TURN Consumer Advocates : Staff and Board

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MARK W. TONEY, Ph.D.
Contact: mtoney at turn.org

As executive director of TURN, Mark Toney sets the organization's strategic course and directs TURN’s legal and political advocacy on behalf of over 37 million Californians. Before coming to TURN in January 2008 Toney ran a successful nonprofit consulting business focused on coaching executive directors and effective strategic planning. He has substantial experience in nonprofit leadership, development, fundraising and organizing.

Toney was the Executive Director of the Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO) in Oakland from 1999 to 2003, where he initiated a major realignment of CTWO organizing, training and communication resources. He also worked as Senior Research Associate for the Applied Research Center in Oakland. Previously, Toney founded Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) in Providence, Rhode Island, working on such issues as benefits for home daycare providers, parent involvement in bilingual education, and preventing utility shut-offs in the winter for low-income families. He was the Executive Director/Chief Organizer at DARE from 1986-1994. Before that Toney was Lead Organizer with Workers Association for Guaranteed Employment, working for welfare rights in Providence.

Toney received his BA from Brown University and holds a Doctorate in Sociology from the University of California at Berkeley. He is also Kellogg National Leadership Fellow and his leadership accomplishments have been featured in Mother Jones Magazine and Brown Alumni Monthly.

BOB FINKELSTEIN, LEGAL DIRECTOR
Contact: bfinkelstein at turn.org

Bob Finkelstein has been with TURN since 1992. Serving for many years as the group's chief advocate on electric issues, he has helped save California consumers hundreds of millions of dollars. Finkelstein served as TURN's executive director from 2003-2007 and returned to full-time lawyering as legal director in 2008.

MIKE FLORIO, SENIOR STAFF ATTORNEY
Contact: mflorio at turn.org

As the organization's senior attorney, Michel P. Florio has supervised TURN's legal advocacy since 1989. Since first joining TURN's staff as a volunteer in 1978, Florio has participated in most major energy proceedings at the CPUC. He coordinates the development of TURN's policies on energy-related issues and is regarded as a leading authority on the natural gas industry. Florio currently serves on the governing board of the California Independent System Operator as an appointee of Governor Davis.

A former blues club owner, Florio received a JD degree from New York University and a Masters of Public Affairs from Princeton University. He received his undergraduate degree in political science and sociology from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

HAYLEY GOODSON, STAFF ATTORNEY
Contact: hayley at turn.org

Staff attorney Hayley Goodson started working at TURN as legal assistant in September 1998 and expanded her role to include tech support in 1999. She continued to help with tech support and miscellaneous projects on a part-time basis while attending law school, and joined the legal staff after graduating in 2003. Goodson has interned with several public interest advocacy organizations including the Maine Civil Liberties Union, Bay Area Legal Aid and Stand! Against Domestic Violence.

Goodson holds a BA in Women's Studies, with a focus in public policy, from Brown University and a JD from the University of California at Berkeley.

MARCEL HAWIGER, STAFF ATTORNEY
Contact: marcel at turn.org

Marcel Hawiger joined TURN as a staff attorney in August 1998 and represents consumers in proceedings at the CPUC related to various energy issues, including utility rate cases, natural gas cases, renewable energy and demand-side management. He came to TURN with a strong background in public interest advocacy. Mr. Hawiger represented farm workers in Washington State as an attorney with legal services (1994-96) and was the Executive Director of a fair housing organization in Palo Alto that investigates complaints of discrimination in the mid-peninsula housing market (1996-98).

The law is a second career for Hawiger, who worked for five years as a hydrogeologist on the East Coast. He holds a BS from Yale University, an MS from Cornell University and a JD from New York University.

MATT FREEDMAN, STAFF ATTORNEY
Contact: matthew at turn.org

Matthew Freedman became TURN's staff attorney specializing in electricity in January, 2000. He handles diverse issues including renewable energy, utility ratemaking, distributed generation, state legislation and consumer complaints.

Prior to working for TURN, Freedman served as a policy analyst for the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group on a campaign to persuade state regulators to clean up dirty power plants throughout New England. His work on electricity issues includes five years as a senior energy policy analyst and consultant with Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project. During his tenure at Public Citizen, he authored five major reports, testified several times before Congress and lobbied against state legislation to deregulate the electric industry in Massachusetts.

Freedman received a BA magna cum laude from Columbia University and a JD cum laude from Harvard Law School where he was awarded a 1999 Irving Kaufman Public Service Fellowship for promising public interest law graduates.

CHRISTINE MAILLOUX, STAFF ATTORNEY
Contact: cmailloux at turn.org

Christine Mailloux joined TURN's telecommunications staff in August 2001. She develops and implements TURN's legal strategies in telecommunications proceedings. Mailloux has been working on competitive telecommunications issues since the passage of the Telecommunications Act in 1996. Most recently, she worked with equipment manufacturers on regulatory issues and served as Assistant General Counsel for NorthPoint Communications. Prior to that, she worked as an associate attorney in the California offices of Blumenfeld & Cohen.

Mailloux's public interest and public policy experience include her work as Program Manager of the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, an internship with the Center for Public Interest Law in San Diego and ongoing volunteer work as a community mediator. She has a J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law and a B.A. from UCLA.

BILL NUSBAUM, MANAGING ATTORNEY
Contact: bnusbaum at turn.org

Senior telecommunications and managing attorney Bill Nusbaum joined TURN in January 2003. He has over 25 years experience as a lawyer and business strategist. During his career in telecommunications, Nusbaum has worked for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, large telecommunications users including the Bank of America and Pacific Bell. He has also been a management consultant at Deloitte Consulting and an independent consultant for Internet and broadband start-ups. Nusbaum holds a BA from the City University of New York; a JD (with honors) from New England School of Law and an MBA from the University of San Francisco. He is a member of both the D.C. and California Bars.

NINA SUETAKE, STAFF ATTORNEY
Contact: nsuetake at turn.org

Nina Suetake joined TURN as staff attorney in November 2004. She primarily deals with natural gas issues and is also working on electric cases with significant environmental impacts. Prior to working at TURN, Suetake interned as a law clerk for the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment where she assisted community groups with environmental justice litigation. Suetake also interned as a policy advocate for the California Public Interest Research Group's environment and toxics project. Suetake holds a B.A. in Biology from UC Berkeley and an M.S. in Environmental Policy and Management, with a focus on Economics and Policy, from UC Santa Barbara's Donald Bren School. She graduated cum laude from Santa Clara University with a JD in May 2004.

KRISTIN JEFFRIES, DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
Contact: kjeffries at turn.org

Development Director Kristin Jeffries joined TURN in February 2009. In this newly created position, Jeffries will be responsible for implementing a broad development strategy including foundation grants, membership programs, major gifts and planned gifts. She has more than 10 years experience as fundraiser beginning as a generalist and later specializing in major gifts.

Jeffries has worked for a diverse range of non-profits organizations including Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, the American Red Cross Bay Area and most recently Global Exchange. She received her B.A. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and holds a M.A. from San Francisco State University.

REGINA COSTA, TELECOMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
Contact: rcosta at turn.org

Regina Costa became TURN's research director in August 1991. She is responsible for developing TURN's policy on regulatory, economic and public policy angles of telecommunications issues and participates heavily TURN's legal work in telecommunications as well. She also serves on the telecommunications committee of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA).

Prior to joining TURN, Costa was a policy research specialist for the state of Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. She also worked for MCI as an analyst helping to prepare a major telecommunications anti-trust lawsuit, and served as a consultant to the British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Center in Vancouver, BC.

Costa received an undergraduate degree and a master's degree, both in communication, from Simon Fraser University. A native of Salinas, California, Costa lived in England for one year while doing post graduate research.

MINDY SPATT, MEDIA ADVOCACY DIRECTOR
Contact: turn at turn.org

Mindy Spatt joined TURN as media advocacy director in April 1998. She oversees press relations and the writing and production of TURN publications. She is now TURN’s communications director, coordinating TURN’s media and online advocacy.

Spatt is a published essayist and freelance writer whose work has appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines. Her previous advocacy experience includes work on behalf of women prisoners and a stint as a union organizer. She was employed as a legal writer at California Continuing Education of the Bar before coming to TURN. Spatt received her BA from the State University of New York and holds a law degree from Antioch School of Law.

ANA M. MONTES, DIRECTOR OF ORGANIZING
Contact: amontes at turn.org

Ana M. Montes joined TURN in April, 2008 as Organizing Director. She has 12 years of consumer advocacy experience as Director of Technology and Consumer Education at the Latino Issues Forum. In that role she created an innovative model for bringing technology to low income and minority communities, developed community civic engagement in limited English speaking communities and managed statewide consumer education projects geared towards Latino and Asian Communities.

A published poet, Montes has also worked as a teacher of La Raza Studies at San Francisco State University and as an editor and columnist with EL TECOLOTE, a bilingual newspaper in San Francisco She has testified on the Digital Divide in Sacramento and Washington D.C. and has given presentations at numerous technology conferences and forums.

Montes serves on the board of directors of several community based organizations, El Concilio of San Mateo County, Accion Latina, Consumers Union: Hear Us Now and the California Community Technology Policy Group. Montes received her BA in Journalism/La Raza Studies from San Jose State University. She is also a graduate of the California-based Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE), an institute that trains Latina women to run for political office.

RICHARD A. PEREZ, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE & OPERATIONS
Contact: 415-929-8876 ext 305, email: rap at turn dot org

Richard Perez joined TURN as Director of Finance and Operations in January 2008. Perez is responsible for managing both day-to-day office functions and overseeing TURN’s finances. Perez is not afraid of a challenge - he began by taking on the formidable task of organizing a TURN office clean-up day.

A native New Yorker, Perez comes to TURN with vast experience in financial and office management. He was previously COO at Entango, an internet start-up that processes online donations for nonprofit organizations . Before that he was Manager of Finance and Operations for Larkin Street Youth Services, an agency that serves homeless youth in San Francisco. In his spare time, Perez serves on the Board of Directors of the Foggy City Dancers. He holds a BS in Accounting from the University of Phoenix.

LARRY WONG, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT
Contact: adminassistant at turn.org

Larry Wong joined TURN as administrative assistant in April 2007, taking on a wide variety of tasks including preparing legal filings, tracking attorney hours, answering the phones and keeping the office, and TURN’s staff, organized.

Wong’s previous job as shipping assistant at a busy printing company helped prepare him for TURN’s fast-paced environment. He also brings experience in the nonprofit world, including administrative support for the Center for International Education and a year as a vocational rehabilitation counselor. He received his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing Management from Cal State University, East Bay.

SERRITA TEER, EXECUTIVE & DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANT
Contact: steer at turn.org

Serrita Teer joined TURN in February 2008 as Executive and Development Assistant. She helps TURN's executive director with a wide variety of tasks, inclding preparing grant applications and other materials, arranging travel, speaking engagements and meetings and research for organizing campaigns.

Before joining TURN, Teer was a marketing coordinator for a tech company where she was also responsible for customer service. She also has several years of experience as an executive assistant. Since 2004 Teer has been a member pf the Raiderettes, a dance and cheering team that performs at football games, represents the Raiders publicly and assists with public service projects including youth dance clinics. Teer holds a BS in Marketing from Cal State Hayward.

ROCHELLE ROBINSON, LEAD ORGANIZER
Contact: rrobinson at turn.org

Rochelle Robinson joined TURN in October, 2008. Her primary responsibilities are developing and coordinating organizing campaigns for landline, wireless, and broadband consumer telecom rights, and building support for TURN’s regulatory and legislative activities. She and the rest of the outreach team also spearhead TURN’s consumer education efforts.

Rochelle comes to TURN with over five years of community organizing experience in diverse ethnic and low-income communities, including two years with the Los Angeles-based California Partnership, where she developed local and statewide campaigns, actions and events, and was responsible for membership recruitment and advocacy for low-income communities.

Rochelle also writes for the Globe newspaper’s weekly Critical Health Series column. She received her BA from California State University, East Bay, and holds a MA in Women’s Studies from San Francisco State University.

BRIANNA CHESSER, ONLINE ADVOCACY COORDINATOR
bchesser at turn.org

Brianna Chesser joined TURN in November 2008 as online advocacy coordinator, after a stint as a volunteer for the Obama campaign. She is responsible for building TURN’s web presence and engaging current and new activists online through social media and other new tools.

Before joining TURN Chesser was a political and public affairs consultant based in Los Angeles. She has several years of experience in online and off-line campaigns, and has worked for a variety of political candidates and unions. Chesser holds a BA in Politics and Philosophy from the University of San Francisco.

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