The Steinberg Institute is honored to have the counsel of a powerhouse Board of Directors, committed to improving treatment and services for people living with mental illness or substance use disorder.
Darrell Steinberg, J.D.
Mayor and former State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is a powerful and effective advocate for mental health care policy in California. He has a long history of championing policy issues affecting brain health, and has gained the respect and trust of providers, decision-makers, business leaders and advocacy organizations across the state and nation.
Darrell has worked to bring awareness and solutions for what he calls “the under-attended issue of our time.” As a member of the state Assembly, he authored the 2004 Mental Health Services Act, landmark legislation that now generates more than $4 billion annually for “whatever-it takes” services for individuals with the most severe brain illnesses, as well as innovative programs and research focused on early detection, intervention, and prevention of psychosis and serious mood disorders.
His commitment to improving mental health care has resulted in services that provide integrated care to the homeless. In 2013, as a state senator, Darrell authored SB 82, propelling a major statewide expansion of crisis residential and stabilization beds and mobile crisis capacity. In 2015, continuing his press for change, he established a first-of-its-kind statewide organization, the Steinberg Institute, dedicated to raising the profile of quality mental health care as a critical public policy and civil rights issue. In February 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Darrell to co-lead a new statewide Commission on Homelessness and Supportive Housing.
Tina Thomas, J.D.
Over a 30-year career, Tina Thomas has built a reputation as a leading environmental and land-use attorney in California. She is founding partner of the Thomas Law Group, and before that, was a founding partner of Remy, Thomas, Moose & Manley, LLP, where she served as managing partner for 28 years. She is currently of counsel at Downey Brand, LLP.
Tina’s work extends beyond the traditional role of attorney, shaping not only land-use legislation, but also the way it is practiced and understood. She was one of the original authors of the Guide to the California Environmental Quality Act, a text that serves as a leading reference on CEQA. She played an integral role in the passage of Senate Bill 375, authored by then-Sen. Darrell Steinberg, which encourages smart growth and infill development.
Tina also has built a reputation for her extensive pro bono work in the Sacramento community. She has donated significant time and resources to championing the legal rights of nonprofit agencies that care for the homeless and disenfranchised. Among the organizations that have benefited from her counsel: Loaves & Fishes; Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services; WEAVE; WIND Youth Center; Serna Village; and Union Gospel Mission.
Azizza Davis Goines
With more than three decades of experience in association management, Azizza Davis Goines has established herself as an influential leader and dedicated business partner in Sacramento and beyond. For the last 10 years, as President and CEO of the Sacramento Black Chamber of Commerce, Azizza has strengthened partnerships and helped businesses recognize their growth potential by encouraging active community participation.
As a longtime Sacramento resident, Azizza has helped lead multiple efforts to advance healthcare, social justice, education and economic development. She has served as Executive Director for the local chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association; President/CEO for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Sacramento; and Community Relations and Development Director for CARES, an organization specializing in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
Azizza was the first recipient of the Rosa Parks Award, as well as a recipient of the Woman of Inspiration Award, Woman of Excellence Award, Community Service Award from the Sacramento Asian Chamber of Commerce, and the California Black Chamber of the Year Award from the California Black Chamber of Commerce. Her work reaches beyond California’s borders, and includes visits to Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana and Turkey, where she identifies opportunities for trade, investment and agriculture.
Stephanie Graves
Stephanie Graves is CEO of the Lee Andrews Group, a public relations firm located in downtown Los Angeles. Since 2013 she had led the national communications firm that partners with businesses, agencies and organizations to evolve, promote, engage and protect their projects, reputations and brands.
Stephanie oversees the company’s media relations, outreach campaigns, digital and social media, communications, crisis management, diversity and inclusion policies and strategic partnerships. An accomplished businesswoman, entrepreneur and community leader, her business acumen and financial expertise provides her with the right experience to lead the firm while managing the company’s overall operations, driving profitability, managing company organizational structure and strategy.
Stephanie has also built a reputation for her extensive work in environmental justice issues by tackling and empowering pollution-burden communities through outreach and education programs. Her experience has been sought out by the climate change industry, serving as an expert for educational media outlets.
Stephanie sits on the board of the Mayor’s Fund of Los Angeles, a non-profit to support people experiencing homelessness through outreach, connections to housing, supplies and opportunities for all community members and organizations to help in these solutions. Her education includes a B.A. and J.D. from the University of Southern California.
Anne Bakar
Anne Bakar is President and Chief Executive Officer of Telecare Corporation, a family- and employee-owned company offering a broad range of behavioral health services focused on promoting recovery for individuals with complex needs. She has led the company for more than three decades since taking over at age 29 after the unexpected death of her father, Morton Bakar, who co-founded Telecare in Oakland in 1965.
Under Anne’s leadership, the company has grown from five Northern California inpatient programs in 1987 to more than 132 programs across 35 counties in 5 states. Today, Telecare’s 4,100+ staff members serve nearly 32,000 people a year. Telecare has been consistently been recognized as a Best Place to Work in the Bay Area.
In addition to her role as Board Member for the Steinberg Institute, Anne is also a national board member for the Kennedy Satcher Center for Mental Health Equity the National Council of Behavioral Health, the World President’s Organization, and the Bay Area Business Council. She is a Trustee of the UC Berkeley Foundation, and serves in advisory roles at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. She served as a Commissioner on the California Future Health Workforce Commission, helping develop plans for easing the state’s shortage of health and mental health professionals. She lives in the Bay Area and in 2017, was inducted into the Bay Area Council’s Business Hall of Fame. She received her B.A. at the University of California at Berkeley.
Juan Acosta
Juan Acosta is a first generation Mexican immigrant, who grew up in Woodland California. He began his advocacy work locally at age 13.
At 21, Juan drafted a historic LGBTQ+ proclamation for his hometown of Woodland. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from San Francisco State University. Juan has done work throughout the state of California, across the country, and around the world.
He has served on various national committees and speaks at conferences and festivals, including United Nations Side Events and the first-ever Youth Mental Health Action Forum White House Event. Juan co-authored the New York Times Bestselling “Channel Kindness: Stories of Kindness and Community” with musical artist and actress Lady Gaga + other Born This Way Foundation Reporters. He regularly collaborates with numerous organizations and brands. His work has been featured by Mashable, Oprah Magazine, DOSOMETHING, MTV, and more. He currently serves as Program Officer for the Sierra Health Foundation.
David Beier
David Beier, Managing Director of Bay City Capital, serves on the boards of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals, the patient advocacy organization, No Patient Left Behind, and the biotechnology firm, Infinity Pharmaceuticals. He also is a Member of the Commission on California State Government Organization and Economy (‘Little Hoover Commission’).
Previously he served in senior executive roles in the White House, Genentech and Amgen. During his career David worked as a partner in an international law firm, an ACLU staff attorney, Legal Services lawyer and Counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary.
John Boyd, Psy.D., MHA, FACHE
John Boyd, PsyD, MHA, is Vice President, Behavioral Health & Wellness for Kaiser Northern California. Dr. Boyd has an extensive background in healthcare administration, previously serving in CEO roles for Rogers Behavioral Health and Sutter Health. He earned a Master of Health Administration degree at University of Southern California and a doctorate in psychology at California School of Professional Psychology.
An active mental health advocate, Dr. Boyd is on the national board of Mental Health America and is a commissioner for the State of California Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission. He has worked as both an inpatient and outpatient therapist in multiple organizations. He is a fellow with the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Steve Fields
Steve Fields is executive director of Progress Foundation, which has played a pioneering role in modeling residential alternatives to hospitalization for people living with disabling mental illness. Over a 40-year career, Steve has championed development of mental health programs that emphasize rehabilitation and self-sufficiency through supportive, community-based services.
Steve has led Progress Foundation since its founding in 1969, and now oversees 19 programs across San Francisco, Sonoma and Napa Counties, serving more than 3,000 people. The foundation opened the first social model residential treatment programs for geriatric clients in the country, and the first social model residential treatment program for women and their children.
A leader in local, state and national efforts to develop and promote change in the mental health system, Steve was instrumental in forming the San Francisco Human Services Network, an association of more than 100 nonprofit agencies. He received his B.A. from Harvard, and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of San Francisco.
Tom Insel, M.D.
Tom lnsel, M.D., a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, has been a national leader in mental health research,
policy, and technology. From 2002-2015, Dr. Insel served as Director of the National Institute of
Mental Health (NIMH). More recently, he led the Mental Health Team at Verily (2015-2017); co-
founded Mindstrong Health (2017-2019), a start-up building tools for people with serious mental illness;
and served as a special advisor to California Governor Gavin Newsom (2019), helping on behavioral
health issues.
In 2020, he co-founded Humanest Care, a therapeutic online community for recovery. In
2022, he joined Vanna Health as a co-founder and executive chair. Vanna Health is a start-up helping
people with serious mental illness engage in psychosocial supportive care. He served as Steinberg Institute Board Chair (2019-2022), and currently serves on the boards of Foundation for NIH, Fountain House, and Schaeffer Center for Health Policy as well as being an advisor to several mental health start-ups (including Alto Neuroscience, Cerebral, Compass Pathways, Owl Insights, Koa Health, Valera Health).
He is the author of Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health (Penguin Random House, 2022). With journalist co-founders, he launched MindSite News, a non-profit digital publication focused on mental health issues. Dr. Insel is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and has received numerous national and international awards including honorary degrees in the U.S. and Europe.
Rich Leib, J.D.
Over a nearly four-decade career, Rich Leib has distinguished himself in a striking array of endeavors, as a political and legislative strategist, regulatory expert, entrepreneur, political fundraiser and public servant.
Rich is currently 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 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. The company, which ultimately employed 700 people, was sold to a private equity firm in 2017.
Prior to his work with Liquid Environmental Solutions, Rich served as executive vice president and general counsel of U.S. Public Technologies; and co-founded Stone and Youngberg, a private investment group based in San Francisco.
Rich has deep experience in California politics. He started his career as a legislative staffer for state Senators Gary Hart and Herschel Rosenthal. He went on to become chief political fundraiser for top elected officials throughout the Los Angeles area, including Congressmen Henry Waxman and Mel Levine.
His education includes a J.D. from the Loyola University School of Law, an M.A. in Public Affairs Fellowship with the Coro Foundation, and a B.A. from UC Santa Barbara. He is Vice Chair of the UC Board of Regents and an elected member of the Solana Beach School Board. Rich previously served as President of the Board of Governors of the California Community College System, as an appointee of Gov. Gray Davis.
Keri Thomas
Keri Thomas serves as the Vice President, External Affairs for the Sutter Health Valley Area. She is responsible for working with elected and community leaders and not-for-profit agencies on sustainable programs that enhance community health in Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, Solano, Amador, Yuba, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties in California. Keri has a passion for connecting programs and services to help create a seamless system of care for our communities’ most vulnerable.
Keri earned her Master’s in Public Policy and Administration from California State University, Sacramento and her Bachelor’s of Science degree in Exercise and Sports Science from Oregon State University. Keri currently serves on the Golden 1 Credit Union Board of Directors, is past Chair of the Leaderships Sacramento Program (2009), and has served as Chair for the Sacramento Metro Chamber Cap to Cap Program. She was honored by the Sacramento Business Journal as one of the top up and coming leaders of the region – 40 Under 40 (2010) and received the Sacramento’s Women Who Mean Business Award (2016)
Ken Zimmerman
Ken Zimmerman is the CEO of Fountain House, a national mental health nonprofit that empowers people living with serious mental illness through direct services, practice innovation, and policy change.
Prior to Fountain House, Ken founded and co-directed the Mental Health Strategic Impact Initiative (S2i), a think-and-do tank that uses a social justice lens to catalyze change in mental health policy and practice. Ken was previously the Director of U.S. Programs for the Open Society Foundations, where he led initiatives involving over $100 million in grant-making to advance equality, democracy, and justice. He has also served in senior policy positions in the Obama and Clinton administrations, including as Senior Advisor to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.
Following the death of his son Jared in 2016 as a result of his mental illness, Ken has focused on the nation’s broken approach to mental health—specifically calling on, and aiding, mainstream philanthropy to take advantage of the immense opportunities to transform mental health that now exist. Previously, Ken was a litigation partner for the pro bono practice group at Lowenstein Sandler, Chief Counsel to New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine, and founding Executive Director of the New Jersey Institute of Social Justice. A graduate of Yale and Harvard Law School, Ken is a Distinguished Fellow at NYU’s Furman Center and teaches at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. He lives with his wife Jackie in Montclair, New Jersey, and is the proud father, not only of Jared but his twins, Brianna and Gabriel.
Ken is currently a Distinguished Fellow with NYU’s Furman Center, where he is teaching and examining new forms of social advocacy and policy development in the urban environment. He spent six years as director of U.S. Programs for the Open Society Foundations, responsible for over $100 million a year in grant-making, and was co-director of its advocacy arm, the Open Society Policy Center. The foundation targets its giving to organizations working on democratic practice, criminal justice reform, civic participation for immigrants and communities of color, and equitable economic growth.
Prior to joining Open Society, Ken was a litigation partner heading the pro bono practice group at Lowenstein Sandler PC, served on the presidential transition team for the Obama Administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Development, and was chief counsel to New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine. He also served in the Clinton Administration as deputy assistant secretary at the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development and as a senior trial attorney in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and was the founding executive director of the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice in Newark.
He lives in Montclair, New Jersey, but began his career as a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Robert Peckham in San Francisco and a Skadden Fellow with the Legal Aid Society of Alameda County.