ACLU of Northern California Senior Staff

Maya Harris, ACLU-NC Executive Director
Maya Harris, appointed in October 2006 as Executive Director of the ACLU of Northern California, is a statewide leader on civil rights and civil liberties issues. As head of the 72-year-old organization, she oversees the work of 50 staff members, including nine attorneys and three lobbyists in Sacramento. With 55,000 members, the ACLU-NC is the largest affiliate in the nation. 
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Bonnie Anderson, Director of Finance & Administration
Bonnie Anderson, Director of Finance and Administration, has 27 years of experience in finance, administration, information technology, and human resources. Prior to joining the ACLU-NC in 2004, she was the Chief Financial Operating Officer for the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center, successfully opening a 40,000-square-foot facility in 2002 that became the hub for the LGBT population of San Francisco. Anderson, a certified public accountant, earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Illinois-Chicago Circle.

Cheri Bryant, Director of Development
Cheri Bryant, Director of Development since 1990, has led charitable fund-raising campaigns for more than 25 years. During her tenure, contributions to the ACLU-NC have increased four-fold and the organization has completed a successful first-ever endowment campaign. Bryant also serves on ACLU nationwide committees to plan and coordinate efforts. Prior to her work at the ACLU, Bryant headed fund raising for the Oakland Symphony, the Horizons Foundation, the Trust for Public Land, and University of California-Berkeley’s College of Letters and Science. She has also served as a consultant to social-change and animal-welfare groups, and as a speaker on board development and individual-gift fund raising. Bryant received her bachelor’s in psychology and sociology from UC-Berkeley.

Justine Sarver, Director of Organizing
Justine Sarver, Director of Organizing and Field, focuses on mobilizing the affiliate’s 55,000 members around vital civil liberties issues. Sarver came to the ACLU-NC in 2006 from Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, where she served as Vice President and Political Director. In that role, she led the successful campaign against Proposition 73, which would have required physicians to notify a parent or legal guardian at least 48 hours prior to performing an abortion on a minor. She has extensive experience developing political campaigns and working with activists, lobbyists, and politicians. Before working for Planned Parenthood, she was the Political Director for the San Diego Labor Council, AFL-CIO. Sarver received a bachelor’s in history from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Laura Saponara, Communications Director
Laura Saponara, Communications Director, manages the core communications team, which maintains a fast-paced approach to communicating the principles and priorities of the ACLU-NC to the public, the media and our growing membership. Laura brings 10 years experience as a consultant, trainer and writer to non-profit organizations, labor unions and philanthropic foundations, including the SPIN Project, AFSCME, the Women’s Foundation of California, and the Ford Foundation. She holds a masters degree in media studies from the University of Texas in Austin, and has taught at UC Davis. Her thesis about the ways that religious right leaders frame issues of power and victimization and call for political rebirth has been referenced in several books. Laura has worked on human rights projects in Mexico City, El Salvador, Puerto Rico and Peru.

Alan L. Schlosser, Legal Director
Alan L. Schlosser, Legal Director, has litigated numerous landmark cases during his tenure at the organization, including Rodriguez v. California Highway Patrol and California First Amendment Coalition v. Woodford. He joined the ACLU-NC as Staff Counsel in 1976 and served as Managing Attorney from 1994 to 2000. In 2001, Schlosser took on the role of Legal Director, overseeing the affiliate's litigation strategy.
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