Isabel was born in Ecuador. She has four children and two grandchildren. She has lived in Contra Costa County for the past thirty-seven years and is proud of her roots as well as being a Contra Costa resident.

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Isabel has worked and volunteered across many systems and organizations, including the school system. Isabel retired from Mt. Diablo Unified School District in 2021 after nineteen years of service. For twelve years as a Child Welfare and Attendance Liaison, she became intimately aware and involved with families’ personal challenges to succeed within the school system. Isabel, through her passion “to serve” and from her own immigrant experience, saw the pattern of immigrant families struggling to connect across school sites, particularly for Spanish-speaking. She created opportunities for parent involvement, increased knowledge of school protocols, and empowerment.

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As a community liaison for the Mt. Diablo School District, she had opportunities to learn and experience the school system across various school sites. From a District level, she had the capacity and resources to collaborate across Mt. Diablo’s large school district and was able to amplify her role by connecting families with the services they needed. She has always continued to develop ways to bridge the gaps to meet the needs of individuals and immigrant families. It is with this commitment and heart that led her to create a non-profit named GANAS Community Organization to keep serving her beloved immigrant community and other disadvantaged communities. 

Barbara Scott worked as an administrator at the Mt Diablo Unified School District. She has a BA in Social Welfare from San Francisco State University, a Masters in Educational Leadership from Cal State University East Bay and has an Elementary K-8 Teaching Credential and Teacher of Deaf Life Credential. 

She has served as the School Board President at All Saints School in Hayward, Vice President and Chair of fundraising for NAMI Contra Costa, as a competitive soccer coach and referee and as a tutor for GANAS Community Services. In addition, she participates in Sunrise Toastmasters. 

Barbara is a native San Franciscan who currently lives in Pleasant Hill and is the proud mother of two and grandmother of 5. She enjoys Nordic walking, swimming, card games and bocce.

Judith Ortiz, Monument Impact’s Executive Director, has a Master of Public Administration degree and served ten years as Executive Director with Wahupa Educational Services, a nonprofit helping low-income, first-generation, and/or disabled high school students attend college, growing its budget from $1 million to $2 million throughout her tenure. She also served as a program consultant with the University of California, San Diego, supporting the organization with program management. Judith is bilingual and bicultural, bringing lived experience to her position. She was raised in Contra Costa County and resides in East Contra Costa County.

Linda Haddad has had a long career in financial services and currently holds the position of Senior Digital Strategist at Bank of America. She was recently recognized with the global award for her work in Opportunity and Inclusion within the bank. Over the years, Linda has led teams focused on innovation for businesses from startup stage to multi-national corporations. In this role, she is responsible for designing and implementing digital tools and technologies that enable and improve a client’s experience. Linda is a proven innovator, holding multiple patents for the technologies and products she’s created over her 30-year banking career.

She is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion. Linda is an experienced public speaker, through multiple industry forums on topics
spanning financial technology and diversity & inclusion.

Additional interests include founder of a Fintech company called Funds Validator and volunteer for the American Red Cross Disaster Recovery team. Linda is the current treasurer on the GANAS Community Organization board of directors. She lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her wife and children.

Spoogmai Khan immigrated to the U.S. with her family from Afghanistan as a young  child. Her family settled in Contra Costa County in the early 1980s. She has a BA in Molecular & Cell Biology from the University of California at Berkeley. She has a Masters in Educational Leadership from Cal State University, East Bay. She has a Single Subject Teaching Credential  with authorization to teach Biology & Chemistry. She has an Administrative Services Credential with authorization to serve as a site or district level leader. 

Spoogmai has had the pleasure of working in various roles in the K-12 educational system in Contra  Costa County.  She served as the Principal of Ayers Elementary School, as a Student Services Coordinator at El Dorado Middle School, & as a Curriculum Specialist at  the District Level at Mt. Diablo Unified School District.  She has teaching experience from 6th -12th grade.  She is currently a High School Chemistry Teacher  with Mt. Diablo Unified School District. 

Spoogmai is passionate about equity & inclusion in our public school systems.  She has always worked hard to reach out to students & families who have been marginalized by our school systems. She has a strong belief that education is the corner stone of  a true democracy. 

Spoogmai enjoys cooking, walking, hiking, & spending time with family & friends. She is the mother of two beautiful sons.  She lives in Contra Costa County.