Kat Taylor works in service of restoring social, racial, gender justice, and environmental well-being for an equitable and inclusive world. She is active in a variety of social enterprises and philanthropic ventures focused on deep systems change.

Currently, Kat serves as the Co-Founder and Board Chair of Beneficial State Bank, a Community Development Financial Institution and certified B Corporation that makes banking more accessible to under-resourced communities in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner – and to change the banking system for good. Beneficial State was founded on the principle that banks should be most useful to their clients, not their shareholders. Therefore, Kat does not own the Bank; instead, it is wholly owned by nonprofits with the mandate to redistribute excess funds to the Bank’s communities.

Kat is also a Founding Director of TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation (TKREF), which is dedicated to inspiring a sustainable food system through ranching, training, tours, research, and school food and garden programs. TKREF owns the social enterprise LeftCoast GrassFed, humanely raising cattle and other livestock for the benefit of healthy soils.

Kat proudly served or continues to serve on the following boards and advisory bodies: Beneficial State Bank, Beneficial State Foundation, Central Kitchen Advisory Board (co-Chair) for the Oakland Unified School District, Community Development Bankers Association, Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice, Ecotrust, Evrnu, Forager, Good Samaritan Family Resource Center, Harvard Board of Overseer, KQED, NextGen Policy (Board Chair), Propublica, TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation (Chair), UC Davis Agricultural Sustainability Institute External Advisory Board, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and many more.

She graduated from Harvard College and earned a JD/MBA from Stanford University.

Arnie Sowell is Executive Director of NextGen Policy (NGP), a non-profit organization that works to advance progressive policy solutions across a range of areas including: climate change, affordable housing, healthcare, education, criminal justice, immigration, mental health, voting rights, food insecurity, and income inequality. Arnie leads the NGP team and manages their legislative, political, advocacy, and programmatic activities.

Before joining NextGen, Arnie spent over two decades in the California State Assembly, serving as Policy Director for five Assembly Speakers. Prior to that, he held various positions in state and local government including as Undersecretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency during the Governor Davis Administration and as a Budget Manager in the San Francisco Mayor’s office. Arnie started his career in the Legislative Analyst Office.

He is an Oregon State alum, a Sloan Foundation Fellow, and holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Washington. Arnie is a proud father of three and a new grandfather. He is the son of a career military officer and has lived in numerous states and overseas.

Chris Fadeff has worked for NextGen Policy Founder Tom Steyer or entities he founded since 2013. Most recently, Chris was vice president of Fahr LLC and chief operating officer of Steyer’s presidential campaign.

Prior to that, Chris served in senior roles at NextGen America, formerly NextGen Climate for five years. Chris is a Truman National Security Project partner and sits on an advisory committee of the Tides Foundation.

Pamela Haynes was appointed to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2016. Haynes served on the Los Rios Community College District Board of Trustees for more than 17 years, including three terms as board president. She also sits on the Board of Trustees for the Community College League of California and the Los Rios Foundation Board.

Before retiring from state service in 2012, she served for eight years as a deputy director and senior consultant for the California State Assembly, Speaker’s Office of Member Services. Prior to that, she was the legislative director for the Capitol Office of Assemblymember Mark Ridley-Thomas. Haynes has also worked for the California Labor Federation, ALF-CIO; the City of Sacramento; the Bureau of State Audits; and Department of Health Services.

A Santa Monica College transfer student, she has a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Los Angeles and a master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University.

Tia Boatman Patterson is the President and CEO for the California Community Reinvestment Corporation. With years of executive leadership experience in both the public and private sectors, she previously served as the Associate Director of Housing, Treasury, and Commerce in the Executive Office of the President’s Office of Management and Budget. From 2014 to 2021, she served as the Executive Director of the California Housing Finance Agency where she brought about positive organizational change and significantly grew loan production. She simultaneously served as Governor Gavin Newsom’s Senior Advisor for housing from 2019 to 2020. From 2015 to 2021 she was a director on the National Council of State Housing Agencies Board, serving as Board Chair from 2018 to 2020. 

Ms. Patterson was general counsel for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency from 2009 to 2014. She is recognized nationally and in the state of California as a policy expert in affordable housing, community development, small business, and economic development having served as a special assistant to four Speakers of the California State Assembly. Patterson received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from San Diego State University, and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. She is licensed to practice law in the state of California and the District of Columbia.