Wednesday, October 19, 2005

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Welcomes New Board Members

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Seattle's Marsha Botzer elected board co-chair; California's Roberta Achtenberg, Minnesota's Alan Horowitz and Washington's Hans Johnson join Task Force board WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 - The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and NGLTF, Inc., today announced the election of four new officers and three new members to their boards of directors. Marsha Botzer (Seattle, WA) was elected board co-chair, succeeding Beth Zemsky (Minneapolis, MN), who is terming off the board after seven years of service. (Jeff Soref of New York is serving the second year of a two-year term as co-chair.) Alan Acosta (San Francisco, CA) and Candy Cox (Washington, DC) were elected vice chairs. Mr. Acosta, who previously chaired the board development committee, has served on the board since 2002; Ms. Cox, who previously chaired the communications committee, joined the board in 2003. Cuc T. Vu (Washington, DC) was elected secretary; she joined the board in January. The three new board members are Roberta Achtenberg (San Francisco, CA), Alan Horowitz (St. Paul, MN), and Hans Johnson (Washington, DC). The boards now have 29 members. "These are extraordinarily challenging and promising times for our national community, and the Task Force is fortunate to have these three distinguished leaders joining our boards," said Jeff Soref, co-chair. "We all express our gratitude to Beth Zemsky for her exceptional leadership and I look forward to working with Marsha Botzer as we develop the Task Force's strategic vision for 2006 to 2009." Marsha Botzer - Co-Chair Marsha Botzer (Seattle, WA) founded Seattle's Ingersoll Gender Center, one of the nation?s first direct service organizations to support transgender people toward growth and well being, and remains on its board. She has served on the Seattle Commission for Sexual Minorities and spearheaded the movement to update Seattle's Municipal Code to provide protected class status for gender identity. She has also served on the boards of the Pride Foundation, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, and the Safe Schools Coalition. She is a member of the Pride at Work organization, and founding board member of Equal Rights Washington, and serves on the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Advisory Committee. She has received numerous recognitions for her work, including the Greater Seattle Business Association Community Service and Leadership Award, the Human Rights Campaign Equality Award, the Virginia Prince Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Federation for Gender Education, and the Horace Mann "Victories for Humanity" Award from Antioch University. She was named the grand marshal of Seattle's 2004 Pride Weekend and Parade. New Board Members Roberta Achtenberg (San Francisco, CA) is senior advisor to the CEO of JMPT, Inc., an enterprise software company, and vice chair of the California State University Board of Trustees, which oversees the 400,000-student, 23-campus system. She was elected to and served on the Board of Supervisors for the City and County of San Francisco from 1990-1993. From 1993-1997, she worked in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), first as assistant secretary of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, and later as senior advisor to then-HUD Secretary Henry G. Cisneros. She was the first openly lesbian or gay person in the United States whose appointment to a federal position was confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Ms. Achtenberg is the founding executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and past dean of the School of Law of the New College of California. Alan Horowitz (St. Paul, MN) is the coordinator of the Out for Equity program in St. Paul, one of six school-based LGBT programs in the country. Its mission is to create safe, affirming school environments for parents, staff and students. He is a leading expert on best practices for reducing homophobic behavior in schools and in school-based social work interventions to decrease isolation and improve academic performance. He co-created the Common Threads Youth Empowerment Project in New York, and developed a national safe schools curriculum and a statewide training of trainers about sexual minority issues. Mr. Horowitz is originally from New York, where he taught elementary school for 11 years. Hans Johnson (Washington, DC) is president of Progressive Victory, which provides consulting services to interfaith, labor, moderate and progressive organizations on data, strategy and targeting. Since 2002, he has been chief consultant/project manager of the Gill Foundation's Democracy Project, which helps nearly 300 progressive nonprofits ? with nearly 8 million total members ? effectively use enhanced data to increase civic participation by their members and members' households. He has also worked for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), People for the American Way, and the Human Rights Campaign. Mr. Johnson has extensive campaign experience, including fighting anti-LGBT ballot measures and working to elect progressive candidates. For more information about the Task Force and the new Board members visit: www.thetaskforce.org