Meet the 2011 NLC Fellows: Jennifer Kish

Jennifer Kish
Attorney, Law Office of Jennifer E. Kish

Jennifer Kish was born and raised in San Diego. She earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles and a law degree from Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Jenn is a recent admittee to the California Bar and is currently working as a solo practitioner in San Diego and Riverside Counties. Her practice focuses on misdemeanor criminal defense, family law and juvenile dependency and delinquency.

While in law school and since becoming admitted to the bar, Jenn has volunteered at the Madge Bradley Domestic Violence Clinic writing requests for restraining orders for survivors of domestic violence and elder abuse. In 2009, she received the Wiley W. Manuel Award for Pro Bono Legal Services from the State Bar of California for her work at this clinic.

Jenn also founded the Thomas Jefferson Chapter of Law Students for Reproductive Justice, a national organization committed to advancing reproductive rights as basic human and civil rights. In January 2010, Jenn was elected to the board of directors of Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest. As a passionate advocate for women’s rights and reproductive rights, Jenn plans to eventually expand her legal practice to encompass those areas.

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Note: This is part of an ongoing series introducing San Diego's 2011 fellowship class

Meet the 2011 NLC Fellows: Matt Ellis

Matt Ellis
Director, Vice President, CB Richard Ellis, Inc

Matt is a vice president at CB Ricard Ellis (CBRE), a commercial real estate services firm, and the director of its carbon services business, which advises real estate owners and occupiers on carbon emissions management strategies and offsetting solutions. Prior to this, Matt was an associate broker with CBRE working on corporate real estate and led its Sustainability Practice Group - a niche practice group of brokers focused on clean technology and green building real estate requirements.

Outside CBRE, Matt co-chaired the San Diego Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council's Emerging Green Builders Committee, which engaged students and young professionals on green building topics and career development from 2009-2010.

Matt has undergraduate degrees in economics and the study of religion from UC San Diego and an M.S.B.A with an emphasis in entrepreneurship from San Diego State University. While at UCSD, Matt played water polo and competed in the NCAA Division I water polo national championship match in 2000 and was team captain in 2003. Matt is from Tustin, CA and has lived in San Diego since 1999.

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Note: This is part of an ongoing series introducing San Diego's 2011 fellowship class

Meet the 2011 NLC Fellows: Heather Laird

Heather Laird

Learning Communities Director, Community HousingWorks

Heather Laird is the learning communities director for Community Housing Works. She oversees a number of resident services programs which aim to help low-income families move up in the world. She has been with Community Housing Works since 2007.

Heather previously ran the Americorps program at the Youth Policy Institute in Los Angeles. She was born and raised in Placentia, CA and at 19 was a director of a Placentia Community Center. Heather received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from UCLA in the Spring of 2005. Heather has volunteered at Camp Del Corazon since the summer of 2002. She helps to staff and train over 300 camp counselors each summer for the non-profit camp for children with heart disease.

Heather also currently mentors a 12-year-old foster child named Breanna. Heather spends one day a week with Breanna to provide a positive role model and help Breanna grow into a responsible young adult. Heather is passionate about equality in education and has spent the better part of her life serving her community.

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Note: This is part of an ongoing series introducing San Diego's 2011 fellowship class

Meet the 2011 NLC Fellows: Kyle Dupree

Kyle Dupree

Analyst, LaSalle Investment Management

Kyle is an analyst at LaSalle Investment Management where he works on real estate investments for pension funds and other institutional investors. He earned a bachelor’s degree in global studies with an emphasis in politics and socioeconomics from UC Santa Barbara and an International Master’s of Business Administration from the University of San Diego with a focus on entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility.

While pursuing his MBA, Kyle served as student president of his business school, was a board member of the graduate student council and received the University of San Diego MBA Student Leadership Award from his peers. During his graduate studies, he also traveled to Uganda and assisted a rural non-profit organization in planning a children’s hospital and was responsible for developing businesses that would subsidize the hospital’s operations. In 2010 he worked with CleanTECH San Diego to successfully defeat proposed legislation designed to stall the implementation of California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32).

As a native San Diegan, Kyle hopes to become more involved in working with public and private stakeholders on economic development in the San Diego region.

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Note: This is part of an ongoing series introducing San Diego's 2011 fellowship class

Meet the 2011 NLC Fellows: Rebecca Kanter

Rebecca Kanter

Attorney at Law

Rebecca Kanter is an Assistant United States Attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California, specializing in complex fraud prosecutions. In her four years as a federal prosecutor, Kanter has handled a wide variety of cases ranging from border crimes to internet crimes against children. Kanter was previously an associate at O’Melveny & Myers, LLP, where she was a member of the firm’s White Collar Defense and Corporate Investigations practice group. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Harry Hupp on the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

Kanter currently serves on the Executive Board of the UCI Alumni Association and volunteers for San Diego Coastkeeper. Kanter received her J.D. from the UCLA School of Law where she was an Articles Editor for the UCLA Journal of International Law & Foreign Affairs. During law school, she served as a Teaching Fellow and member of the Moot Court Executive Board. Kanter also taught an undergraduate seminar in the UCLA Women’s Studies Program on “Jurisprudence of Sexual Equality” and published an article entitled “U.S. v. Nippon Paper Industries: Price-fixing Conspiracy or Trade Remedy?"

A native of Orange County, California, Kanter graduated from UC Irvine magna cum laude with an honors degree in Political Science. Kanter spent a semester studying at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands.

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Note: This is part of an ongoing series introducing San Diego's 2011 fellowship class

Meet the 2011 NLC Fellows: Stephen Heverly

Stephen Heverly

Council Representative, San Diego City Councilmember Sherri Lightner

As a staff member for Councilmember Sherri Lightner, Stephen focuses on energy, water and clean-tech issues and works in the Rancho Peñasquitos and Del Mar Mesa neighborhoods of her district.

Prior to working for Councilmember Lightner, Stephen was with the City of San Diego’s Environmental Services Department where he worked on policy analysis and public outreach for the city’s recycling program. He spent more than two years on the Ocean Beach Town Council Board of Directors and continues to dedicate time volunteering for local community groups. Stephen also continues to spend time volunteering on various political campaigns. Most recently, he worked alongside many environmental and clean-technology groups across California to help defeat the statewide Proposition 23 in the 2010 election.

Stephen has a B.S. in Biology from Saginaw Valley State University where he competed in pole vault and middle distances on the men’s track and field team. During his undergrad, he spent a semester abroad studying environmental science and policy at Edge Hill University in Ormskirk, England. Originally from Michigan, Stephen currently lives in Ocean Beach and spends as much time as possible outdoors in San Diego’s wonderful Mediterranean climate.

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Note: This is part of an ongoing series introducing San Diego's 2011 fellowship class

NLC Institute 2011: Life Entrepreneurship Program

The New Leaders Council of San Diego (NLC) held its first 2011 Institute session on the weekend of January 22nd and 23rd, 2011.

The new fellowship class was introduced to the “Life Entrepreneurship Program” (ELP) and spent 2 days investigating their strengths, values, and purposes. Afterwards, each fellow created their own core “mission statement” for their life and begin the process of putting together their own Entrepreneurial Life Plan.

Before moving into in depth skills training in future sessions, fellows examine what’s actually important to them, to explore and reinforce their commitment to progressive values. The ELP also serves an important function in leadership development, which is a primary goal of the NLC. The ELP is a mechanism for individuals to take concrete planning steps to advance their own careers, so that they can be in positions of influence to make change in their communities.

The ELP program is developed by New Mountain Ventures, and is based on the book “Life Entrepreneurs.” This weekend’s training was facilitated by Luke Klipp, a fomer co-director of the NLC in San Francisco and Debi Spindelman, a 2010 NLC San Diego graduate.

Like last year, State Senator Christine Kehoe welcomed the fellows and led an in-depth discussion about what it actually means to build a progressive infrastructure in San Diego – how we need qualified, passionate qualified candidates not just running for elected office, but serving on boards and commissions and in leadership positions in important local non-profits.

Newly elected City Councilmember David Alvarez also led a discussion about his recent campaign – speaking frankly with the fellows about the challenges of fundraising and distinguishing himself while determined to stay true to his goal of running a vigorous and authentic campaign.

The first weekend training was hosted by Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest.