Staff

Alberto B. Mendoza is the President and CEO of the Coalition for Clean Air. Mendoza has more than 13 years of nonprofit experience, most recently as Southern California regional director of Drug Policy Alliance (DPA). Mendoza was the driving force behind the Los Angeles office of DPA; he opened it, established funding, and in five years, built it into a $2.4 million nonprofit lauded for its drug reform policy, advocacy and community outreach. Mendoza has also directed volunteer programs at a diverse range of California organizations including Girl Scouts USA, Public Counsel and AIDS Project Los Angeles. He also managed a team of trainers and staff for the state's Healthy Families insurance program.

Selected by La Opinion as a "Leader of the Future" at its 80th anniversary, Mendoza has also hosted and produced cable access shows on social and public issues. He has served on the LAPD Latino Task Force and has been co-chair of three advocacy coalitions. Mendoza obtained his BA in Behavioral Sciences at California Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Policy and Research

Tim Carmichael is Senior Director of Policy. He previously served as President and CEO of CCA for 8 ½ years. Before serving as president, Tim was the policy director, representing the Coalition at conferences, symposiums and in negotiations with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the California Air Resources Board, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Tim has worked for the Coalition since November, 1995.

Tim has a wide range of environmental and transportation policy experience. From 1992-1995, he worked for an environmental consulting firm, educating the public on a variety of environmental issues including recycling, water pollution, advanced transportation systems and air pollution reduction strategies. Tim has also worked on public and school education programs that included: educating the media on urban run-off pollution; the link between air quality and our transportation systems; and the air quality and economic benefits of Zero-Emission Vehicles. From 1989-1992, Tim worked in the aerospace industry.

Shankar B. Prasad, M.B.B.S.
Executive Fellow

Coastal California Advocacy

Martin Schlageter, campaign and advocacy director, guides our campaign work across the state. He joined the Coalition staff in 2002 to help steer California, and especially Los Angeles, toward a greater transition toward renewable energy and away from the reliance on polluting sources of energy such as coal and other fossil fuels.

Martin previously worked as conservation coordinator for Sierra Club in the Los Angeles and Orange counties, helping to implement its numerous local, state and national campaigns on a wide variety of issues. He has also served as executive director of Friends of the Los Angeles River. He graduated from USC with a BA in International Relations. Martin lives in Eagle Rock with his wife, Karen Klabin, and their daughter Frances.

Candice Kim is a campaign associate with Coalition for Clean Air.  Candice has experience organizing with broad spectrum of constituents on campaigns related to public health, labor rights and social justice.    Her primary foci as a Campaign Associate are coalition building, decision-maker education and community mobilization.

Candice previously worked as a program coordinator with Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles collaborating with medical and science based professionals to bring a public health related, precautionary frame to the issues of violence prevention and toxics in the environment.  She also coordinated PSR-LA’s on-line advocacy campaigns and internet based legislative efforts.  Prior to working with Physicians for Social Responsibility, Candice was a labor organizer with the California Nurses Association and the United Steelworkers of America.  She worked alongside health care professionals in hospitals throughout Southern California to gain collective representation for patient protection and fair working conditions. Past organizing experience also includes work with immigrant rights organizations, low income tenants and worker centers.

Candice has bachelors’ degrees in Art and Sociology from the University of California at Santa Barbara and is an avid proponent of cycling in the city of Los Angeles.

Inland Valleys Advocacy

Nidia Bautista is the community engagement director for the Coalition for Clean Air. She is responsible for managing the organization’s advocacy and outreach efforts in California’s inland valleys. In her four years at CCA she has helped expand the organization’s advocacy, outreach and media efforts throughout the state. Prior to joining the Coalition for Clean Air, Nidia was a field representative for Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis. She was responsible for conducting outreach to constituents in the San Gabriel Valley and East Los Angeles. In addition, Nidia handled labor, immigration, environmental, Spanish media and higher education issues for the 32nd District. She has worked on several progressive campaigns throughout east and southeast Los Angeles County, including campaigns for the Organization of Los Angeles Workers and the Democratic Party. In the summer of 2003, Nidia helped produce an environmental directory for the East San Gabriel Valley. She attended California State Polytechnic University, Pomona majoring in political science.

Luis R. Cabrales is the Senior Campaign and Outreach Associate. Prior to working at CCA, he served as California Organizer at the National Environmental Trust (NET). Luis has worked for several years to inform Latino voters about the connections that exist among environmental pollution, public health and voter participation. Additionally, he is a board member and co-founder of Residents of Pico Rivera for Environmental Justice, a community-based, environmental justice organization working to protect and enhance the environment in Pico Rivera, California. He is co-creator and co-host of "Nuestra Voz" (Our Voice), a round table, talk show on politics, education and environment, on KPFK 90.7 FM.

Luis received a Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) degree in Cultural Anthropology and a certificate in Youth Agency Administration, a program that trains activists in community organizing, public relations and nonprofit management, at Cal State University L.A.

Sarah Sharpe is the Campaign and Outreach Associate leading our clean air efforts in the San Joaquin Valley.  A third generation Valley resident, she has a formidable background in grassroots organizing for social justice, labor rights, environmental justice and immigrant’s rights in the San Joaquin Valley. As a former community organizer with the United Farm Workers in Delano, Sarah served as the program coordinator of the Farm Worker Safe Drinking Water Program, in addition to contributing to many other UFW campaigns.  Sarah then worked with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 250 researching and organizing workers in the hospital industry in Fresno.  Prior to joining the CCA, Sarah taught Spanish to middle school students in Brooklyn, New York, all the while attending Brooklyn College to attain a Master’s degree in Teaching Spanish with the New York City Teaching Fellows Program.

Sarah has Bachelors degrees from the University of California Santa Barbara in Communication and Latin American and Iberian Studies.  She spent a year studying abroad in Madrid, Spain where she became fluent in Spanish.  Sarah currently lives in Fresno with her husband Moses. 

Development

Stephanie Milano
Development Director

Liz Ernst is Deputy Development Director. Ernst is spearheading CCA's development efforts to grow its base of members and major donors. Ernst has most recently worked as a development and fundraising consultant for the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, the Society for Contemporary Art in Chicago and other small arts organizations.

A Chicago transplant, Ernst was Director of the Auxiliary Board of the Art Institute of Chicago where she was responsible for fund solicitation for art acquisitions, children's art education programs and special events. Ernst has also worked at auction houses in Atlanta and Chicago. She is a graduate of Skidmore College in New York.

Lena Tong, Development Assistant maintains the Coalition for Clean Air membership database. Lena has organized many local fundraisers and walk-a-thons when living in the Bay Area and she received recognition for her service to the community by Congresswoman Barbara Lee and State Assembly Majority leader Wilma Chan. She has completed studies in Biological Sciences, Natural Sciences, and Liberal Arts at Sierra College and is currently working on obtaining a B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Psychology at UC Davis.

Communications

Lisa Warshaw, Deputy Director of Communications

Monica Howe, Communications Associate

Administration

Vanessa Briones
Office Coordinator