KIM BELSHÉ
Kim Belshé was recently named Executive Director of First 5 Los Angeles, a grant making and child advocacy
organization created by California voters to invest tobacco tax revenues to improve the health, safety and
school readiness of Los Angeles County’s youngest children 0-5. She brings to First 5 LA a deep commitment
to California and public service, as well as a wealth of experience in state government, policy research, and
philanthropy. Most recently, Ms. Belshé served as senior policy advisor of the Public Policy Institute of
California, where she served as a resource to PPIC leadership and staff as well as the broader policy community
on health and social services, fiscal, governance and related reforms. Prior to PPIC, Ms. Belshé served in a
number of senior leadership positions in state government and in California philanthropy. She served as a
founding member and Vice-Chair of the California Commission on Children and Families from 1999-2002. At
present, she serves on the five-member board of Covered California, the state's new Health Benefit Exchange,
a centerpiece of federal health reform which will create a new marketplace for consumers and small businesses
to shop for health insurance, starting in 2014. In 2011, Belshé was named to the Kaiser Commission on
Medicaid and the Uninsured, dedicated to improving health care for low-income people. She is a native of San
Francisco and holds a master's degree in public policy from Princeton University and a bachelor’s degree in
government from Harvard College.
ANDREW BRIDGE
Mr. Bridge is Director of the Child Welfare Initiative in Los Angeles, California. Established by a consortium
of leading private foundations, individuals, and other philanthropic organizations, the Child Welfare Initiative
focuses on the fundamental reform of our child welfare systems. He began his legal career representing
children in Alabama state psychiatric hospitals and mental health facilities. Later, he became Executive
Director of the Alliance for Children’s Rights in Los Angeles where he worked to expand free legal services to
children in foster care and in poverty. Mr. Bridge is a founding director of the New Village Charter School
focusing on the needs of girls in foster care and in impoverished Los Angeles communities, and he is a trustee
of the St. Anne’s home for pregnant and parenting teens. His first book, Hope’s Boy, a memoir about his eleven
years in Los Angeles County foster case, was a New York Time and was named a Los Angeles Times
Discovery Book, a People Magazine Critic’s Choice Book, Readers’ Digest Profile Book, and a Washington
Post Book of the Year. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and Harvard Law School, as well as a former
Fulbright Scholar and Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellow.
JONATHAN E. FIELDING, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.
Jonathan E. Fielding, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., M.A. has contributed to the field of public health for more than
30 years and has served in a variety of leadership positions. For the past 14 years, Dr. Fielding has led the
public health activities for Los Angeles County as Director of Public Health and Health Officer. In this role,
Dr. Fielding is responsible for all public health functions including surveillance and control of both
communicable and non-communicable diseases, and health protection (including against bioterrorism) for the
County’s 9.8 million residents. Dr. Fielding also serves as Vice-Chair and Commissioner of the First 5 L.A.
Commission, which aims to improve the health and development of children 5 years of age and under. Dr.
Fielding is a Professor in the Schools of Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, Los
Angeles. He chaired the HHS Secretary’s expert advisory group on the 2020 Healthy People Project, chairs the
U.S. Community Preventive Services Task Force and is a Presidential appointee and founding member of the
national Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health.
Dr. Fielding has authored over 300 original articles, commentaries and editorials. He received his medical,
public health and history of science degrees from Harvard University and his MBA from the Wharton School
of Business.
MONICA GARCIA
Mónica García is the President of the Board of the LA Unified School District, the second-largest school
District in the nation. When elected in 2006 she became the third Latina to serve in its 155-year history. With
her bold call for “Diplomas for All,” Board President García has galvanized the LAUSD school community to
take aggressive action to reach 100% graduation. Ms. García has successfully championed school reform
models that offer students smaller, more personalized settings and that give schools the autonomy they need to
prepare all students for college or career. She spearheaded the development of School Report Cards, which
are now distributed to parents each year. She has led an effort to increase equity through a “per pupil” funding
strategy that ensures dollars follow the student to school sites. Her focus on the needs of English Learner
students, who make up 29% of LAUSD yielded a deep shift in the District’s instructional approach.
Previously, Ms. García served with Volunteers of America as an Academic Advisor at Foshay Learning Center
and Edison Middle School. Prior to joining the Board, Ms. García served as Chief of Staff to LAUSD Board
President José Huizar. Ms. García was born and raised in East Los Angeles. She attended local schools and
graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a B.A degree in Chicano Studies and Political Science.
She earned her M.S.W. from USC.
SHEILA KUEHL
Sheila James Kuehl served eight years in the State Senate and six years in the State Assembly. In 2008, she left
the legislature under California's term limits statute. She is the President of Kuehl Consulting, and serves as
Founding Director of the Public Policy Institute at Santa Monica College and Regents' Professor of Public
Policy at UCLA. During the 1997-98 legislative session, she was the first woman in California history to be
named Speaker pro Tempore of the Assembly. She is also the first openly gay or lesbian person to be elected to
the California Legislature. A former pioneering civil rights attorney and law professor, Senator Kuehl
represented the 23rd Senate District in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. During her tenure in the
Legislature, she served as chair of the Senate Health Committee, the Senate Natural Resources and Water
Committee and the Assembly Judiciary Committee. In her fourteen years in the State Legislature, she authored
171 bills that were signed into law. Prior to her election to the Legislature, Senator Kuehl drafted and fought
to get into CA law more than 40 pieces of legislation relating to children, families, women, and domestic
violence. She was a law professor at Loyola, UCLA and USC and co-founded and served as managing attorney
of the California Women’s Law Center. She graduated from Harvard Law School where she was the second
woman in the school’s history to win the Moot Court competition.
MARK RIDLEY-THOMAS
Since his election to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Mark Ridley-Thomas has distinguished
himself as an aggressive advocate for the Second District’s nearly 2 million residents. Currently the Chairman
of the Board of Supervisors, the Supervisor has had a distinguished career of public service. Prior to his
election to the Board, Supervisor Ridley-Thomas served in the CA State Senate where he chaired the Senate’s
Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development. He served as Chair of the California
Legislative Black Caucus in 2008. Ridley-Thomas was first elected to the LA City Council for nearly a dozen
years departing as Council President pro Tempore. He later served two terms in the CA State Assembly, where
he chaired the Assembly Democratic Caucus. His legislative work addressed a broad range of issues including
economic and workforce development, health care, mental health, public safety, education, budget
accountability, consumer protection and civic participation. His political career was preceded by a decade of
service as executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater LA and 5 years as a
high school teacher. He is the founder of the Empowerment Congress, a successful experiment in civic
engagement. The Supervisor is a graduate of Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles and earned a
baccalaureate degree in Social Relations and a master’s degree in Religious Studies from Immaculate Heart
College. Supervisor Ridley-Thomas went on to receive his Ph.D. in Social Ethics from USC.