Board of Directors

GSA Network’s Board of Directors is a unique partnership between youth and adults, committed to advancing the leadership and mission of GSA Network.

Student leaders from Gay-Straight Alliance clubs across California work in partnership with adult board members to lead the fight against homophobia and transphobia in schools.


		Sam Alavi Sam Alavi is a senior at Aragon High School and the president of her school's GSA. In previous years, Sam has helped lead the GSA through many successful events and campaigns including Ally Week, Harvey Milk Day, and the annual GSA Castro Field trip. She is also Deputy Director of Bay Area Youth Summit (BAYS). Sam has interned for San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee's office and has served on the Teen Advisory Board of Break Through the Static, a mental health organization in Palo Alto, California. Previously, Sam has worked with GSA Network as a Youth Council member and Activist Camp trainer, she is thrilled to be a member of the Board of Directors and Statewide Advocacy Council. Sam enjoys the triumphs and challenges that come with being a straight ally and is looking forward to an exciting year. Outside of activism, Sam enjoys photography, Aragon Outlook Newspaper Staff, and stage managing her school's theatrical productions.

		Richard Cain Richard is a Managing Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he leads the Northern California Emerging Company Services tax practice. He has his Masters in Taxation from Golden Gate University and his undergraduate degree in Finance from Georgetown University. Richard co-founded PwC's San Francisco GLBT Diversity Circle and has participated in AidsLifeCycle for the past six consecutive years. In addition to cycling, Richard enjoys reading, cooking, working out, trying new restaurants and traveling.

		Benji Delgadillo, Vice Chair Currently a student at UC Berkeley, Benji was the President and founder of the GSA club at San Juan Hills High School. Under Benji’s leadership, the GSA fought to make the school a safer and more inclusive place for transgender and gender non-conforming students through GSA Network’s Beyond the Binary campaign. Benji also worked to ensure that LGBT people and history were being included in history classes in his school. Benji first got involved with GSA Network when he attended the GSA Advocacy and Youth Leadership Academy and SoVal Activist Camp. Benji returned to both camps as a youth trainer, trained youth leaders at the first Massachusetts Leadership Camp, as well as at GSA Network's National Gathering of GSA Networks for the second time. In his spare time, Benji enjoys studying politics and art, working on developing his photography company, performing as a drag queen, and knitting.

		Martha Ehrenfeld Martha is a former elementary and middle school science and technology teacher. She has taught in New York City, Cambridge, Massachusetts and San Francisco, California. She has also been an outdoor educator as well as a technology consultant to help teachers integrate technology into their teaching. She is currently very involved in community tennis where she works with the United States Tennis Association Northern California chairing the diversity committee. Other organizations that are close to her heart are the Gay and Lesbian Tennis Federation (former board vice president) Federation of Gay Games (steering committee for Cleveland 2014) and the San Francisco Bike Coalition. She is a graduate of Emerge California, a pro-choice democratic group that trains women to run for office. She loves to cook, plan events and spend time with her family in Maine.

		Karen Gee Karen is a second generation Chinese-American, born and raised in San Francisco. GSA Network was her 20-year-old daughter's second home throughout high school and into her first year of college. Through watching her daughter flourish as an active member of GSA Network, Karen developed a deep appreciation for the rich, life-changing leadership opportunities offered by GSA Network. She is eager to bring her perspective as a proud mom of a GSA Network Alumni to the board. Karen has been working as a Health Educator at Cal's Health Services since 1985. Originally hired to coordinate sexuality programming for the campus, Karen has since worn many work hats over the years. Currently, she is staffing the Health and Wellness Education & Coaching Appointments, which cover a variety of issues such as stress management and sexuality concerns. Karen has a BA in Psychology from the University of California at Berkeley and a MA in Multicultural Education from the University of San Francisco. Karen loves to chat, laugh, cook down home Chinese food, and watch TV.

		Elizabeth Gill Elizabeth is a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California and the ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project. Elizabeth works on cases and campaigns around the country that aim to ensure equal treatment of LGBT people by the government; equal rights and protections for LGBT couples and families; protection from discrimination in jobs, schools, housing, and public accommodations; and fair treatment by the government of people living with HIV/AIDS. Prior to the ACLU, Elizabeth was a litigation associate at Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco, and at WilmerHale in Washington, DC. She graduated from Columbia College and Harvard Law School.

		Keanan Gottlieb In 10th grade, Keanan decided it was time for a GSA at his school. His GSA, The Rainbow Coalition, has become the biggest club with over 25% of the high school participating. They have put on many successful events such as No Name Calling Week, Day of Silence, and Harvey Milk-shakes. After attending a GSA Network Leadership Summit in October 2010, Keanan became interested in advocacy work. After attending GSA Network's GSA Advocacy and Youth Leadership Academy and Queer Youth Advocacy Day in the spring of 2011, he was hooked. Keanan has become involved with Statewide Advocacy Council as well as the Board. When he is not finishing homework, he enjoys playing and coaching soccer, participating in martial arts, playing, listening, and writing music, going to concerts and the theater, studying medicine and forensic science, Harry Potter, and traveling. Keanan plans on becoming a medical examiner and working with healthcare rights and accessibility, specifically in the transgender community.

		Isaias Guzman Currently a student at UC Berkeley, Isaias was President of his Bell High School Gay-Straight Alliance club that works to stop bullying and harassment against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Questioning (LGBTQ) students. Isaias has organized several educational events along with an anti-slur campaign focused on reducing the use of anti-LGBTQ words. Isaias was also a member of the Southern California Youth Council, the California Statewide Advocacy Council, and is a Youth Trainer. In his work with GSA Network, Isaias has helped train and empower hundreds of youth as they work to fight homophobia and transphobia in their schools and communities.

		Trio Harris Trio is a student at UC Santa Cruz, and previously served as president of Carlsbad High School’s GSA. He started working with GSA as a freshmen and fell in love with activism. When he was introduced to GSA Network he felt like he found a place where he belonged. This led to his trip to Sacremento for GAYLA. He often works with the North County Coalition in San Diego which recently raised money for a LGBT resource center. Outside of GSA and activist work Trio remains active in the theatre department. Trio’s ambition is a teaching credential in theatre so he can share his passion for the performing arts with youth. Trio aspires to keep activism a part of him while inspiring others to make it better. Trio was also a part of the Statewide Advocacy Council.

		Jenny Pardini Jenny teaches French at Washington High School in Fremont, California. She is one of three GSA advisors at WHS and has been awarded grants from the California Teacher's Association to help build and support the club. As a high school student, Jenny started the first GSA at Carlmont High School in Belmont, California. During her teenage years, she was very involved in queer youth conference planning with LYRIC and GSA Network. While attending San Francisco State University, Jenny was an active member of the Queer Alliance. Since becoming a teacher, she has been very involved in her local union of which she is also a board member as well as co-chair of the human rights committee. Her passion for activism is a life-long commitment that earned her a regional union award for her Human Rights work in 2010. In her free time, Jenny enjoys corny jokes, attending concerts, watching movies, dancing and traveling the world.

		Kyle Ranson-Walsh Kyle graduated from high school just as the GSA movement was about to sweep the nation. He channeled the energy of his own failed attempt to start a queer high school club into founding the first University-supported LGBT resource center in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 2003, Kyle relocated to the Bay Area after years of California dreaming. Almost immediately he had the good fortune of joining the crew at Pixar Animation Studios where he has had the pleasure to work on Ratatouille, WALL•E, UP and Cars 2. Kyle credits COLAGE for igniting his activist fire and numerous other queer organizations for fanning the flames; he spent his formative teenage years serving on the board of COLAGE, interning for GLAAD, attending NYAC summits and leading workshops at Creating Change. After taking some activist time off for graduate school, Kyle is looking forward to putting his new MBA in Design Strategy to good use on the GSA Network board.

		Andrew Uehling, Board Chair Andrew has been a member of the GSA Network Board since 2009. He was introduced to the GSA Network by Barak Ben-Gal. He is a San Francisco native and went to Saint Ignatius High School. He has a BA in Economics from Georgetown University, an MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business, and certifications as a professional coach from the Coaches Training Institute and a strengths performance coach from Gallup. He is a director of Human Resources at Charles Schwab. Before joining Charles Schwab, he served as head of HR for SoundView Technology Group. Andrew puts his professional background to use as a member of the Compensation and Governance Committees of the Board. Andrew’s family is from both El Salvador in Central America and Nebraska. He also speaks Spanish and Portuguese.

		Bert Vander Meeren, Treasurer Bert is the Global Process Manager for Invoicing Operations at Google in Mountain View. Previously, he worked for McKinsey & Co in Brussels, Belgium and in different roles for Dexia Bank (now Belfius) in Brussels and Paris, France. He obtained a BS in Computer Science (Major in Artificial Intelligence) at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, where he was an active member of the LGBT student organization, and a MBA in Finance from the same University and the William E. Simon School of Business in Rochester, NY. Bert loves mountain biking, reading, eating out, traveling and classical music. He plays the German flute, and sang in the European Union Choir in Brussels, and the Stella Maris Choir in Paris. Bert got bitten by the GSA Network bug while volunteering at the Youth Empowerment Summit in San Francisco, and is looking forward to contributing to GSA Network's success!

		Calen Valencia Calen Valencia is a senior at Tulare Union High School in the South-Central Valley. He is currently a GSA president as well as a peer educator to his classmates and peers on stereotypes and problems that youth face. Attending his first GSA Network event in April, he was quickly inspired by all of the youth who attended Queer Youth Advocacy Day and decided to take it back to the Valley. He then continued the only GSA in his city, as well as inspired other high schools to form one. He has been involved with GSA Network ever since and has reached out to various youth in the valley and encouraged them to make a change. When not doing activism in the LGBT community, Calen runs a blog that targets issues that marginalized groups face, as well as attempts a positive connotation to end stigmas. He also enjoys DIY crafts, good food, and learning new ideas and skills to further the enjoyment of life.

		Mario Vasquez Mario is a senior at SOAR High School and is dually enrolled at Antelope Valley College. Mario is currently the student body president and school site council representative. Mario was inspired to become an activist after attending a GSA Network Leadership Summit, which led him to start the first GSA at his school. Currently it is the largest and most successful club in the school and received two awards during Mario’s presidency. Mario attended GSA Network ‘s Activist Camp, GSA Activist and Youth Leadership Academy and Queer Youth Advocacy Day. He’s also a GSA Network Youth trainer and is part of both SoCal Youth Council and Statewide Advocacy Council. He helped begin the first LGBTQ youth group in the San Fernando Valley and has been involved in LGBT and latino cultural competency trainings for professionals through other organizations. Mario’s activism has extended to various media sources and organizations, even public speaking opportunities. Mario’s commitment to his community, along with his LGBT and political activism, were recognized by the City of Lancaster, California with an award on October 2012.

Contact the GSA Network Board via email: board@gsanetwork.org [1]