low carbon economy, including being a thought leader on carbon and environmental market transactions. He is officially recognized by Chambers USA and Chambers Global as a leading climate change lawyer, an accolade he has held for 10 years. He is a former Partner and head of Baker McKenzie’s North American Climate Change Practice; and former Chair, International Emissions Trading Association. He was Awarded Chevalier of the National Order of Merit by the President of the Republic of France for his significant contribution to the preparation of the Paris Climate Summit, and the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Jacqueline Salit

Jacqueline Salit is President of Independent Voting, the unique national non-profit representing the 40% plus of Americans who choose not to identify with a political party - the independent voter. Salit is a 30-year veteran of the push for a paradigm shift to nonpartisan elections and governance, playing vital roles in major independent presidential campaigns and national and state reform battles for the voting rights of independents. She ran the Independence Party segment of Michael Bloomberg’s three successful mayoral campaigns in New York, has served as an architect of a Black and Independent voter alliance, and founded The Neo-Independent magazine.
Salit is the author of Independents Rising (Palgrave MacMillan, 2012), a chapter on independent voters (with Thom Reilly) in Democracy Unchained (New Press, 2020) and the afterword for In the Balance of Power (Omar Ali, Ohio University Press, 2020.) Salit is also a playwright, a member of the Dramatists Guild and a writer at the Naked Angels Theatre and the Castillo Theatre in New York. Her plays include Shackleton on Ice, Votes, The Society of One-Hit Wonders, and Carol and the Grapes of Wrath.

Erroll G. Southers

Dr. Erroll G. Southers is a former FBI Special Agent, Professor of the Practice in National and Homeland Security, Director of the Safe Communities Institute and Director of Homegrown Violent Extremism Studies at the University of Southern California (USC) Sol Price School of Public Policy. Dr. Southers was President Barack Obama’s first nominee for Transportation Security Administration Assistant Secretary and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Deputy Director for Critical Infrastructure of the California Office of Homeland Security. He served as Assistant Chief of Homeland Security and Intelligence at the Los Angeles World Airports Police Department, police officer and gang expert with the Santa Monica Police Department and enjoyed the distinction of being a member of FBI SWAT. As the author of Homegrown Violent Extremism, he is a noted counterterrorism expert and security analyst to a variety of media networks, lectures and consults around the world. Dr. Southers earned his undergraduate degree from Brown University, and he holds masters and doctoral degrees in public policy from USC.

Terry Tamminen

Terry Tamminen is a Strategic Advisor to the R20 Regions of Climate Action and its Founding Chair, Arnold Schwarzenegger, where he assists with the design and implementation of climate-resilient economic development projects. In 1993 Mr. Terry founded the nonprofit Santa Monica Baykeeper (now Los Angeles Waterkeeper) and co-founded Waterkeeper programs in five California watersheds. He later served as Executive Director of the Environment Now Foundation in Santa Monica, CA, and co-founded the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic at UCLA’s School of Law. In 2003 Governor Schwarzenegger appointed Tamminen as Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, and later as Cabinet Secretary – the governor’s chief policy advisor. During his service to the governor he was the architect of several sustainability policies, including California’s landmark Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The public service success led Tamminen in 2007 to found Seventh Generation Advisors, a non-profit designed to assist state and national governments in adopting clean energy and sustainability policies based on the California model. That year he also was appointed as an Operating Advisor to Pegasus Capital Advisors, a private equity fund that provides capital to middle market companies across a variety of industries specializing in resource efficiency and sustainable technologies.

Katherine Whelan

Katie Whelan is a Senior Legislative Advisor with Venable LLP, where she represents clients on a broad range of issues appearing before the nation’s governors, attorneys general, members of the U.S. House and Senate, the White House, and various federal agencies. She advises clients in developing public-private partnerships between business interests and federal, state and local governments, and has been particularly active navigating issues impacting California. Ms. Whelan previously was a senior public policy advisor at Patton Boggs LLP, a senior advisor to former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and executive director of the Democratic Governors Association. While with the DGA she provided strategic insight for elections and campaigns to governors and gubernatorial candidates nationwide; served as the principal liaison to the White House, the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic House and Senate Campaign Committees, and the Clinton-Gore presidential campaigns of 1992 and 1996; and worked with the National Governors, Republican Governors, and Western Governors Associations on a broad span of federal, state, and municipal matters. Whelan also served on the general election staff of the Democratic National Committee in 2000.

Christine Todd Whitman

Christine Todd Whitman is President of the Whitman Strategy Group, a consulting firm specializing in energy and environmental issues and offering comprehensive solutions to problems facing businesses, organizations, and governments. From 2001-2003 she served President George W. Bush as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she promoted common-sense environmental improvements and regulations. Under her leadership, the EPA established the first federal program to promote redevelopment and reuse of previously contaminated industrial sites, or “brownfields.” Prior to serving in the president’s cabinet, Whitman was the 50th governor of New Jersey from 1994-2001 and the first woman elected to that office in state history. She earned praise from both Republicans and Democrats for her commitment to preserve a record amount of state land as permanent green space, and was recognized by the National Resources Defense Council as having instituted the most comprehensive beach monitoring system in the nation. Governor Whitman serves on the Advisory Boards of the Corporate Eco Forum as well as Reform New Jersey Now; the Board of Trustees’ Executive Committee of the Eisenhower Fellowships; the Board of Directors of the Council of Foreign Relations, the American Security Project, Americans Elect, Texas Instruments Inc., United Technologies Corporation, and S.C. Johnson and Son, Inc. She is a co-chair of Clean and Safe Energy as well as the Aspen Health Stewardship Project.

Kandeh Yumkella

Dr. Kandeh K. Yumkella is an internationally renowned consultant, a distinguished development economist and an expert in agricultural economics with over 25 years of experience. He is founder and CEO of The Energy Nexus Network (TENN), a regional ecosystem hub for sustainable energy solutions. Previously he served for almost two decades in United Nations System including as Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and founding Chief Executive Officer for the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Initiative (2013 – 2015). He also served two four-year terms as Director-General of the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO, 2005- 2013). In both capacities, inter alia, he mobilized global consensus for SDG-7 and SDG-9. Currently, he serves on both the Pan-African Parliament and the Parliament of Sierra Leone while continuing his global engagements as a member of various international advisory bodies, boards and commissions.