Dionne (she/her) brings a wealth of experience in strategy development, public policy research, social movement funding and advocacy to her work as Executive Director at Progress Alliance. Dionne has worked as a grassroots organizer, Mayoral policy advisor, researcher and funder on issues as diverse as climate justice, youth employment and legal protection for diverse gender identities. The common thread of her career has been organizing people, information and resources to advance progressive policy and racial equity. Before joining Progress Alliance, Dionne was a Senior Program Officer at Seattle Foundation where she aligned resources strategically in support of policy and systems change by and for low income communities and communities of color. Dionne was raised in Virginia and is a graduate of George Mason University and the University of Washington. When she’s not working, she loves to rock climb, read and adventure with her kiddo. Dionne joined Progress Alliance in January 2021.

Jamal R. Watkins currently serves as senior vice president of strategy and advancement at the NAACP. Jamal previously led the Association’s efforts to maximize the African-American community’s participation and representation in our democracy as the vice president of civic engagement at the NAACP.

Mr. Watkins previously served as national outreach director for the AFL-CIO. In this role, he was responsible for strengthening and growing national strategic partnerships with the labor movement across a range of priority campaigns and program work.

Prior to joining the AFL-CIO, Mr. Watkins held leadership positions in a number of organizations dedicated to community organizing and civil and human rights. These include deputy national political director at Service Employees International Union; chief of staff at the Center for Social Inclusion; managing director for Campaigns for Amnesty International, the world’s largest grassroots human rights organization; and, deputy director and interim executive director of City Year Los Angeles, a national non-profit AmeriCorps organization.

Mr. Watkins has worked in several distinct arenas, including politics, campaigns, communications, education, human resources, and fundraising. He played key roles as a national recruiter for the DNC, fundraising canvass director for Grassroots Campaign, Florida state director of the Young Voter Alliance during the 2004 Presidential Election, regional coordinator on the “Yes on Proposition 79” Campaign for Health Access of California, and most recently developing a voter mobilization and engagement field strategy for the 2014 mid-term election cycle.

A native of California and a resident of Washington, D.C., Mr. Watkins earned his B.A. in Philosophy, with a minor in Political Science, at Stanford University and completed graduate-level work at New York University for Speech and Interpersonal Communication. As a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., his motto is “onward and upward.”

With a public service career spanning more than 20 years, Martha Gonzalez-Cortes has a proven track record of effectiveness working in non-profit, academic, and public policy environments. She currently serves as the director of foundation relations for the Michigan Donor Alliance. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology from Bryn Mawr College and a master’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from Stanford University. Throughout her career, Martha has served as a professional consultant for nonprofit organizations interested in strengthening their leadership development, grant writing, program development and strategic operations. She has also worked closely with individual organizations and collaborative groups interested in strengthening their community impact, racial equity, or racial justice focus.

Martha most recently served as the vice president of community investment for the Kalamazoo Community Foundation in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In that role she led the public policy and impact investment work of the foundation; supervised the team responsible for distributing grants into the community; and helped lead key initiatives such as the Kalamazoo Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) initiative. She was the first woman of color to serve as a vice president of this 95-year-old community foundation and also served as one of the founding elected co-chairs of the Latino Affinity Network (LAN) under the Council of Michigan Foundations (CMF). Martha also served as the community relations director for the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR), managing the statewide education and outreach team of the MDCR Community Relations Division. Prior to working for the state of Michigan, she served as CEO of the Hispanic Center of Western Michigan in Grand Rapids for 9 years and served as the state director for the Office of Migrant Affairs in Lansing for more than five years. Martha respectfully acknowledges that she resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan on the traditional territory of the people of the Three Fires or Anishinabek – the Odawa, Ojibwa, and Potawatomi people and prefers she/her/ella pronouns.

Romilda (Romy) Avila is CEO of Tides Advocacy, working to strengthen political infrastructure and investments to support power building and policy reform led by and benefitting those most impacted by injustice.

Romy was previously a social impact consultant at FSG, where she advised on grantmaking strategies advancing social justice and equity with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, General Mills Foundation, Houston Endowment, Greater Cincinnati Foundation, and the Alliance for Strong Families and Children. Romy also served as a consultant and researcher with BCT Partners to address racial disparities and gender inequities through strategic planning, organizational development, policy, and systems change in the social sector. She provided capacity building support and technical assistance in partnership with Annie E. Casey Foundation and Northwest Area Foundation.

Romy obtained her Master of Public Policy from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and Bachelors in Family, Youth, and Community Sciences from the University of Florida. She is originally from Little Haiti, Miami, Florida.

Sachi Yoshii serves on the leadership team as the director of collective impact at Amalgamated Charitable Foundation. She is responsible for the development and implementation of strategies to grow and manage the Foundation’s Combined Impact Funds, while building innovative ways to connect, engage, and build meaningful partnerships with institutional funders and foundation networks.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Sachi was the vice president of strategy & external relations at East Bay Community Foundation, and worked in a range of executive, program, and data teams at The Atlantic Philanthropies. Sachi is on the advisory council at JustFund and a founding board member of the New Breath Foundation. She has a dual-degree MBA from Columbia Business School and London Business School, and a BA from the University of California, Santa Cruz.