The Breaking Barriers Advisors and Friends:

  • Jim Anderson - SELPA Director, Los Angeles County Office of Education

  • Liz Blanco - Assistant Superintendent, San Francisco Unified School District

  • Mildred Browne - Ascendancy Solutions; former SELPA Director, Mt. Diablo Unified School District; California Special Education Task Force Member; State Special Education Advisory Commissioner

  • Maureen O’Leary Burness - Co-Executive Director, California Statewide Special Education Task Force; former Assistant Superintendent, Folsom Cordova Unified School District SELPA

  • Steve Collins - SELPA Director, West Contra Costa Unified School District

  • Reed Connell - Managing Partner, Director of Policy and Advocacy, Social Change Partners

  • Steve Elson - CEO, Casa Pacifica Centers for Children and Families

  • Ken Epstein - Director, Children Youth and Families System of Care, San Francisco DPH

  • Elizabeth Estes - Founder, Breaking Barriers; Education Attorney, Atkinson Andelson Loya Rudd & Romo

  • Troy Fennel - SELPA Director, California Division of Juvenile Justice

  • Martin Giffin - Senior Vice President of SoCal Operations, Anka Behavioral Health, Inc.

  • Rusty Gordon - SELPA Director, Butte County

  • Wendell Greer - Assistant Superintendent, West Contra Costa Unified School District

  • Jenae Holtz - Chief Executive Officer, Desert Mountain SELPA, California Association of Health and Education

  • Helen Kearns - Contra Costa County Mental Health

  • Conde Kunzman - SELPA Director, Shasta County

  • Alyssum Maguire - Consultant, Alyssum Maguire Consulting

  • Patrick J. Mahoney - Judge, San Francisco Juvenile Court (ret); JAMS

  • Fred Martin, Jr. - Former Government Affairs Director, Bank of America

  • Lisa Miller - Special Education Director, San Francisco Unified School District

  • Sam Neustadt - SELPA Director, Solano County; California Special Education Task Force Member

  • Jessica Plauche - Assistant Clinical Professor, UCSF; Medical Director, Division of Infant, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry San Francisco General Hospital

  • Ron Powell - Former Director, Desert Mountain SELPA

  • Rebecca Ross - Juvenile Law Attorney, San Mateo County

  • Rick Saletta - Former Special Master, Katie A and Emily Q v Bontá District; Commissioner, First 5 Placer County

  • Marina Tolou-Shams - Associate Professor, UCSF Department of Psychiatry; Director, Division of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, San Francisco General Hospital

  • Jim Voss - ERMHS Coordinator, Butte County SELPA

  • Vern Wallace - Child and Adolescent Program Chief, Contra Costa County Behavioral Health

  • Sheri Wilkins - President, Innovative Educational Solutions

  • James Wogan - Foster Youth Services Liaison, Mt. Diablo Unified School District

  • Dave Neilsen - Senior Mental Health Policy Advocate, California Alliance of Child and Family Services