KIM BELSHÉ

Kim Belshé was recently named Executive Director of First 5 Los Angeles, a grant making and child advocacy organization created by California voters to invest tobacco tax revenues to improve the health, safety and school readiness of Los Angeles County’s youngest children 0-5. She brings to First 5 LA a deep commitment to California and public service, as well as a wealth of experience in state government, policy research, and philanthropy. Most recently, Ms. Belshé served as senior policy advisor of the Public Policy Institute of California, where she served as a resource to PPIC leadership and staff as well as the broader policy community on health and social services, fiscal, governance and related reforms. Prior to PPIC, Ms. Belshé served in a number of senior leadership positions in state government and in California philanthropy. She served as a founding member and Vice-Chair of the California Commission on Children and Families from 1999-2002. At present, she serves on the five-member board of Covered California, the state's new Health Benefit Exchange, a centerpiece of federal health reform which will create a new marketplace for consumers and small businesses to shop for health insurance, starting in 2014. In 2011, Belshé was named to the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, dedicated to improving health care for low-income people. She is a native of San Francisco and holds a master's degree in public policy from Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree in government from Harvard College.

ANDREW BRIDGE

Mr. Bridge is Director of the Child Welfare Initiative in Los Angeles, California. Established by a consortium of leading private foundations, individuals, and other philanthropic organizations, the Child Welfare Initiative focuses on the fundamental reform of our child welfare systems. He began his legal career representing children in Alabama state psychiatric hospitals and mental health facilities. Later, he became Executive Director of the Alliance for Children’s Rights in Los Angeles where he worked to expand free legal services to children in foster care and in poverty. Mr. Bridge is a founding director of the New Village Charter School focusing on the needs of girls in foster care and in impoverished Los Angeles communities, and he is a trustee of the St. Anne’s home for pregnant and parenting teens. His first book, Hope’s Boy, a memoir about his eleven years in Los Angeles County foster case, was a New York Time and was named a Los Angeles Times Discovery Book, a People Magazine Critic’s Choice Book, Readers’ Digest Profile Book, and a Washington Post Book of the Year. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Harvard Law School, as well as a former Fulbright Scholar and Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellow.

JONATHAN E. FIELDING, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.

Jonathan E. Fielding, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., M.A. has contributed to the field of public health for more than 30 years and has served in a variety of leadership positions. For the past 14 years, Dr. Fielding has led the public health activities for Los Angeles County as Director of Public Health and Health Officer. In this role, Dr. Fielding is responsible for all public health functions including surveillance and control of both communicable and non-communicable diseases, and health protection (including against bioterrorism) for the County’s 9.8 million residents. Dr. Fielding also serves as Vice-Chair and Commissioner of the First 5 L.A. Commission, which aims to improve the health and development of children 5 years of age and under. Dr. Fielding is a Professor in the Schools of Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles. He chaired the HHS Secretary’s expert advisory group on the 2020 Healthy People Project, chairs the U.S. Community Preventive Services Task Force and is a Presidential appointee and founding member of the national Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health.

Dr. Fielding has authored over 300 original articles, commentaries and editorials. He received his medical, public health and history of science degrees from Harvard University and his MBA from the Wharton School of Business.

MONICA GARCIA

Mónica García is the President of the Board of the LA Unified School District, the second-largest school District in the nation.When elected in 2006 she became the third Latina to serve in its 155-year history. With her bold call for “Diplomas for All,” Board President García has galvanized the LAUSD school community to take aggressive action to reach 100% graduation. Ms. García has successfully championed school reform models that offer students smaller, more personalized settings and that give schools the autonomy they need to prepare all students for college or career. She spearheaded the development of School Report Cards, which are now distributed to parents each year. She has led an effort to increase equity through a “per pupil” funding strategy that ensures dollars follow the student to school sites. Her focus on the needs of English Learner students, whomake up 29% of LAUSD yielded a deep shift in the District’s instructional approach. Previously, Ms. García served with Volunteers of America as an Academic Advisor at Foshay Learning Center and Edison Middle School. Prior to joining the Board, Ms. García served as Chief of Staff to LAUSD Board President José Huizar. Ms. García was born and raised in East Los Angeles. She attended local schools and graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a B.A degree in Chicano Studies and Political Science. She earned her M.S.W. from USC.

SHEILA KUEHL

Sheila James Kuehl served eight years in the State Senate and six years in the State Assembly. In 2008, she left the legislature under California's term limits statute. She is the President of Kuehl Consulting, and serves as Founding Director of the Public Policy Institute at Santa Monica College and Regents' Professor of Public Policy at UCLA. During the 1997-98 legislative session, she was the first woman in California history to be named Speaker pro Tempore of the Assembly. She is also the first openly gay or lesbian person to be elected to the California Legislature. A former pioneering civil rights attorney and law professor, Senator Kuehl represented the 23rd Senate District in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. During her tenure in the Legislature, she served as chair of the Senate Health Committee, the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee and the Assembly Judiciary Committee.In her fourteen years in the State Legislature, she authored 171 bills that were signed into law. Prior to her election to the Legislature, Senator Kuehl drafted and fought to get into CA law more than 40 pieces of legislation relating to children, families, women, and domestic violence. She was a law professor at Loyola, UCLA and USC and co-founded and served as managing attorney of the California Women’s Law Center. She graduated from Harvard Law School where she was the second woman in the school’s history to win the Moot Court competition.

MARK RIDLEY-THOMAS

Since his election to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Mark Ridley-Thomas has distinguished himself as an aggressive advocate for the Second District’s nearly 2 million residents. Currently the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, the Supervisor has had a distinguished career of public service. Prior to his election to the Board, Supervisor Ridley-Thomas served in the CA State Senate where he chaired the Senate’s Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development. He served as Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus in 2008. Ridley-Thomas was first elected to the LA City Council for nearly a dozen years departing as Council President pro Tempore. He later served two terms in the CA State Assembly, where he chaired the Assembly Democratic Caucus. His legislative work addressed a broad range of issues including economic and workforce development, health care, mental health, public safety, education, budget accountability, consumer protection and civic participation. His political career was preceded by a decade of service as executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater LA and 5 years as a high school teacher. He is the founder of the Empowerment Congress, a successful experiment in civic engagement. The Supervisor is a graduate of Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles and earned a baccalaureate degree in Social Relations and a master’s degree in Religious Studies from Immaculate Heart College. Supervisor Ridley-Thomas went on to receive his Ph.D. in Social Ethics from USC.