Board of Directors

Jacqueline D. Skillern Jackson, PhD, Chair, is a licensed clinical psychologist and consultant in private practice in Palo Alto, California. She received a bachelor's and master's degree from San Francisco State University and her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Stanford University. In addition to maintaining a private practice in which she conducts individual and group psychotherapy, Dr. Jackson consults locally, nationally, and internationally. Agencies, organizations, and institutions have used her consultation services in the areas of organizational development, achieving and working effectively with diverse populations, strategic planning, conflict resolution, communication skills training, and substance abuse. Dr. Jackson has done scholarly research and writing in the areas of alcoholism among African-American women and the impact of stress on infant mortality rates among African-Americans.

Her volunteer career has included membership on the Boards of Directors of: the San Mateo County Planned Parenthood Association, the national Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), The Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the Alan Guttmacher Research Institute, and the National Black Alcoholism Council. While serving as chair of PPFA, Dr. Jackson led the family planning delegation to the Population Conference in Cairo, Egypt, and to the Women's conference in Beijing China. She has served as a member of the President's Community Advisory Council of Foothill Community College in Los Altos, California, and has just completed a three-year term on the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS) to which she was appointed by the United States Secretary of Defense.

Lisa Bohmer, MPH, Vice Chair, has a Masters Degree in Public Health from UCLA and over twenty yrs of experience with philanthropy, program design, implementation and evaluation – in the fields of sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS and the empowerment of women and girls.  She is currently Director of Global Partnerships and Program Resource Management for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, based in Santa Monica, CA.  She has also recently worked as a consultant with the Nike Foundation, the International Center for Research on Women, McArthur Foundation, UNFPA, EngenderHealth and the Compton Foundation.   She has experience living and working in Ethiopia over a five year period –including as the director of UNICEF’s HIV/AIDS Program where she introduced services to enable mothers to prevent transmission of HIV/AIDS to their children and voluntary counseling and testing for adolescents – with a focus on addressing the vulnerability of girls and young women.

She has also led efforts to strengthen care for complications of abortion throughout East Africa as Regional Representative for Ipas during the 1990s in which she worked with Ministries of Health in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia.  As an Associate with the Pacific Institute for Women’s Health (1994 – 2002) Lisa conducted qualitative research on unsafe abortion and adolescent reproductive and sexual health issues, in partnership with African researchers throughout the continent to bridge the gaps between communities and health facilities and to bring the voices and perspectives of young women and men to the fore. With the Rockefeller Foundation she has provided technical assistance to West African organizations and researchers.  She is a reviewer for International Family Planning Perspectives. Lisa has also consulted with local public health organizations in Los Angeles, including South Los Angeles Health Projects and the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services’ STD Program. She began her career working with homeless women and girls in Seattle. Updated 10-08

Ruth Conroy, PharmD, Secretary, is currently District Pharmacy Supervisor for the California Bay North District of Walgreens. Cal Bay North District encompasses Oakland, Berkeley, Vallejo, Vacaville, Eureka, Fortuna and Crescent City. She recently transferred to this position from long service as Walgreens Pharmacy Supervisor in the San Francisco Central District and is looking forward to being involved with “real prototype stores”—with all the features that stores in San Francisco are often too small to handle, such as a drive-thru window and a conveyor belt in the pharmacy.

A pharmacist for 24 years, Ruth is licensed to practice in California, Nevada and Illinois. She received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. Certified in Immunizations as well as in Emergency Contraception since 2000, Ruth has been an acknowledged pharmacy leader in support of EC access throughout the state.  She is a past board member of the California State Board of Pharmacy and currently serves on Pharmacy Access Partnership’s Circle of Advisors. Ruth lives in San Francisco and loves to travel.

Marshall B. Cole, CPA, Treasurer, is a retired accountant and was one of five founding partners of the accounting firm, Kenneth Leventhal & Co CPA’s. Born in Chicago. Having moved to Los Angeles at the age of 17, Marshall was a Cum laude graduate of UCLA in 1951. Kenneth Leventhal & Co grew rapidly during Marshall’s tenure there; he was the fourth member of the firm, and at the time of his retirement they had in excess of 1,100 employees.  They were the largest firm in the nation specializing in real estate, and in 1996 they merged with Ernst and Young. Marshall has conducted many classes and lectures, throughout the country on the characteristics and financial aspects of real estate. He was chairman of Seed Loan Fund, a charitable community development fund sponsored by the Catholic Archdiocese.

He has been on many other boards and is still on two—one of which is PIWH. His passion, in his retirement years, is college scholarships for underprivileged students to whom his wife and he give under their fund titled "Jewish Philanthropic Fund of Ellen and Marshall Cole". Marshall manages funds in excess of 30 million dollars, at no cost, for widows and retired friends. One of his principal investment themes involves the "Malthusian Doctrine" which relates to the growth of populations and their relation to our global food resources. It is because of this that he has become very interested in birth control issues.

Mary K. Shallenberger, MS, Nominating Committee Chair, grew up on a dairy farm in northern Ohio.  She graduated from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts with a B.S. in Biological Sciences and headed to California.  Ms Shallenberger worked for several years as a research assistant in the Biology Department at Stanford University and Stanford Research Institute before returning to school for a M.S. in Engineering from Stanford University.  Upon graduation Ms Shallenberger moved to Sacramento and began a long public service career in public in environmental and natural resource protection. She began as a Planner at the California Air Resources Board during the development of the first non-attainment plans and the creation of the Air Conservation Program.  She moved to the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research where she developed administration policies on natural resource issues and programs.  Ms Shallenberger began work for the California State Senate in 1987 and was the Principal Consultant to the Senate Natural Resources and Wildlife Committee and then the Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee.  From 1994 until 2005 she was the special advisor the Senate President Pro Tem on policy and political issues related to natural resource and environment.  During her tenure in the Senate she was instrumental in nearly every major environmental bill that passed the Legislature. Since 2004, Ms Shallenberger has served as the Senate appointee to the California Coastal Commission. 

Ms Shallenberger has balanced her work on natural resource protection with volunteer work with non-profit organizations dedicated to reproductive heath care for women, locally and around the world.   She served as the Chair of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), her local Planned Parenthood affiliate, and local Advocates Board.  She is currently Chair of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California and on the Guttmacher Institute Board of Directors.  She represented PPFA in Prague at the IPPF membership meeting and at the Western Hemisphere Regional meeting in Ecuador. Ms. Shallenberger is Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum. Updated 10-08

Darlee J. Crockett has served on numerous boards and commissions — in her native San Diego, the state of California and nationally. She was a member of the board of directors of the San Diego-Riverside Planned Parenthood, the Chair of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, and Chair of the Planned Parenthood Western Region; she also served six years on the national board of the Planned Parenthood Federation of American, including two years as Board Secretary. She also was Vice Chair of the California Family Planning Council.

In San Diego she ws a member of the firt San Diego Commission on the Status of Women, a member and Chair of the San Diego County Civil Service Commission and a member and Chair of the San Diego County Citizens Law Enforcement Review Board. She was named “Woman of the Year” for volunteer service in government by the California Elected Women’s Education Association.

Ms. Crockett is currently National Co-Chair of Republicans for Choice for Planned Parenthood and a member of the Board of Directors of the Guttmacher Institute in New York, as well as a member of the California Republican League and the San Diego Republican Business Women’s organization.

Kweli Gibson has served as Operations/Program Director for the past seven years for the Bay Area Consortium for Quality Health Care, Inc., a non-profit community based-organization. Her major focus and passion has been to get youth and young adults involved and become responsible not only for their health care also, to improve the quality of their lives and develop sound decision making skills. The most important aspect of her work is pregnancy prevention and HIV/STD prevention.

Seeking greater challenges and opportunities, Ms. Gibson moved to New York shortly after receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from the University of California at Berkeley. Her professional career was in advertising as a Senior Advertising Manager and National Sales Director respectively, with the New York Times and Our World News.  Active participation in various business and professional groups made her a role model for women and minority employees who joined the New York Times, she was also involved in the College and Schools programs. She serves on the board for the Fred Finch Youth Center and the Save Our Children Project, USA. She has a passion for travel and if you want to know what to do in New York City “just ask Kweli” that’s what her friends say!

Richard W. Jensen, an economist and consultant, retired as Associate Chancellor, Planning & Budget at University of California, Santa Cruz. He has also served as Assistant Academic Vice Chancellor at UCSC and Assistant Chancellor, Planning and Analysis at UC Santa Barbara. He has had broad experience in planning and technology at both campus and University-wide levels – a major player in academic planning and change management programs. He has played both policy and operational roles in the development of major analytical and resource systems in UC. He participates in local and national non-profit organizations where he specializes in resource use and organizational effectiveness. His consulting has been primarily at the University of Illinois, Chicago (UIC) and at UCSB. Has a professional history of working on women’s rights, population and human capital, and education.

Nancy L. Sasaki, MPH is Chief Operating Officer at Planned Parenthood of San Diego & Riverside Counties. She has 25 years of experience in nonprofit programs and management, and has worked in Austin, Texas, San Diego, Hawaii and Los Angeles, primarily with Planned Parenthood. For a short period of time Ms. Sasaki was the Executive Director of the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties. Prior to her position with the ACLU, Ms. Sasaki served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles (PPLA), during which time she instituted a "customer-centered" approach to not-for-profit healthcare. She also served as Vice President of Planned Parenthood of San Diego and Riverside Counties and as Interim Executive Director of Planned Parenthood Hawaii. Ms. Sasaki is currently on the National Family and Reproductive Health Association Board. She holds a Bachelor's in Biology and Health and a Master's in Community Health, both from the University of Texas at Austin. She has two loves: her daughter, Kelly, and volleyball.

Joseph Speidel, MD., MPH. is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), and Director for Communication, Development and External Relations at the UCSF Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy. Prior to his position at USCF, Dr. Speidel was Program Director for Population at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation for almost ten years. From 1983 to 1994, Dr. Speidel was Vice-President and President at Population Action International (formerly the Population Crisis Committee), in Washington, D.C.From 1969-1983, he was chief of the research division of the Office of Population, Agency for International Development. His M.P.H. and his M.D. degrees are from Harvard University School of Public Health and Medical School. He is past member of Board of Directors of: Zero Population Growth, The Global Tomorrow Coalition, The Reproductive Health Technologies Project, The Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS), Population Action International. He is author of 75 articles and editor or author of 10 books and monographs concerned with population, family planning and fertility regulation technology.

James Wagoner is the president of Advocates for Youth, a leading national organization on adolescent reproductive and sexual health in Washington D.C. A respected public policy and reproductive health expert, Mr. Wagoner previously served as executive vice president of NARAL, Pro Choice America directing the organization’s communications, policy, and public education campaigns. Prior to that, Mr. Wagoner served as chief of staff to Senator Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-OH), as well as the Senator’s special assistant on aging and legislative assistant to two key Senate panels: the Budget Committee (1983-1986) and the Labor and Human Resources Committee (1986-1988). Mr. Wagoner is now putting his reproductive health experience to work for teenagers in the United States and abroad. He is spearheading a national “Rights, Respect, Responsibility” campaign at Advocates for Youth aimed at shifting the social paradigm of adolescent sexual health to one that views sexuality as normal and healthy and young people as partners in prevention. An avid baseball fan, Mr. Wagoner graduated from Georgetown University with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and worked for a time during the late 1970s for a member of the Irish parliament. He is married, has four boys, and lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

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