Nancy L. Cohen is the president and founder of the Gender Equity Policy Institute. Cohen is an award-winning author, historian, and leading national expert on gender and US politics. She is the author of four books on US history and politics, including Delirium: The Politics of Sex in America, Breakthrough: The Making of America’s First Woman President, and The Reconstruction of American Liberalism, 1865-1914. Cohen’s reporting and commentary has been published in a wide range of outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and USA Today, and she has appeared as a guest on MSNBC, NPR and elsewhere. She holds a PhD in history from Columbia University.

Chantel Johnson is the Senior Director of External Affairs at the Gender Equity Policy Institute where she oversees government affairs and community outreach. Chantel brings a wealth of experience to the position, having served as a public servant in the California State Senate, Assembly, and Lieutenant Governor’s Office. Most recently, she served as the Chief of Staff to the Senior Vice President of External Affairs at Blue Shield of California. Chantel has also held roles in human services, health care, and social justice advocacy that have resulted in significant policy, practice, and cultural changes.

Chantel is passionate about the empowerment of women and underserved populations. She is an active volunteer with Girl Scouts, mentors young professionals through She Shares, and serves on the board of the YMCA of Superior California. She had been a recipient of the Sacramento Observer “30 under 30” award, honored by the Sac Cultural Hub as an Exceptional Woman of Color, and named by Comstock’s magazine as a young professional to watch.

Chantel received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from California State University East Bay and a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Southern California.

Matt is a researcher and teacher with a background in the social sciences, polling, econometrics, and qualitative research. He has a passion for economic and social justice, and has spent his career putting his talents toward highlighting and advocating to address some of today’s most persistent collective problems. In addition to his work for GEPI, he teaches graduate Quantitative Methods at Johns Hopkins. 

Matt is a graduate of McGill University (where he picked up a love for cold days and Quebec-accented French) and the University of Chicago (where his love for cold days ebbed in favor of love for Chicago blues). 

In his spare time, he skis, golfs, hikes, designs overwrought historical board games, and, like Sisyphus with an oven, pursues the ever-unattainable perfectly-baked puff pastry. He recently went electric, kitchen-wise. He’s going to see how that works out for him.

Natalia Vega Varela is a Senior Policy Analyst for the Gender Equity Policy Institute. Natalia has experience in international development, development policy, macroeconomics, and feminist economics analysis. She has collaborated with international institutions, non-profits and think tanks in the U.S. and Mexico. She holds an M.A in International Development from the New School, where she focused her research on inequality and gender development in Latin America and Africa.

Naomi Barlava is the Program Associate for the Gender Equity Policy Institute. She works with the development, research, and administration teams here at GEPI. She is a recent graduate of University of Michigan where she studied Sociology and International Studies.

Michelle Adams is the Henry M. Butzel Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. She is a leading national expert on racial justice issues. She is the author of The Containment: Detroit, The Supreme Court, and the Battle for Racial Justice in the North (forthcoming). Her legal scholarship has appeared in the Yale Law Journal, the California Law Review, and many other journals. She served as a Commissioner on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, and has served as a board member for the Innocence Project. Adams holds a JD from City University of New York Law School and an LLM from Harvard Law School.

Emily Alejos is Chief Investment Officer and a Senior Managing Director of Cartica, a majority women-owned investment firm focused on small and mid-cap companies in emerging markets. Alejos is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a member of the Asia Society and the CFA Institute. She is a co-leader and member of the Women’s Circles at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and active in Stanford’s Scholars of Finance, which helps develop the next generation of leaders in finance to lead from a strong grounding in principles and ethics. Alejos holds an MBA and a Certificate in Public Management from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Stella Maloyan is principal of Stellar Strategies LLC. Prior to starting her own company, Maloyan served as Development Director at the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) for 18 years, creating and overseeing the organization’s private fundraising programs and events. She has served as a mayoral appointee on the L.A. Convention and Tourism Development Board of Commissioners and on the boards of the Program for Torture Victims and the Armenian General Benevolent Union, Southern California District. Maloyan holds a Master of Public Administration from California State University, Northridge. (On Board leave, 2022)

Victor Griego is the founder and board president of Water Education for Latino Leaders (WELL). He is also the producer of LA Alliance, a program that examines the relationships among Latino and Black southern Californians, and provides a forum for positive and constructive dialogue on common issues and concerns. Over the past 30 years, he has advised many California labor unions on community and political issues, and he previously held the position of staff director for the Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union. Griego serves as vice president of the board of directors of the Miguel Contreras Foundation and chairs its Community and Business Council. He is also member of the executive council of AARP-California. He holds an MA in political science from Claremont Graduate University.

Norman Ornelas Jr. is a Research Fellow at the Gender Equity Policy Institute. He is currently pursuing a dual-title PhD in Geography and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Pennsylvania State University and has research interests in political economy, labor, and socioeconomic inequalities along the lines of race, gender, and sexuality. He previously worked as a planner in Los Angeles and has experience in project management and policy research on land use and urban economics. He holds a Masters in Urban Planning from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography with a Minor in Sociology from California State University, Long Beach.

Ivy A.M. Cargile is an Associate Professor of Political Science at California State University, Bakersfield. Her research focuses on the politics of race and ethnicity in the United States. Specifically, she does research on the intersection of gender and race/ethnicity and its effects on the behavior of political elites and voters. She analyzes how Latina political actors and other women politicians of color influence policy outcomes and represent their constituents. In addition, she does research on public opinion among Latin@/x voters to understand how policy issues like immigration and women’s rights affect participation. She is a co-editor of The Hillary Effect: Perspectives on Clinton’s Legacy. Her work has appeared in Political Research Quarterly, Urban Affairs Review, Politics, Groups & Identities and multiple books on Latina politicians, Latin@/x voters, and immigration policy. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Claremont Graduate University.

Jennifer M. Piscopo is Associate Professor of Politics and Faculty Director of the Center for Research and Scholarship at Occidental College. Her research on representation, gender quotas, and legislative institutions in Latin America has appeared in the American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, and many other journals. She is co-editor of The Impact of Gender Quotas (Oxford University Press, 2012). Piscopo has extensive research experience in Latin America and has consulted for international organizations, such as UN Women and the Inter-parliamentary Union, as well as for national governments. Her op-eds have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, among other outlets. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego.

Clare Weber is Professor of Sociology at California State University, San Bernardino. Her research has focused on international human rights, globalization, transnational feminism, and community organizing from a multicultural perspective. She is the author of Visions of Solidarity: US Peace Activists in Nicaragua, from War to Women’s Activism and Globalization and co-editor of Cultural Politics in the 21st Century: Global Resistance and Community based Social Movements in the Americas. Prior to her academic career, Weber worked as a community organizer. She was a human rights investigator in Central America during the civil wars of the 1980s, a Regional Coordinator for the international Human Rights Organization, Witness for Peace, and coordinator of a campaign to legalize street vending in Los Angeles. Weber holds a PhD in Social Relations from the University of California, Irvine.