Meet the 2022-2025 Policy Advisory Council Members

"As I grow older, I want to see more low-income Southeast Asian females from the Bay Area seek public office and be appointed to boards and commissions. Like thousands of other Vietnamese refugees who call the Bay Area home, my family resettled in west Oakland in section 8 housing in the early 1980s. I am interested in the possibilities when we, as residents, share common goals in valuing sustainable community health and bringing about transformational change. I am honored to serve as a Council member."

Carina V. Lieu is an accomplished public servant, urban planner and equity specialist dedicated to advancing inclusive and sustainable transportation policies for the Bay Area. As a Policy Advisory Council Member for MTC, Carina leverages her extensive background in transportation planning, community engagement and strategic policy development to represent and amplify the voices of diverse stakeholders.

Currently serving as the Inclusive Community Engagement Officer for the City of Oakland, Carina brings over 15 years of professional experience in public policy, strategic planning, and capacity-building. Her expertise in fostering cross-departmental collaboration and trust-building aligns closely with MTC's mission to create innovative and equitable solutions for the region's transportation challenges.

Carina holds a Master's in Urban Planning from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor's in Ethnic Studies and Asian American Studies from UC Berkeley. She has worked across various sectors, including local government, education and nonprofits, where she has successfully managed programs, implemented policies and facilitated initiatives that prioritize equity and community-led decision-making.

"I come from a household where commuting an hour (each way) for work and school to another county is the norm due to housing affordability. Growing up in a bilingual immigrant household made me acutely aware of the navigation of systems that is required to make ends meet in one county while living in another. As I grew older, I followed in my parents' footsteps and became a navigator of systems and programs myself, both for my family and others in my community because of language, immigration and economic barriers that we shared. These experiences have shaped and defined the voices and experiences I center in my advocacy work. As a member of the MTC Policy Advisory Council, my contribution would center the experiences of communities who bear the brunt of social, economic and environmental injustices in the North Bay counties of Napa, Sonoma and Marin."

Gabriela Orantes is the Just Recovery Fellow at the North Bay Organizing Project, a grassroots, multi-racial and multi-issue organization comprised of over 22 faith, environmental, labor, student and community-based organizations in Sonoma County. As a Fellow, her role is to support the Latino Community Foundation’s Just Recovery cohort of Sonoma and Napa county partners to leverage, coordinate and advance civic engagement and community advocacy in the region, post-2017 wildfires. Through this work, she has been an advocate for language justice in formal disaster response and government spaces by highlighting the intersections of language, disasters and public participation. Her academic and career paths are informed by her upbringing in an immigrant household in northern California that benefited from the deep relationships and support of the Fairfax-San Anselmo Children's Center, one of the first non-profit daycare centers in the nation. She is a graduate of the Board and Commissions Leadership Institute class of 2020 (Urban Habitat) and California Rural Legal Assistance’s Social Justice & Legal Services Interpreter Training 2021. Gabriela serves on the Steering Committee of the Sonoma County Community Organizations Active in Disasters (COAD) and is a member of the Sonoma County Public Health Department Health Equity Community Work Group, which was formed in May 2020 to advise the county's COVID-19 response in Latinx communities across the county.

"Low-income and people of color deserve to thrive in healthy, safe and affordable neighborhoods. These populations face the brunt of climate and environmental injustices. Our local and regional plans must include these populations."

Diana Benitez is a Berkeley resident and Senior Manager of Advocacy and Engagement at Canal Alliance in San Rafael. In her role at Canal Alliance, she works alongside low-income and communities of color to create healthy, safe and affordable communities in the County of Marin. She has worked on general plans, racial equity, early care and education, and greenhouse gas reduction analyses in the academic, non-profit and private sectors. Diana is a member of the Steering Committee of the American Planning Association (APA) California Planners4Health Initiative. She obtained a Master's degree from UCLA and a Bachelor's degree from CSUN in Urban and Regional Planning.

"Lifting up the perspectives of transit riders throughout the Bay Area will help inform and create policies that best address our region's growing issues of inequality, access to opportunity and climate change."

Zack Deutsch-Gross brings over a decade of local, state and federal policy and advocacy experience to MTC's Policy Advisory Council. Born and raised in San Francisco, for Zack, transportation is not just about getting from A to B but fundamentally about engaging with each other and building community. Zack is committed to lifting the voices of the region's most marginalized communities to craft thoughtful, innovative policies that support an equitable, affordable, sustainable and thriving Bay Area for all. Zack is the Policy Director at TransForm, a Bay Area nonprofit that promotes walkable communities with excellent transportation choices. He serves on the I.T. Bookman Community Center board in San Francisco and holds a Master's in Public Policy from U.C. Berkeley.

"People should have systems that work well for them. Transportation is no exception!"

Christine Fitzgerald has been in the disability community since birth. Throughout school and beyond, she has been actively interested in social justice issues concerning women, LGBT and disability — you might say, these focuses are so much a part of who she is, to not actively be involved in any of these issues would be like being a fish out of water! Christine firmly believes that lacking good infrastructure that can help people with disabilities get from one place to another would seriously decrease a person’s ability to attain a job, go to school, or in so many other ways be an active participant in the larger community.

Christine serves on many different community commissions and committees including the County Voters Accessibility Advisory Committee, the Committee for Transportation Mobility Access, and the Access and Functional Needs Task Force.

"The solutions we rely on today worked well for 20th century problems, but now we are in the 21st century. It is time for us to revisit our past assumptions in order to find the best solutions that fit our times."

With a B.S. in physics from C-MU and 3 years of study in architecture, Gerry Glaser has found it easy to apply his technical and design skills in a variety of businesses spanning from architecture, food processing, semiconductor, mini-supercomputer production, manufacturing software systems, and most recently in electric vehicle manufacture and deployment as developer, systems architect and manager.

Living in the Bay Area for more than 50 years, and with a passion for addressing the climate crisis, he has worked in his various civic roles as a planning commissioner (in both the South Bay and the North Bay), a sustainability commissioner and collaborator in authoring Civic Climate Action Plans and General Plan updates. He is currently serving as the President of the North Bay Electric Auto Association.

“I am determined to help create safer and healthier communities by adopting policies that result in outcomes for clean industry, clean air, less traffic and the ability to utilize green public transportation (as public transportation is good for our environment and open spaces, and offers good-paying jobs to the community).”

William Goodwin is a community advocate who understands the intersectionality between environmental justice, health equity and housing. He has partnered with a number of non-profit organizations throughout the Bay Area to help accelerate the social and economic mobility of underserved families. He is a graduate of the Board and Commissions Leadership Institute (Urban Habitat), and serves as a Board Member with East Bay Housing Organizations (EBHO). His advocacy work has allowed him to participate in several areas of interest, including the Pittsburg Unified School District (Ethnic Studies Advisory Committee), Family Independence Initiative (Community Advisor - Social Capital), Hope Solutions - Resident Empowerment Program (Housing Justice), and the Center for Human Development (East County Community Leaders Network), to name a few.

“I joined the Policy Advisory Board to effect responsible and meaningful change in my local community (Solano County) and the San Francisco Bay Area.”

 

Dwayne Hankerson worked for the Oakland Housing Authority in several different roles over twenty years.  Staring as a Housing Manager, he was responsible for several tasks on developing solutions to resident problems surrounding self-sufficiency.  Additionally, in this role he served as a resource for public and private agencies and individuals in the community concerned with the housing of low-income people.

He has worked on several Hope VI projects, which have resulted in more quality and affordable housing for the residents of Oakland.

As a Housing Assistance representative, he analyzed obstacles and devised strategies to eliminate barriers, while providing direct assistance to program participants and property owners regarding resources and HUD regulations.  

“Every county in the Bay Area has unique challenges for transportation and housing. Serving on the MTC Policy Advisory Council is a great opportunity for me to represent the communities of color in one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the nation. The work that I will do for the Policy Advisory Council will allow me to educate my community on the many ways we can utilize transportation and housing services.”

Johnny Parker is the Branch Head/Supervising Librarian for the Vacaville Town Square Library of Solano County. He has 20 years of military and public government experience, specializing in community outreach. Johnny is a disabled veteran, and since 2016 has worked with various Bay Area disability organizations, such as Disabled American Veterans. He served in military operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, earning the National Defense Service Medal, Air Force Longevity Service Award, and Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Valor. After serving four years in the United States Air Force and 10 years for the Las Vegas Public Library, the San Franciscan relocated back to the Bay Area in 2016 and was surprised by the many changes that the Bay Area has experienced.

Along with leading a public library branch in Solano County, Johnny also provides outreach to communities of color, including a Reading at the Barbershop program, where he distributes free books to barbershops and salons in Fairfield, Vacaville and Vallejo. This outreach encourages young boys of color to read at an early age and raises their reading level to be on par with their peers. Johnny has an A.A.S. in Information Technology from the Community College of the Air Force, a B.S. in Management from National American University, an M.B.A. in HR Management from the University of Phoenix and an M.S. In Information Science from the University of Tennessee.

"Climate change and equity are two of the biggest challenges and opportunities that face our region. MTC is well situated to make meaningful progress on these complex issues and I look forward to collaborating with my fellow council members, the Commissioners and staff to advance important work in our community."

Phillip Pierce is a Senior Public Policy Manager at Zoox, where he leads city policy strategy for the all-electric, autonomous vehicle company. Prior to joining Zoox, he managed public affairs and government relations for the SFMTA, working on many of San Francisco's largest transportation planning and construction projects. He is a passionate urbanist and environmentalist, having run multiple political campaigns and worked with advocacy organizations focused on making cities more sustainable and equitable. On weekends, you will find him taking long bike rides and exploring the Bay Area.

Sympathy may “go so far as to enable a man to be moved emotionally by statistics. This capacity for abstract sympathy is as rare as it is important.” - Education and the Good Life by Bertrand Russell

Vinay Pimple came to the U.S. from India to pursue graduate studies in English Literature and Women’s Studies. After his university denied him teaching opportunities due to his blindness, he trained and worked as a software engineer. Later, he obtained a law degree from U.C. Berkeley, and his attorney’s license. Like a lot of blind folks, he is looking for a job.

Vinay served on the Richmond City Council. As Council member, he represented Richmond on the West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee. He has volunteered with many local groups working for the environment and the needs of inner-city youth.

Vinay is interested in promoting driverless vehicles to promote independence for seniors and the disabled, and to mitigate the environmental impact of transportation. He is interested in traffic safety to combat preventable disabilities. He is committed to well-researched, and to the most cost effective solutions.

“Stakeholder driven planning and advocacy and cost-effective timely delivery of transportation projects are critical in our ability to address our environmental and social challenges. New ways of thinking and more efficient project delivery processes are needed to make the best use of our limited resources.”

Jeff Rhoads, a Bay Area native, has a BA in Architecture from UC Berkeley and a Master of Architecture from MIT. He has lived in San Mateo, Alameda and Marin Counties. His passion for cities began in high school with the preparation of a plan to reopen Redwood Creek to revitalize Downtown Redwood City. This led to a career in architecture, town planning, urban design and construction. His city building experience includes the New Town of Valencia, California, and Summerlin, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jeff’s partnership secured the debt and equity, allowing his team to design and entitle Artisan Park, a 208-acre walkable master-planned community in Helena, Montana.

Jeff is the Executive Director of Resilient Shore, a San Rafael-based nonprofit project. Since returning to Marin in 2010, he has focused on transportation resiliency, flood risk management and sea level rise adaptation in San Rafael. His interests include multi-modal transportation networks, urban design, historic preservation and place-making. Extended family, bicycling, hiking, antique bottles and vocal music bring joy to his life.

"I serve on the Policy Advisory Council because I feel well-qualified to provide input to help meet the varying transportation challenges that face the Bay Area. I’ve lived in five of the nine Bay Area counties and understand how unique each one is, and how significantly different each of the transportation needs and requirements are. I also understand the variety of needs that individual residents have at the various stages of their lives, and how jobs/housing balances change in each county. All of our counties basically share similar housing needs and diverse transportation requirements."

Terry Scott is graduate of San Jose State University with a degree in Social Sciences (history, political science & geography). A 52+ year Bay Area resident, Terry has lived in in Napa County for the past 23 years. After an early retirement from the staffing industry, he has dedicated himself to community service. He served 27 years as a city and county planning commissioner and several years as Treasurer & Vice President of the California County Planning Commissioners Association. Terry is an experienced manager, executive, CEO, business owner and consultant. He also served several years as a member and president of the Napa County Wild Life Conservation Commission. He is currently the proprietor and land use consultant for Wine Country Consulting in Napa, and chairs the Napa County Housing Element Advisory Committee. He has previously worked in staffing company mergers and acquisitions, utility management, and international human resources consulting. For the last 2+ years, he served as the Napa County Senior Council Member on the MTC Policy Advisory Council.

“By year 2030, over 250,000 seniors will live in San Francisco — most desiring to stay in their own homes and neighborhoods — and to thrive independently as long as possible. Effective transit, transportation and planning can be efficient investments that mitigate institutional/medical costs and social impacts, while increasing the contentment of a vulnerable population.”

Howard Wong is an architect, environmental/transit advocate and neighborhood activist. He serves on the boards of NEXT Village (aging-in-place), San Francisco Tomorrow, Sierra Club and SaveMuni — and is active on the Transbay Joint Powers Authority CAC, Port’s Southern Advisory Committee, Telegraph Hill Dwellers, North Beach Neighborhood Courts, A Better Chinatown Tomorrow and District 3 Democratic Club. Past boards include SF Heritage, SPUR, Chinese Historical Society of America, Neighborhood Parks Council and International Federation of Professional/Technical Engineers and Local 21.  His architectural work includes institutional/transportation projects, historic preservation and ADA master plans. He is a native of San Francisco and a lifelong Muni rider.