  Stephen R. English
Co-Director
Stephen English was a partner in the Los Angeles office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius for twelve years, helping to manage a 20-lawyer litigation department. A committed advocate for legal services for the poor, he currently serves as the President of the Board of Directors of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. He has also served as board president of two other major service providers, Public Counsel and the Inner City Law Center, and as President of the Los Angeles County Bar Foundation. He received the California State Bar President's Pro Bono Award in 1994 and, with Co-Director Molly Munger, the ACLU of Southern California's Equal Justice Advocate award in 2002.
English recently chaired the Litigation Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He is an honors graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School.
 Molly Munger
Co-Director
Molly Munger brings an extensive background of legal expertise to Advancement Project, including twenty years as a federal prosecutor and business litigator. Before becoming a staff attorney with the Los Angeles office of LDF in 1994, she was a partner in the law firm of Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, served as president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Federal Bar Association and participated actively in many bar committees and task forces. She received the Women Lawyers of Los Angeles Ernestine Stahlhut Award in 1996 with Co-Director Steve English, and the ACLU of Southern California's Equal Justice Advocacy Award in 2002.
Munger is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. She serves on the boards of the James Irvine Foundation, Occidental College, Westridge School for Girls, and Children Now.
 Constance L. Rice
Co-Director
Connie Rice is renowned for her unconventional approaches to tackling problems of inequity and exclusion. For example, she has teamed up with conservatives on education issues and LAPD officers to support the Watts gang truce. Rice has received more than 50 major awards for her leadership of diverse coalitions, and her non-traditional approaches to litigating major cases involving police misconduct, employment discrimination and fair public resource allocation. She received the 2001 Peace Prize from the California Wellness Foundation and the 2002 John Anson Ford Humanitarian Award from Los Angeles County. She successfully co-litigated class-action, civil rights cases winning more than $1.6 billion in policy changes and remedies during her nine year tenure in the Los Angeles office of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF).
Rice is a graduate of Harvard College and the New York University School of Law. In 1998, the Los Angeles Times designated her one of 24 leaders considered the "most experienced, civic-minded and thoughtful people on the subject of Los Angeles." In 1999 California Law Business named her one of California's top 10 most influential lawyers. In October of 2000, California LawBusiness named her, along with Governor Gray Davis and Warren Christopher, as one of California's top 10 most influential lawyers. In May 2003, Rice received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Occidental College and in September of 2004, she received the Women Lawyers of Los Angeles Ernestine Stahlhut Award. She serves on the boards of the Public Policy Institute of California and public radio station KPCC.
In 2006, Los Angeles Times West Magazine named Rice one of the 100 most powerful people in Southern California, and Pasadena Weekly placed Rice first in their listing of most powerful women.
 John Kim
Managing Director, The Advancement Project LA
Director, Healthy City Project
Mr. Kim currently serves as the Managing Director of the Advancement Project LA and the Director of the Healthy City Project. As the Managing Director of AP, Mr. Kim works closely with Co-Directors Molly Munger, Connie Rice, and Steve English on policy research/advocacy initiatives, partnership building, and strategic organizational development efforts. At the same time, Mr. Kim is the founding director of the Healthy City Project which is an all-in-one service referral and public policy research website. Healthy City is widely regarded as one of the most important new tools for LA's public sector and has been acclaimed as a national model for data-driven policy planning resources. Through his work on Healthy City, Mr. Kim has provided direct policy and research support to local elected officials, philanthropic entities, and countless community-based organizations throughout the region.
Mr. Kim has long focused on social justice and community development issues in both Oakland and Los Angeles. He started his career as a youth organizer, where he helped to mediate racial tensions among students of color and organize a successful campaign to offer Ethnic Studies in all Oakland Public High Schools. Later on, he became the Executive Director of the Korean Community Center of the East Bay, where he significantly expanded the agency's financial base and programmatic capacity through the development of new programs in the areas of domestic abuse, community development and community technology. Mr. Kim's work in the Bay Area has been recognized by KQED/Channel 9 as the 2001 Local Hero of the Year Award and by Oakland's Mayor Jerry Brown with the proclamation of a "John K. Kim Day" in the City of Oakland.
 Pete Manzo
Director Of Strategic Initiatives
Peter Manzo brings over 13 years of experience in public interest law and management. In addition to his work at the Advancement Project, he is a Senior Research Fellow at the UCLA Center for Civil Society, and is the author of numerous articles and reports on legal, management and policy issues affecting nonprofits and philanthropy. Previously, Mr. Manzo was the Executive Director and General Counsel of the Center for Nonprofit Management, where he directed the expansion of the Center's information, training, consulting, technology and search and compensation services to nonprofits. Prior to leading the Center, Mr. Manzo was Directing Attorney of Community Development Programs for Public Counsel, the nation's largest pro bono law firm and the Los Angeles affiliate of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, where he represented nonprofit charitable organizations in a broad range of real property, corporate, tax and other transactional matters. Before moving into the nonprofit sector, Mr. Manzo practiced real estate and corporate law in the private sector, first at the law firm of Riordan & McKinzie, then at Tuttle & Taylor in Los Angeles.
Mr. Manzo is a graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley; he also attended the London School of Economics, where he received a Master's degree in Political Sociology, and the University of Notre Dame, where he received a Bachelor's degree in Government.
He is a member of the boards of directors of: National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy; PacAdvantage, a nonprofit alliance whose mission is to enable small employers throughout California to provide excellent, affordable health coverage to their employees; and United Friends of the Children, which provides transitional living assistance and job training to emancipated foster youth in Los Angeles County.
Susan Lee
Program Director
Susan Lee has over 14 years of experience in non-profit management, strategic planning, fundraising, facility development, staff training & development and community engagement as well as research and expertise in immigration history and law. Her work in San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, has primarily focused on empowering and serving low income immigrant communities of color. Most recently, as the Director of Children & Family Services at Koreatown Youth & Community Center, she successfully oversaw the implementation of a $5 million dollar Early Childhood Initiative resulting in two new facilities providing high quality child care for 105 infants, toddlers and preschool aged children. She brings program expertise in early childhood education & development, youth development, school readiness and success for K-12 students, outpatient mental health, and violence prevention.
Susan Lee holds a BS in Economics from University of California Berkeley as well as a JD from Boalt Hall, School of Law, UC Berkeley and is currently on leave from the Ph.D. program in Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley. In addition to being a member of the California State Bar, she has more than 6 years of experience teaching undergraduate courses in Asian American history and community issues at UC Berkeley, and has published on issues of immigration, citizenship and immigrant rights. Her scholarship has been recognized through numerous fellowships and awards, including the Jurisprudence Award from Boalt Hall School of Law in 1995. She is active in supporting other community based organizations and schools and is currently the Chair of the Larchmont Charter School Board of Directors, a start-up charter elementary school. Susan lives in Los Angeles with her husband Bobby, daughter Zoe and son Francis.
Sharon Scott Dow
Director Of Governmental Relations
Kim Pattillo Brownson
Associate Counsel
Kim Pattillo Brownson is a civil rights lawyer with litigation and advocacy experience in education and constitutional law. Prior to joining the Advancement Project, Kim was an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, where she focused upon ensuring that the State of California provided school children with the basic necessities of a decent education. She also worked as a litigation associate at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Kim previously served as a law clerk to the Honorable Dolores Sloviter on the Third Circuit Court of Appeal, and the Honorable Louis H. Pollak in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Kim holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College. Prior to law school, Kim worked at the Boston Consulting Group, where she provided financial and strategic planning services to Fortune 500 companies.
 Mercedes Pérez
Associate Director, Healthy City Project
Mercedes Perez comes to the Advancement Project after serving as a Research Assistant for the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, Health Data Program. At the Health DATA Program she provided technical assistance and support to community based organizations on how to use existing health data and collect local data in order to advance their policy advocacy and program development goals.
Prior to joining the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, Ms. Perez worked at the Center for Health Care Rights, organizing consumer presentations and coordinating community outreach to older adults around health access and coverage. From 1998-2000, she worked at the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition where she coordinated regional health symposia for professionals and provided technical assistance on immigrant eligibility for public health benefits.
Ms. Perez received her undergraduate degree from Brown University and her Masters degree in Public Health from UCLA.
Efren Aguilar
Senior Research Analyst
Efren joins the Advancement Project with over 17 years experience serving his community through national, statewide and local non-profit organizations. His professional experience runs a broad range of social service issues including, homelessness, displaced political refugees, domestic violence, education, public health and child development. He has worked most recently as a Program Officer in the Planning and Development Department at First 5 LA, a Los Angeles County based funder of various countywide initiatives designed to improve the health, education and safety of children prenatal through five and their families. At First 5 LA Efren led the GIS activities informing strategic planning and initiative development. Efren's previous work experience includes, The Statewide California Coalition for Battered Women, The American Cancer Society, and The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. Committed to social change, Efren volunteers with the National Organization for Women and is a co-founder and Director for the Council for Family Court Reform.
 Andrew Hall
Office Manager/Bookkeeper
Andrew Hall comes to The Advancement Project from Appian Way, a film production company. At Appian Way, Andy was the office manager, bookkeeper, and assistant to the CFO. Prior to that, Andy lived in San Francisco, where he was the office manager and bookkeeper for the IO Group, an entertainment and software distributor. Andy is originally from Friendswood, Texas.
 Pilar Mendoza
Policy Analyst
Pilar Mendoza is a graduate of Swarthmore College where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History with a minor in Latin American Studies. Among her other commitments, Pilar was active in ENLACE (Swarthmore's Latino/a organization), the Intercultural Center and Swarthmore's Living Wage Campaign. Prior to joining the Advancement Project, Pilar worked at the Western Regional Office of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF). Pilar plans to obtain a dual masters in social work and public policy.
 Tahirah Farris
Policy Analyst
Tahirah Farris received her bachelor's degree from UC Santa Barbara with a major in Political Science emphasizing in International Relations and a minor in Anthropology. While attending UCSB, she wrote for the yearbook, worked as a records assistant for the College of Letters & Science Academic Advising Office, and as an ESL teaching assistant at Santa Barbara City College. Upon moving back to Los Angeles, she continued to pursue her writing interests covering weekly news stories for Canyon News, a Los Angeles based newspaper. Prior to joining the Advancement Project, Tahirah worked for New Schools Better Neighborhoods (NSBN), a civic advocacy organization dedicated to improving California's urban school districts, where she was involved in joint-use, community-centered school planning throughout LA County.
Leticia Ramirez
Policy Analyst
Leticia Ramirez joined AP in June 2006 as a policy analyst for the Gang Activity Reduction Strategy project. Prior to working with AP, Leticia worked with the Service Employees International Union for two years where she primarily organized nursing home workers throughout Southern California. Leticia holds a B.A. in History from Stanford University were she was active in numerous student organizations and led a coalition of student organizations, community members, and workers in a campaign to improve Stanford's labor practices including establishing a living wage for all directly hired and subcontracted employees.
Lori Thompson
Executive Assistant
Lori Thompson received her bachelor's degree from Tufts University with double major in Japanese and Environmental Studies. Upon graduation, Lori worked in Kobe, Japan for two and a half years as an English Teacher and a manager at an English Conversation caf?. Before joining the Advancement Project, she worked as an assistant at ERDT/Share!, a global non-profit educational foundation focusing on student exchange. Lori is originally from Greenfield, Massachusetts.
Jessica Osmond
Executive Assistant
Chris Ringewald
Research Analyst
Chris starts at the Advancement Project after working for the National Park Service's Inventory & Monitoring Program in South Florida. He graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and a Masters degree in Regional Planning. While in college, Chris was active in public service initiatives, intramural sports, and social organizations. After graduation, he served as an AmeriCorps VISTA for the Cornell Public Service Center. Originally from San Diego, Chris is excited to return to Southern California.
Shannon Ulrickson
Administrative Coordinator
Shannon Ulrickson has recently completed the work for her Master's degree in Religion at Claremont School of Theology, with a focus on the arts. Prior to this academic pursuit, Shannon worked for a production company in a financial capacity. Shannon has also previously served as a Program Director for the Alliance for the Care of Abused Children, where she connected community volunteers with Children's Social Workers in order to provide support for foster youth in Los Angeles County. Shannon received her undergraduate degree from Occidental College in Los Angeles, and is excited to return to this diverse and vibrant community.
Jeremy Kwock
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