Selisse Berry
Founding Executive Director

Selisse Berry is founding executive director of Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, the nation's only national nonprofit organization specifically dedicated to creating safe and equitable workplaces for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. Under her leadership, the organization has grown significantly with 1200 percent expansion in the annual Summit since 1999, and fourteen regional affiliates across the United States.

During her tenure at Out & Equal, Selisse has regularly met with executives, HR professionals and LGBT employees to expand LGBT equality in workplaces across the country and globally. Under her leadership, the organization has created numerous programs to advance its mission, including the annual Out & Equal Workplace Summit, bimonthly Town Call seminars, the Out & Equal Workplace Institute—which seeks to bring together scholarly research on LGBT equality with business and human resource managers, the nation’s largest registry of LGBT Employee Resource Groups, the soon-to-launch LGBT CareerLink—a website devoted to connecting LGBT job seekers with LGBT-friendly companies, and substantial programming in the growing network of regional affiliates.

Her clear and unwavering vision has been instrumental in creating an internationally recognized organization whose philosophies reflect the importance of treating all colleagues in the workplace with respect and dignity. Since her first job as a guidance counselor, Selisse has continued her commitment to justice as a teacher and as executive director for several social service organizations prior to founding Out & Equal Workplace Advocates. She has master's degrees in education and theology from the University of Texas and San Francisco Theological Seminary respectively. Selisse and her partner, Cynthia Martin, were married in July 2007.

Ms. Berry has worked for the ordination of out LGBT people in various denominations and is co-editor of the book, Called Out: Voices and Gifts of LGBT Presbyterians. Selisse has also worked as a special education teacher, a guidance counselor and has extensive experience as a diversity trainer around LGBT issues and broader diversity issues and often consults on LGBT diversity issues.

Out & Equal is widely known for its annual Workplace Summit, the premier gathering of LGBT employees and human resources professionals from around the globe. The Summit brings together LGBT employees, allies and human resource and diversity professionals to share best practices that address all facets of workplace equality. Held in a different city each year, the Summit blends internationally known keynote speakers with educational workshops and idea-sharing opportunities. The Out & Equal Workplace Summit will take place October 6-9, 2009 in Orlando, FL. For more information, please visit our website at www.outandequal.org/summit-09.

J. Kevin Jones
Deputy Director

J Kevin Jones joined the staff in February 2009 after spending nearly 25 years in the corporate world, most recently as a managing director for Citigroup in New York City.

It was during his 11 years at Citigroup that Kevin developed a passion for LGBT workplace equality issues and became a leading voice for the LGBT employee community at the company.

While there, he co-founded the company's national and Metro NYC Pride employee resource groups and worked closely with the Office of Workforce Diversity on numerous issues specific to LGBT equality.

It was also during his time at Citigroup that Kevin developed a relationship with Out & Equal that would include launching the Metro New York regional affiliate in 2001, serving on its Board of Directors from 2003 to 2006, co-chairing the 2004 Workplace Summit and co-chairing the Summit's Workshop Committee for five years. 

Outside of his Out & Equal responsibilities, Kevin serves on the HRC Business Council and co-chairs the board of directors of True Child, the only national organization helping all children – boys and girls – break through stereotypes and become their true selves.   Prior to relocating to the Bay Area, he was involved in many aspects of life at Christ Church in Ridgewood, New Jersey and is looking forward to connecting with fellow Episcopalians in the Diocese of California. 

Kevin is originally from outside of Pittsburgh, PA. He holds a juris doctorate, a master’s degree in business administration and a bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis, MO and is in a civil union (working on marriage) with his partner of over twelve years, Tony De Sousa.

Beatriz Rincón
Director of Finance & Operations

Beatriz Rincón is Out & Equal's Director of Finance & Operations. In addition to her lifelong commitment to the goals of our organization, Beatriz comes to us with a broad range of experience in both for-profit (20 years) and non-profit environments (11 years), which accounts for her well-honed skills in the areas of Fiscal Management, Budget Development, Financial Analysis, Human Resources, Internal Procedures, and Operations/Project Management.

Prior to joining Out & Equal, Beatriz was the Executive Director of AgeSong Senior Communities, where her responsibilities included directing finance and operations of two assisted living facilities in San Francisco specializing in the care of individuals suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. Here she refined, developed, and implemented strategic initiatives to improve organizational performance, and develop organizational capabilities. She set about overcoming financial and staffing challenges by totally redesigning the organizational structure and establishing and implementing procedures, policies, and cost controls in all key areas of the organization. She also spent four years as the Director of Finance and Operations at Social Venture Network, a non-profit that promotes socially responsible businesses. Reporting to SVN’s Co-Directors, Beatriz had the primary responsibility for understanding and anticipating the organization’s needs and providing solutions in all areas relating to finance, accounting, HR, administration and operations. She was consistently commended by board members and SVN Co-Directors alike, for successfully bringing transparency and a solid financial position to the organization.

Beatriz has also worked at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), as the Budget Manager and Special Project Manager, and as the Executive Director for HOLOS XXI, a clinical and educational organization dedicated to counseling, education, and research in the mental health field in Venezuela.
In addition to her expertise in finance and operations, Beatriz has a MA in Health Education, and extensive experience as a Chemical Engineer. From 1975-1995, she worked for Petroleos de Venezuela, managing annual budgets of up to 400 million dollars, supervising large construction projects, and supervising the work of dozens of engineers. Beatriz was recognized by the Venezuelan government with the Jose Antonio Anzoategui Medal in 1983 for excellent work on the construction and start-up of the first cryogenic plant in South America. She has also taught courses in Gas Treatment as an adjunct faculty member at the Universidad Central de Venezuela.

Sherrie Holmes
Director of Development & Communications

Sherrie Holmes has over 30 years professional development experience working as director of development, grant writer or consultant for effective fund development campaigns and strategies for community-based organizations. She has extensive experience and a successful track record in securing grants, corporate partnership programs, individual donor campaigns and managing and training professional staff and volunteers to achieve significant increases in revenue to support organizational goals. She began working with Out & Equal in December of 2008. Previous clients/employers have included Spectrum Center for LGBT Concerns serving Marin County, Marin Community Clinics, the ACLU of Northern California, YWCA of San Francisco/Marin/San Mateo, Homeward Bound of Marin, Canal Alliance, Mother Jones Magazine, Rape Crisis Center of Marin and East Bay, Future Families of San Jose and several other community-based organizations. Sherrie lives with her wife Sara Taylor in Novato, California. Their daughter Katrina resides in Portland, Oregon.

Pat Baillie
Associate Director of Training & Professional Development 

Pat Baillie joined Out & Equal in January 2008 after retiring the second time in her career from Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Prior to that, she served in the US Air Force retiring in 1993 as a Major. Her entire career has been involved with training, adult education, and activism and she is ready to pull all those parts of her history together at Out & Equal to make a difference for those in the workplace.

Pat graduated from California State University, Northridge with a Master’s Degree in Physical Education, Biology and Psychology. After college, she joined the Air Force and worked as a Weapons Controller and Space Operations officer. She was also active in LGBT causes her entire career and decided to retire on the day that President Clinton announced "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell." She was then able to publicly come out and was the featured speaker at the Veteran’s Day memorial in Sacramento, California in 1993. She has also worked extensively with sexual freedom issue as a spokesperson and educator and has work on national grass roots organizing. In Albuquerque, Pat worked within Honeywell on their Diversity Council and was asked to present on LGBT issues at the statewide EEOC conferences as well as being the only "out" employee that could be a resource. She also helped to grow the local and statewide LGBT community as the Co-President of Albuquerque Pride for over 10 years. She continued to be involved in community events from political to social until she realized she was ready to return to California. Her goal was to work in a non-profit on LGBT issues. Out & Equal added to that the ability to use her years of training experience so in December 2007, Pat moved back to California.

She lives in Oakland with her partner and travels extensively teaching, presenting and discussing the issues impacting LGBT equality in and out of the workplace.  The opportunity to influence the workplace is truly a dream job bringing together her political/activist passion with her love of teaching.

Anthony Bannon
Associate Director of Summit & Events

Anthony Bannon joined the Out & Equal team in March of 2008 with more than eight years of experience in non profit management in California. For six years Anthony led youth development programs with the YMCA of San Diego County and Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco. Working in his family’s catering business from the age of 11 has prepared Anthony for great success as Out & Equal’s Associate Director of Summit & Events.

Anthony graduated with highest honors from the University of Maryland with degrees in Hearing and Speech Sciences and Special Education.

Julie Beach
Associate Director of Career Development

Julie joined Out & Equal Workplace Advocates in the spring of 2008 as Career Development Manager. Responsible for launching Out & Equal’s web-based LGBT career development program, Julie is a seasoned tech expert with an MA in Industrial Psychology emphasizing employment issues for the LGBT community.

For the past ten years, Julie has helped dozens of organizations develop their technological capabilities. As a technology consultant, she worked with public and nonprofit organizations including San Francisco Unified School District, Girls, Inc., UCSF and various San Francisco city departments. At Goodwill Industries, as a member of the IT team, she helped meet the tech requirements of 15 retail stores and several hundred employees. And for the San Francisco Children’s Council, she launched and managed a program to increase the technological skills and resources of San Francisco’s early childhood education community.

Also a skilled trainer, Julie has introduced a diverse array of people to technology. Working with Marin’s adult education programs, Jewish Vocational Service and other nonprofit organizations, she has enabled seniors, homeless individuals and those with barriers to employment to use computers for the first time and, in many cases, begin a path to sustainable employment.

Previous to her tech career, Julie received an MA in industrial psychology with an emphasis on LGBT career development after a 15-year management career with PG&E. While obtaining her degree, she worked in the human resources department at Autodesk, Inc.

Enabling LGBT individuals to develop successful careers with supportive companies and organizations has been a long-time passion for Julie. She is thrilled to now be able to combine these diverse interests on behalf of Out & Equal.

Julie lives in Marin with her partner of 19 years, a marketing executive for a San Francisco architecture firm, and their German Shepherd, Dover. She enjoys time at their Bolinas cottage, along with biking, home repair and digital photography.

Pamela Berkowitz
Operations Manager

Pamela joined the Out & Equal Workplace Advocates staff in June 2006, as the new office manager.

Pamela earned her bachelor’s degree in Women’s Studies with a minor in Judaic Studies from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She also spent two semesters as part of a teaching collective within the Women’s Studies Department at SUNY Albany, where she co-taught the course “Introduction to Feminisms.”

Pamela has a long history working with nonprofit organizations dedicated to social change. She was on the coordinating committee for the Social Justice Center in Albany, NY an umbrella group of nonprofit organizations. She was also was part of the collective at Peace Offerings (a nonprofit fair trade craft store) and worked for five years on the committee for the Women’s Networking Fair in Albany, NY. She is currently active in the Network of Spiritual Progressives, eQuality Scholarship Collaborative, and Jewish Voice for Peace.

Pamela enjoys biking, animals, reading, foriegn films, science fiction, and vegetarian cooking. She lives with her three cats in Berkeley, CA.

Dave Bueché
Senior Manager, Development & Communications

Prior to joining the staff, Dave was Communications Manager in the External Relations Department at Stanford University's School of Engineering in Palo Alto, CA. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism with a minor in Communications from Central Michigan University. Before moving to California he worked six years as a promotional writer for Oldsmobile Division of General Motors Corporation.

Dave worked five years in resource development and four years as Vice President, Strategic Management and Marketing for United Way of the Bay Area and later with the organization's Alexis de Tocqueville Society. He is a member of the International Association of Business Communicators and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce's Leadership San Francisco program.

George Cabral
Executive Assistant

Prior to arriving in San Francisco, George lived in New Jersey for most of his life.  For ten years he worked as an executive/marketing assistant for an international manufacturer of a polymer based product used in the kitchen and bath industry. During that same period of time George kept busy by holding down a second full time job as an assistant manager for a large clothing chain.  

George earned his B.A in Sociology with a minor is Psychology from William Paterson University in 2008.  George currently is a resident of the SOMA district in San Francisco and is still exploring everything the city has to offer.

Stanley Ellicott
Communications Project Manager

Stanley joined the staff of Out & Equal Workplace Advocates in June 2008.

Before arriving at Out & Equal, Stanley served as a peer mentor at Wheaton College’s Filene Center for Work and Learning in Norton, Massachusetts, and as an account representative at Conrad Imports, San Francisco. He is delighted to be part of the Out & Equal team, providing support to the Development and Communications department, and working toward achieving LGBT workplace equality.

Stanley graduated summa cum laude from Wheaton College with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Russian in 2007. While at Wheaton, he studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, and later in St. Petersburg, Russia as a Fulbright-Hays Scholar. Stanley's undergraduate thesis, a paper that put LGBT issues in conversation with economic analysis, was a careful study of labor market discrimination faced by LGBT people.

Stanley resides in the Lower Haight neighborhood of San Francisco. As a self-proclaimed foodie, he enjoys developing his culinary talents with locally grown food and wine. He is a member of The International Association for Feminist Economics, The Union for Radical Political Economics and project advocate for BUTT OUT! Ending Big Tobacco Exploitation of the LGBT Community.  Stanley maintains interest in the study of public policy. He is always happy to visit family in Maine or enjoy fine company.

Stephen Gould
Associate Director of NETWORKS!

Stephen Gould is the Associate Director of NETWORKS! (referring to the “people networks”) at Out & Equal Workplace Advocates.  Based in San Francisco, Out & Equal is the largest, national non-profit organization dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality in the workplace.  Stephen has been working with employee resource groups since 2004, and directs Out & Equal’s Regional Affiliate program. 

He joined the staff of Out & Equal after receiving his master’s degree from Yale University Divinity School, where he got his first taste at LGBT activism and organizing.  Stephen enjoys bringing this experience in building and activating an international community of LGBT workplace equality advocates.  He also holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Duke University.  With interests as diverse as Medieval visual communication and the 21^st century information technology revolution, he enjoys living in the eclectic and wonderful city of San Francisco with his partner Ryan.

Dani Siragusa
Senior Events Associate

Dani joined the staff of Out & Equal in January 2009 after a stint as a Summit intern, and now supports the Summit and Events department. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from San Francisco State University in June 2008 (concentration: medical anthropology), which bred a fascination for ethnography and primatology. While at university, she conducted field research into the Sonoma County Public School District’s HIV/AIDS and STD education curriculum; San Francisco’s low-income medical marijuana community; and primate social behavior. Her preferred pastimes include perusing museum exhibits, going to drag shows, imbibing local wines, sunning in the park, and tending to her feline, Little Foot. A native northern Californian, she’s loved living in San Francisco for the past four years.

Luis Vera
Corporate Accounts Manager

Luis began working at Out & Equal as a Finance and Operations intern and joined the staff as a Finance Associate in August 2008.

Luis graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management Economics. Prior to his internship, he was a member of the University Economics Association as the Director of IT and began a student-led financial group which spawned into the University Investors Forum.