Rebecca Cokley

Rebecca Cokley is the Program Officer for the Ford Foundation’s first-ever U.S. Disability Rights program, which is focused on strengthening the field, driving efforts at disconnecting disability and poverty, building a pipeline of diverse leadership, and mobilizing resources toward disability rights work. Prior to joining Ford, Rebecca was the co-founder and Director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress, where she built out a progressive policy platform that protected the rights and services disabled people depend on for survival. At CAP, she stewarded a campaign that resulted in an unprecedented 12 presidential candidates developing disability policy platforms. A three-time presidential appointee, Rebecca served in key policy roles at the U.S. . Department of Education (where she introduced the language of the “ADA Generation’) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as oversaw diversity and inclusion efforts for the White House. This included four years as the Executive Director for the National Council on Disability. Rebecca has spoken at Netroots Nation, New York City Comic-Con, Yale University, the Women’s March National Conference and given a TedX talk. Rebecca has published with The Body Is Not An Apology, Rewire, CNN, Refinery 29, the Washington Post, and been a guest on MSNBC and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Rebecca sits on the board of directors for Rockwood Leadership Institute, the NY Women’s Foundation, and Common Cause and is an Equity Advisory Board member for Sephora. Rebecca has a Bachelor’s Degree in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz where she was a Karl S. Poster Scholar.

Ellen Friedman

Ellen Friedman is the Executive Director at the Compton Foundation, which seeks to ignite change toward a sustainable, just, and peaceful future. The Foundation’s program strategy supports transformative leadership and courageous storytelling in the areas of peace, environment, and women’s reproductive health, rights, and justice. Under Ellen’s leadership the Foundation created a special 3-year initiative to advance a Women, Peace, and Security agenda within the US foreign policy and national security arena. The Compton Foundation is an original signatory of the Divest/Invest pledge and is committed to investing 100% of its endowment in mission related investments. Previously Ellen served as the executive vice president of Tides where she worked for 23 years with high net worth donors and other social change activists on a range of domestic and global issues. She is a trustee of Futures Without Violence, on the Steering Committee of Peace and Security Funders Group, and a member of The California Endowment’s Building Healthy Communities Advisory Board. Ellen holds an MBA from UCLA and is the proud mother of two adult children and sings, hikes, and cooks for friends and family whenever she can.

Rodney McKenzie, Jr.

Rodney McKenzie, Jr. is the Vice President of Ally Development at the Fetzer Institute, a foundation whose work is focused on building the spiritual foundation for a loving world. Through his leadership, Rodney creates transformative relationships with individual donors, donor advisors, and philanthropic institutions through engaged conversations, open dialogue, and internal reflection that result in increased giving to issues of faith and spirituality. Rodney brings twenty years’ experience as a leader in philanthropy and movement spaces and as a community organizer focused on political campaigns and issues of democracy and social justice. As an out person of faith, Rodney’s work calls us all to be in deeper community together and creates spaces for philanthropic leaders to bring together notions of love, faith, and spirituality into their strategic giving so that everyday people can live bold and beautiful lives. Rodney previously worked at Demos, a “‘think-and-do’ tank that powers the movement for a just, inclusive, multiracial democracy,” most recently as Executive Vice President leading the organization’s programmatic, movement building, and communications functions. Prior to Demos, Rodney worked at the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force—the nation’s oldest national LGBTQ advocacy organization— where his work focused on disrupting the national narrative that LGBTQ people aren’t people of faith, and that people of faith don’t support LGBTQ equality and running smart field campaigns to win power for marginalized communities. Rodney also served as the Executive Director of Resource Generation, an organization of 18–35-year-olds with access to wealth who are among the richest top 10% of individuals or families in the United States. Earlier in his career, Rodney was the Spiritual Director and Co-Creator of Expansion Church, where his leadership focused on the intersection of community organizing and radical spirituality.

Rodney holds a Master of Divinity from the Union Theological Seminary. He is from Dallas, TX, and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.

Inca A. Mohamed

Internationally recognized for her group facilitation and training skills, Inca A. Mohamed has many years of experience managing and working with nonprofit organizations addressing youth development, sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice, gender equity, and racial equity. Inca has helped hundreds of organizations create effective and powerful management teams and strategies for change.

Inca’s previous experience includes her role as the Executive Director for Management Assistance Group (MAG) (Change Elemental) where she spearheaded the organization’s initiative to go beyond one-on-one consulting with single organizations to providing leadership coaching as a stand-alone service, facilitating high-stakes meetings, and working with coalitions and other multi-organization groups. Inca’s approach to consulting is rooted in her experience as a Caribbean immigrant from a multi-ethnic family, “I had to develop ‘border-crossing’ skills to survive and thrive, and I know the power of cross-cultural learning. My experience taught me to listen deeply, honor what is distinct about each environment, and, when appropriate, translate experiences from one place to another.” Inca’s racial equity work is informed by the understanding that an organization’s willingness and commitment to consistently and systematically address issues of equity, diversity and inclusion are fundamental to its health and its capacity for sustained impact.

Before joining MAG, Inca was a Program Officer for human development and reproductive health at the Ford Foundation where she oversaw a $60 million dollar portfolio aimed at strengthening youth development domestically and internationally. Working as consulting philanthropic advisor to Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Inca engaged in grantmaking and capacity building for Community Based Organizations (CBOs) in Trinidad and Tobago for 7 years. Inca also works as a coach, supporting social justice leaders to fully express their leadership strengths and vision. She has held leadership positions at a diverse range of organizations including the YWCA of the USA, Hawaii Department of Health, The Door (comprehensive youth development center) and Northern California Planned Parenthood (formerly Alameda-San Francisco Planned Parenthood in San Francisco).

Inca is currently a LeadersTrust Capacity Coach.

Inca’s clients have included: African Communities Together (AILEF), Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Barr Foundation, Change Elemental, Essie Justice Group, Kataly Foundation, LGBTQ Victory Fund, me too. International, National Civil Rights Museum, NEO Philanthropy, Protecting Immigrant Families (PIF), Purpose Built Communities, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, SAGE (Advocacy & Services for LGBTQ+ Elders), SisterSong, The Ford Foundation, The National LGBTQ Task Force, The North Star Fund, The W. Haywood Burns Institute for Juvenile Justice Fairness & Equity, UC Berkley Labor Center, The Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers, WITNESS and many more.

Inca has completed training through Visions, Inc., The Social Transformation Project (Robert Gass), the Interaction Institute for Social Change’s “Conversation about Racism” course and is certified in Community Coaching through Leadership That Works. Inca is also IDI certified.

Mary Morten

Mary Morten is the president of Morten Group (MG), a national consulting firm established to focus on clients in the nonprofit, for-profit, governmental, and foundation fields.

Mary is a bridge-builder and connector guiding disparate voices toward common goals and mutual accountability. She built Morten Group with an intentional focus on assembling a multiracial, cross-generational team of professionals that remains at the heart of the firm’s commitment to social justice while centering diversity, racial equity and inclusion, executive placements, and research in its work. Mary’s podcast “Gathering Ground,” covers topics on nonprofit management, foundations, and equity and inclusion.

Previous positions include associate director, interim executive director, and board president of Chicago Foundation for Women, the region’s largest women’s fund, and the past director of the Office of Violence Prevention for the Chicago Department of Public Health. Before this position, Mary was an appointee for Mayor Richard M. Daley as a director of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations.

Recently, in collaboration with senior project director Geneva Porter, Mary contributed to “Leading Systems Change in Public Health: A Field Guide for Practitioners.” This new book from the de Beaumont Foundation and Springer Publishing offers readers a practice-based guide that examines systems change in public health. Their chapter, “Organizational Leadership: ‘We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For,’” focuses on fostering equitable organizational change through power transfer and a grounding in community and collaboration.

Many organizations have honored Mary, ranging from Women in Film to Equality Illinois, the YWCA of Evanston/Northshore to About Face Theater. In 2020, the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago established the Mary F. Morten Justice Award to recognize Mary’s long-term work as an activist, advocate, and champion of social justice.

Mary holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications with an emphasis in radio and television from Loyola University Chicago.

Solana Rice

Solana Rice was raised by a Black, midwestern family that made tremendous emotional and physical sacrifices to get by. Dedicated autoworkers, food & retail workers, entrepreneurs; her family gifted Solana with a tremendous work ethic and a passion for making the world a better place for people of color. Solana is a dedicated advocate aiming to shape the most vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable economy this country has yet to see.

Prior to starting Liberation in a Generation, Solana was Director of State & Local Policy at Prosperity Now where, under her leadership, she built strong advocacy partnerships with organizations in the field and advanced dozens of policies in nearly half the states in the nation. Prior to joining Prosperity Now, Solana served as a director for financial security initiatives at PolicyLink. Solana has aMaster’s in City Planning from MIT, where she researched the integration of individual development accounts into community development services. She holds a B.A. in architecture from Washington University in St. Louis. Solana is also a Soros Equality Fellow.

Russell Roybal

Chair

Russell Roybal is a long-time leader in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer movement. He is currently Chief Advancement Officer of San Francisco AIDS Foundation and works alongside the organization’s development, marketing and communications, and AIDS/LifeCycle teams. He leads the fundraising, communications, and branding efforts that resource the organization’s programmatic efforts and advance the mission of the Foundation.

Previously, Roybal was the National LGBTQ Task Force’s deputy executive director, where he directed the organization’s programmatic and policy work, and the National Conference on LGBT Equality: Creating Change. At the Task Force he also served as deputy executive director of external relations and director of movement building.
Prior to joining the staff of The Task Force, Roybal was director of training and capacity building of the Gill Foundation, at the time the largest private funder of LGBTQ organizations in the United States. In his role there he trained thousands of activists on how to resource their fight for equality.

He has also served on the staffs of LLEGO – the National Latina/o LGBT Organization, the San Diego LGBT Center, and San Diego Pride. In addition to his staff roles he has served on the boards of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and the International Court System. He is currently a board member of OutRight Action International.

He has received numerous awards including the League of United Latin American Citizens inaugural Equality Awards and was honored by the California LGBT Legislative Caucus as a Pride Honoree in 2017 and was named Grand Marshal of the San Diego LGBT Pride celebration the same year. In 2018 he received the Harvey Milk Social Justice Award for his long-time activism on behalf of LGBTQ and Latinx communities.

Roybal attended San Diego State University and is an alum of the Rockwood Leadership Institute’s LGBT and Leading from the Inside Out national cohorts.
When not working you can find him underwater SCUBA diving or living his life on the dance floor.

Gloria Walton

Gloria Walton is one of the country’s most exciting “next generation” political leaders. For the last seven years she has been President & CEO of Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE), a South LA-based community organization widely recognized as a leader in the development of cutting-edge strategies to ensure that black and brown, poor and working-class communities have an equal voice in the democratic process.

Under Ms. Walton’s leadership SCOPE has played a pivotal role in several significant campaigns, including serving as an anchor organization in winning statewide alliance efforts to pass California’s Proposition 30 (which increased taxes for upper income earners and restored $6 billion in education funding, temporarily ending budget cuts to education for the first time in years); and Proposition 47 (which reformed the three strikes law by reducing non-violent crimes from felonies to misdemeanors and put the cost savings into rehabilitation, social programs, and mental health services). Ms. Walton also led the organizing effort for SCOPE’s green jobs programs that couple entry level positions with job training to create career pathways into good, green jobs targeted for workers in low-income neighborhoods. Most recently, under her leadership SCOPE successfully advocated, as part of statewide climate equity coalitions, to pass a set of landmark climate bills (SB 32, AB 197, AB 1550 and AB 2722) that set targets to reduce greenhouse gases by 2030; bring accountability and transparency to state climate agencies and top polluters; and address the need for targeted investment in green infrastructure and good jobs.

In 2016 Ms. Walton received the NAACP-LA’s Empowerment Award; the LA League of Conservation Voters Environmental Justice Champion Award; and the Center for Community Change’s Champion in Community Organizing Award. She was a recipient of the James Irvine Foundation Fund for Leadership Advancement grant awarded in 2014, and was named one of Liberty Hill Foundation’s Leaders to Watch in 2011.

Ms. Walton currently serves on the Board of Directors of California Calls and the Solutions Project, the Coordinating Committee of the Black Worker Center, and is a Founding Advisory Board member of a national collaborative known as BOLD (Black Organizing for Leadership & Dignity).

Additionally, Ms. Walton holds a Governor-appointed seat on the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program Technical Advisory Council, and sits on the UCLA Advance Energy Community Technical Advisory Committee. She is also a member of the Safeguarding California Climate Justice Work Group convened by the Resources Legacy Fund.

Ms. Walton has authored multiple pieces for the Huffington Post, The Nation, and online blogs for the Center for Community Change, Equal Voice for America’s Families, and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, covering topics ranging from environmental racism and clean energy jobs to voter engagement and racial justice.