Meet Your Leadership

League of Women Voters^®
of Los Angeles

About the LWVLA Education Fund Board

2011-2012 LWVLA Education Fund Board of Directors

J. Mira Hashmall, Chair. Carryl Carter, Vice Chair. Renee Chanon, Vice Chair. Carrie Hidding, Treasurer. Gerald Sallus, Secretary. Evon Gotlieb, Director. David Holtzman, President. Maureen Kindel, Director. Fran Lapides, Director. Carlos Medina, Director. Bonnie Nijst, Director. Francine Oschin, Director. Asia Powell, Director. Elizabeth Ralston, Director. Martha R. Sklar, Director. Liza White, Director. Anne R. Whatley, Director. Ida Mae Windham, Director.

J. Mira Hashmall, Chair

Mira Hashmall is an attorney who practices with a boutique litigation firm in Century City. Mira attended the University of California at Berkeley and obtained her law degree from the University of Southern California. She is a current board member of the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles Education Fund, and was part of the committee that planned the Celebrating Leadership Awards Dinner in March 2011.

Carryl Carter, Vice Chair

Carryl Carter graduated from UCLA Phi Beta Kappa. She has lived in San Fernando Valley since 1956, and has two adult sons as well as a grandson. Carryl retired in 2003 after teaching history at Fairfax High School from 1963 to 1965 and working as an insurance broker and president of Carter Pension & Insurance Services, Inc. from 1978 until her retirement. She holds the position of Vice-Chair for the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles Education Fund Board as well as the Friends of the Family Board. She is also involved with the Catholic-Jewish Women Steering Committee and volunteers as a docent for the Autry National Center and Museum of the West

Renee Chanon, Vice Chair

Renee is a former president of the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles and also served on the League of Women Voters of California State Board. She served for 10 years as a member of the Ballot Simplification Committee for the City of Los Angeles. As an active participant in civic affairs, Renee was appointed by Mayor Bradley to the Downtown Strategic Plan Advisory Committee as one of 60 civic leaders assigned the task of developing a 20-year plan for downtown Los Angeles. Renee is currently a member of the board of the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles Education Fund and has served on a variety of other nonprofit boards, including the National Women's History Project. Professionally, Renee has worked as a public affairs and community relations consultant.

Carrie Hidding, Treasurer

Carrie Tsang-Hidding is a founder of teamCFO Inc., a financial and accounting firm offering onsite customized CFO/controller services on an as-needed basis to businesses and nonprofits. Carrie has more than 25 years of combined financial, accounting, and consulting experience. Prior to founding teamCFO, she was an audit manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers and held senior positions in Fortune 500 firms and numerous small, midsize and start-up businesses. Carrie earned an MBA in international business and a bachelor's degree in accounting and finance from the University of Puget Sound and the University of Washington.
In addition to her service to the League of Women Voters Los Angeles Education Fund, Carrie also serves on the Board of the California Society of CPAs Los Angles as well as lends her expertise to the finance committees of several nonprofits involved in mental health, veterans' care and other causes. She is past president and past trustee of the American Society of Women Accountants, Los Angeles (ASWA) and ASWA Educational Fund. She also served as treasurer of the National Association of Women Business Owners, Los Angeles, and the League of Women Voters, Los Angeles.

Gerald Sallus, Secretary

Gerald Sallus was born in Albany, New York on January 31, 1927. He graduated from Cornell University BEE, 1949. JD Western State Univ. 1976. He retired from Hughes Aircraft in 1989. His last assignment was as Liaison to General Motors. He is currently practicing law specializing in wills, trusts and probate. He presently serves on the following boards: LWV Ed Fund, West LA College Education Foundation, Culver Marina Bar past President and Trustee, Brandies Men's Club past cochairman and member of steering committee, member of board of Ballona Creek Renaissance. A past member and officer of numerous professional organizations.

Evon Gotlieb, Director

Evon first joined the League in 1966 after spending a few years as an elementary school teacher followed by another few years at home with three small children. She was elected President in 1974, an extraordinary experience which led to a 20-year career in community relations at an international public relations agency. Upon retirement, Evon was elected to the Board of Directors of the LWVLA Education Fund where she served as Board Chair and remains as a Director. Evon currently chairs the Civic Society, which arranges salons with distinguished speakers in home settings for contributors of $1,000, or more, annually to fund the League's educational activities.
Over the years, she has served on the boards of numerous organizations, including United Way, Los Angeles Urban League, Aviva Family and Children's Services, Town Hall of Los Angeles, and Hebrew Union College's School of Jewish Nonprofit Management. Evon graduated from UCLA, where she earned a bachelor's degree in general elementary education, cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. After 58 years, she is happily married to her college sweetheart, and has three adult children and three granddaughters.

David Holtzman, President

David Holtzman earned a law degree through UCLA Law School's Program in Public Interest Law and Policy, a master's degree in public health from the University of Michigan, a certificate in alcohol and drug abuse studies from UC Berkeley's Extension program, and a bachelor's degree in politics from Princeton University. Since moving to L.A., he has practiced consumer rights law, volunteered for electoral reform group, and worked as an environmental consultant. His passions include election reforms, environmental public health (particularly air and noise pollution), civil rights, and transportation policy (he bicycles, rides, drives and parks).

Maureen Kindel, Director

Fran Lapides, Director

Fran Lapides joined LWVLA in June of 2006. Since then she has found many ways to be involved. She has been a member of the Speakers Bureau, talking about the pros and cons of the ballot measures for the last 5 years, and has co- chaired the Education Study update project. She has worked on the League's Youth Outreach projects, recruiting and working with interns, and has been a leader for Running & Winning since it began four years ago. Fran recently retired after 40 years of teaching. She says, "My motivation for teaching history and government all these years was my passionate belief that for democracy to work you need an educated electorate. I find that League offers me the opportunity to keep myself educated and to help plan programs to keep others engaged and educated."

Carlos Medina, Director

Carlos has lived in Los Angeles for the past 21 years. He has worked as a bookkeeper for local small businesses. For the past year he has been active with the Los Feliz/Silverlake unit of the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles. Locally, Carlos is a member of the ACLU, Library Foundation, Los Angeles Zoo and Society of Architecture Historians. In addition, he has served on the Los Angeles Leadership Awards Committee for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Bonnie Nijst, Director

Bonnie Nijst is President and CEO of ZEESMAN, a full-service brand strategy, marketing and design firm where she brings more than 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, public relations and communications consulting to the branding and marketing programs the company creates for corporations, nonprofits and government agencies. ZEESMAN's clients have included HMSHost, Warner Bros., Pioneer Electronics, Toshiba Displays, Four Seasons, Los Angeles World Airports, the City of Los Angeles, the City of Beverly Hills, Griffith Observatory, the W. M. Keck Foundation, Walt Disney Company, Rock the Vote and the National Association of Women Business Owners.
Active in the business and nonprofit communities, she is past president of the National Association of Women Business Owners + Los Angeles and past vice chair of the NAWBO-LA Foundation. She currently serves as a member of the executive committee of the board of directors for the California Family Health Council, on the Advisory Board of Barco's Nightingales Foundation, and as vice chair of the Minority Business Enterprise Input Committee of the Southern California Minority Business Development Council. She has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Southern California and is a graduate of the Management Development for Entrepreneurs Program at UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Francine Oschin, Director

Francine Oschin is President of Oschin Partners, Inc., where she brings more than 27 years of experience in education, city politics and as a featured writer for the Glendale News-Press. Francine is a graduate of California State University Northridge, where she received a double bachelor's in Journalism and Speech Communication, and a master's degree in Mass Communication.
In addition to her service to the League of Women Voters Los Angeles Education Fund, Francine is also an active member for various associations, including Move LA, VICA (Valley Industry & Commerce Assoc.), National Women's Political Caucus, and holds office in various organizations.

Asia Powell, Director

Elizabeth Ralston, Director

Martha R. Sklar, Director

Martha Sklar was born in Havana, Cuba and immigrated to Detroit, MI when she was eight and a half years old. Martha has a BA and MA in Mathematics and Ph.D. in Mathematics Education. She taught mathematics at high school and community college levels. Later she entered administration and was a dean of Academic Affairs at Los Angeles City College until her retirement seven years ago. Upon joining the League she joined both the LWVLA and the LWV Ed Fund Boards. Currently she is Treasurer of LWVLA and continues to serve on both boards as well as the Membership Committee. She has two sons, Benjamin and Jonathan.

Liza White, Director

Liza White has balanced a life of family, career and community building activity. With a BA in Political Science from UCLA and an MS in Communication Disorders and Science from CSUN, her career was as a speech therapist in private practice. She joined the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles in 1998 while also helping to develop and serve her CSUN Communication Disorders & Sciences Alumni Association chapter. Her engagement with the League has included areas of Membership and Voters Service as well as serving as President for four years. She is currently a director on the Education Fund Board with enthusiasm for League's work on climate change issues and securing grants. She is married and takes great pleasure in her daughters and grandchildren.

Anne R. Whatley, Director

Anne Whatley has served on the Los Angeles League of Women Voters Board for several years. She is Vice President at the communications consulting firm, Hershey/Cause where her work involves counseling organizations and foundations on the most effective strategies for conveying who they are and what they do. Her commitment to civic engagement has been central theme in her career choices as well as personal passions. Anne's past experiences in Los Angeles include directing operations and programs at the Coro Center for Civic Leadership as well as coordinating a strategic planning process for UCLA's Center for Research, Education, Training and Strategic Communications on Minority Health Disparities. This includes supporting her husband in his Neighborhood Council adventures. Prior to moving to L.A. Anne spent her time in St. Louis, Washington D.C. and London directing public education campaigns. Her educational background includes graduating magna cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis and receiving her MSc degree with honors from the London School of Economics in the U.K.

Ida Mae Windham, Director

Ida Mae had a career in the field of education and has a fervent interest in the political process which has always been an important part of her adult life. Employment as a teacher, counselor or administrator with the Los Angeles Unified School District for over 30 years has provided her with many opportunities to work with a diverse student and adult population across the city of Los Angeles. Although her personal time for active participation was somewhat restricted, her interest and support of the League of Women Voters is longstanding.
After her retirement, Ida Mae was fortunate to notice in a League newsletter an appeal for interested members to become involved in the League's newly formed Education Committee. She contacted the chairperson, Fran Lapides, and after serving for two years, she was graciously invited by Fran to become co-chair of the committee. "Frosting on the cake" came when she was welcomed by Zhita Rea to work with her on the outstanding Intern Program and also joined Zhita and Fran to help as much as she can with the Running and Winning Program.
Ida Mae so appreciates having the opportunity to continue being involved in the areas that mean so much to her.

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