About Us

Bettina Duval

Bettina Duval is the CEO of BRDBND, a manufacturer and distributor of specialized telecommunications hardware. After receiving her B.A. from UC Berkeley, Bettina has remained engaged in UC leadership through her role as a Builder of Berkley and a trustee on the UC Berkeley Foundation Board and is the incoming board chairperson. She also serves on the Goldman School of Public Policy Board of Advisors. In 2002, Bettina founded California’s Women’s List (formerly CALIFORNIALIST) a political action committee focused on electing women in California. Further, Bettina is on the Board of Directors of the Santa Monica Board of governors, serving as their chairperson from 2015-2017. Bettina is a founding board member of ACCION, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing college counseling to Latina high school students.

Michael Kahn

Michael Kahn received a B.A. from UCLA and an M.A. in Political Science and a J.D. from Stanford after which he clerked for Judge Ben Duniway on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. He has held numerous government-appointed offices, including Chairing the California ISO and the California Commission on Judicial Performance and serving on the California Wildfire Commission. During his forty-year-plus legal career, he represented the University of California in numerous high-profile litigations. He has served on a Regent's working group, a Regent's committee on technology transfer, and the executive committee of the UCSF foundation.

Jim Koshland

Jim Koshland was a partner at DLA Piper (formerly Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich) for over 30 years, focusing primarily on corporate and securities law matters with extensive experience handling formations of companies and venture capital funding, as well as merger and acquisition transactions. Jim has served on the board of directors of several public and private companies, including Launch Media, Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., Paraform, Inc., and Storm Technology, Inc. He also has served on the board of numerous nonprofit organizations, including the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Avenidas (formerly Senior Coordinating Council of Palo Alto), Menlo Park/Atherton Education Foundation, Peninsula Center for the Blind, and the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation. He holds a B.A. in history from Haverford College and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.

Rich Leib

Richard Leib is the current Chair of the UC Board of Regents. He is president and CEO of Dunleer Strategies, a San Diego-based consulting firm that works with emerging companies to develop strategies to help them meet short and long-term business goals. Before that, he spent 15 years as executive vice president and general counsel for Liquid Environmental Solutions, a company he co-founded and helped grow into the leading non-hazardous liquid waste recycling company in the U.S. Prior to his work with Liquid Environmental Solutions, Richard served as executive vice president and general counsel of U.S. Public Technologies; and co-founded the investment management group at Stone and Youngberg, California's leading municipal debt underwriter. He holds a B.A. from UC Santa Barbara, an M.A. from Claremont Graduate School, and a J.D. from Loyola University School of Law.

John A Pérez, Speaker Emeritus

John A. Pérez was elected to the Assembly in November 2008, representing Downtown Los Angeles and communities of East Los Angeles. In January 2010, his colleagues elected him California's 68th Assembly Speaker. He was subsequently reelected in 2010 and 2012, making him one of the longest serving Speakers in the era of term limits. In 2014, he was appointed by governor Jerry Brown as a Regent of the UC.

He has made affordability and accessibility of higher education one of the most important statewide priorities through passage of the Middle Class Scholarship Act. This effort, which brought together thousands of California's students and parents, sought to reduce student fees by two-thirds for middle class families, and was later adopted in a modified capacity by the 2013 State Budget. The landmark Middle Class Scholarship Act, has provided tuition relief of up to 40 percent for nearly 100,000 California State University and University of California students.

Cathy Unger

A native and current resident of Los Angeles, Cathy Unger received her B.A. from UC Berkeley. Cathy had her own business as a Public Affairs Consultant in the political, corporate, and non-profit arena for over 40 years. She represented municipal and corporate entities as well as Governors, U.S. Senators, local elected officials, and candidates. She is the outgoing Chair of the Board of Advisors for the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley. She serves as a Trustee on the UC Berkeley Foundation and the Southern California Council. She serves now on the Board and is a former Chair of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles and is the current Chair of the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Project. She is the former President of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges.

David Gjerde

David Gjerde is a recent UCLA alum with a degree in political science. David has represented the University of California in Washington D.C as an intern for the UC Office of the President, where he became familiar with the UC’s extensive lobbying efforts in the federal sphere. David has represented UC students as an elected senator for the student body government, as well as currently serving as a councilmember for the Undergraduate Political Science Council. In the future, David plans on going to law school and continuing his advocacy for UC students through federal, state, and local channels.