A trailblazing figure in American politics, Senator Butler completed the term of the late Senator Dianne Feinstein. Butler has a storied career as a trusted advisor to top elected officials, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s presidential campaign, championing transformative public policies that reflect her lifelong commitment to justice and fairness for all communities.

Named as “Champion of Change,” by President Barack Obama, Senator Butler was president of EMILY’s List before she was named to the Senate, and served as president of SEIU Local 2015, California’s largest labor union. Senator Butler is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has served as a director on the Board of Governors of the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve System, as well as a member of the University of California Board of Regents.

Senator Butler holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Jackson State University and has held numerous leadership roles, including as board member for the National Children’s Defense Fund and the Bay Area Economic Council Institute, and as a fellow at the MIT Community Innovators Lab.  She was also a Young Leader at the French-American Foundation.

Jennifer is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Ethos Real Estate, a Los Angeles-based investment firm focused on leveraging private capital to preserve and create affordable housing through innovative structures. Under her leadership, Ethos has preserved more than $1 billion of affordable housing in partnership with public agencies across California. Jennifer brings over 25 years of experience across investment banking, private equity, distressed debt, and public-private partnerships, with deep expertise in California public policy, land use, and building political, community, and financial stakeholder consensus.

Jennifer holds a Master of Real Estate Development from the University of Southern California and a BA in Economics and German Literature from the University of Virginia. She serves as a Global Governing Trustee of the Urban Land Institute and sits on the boards of Mercy Housing California, Coro California, and the Los Angeles Business Council.

As President of KCRW, Jennifer Ferro has worked to transform the institution from Southern California’s flagship public radio station to a worldwide community that connects through the discovery of music, news and culture – in person, online and on the air.

Under her leadership, in addition to creating 100 hours of original programming a week, KCRW completed a $50 million capital campaign and moved into its first-ever, stand alone, state-of-the-art facility in early 2018. This new home allows KCRW to become a true community institution.

KCRW’s presence includes podcasts, original content, live events, a vibrant social networking community, and a successful mobile app. KCRW’s live events programming has grown to over 80 produced events throughout greater Los Angeles, reaching over 250,000 people each year.

Ms. Ferro joined KCRW in 1994. She has held varied roles during her tenure including Assistant General Manager and Executive Producer of Good Food. She has worked in development, membership, production, operations and marketing.

In addition to helming KCRW, Ms. Ferro serves as Chair of the NPR Board, she is a Senior Fellow for the Luskin School of Public Policy at UCLA, she is a member of the board of the International Women’s Forum of Southern California, and she serves on the board of Marfa Public Radio. In 2018, Ms. Ferro was awarded the UCLA Award for Public Service.

Ms. Ferro earned her Bachelor’s degree from UCLA. As a youth soccer coach Ferro co-founded the Women’s Coach Initiative to get more women youth soccer coaches on the field. She is also an active mentor to graduate and undergraduate students.

A self-proclaimed change maker, Brenda Solórzano is known as a leader focused on continual learning while making time to play and enjoy life. Solórzano is the President and CEO of The California Endowment. She was appointed to the position in 2024. This is a return for Brenda, after working at the Endowment early in her philanthropic career.

Brenda began her career in advocacy circles and has continued to ensure community voice remains at the center of her philanthropic work. She is a nationally recognized leader in trust-based philanthropy, a values-driven approach that advances equity, shifts power, and builds mutually accountable relationships between funders and nonprofits. As a founding member of the movement, Brenda understands that democratizing philanthropy, putting the community at the center, and building trusted partnerships and relationships are critical to ensuring positive and healthy change.

After immigrating to the United States from Guatemala as a baby, Brenda was raised in San Francisco. She calls San Francisco home and lived in California for nearly 50 years before moving to Montana to be the founding CEO of Headwaters Foundation.

Brenda comes to the Endowment from Headwaters. During her tenure at Headwaters, Brenda built an institution for the community, by the community, from the ground up. Leading with a lens of health equity and trust-based philanthropy, she reimagined and reinvented philanthropic practices, changed systems and policies to advance better health outcomes, and built a network of trusted partnerships across the state.

In her career, Brenda has also held positions at the Blue Shield of California Foundation and the California Healthcare Foundation. Brenda has a bachelor’s degree in history with a minor in political science from the University of San Francisco and a Juris Doctorate from Whittier Law School in Southern California.

Brenda is married to Randall Caudle, an immigration attorney, and she has two college-aged children, Alina and Kian. Brenda is currently based in L.A. with her husband and their two pups.

Julie Uhrman is the CEO and Co-Founder of Angel City Football Club (ACFC), Los Angeles’
professional women’s soccer team co-founded by Uhrman, Natalie Portman and Kara Nortman.
Under her leadership, ACFC is the world’s most valuable women’s professional football team,
setting new standards for impact by reallocating 10% of all sponsorship back into the LAf
community. She has received numerous accolades, including being named to the 2023
Gamechanger class by the Sports Business Journal, the Brand Genius Award by ADWEEK, Inc.
Female Founders 250 List, and one of the 50 Most Inspirational Figures in Sport by Sports
Illustrated.

Julie Uhrman, CEO and Co-Founder of Angel City Football Club (ACFC) in LA, founded the club
alongside Natalie Portman and Kara Nortman in 2020. Under her leadership, ACFC is the world’s most valuable women’s pro football team, setting new standards for impact by reallocating 10% of all sponsorship back into the LA community and leading the league year over year in ticket sales, attendance and sponsorship revenue. She’s received numerous accolades, including Brand Genius and Most Influential in Sports by Adweek, Inc. Female Founders 250 List, and one of the 50 Most Inspirational Figures in Sport by Sports Illustrated.

With the aim of building healthy communities where all can thrive, Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson has a 30+ year career in strategic planning, policy research and policymaking, and program design, implementation, and evaluation with philanthropy, government, and nonprofit organizations. Her work is characterized by systems thinking and the convergence of diverse perspectives. It integrates arts, design, culture and creativity in solutions for pressing local and global issues. Dr. Jackson has written and spoken extensively on quality-of-life measurement, comprehensive community development and urban inequality, support systems for artists and creative entrepreneurs, the importance of “cultural kitchens’ for social inclusion and a healthy democracy and the roles of arts and culture in community health, wellness, and resilience. She was appointed by President Biden and confirmed by the US Senate as Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts (2021-2025). She was appointed to the National Council on the Arts by President Obama in 2012. For nearly 20 years, Dr. Jackson was at Urban Institute, a national public policy research organization. For more than ten years, she was senior advisor at Kresge Foundation and other philanthropic organizations. She co-chaired the County of Los Angeles Cultural Equity and Inclusion Initiative and has served on governing and advisory boards of numerous arts and community development organizations. She is University Professor of Creativity and Social Impact at Arizona State University where she holds appointments in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts and the Watts College of Public Purpose and Community Solutions.