Our Board of Directors
The Oakland Peace Center is growing and so is our board of directors. We seek a variety of experiences and expertise to help lead the strategic direction of our work. If you are interested in volunteering on our board, please contact our Executive Director at kalynn@oaklandpeacecenter.org.
Dr. Renato Almanzor
Treasurer
Renato Almanzor is a transformation catalyst, whose experience emerges from 30 years developing leaders committed to transformative social change. As a leadership development expert, he delivers university courses, programs, keynote addresses, and seminars on issues related to leadership, equity, and organization design. His work has been dedicated to supporting leaders working with and in low-income communities and communities of color. He has a PhD and MA in organizational psychology, an MS in counseling, and BA in psychology, as well as certifications in coaching and Zumba Instruction. He serves on the Boards for East Bay Meditation Center and the Oakland Peace Center.
Norman Bardsley
Norman Bardsley grew up in a small town near Manchester in northern England, among a family with four generations of members of a small church affiliated with the Disciples of Christ. He was educated in mathematics and physics at Cambridge and Manchester Universities and came to the US in 1968. The three major phases of his career were as a Professor of Physics at the University of Pittsburgh, a research manager at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and as a consultant on lighting and electronic displays to the US Display Consortium, the US Department of Energy and the International Solid-State Lighting Alliance. He is a member of Lafayette Christian Church and chairs the Economic Justice Task Force of the Multi-faith ACTION Coalition in Contra Costa County. Norman has three children, five grand-children and one great grandson, scattered around the US and UK.
Rev. Dr. Monica Cross
President
Rev. Dr. Monica Joy Cross serves as Pastor at First Christian Church of Oakland in Oakland, Ca., Associate Minister at Tapestry Ministries in Berkeley, Ca., and Director of Women’s Ministries in the Northern California Nevada Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She is a Transformational Leader Fellow of the Sojourner Truth Leadership Circle of Auburn Seminary in New York, City, NY, and Founder of Global Prayer Network. Her activist organizing work includes, Laney Teach In/Poor People's Campaign League of Revolutionaries for a New America, and work with the National Center for Transgender Equality. She has authored: Reflections of a Prophet Without Honor - a book of reflections which emerge from her life with God; Authenticity and Imagination in the Face of Oppression - Autobiographical, it addresses gender, race, religion, sexuality, and strategies towards liberation, and has a Blog entitled: The Transgender Scholar. While being a native of Southern California Monica currently makes her home in Richmond, California.
Rev. LaDonna Harris
Reverend LaDonna Harris serves as the Senior Pastor of The Church By the Side of the Road (CBSOR) in Berkeley, CA. She was born and raised in the Bay Area and has lived a life of service.
LaDonna served Alameda County for thirty years in the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office and as the Chief Probation Officer for four years. She was the first African American woman to be promoted to Captain and then Division Commander in the Sheriff’s Office.
She is now the first woman to be the Senior Pastor at CBSOR. LaDonna received her Master of Leadership from St. Mary’s College of California and a Master of Divinity from American Baptist Seminary of the West (now Berkeley School of Theology). She is ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
LaDonna believes the world is waiting for transformation, and we are the ones we have been waiting for. She believes we must love first, love always, and we should strive to be a blessing to someone every day.
Jeffrey Ishmael
Secretary
Jeffrey (he/him) is the Chaplain for the Outpatient Palliative Care Team at John Muir Health, Walnut Creek. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley CA. His residency and fellowship in Clinical Pastoral Education was at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center where he started his work in end-of-life care with children and families living with Cystic Fibrosis. He has held both spiritual care and bereavement care positions at California Pacific Medical Center, Kindred Hospice, Vitas Hospice, George Mark Children’s House, Kaiser Hospital, San Francisco Juvenile Hall, and Larkin Street Youth Center. Before his career in chaplaincy Jeffrey was a hairdresser and owned his salon in Lexington, Kentucky. He worked his way through Architecture at University of Kentucky, moving to San Francisco in 1994 after graduation. He was ordained at FCC Concord in 2000 and is a board certified chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains. In addition to serving on OPC’s board, he has served as a trustee for First Christian Church Oakland since 2009 and is also an Elder for Lafayette Christian Church. Jeffrey lives in Martinez with his husband Henry Velasco, two teen children Haylee and Sage, and Grandma Velasco.
Jim Mitulski
Vice President
Reverend Jim Mitulski has been a pastor and community organizer for almost 40 years, in New York City, San Francisco, Berkeley, Denver, Dallas, Atlanta and Boston. He is currently the interim pastor of Island United Church in Foster CIty, co-president of the Peninsula Mutlifaith Coalition, and an active member of the NAACP San Mateo Branch. Jim brings many years of LGBT and HIV/AIDS activism to the OPC board. Jim has done non-profit development and fundraising for several religious, educational, political and arts organizations and has helped establish community centers in several cities. Jim is a resident of Oakland, California.
Sr. Marie de Porres Taylor
Sister Marie de Porres Taylor has been an outspoken advocate and leader in support of social justice, inclusion, and equality within the Oakland area for decades. Sister Marie entered the Sisters of Holy Name of Jesus and Mary in 1965, where she earned an undergraduate and a Master’s degree in Home Economics. She taught religion and home economics at Holy Names High School in Oakland for approximately ten years. Soon after, she accepted the position of Pastoral Associate at St. Benedict Church in East Oakland, where she developed and launched a leadership training program for youth, known today as the Youth Connection. Her success led her to become the first female President of the United East Oakland Clergy. After five years, she accepted a Director position at the Diocese of Oakland for the Black Catholic Vicariate, where she was involved in community outreach and education. Through the early 1990’s, Sister Marie served as the Executive Director at the National Black Catholic Sisters Conference, working to improve the inclusion of Black members and culture within the Catholic Church.
Her experience led her to become Director of Displaced Workers for the Oakland Private Industry Council, where she helped to retrain displaced factory workers affected by massive layoffs. Her ability to lead was noticed by the Office of Mayor Elihu Harris, who recruited her to manage community outreach projects and employment and training issues. Following this, she worked with the Oakland Housing Authority, where she provided leadership development training for public housing residents through the Hope VI Program. Her work was focused on the housing communities of Coliseum Gardens and Lockwood Gardens.
Her success with those programs led to positions in the Department of Public Health in Contra Costa County, Catholic Charities of San Francisco, and food policy organizations. Sister Marie also served on the California Department of Consumer Affairs Licensing of Vocational Nurses and Psychiatric Technicians Board. She served as president of the board during her tenure. Pursuing her personal goals of starting a business, Sister Marie owned and operated Thyme Café in the Laurel District of Oakland before entering retirement.
Even during retirement, she remains active by helping to develop the resident leadership council at Westlake Christian Terrace, an affordable housing community in Oakland. She also serves as Vice President at the East Bay Housing Organizations (EBHO), President of Oakland Citizens Committee for Urban Renewal (OCCUR), and President of the African American Quilt Guild of Oakland.
Angela Urata
Angela has enjoyed leading programmatic, financial and administrative processes in the nonprofit sector. She believes in the power of mindfulness practices in order to resolve trauma and cultivate inner peace in schools and juvenile halls; she is inspired by the next generation of peacemakers who are using social and emotional learning tools to engage in restorative justice practices and nonviolent communication; she is committed to international solidarity movements for just immigration, fair trade policies and food sovereignty. Angela is a dancer and storyteller, who is counting on the artists to help shape the world during these uncertain times.
In Memoriam
Karen Barrett
Karen was on our board for five years but supported the vision of the Oakland Peace Center before it even officially existed. Karen was deeply committed to the thriving of Black lives in Oakland and the Bay Area, a deep believer in immigration justice, LGBTQ+ justice and an end to homelessness, and a passionate worker for ending violence in our community. Karen was on our board for five years but supported the vision of the Oakland Peace Center before it even officially existed. Karen was deeply committed to the thriving of Black lives in Oakland and the Bay Area, a deep believer in immigration justice, LGBTQ+ justice and an end to homelessness, and a passionate worker for ending violence in our community.