​Steering Committee
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Suzanne Anderson, is Human Services Specialist and Career Connections Facilitator for the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance; and Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Gerontology at California State University, Sacramento. She has spent the past twenty years involved with community and statewide organizations advocating for older adults and their families. 
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Molly Davies is President and CEO of WISE & Healthy Aging. She is Vice President of the California Long-Term Care Ombudsman Association and chaired CEJC’s Ombudsman/APS Jurisdiction Workgroup.
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​James Treggiari is the Adult Protective Services Administrator for the California Department of Social Services. Previously, he was the Executive Director at Legal Assistance for Seniors (LAS).  He has spent his career focused on assisting clients from disenfranchised communities including seniors, homeless individuals and families, transgender youth in Los Angeles and dually diagnosed adults in New Hampshire.   

Donna Benton, PhD, Chair, is a Research Associate Professor of Gerontology at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. She is also the Director of the USC Family Caregiver Support Center (FCSC) and the Los Angeles Caregiver Resource Center (LACRC). Her research focus is on the development of online evidence-based interventions for family caregivers to improve mental and physical health and wellbeing and prevention of elder mistreatment. 

Jill Nielsen is Deputy Director of Programs for the Department of Aging & Adult Services for the City and County of San Francisco.  Jill also serves as San Francisco’s Public Guardian, Public Conservator, and Public Administrator. Prior to taking on her current role, she served as the director of the San Francisco Adult Protective Services program.
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​Sil Vossler is the Founder and Principal at The Vossler Law Firm, a law firm focused on representing financially abused elders in predatory lending and wrongful foreclosure litigation. Previously, Sil worked as the Senior Elder Law Attorney at Open Door Legal in San Francisco and as an Assistant Attorney General for the City of Washington, D.C.

Leza Coleman, Vice Chair, is the Legislative Director of the California Commission on Aging.  Previously she was the Executive Director of the California Long-Term Care Ombudsman Association. Her career experience also includes working in an assisted living facility as a field Ombudsman and Volunteer Coordinator for Ombudsman Services of Northern California. 
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Jason Sullivan-Halpern  is the Director of the CA Long Term Care Ombudsman Association, which represents all 35 local LTC Ombudsman Programs across the state. Jason is a seasoned nonprofit professional, and has worked on a variety of complex social, economic, and environmental issues impacting vulnerable adults. He obtained his JD with an emphasis in advocacy and public interest law from The Pennsylvania State University in 2021 and was the former Editor-in-Chief of the Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs.

Staff

Donata Bohanec, Executive Director, has spent over 15 years working in the non-profit and public sector developing programs and promoting community engagement. She has served on CEJC's Steering Committee since 2022. Prior to coming to CEJC, she was the Elder Justice Coordinator at the non-profit Senior Advocacy Services where she led Sonoma County’s Elder Justice Initiative.  She earned her Bachelor’s in Anthropology from UC Berkeley and a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of San Francisco. 

​Lisa Nerenberg, ​Director, Special Projects, was CEJC's founding Executive Director and has worked in the field of aging and elder justice for nearly 40 years. She was also the founding director of the San Francisco Consortium for Elder Abuse Prevention at the Institute on Aging and an instructor at City College of San Francisco where she taught classes in aging, ageism, public health and elder abuse. She has written Elder Justice, Ageism, and Elder Abuse and Elder Abuse Prevention: Emerging Trends and Promising Strategies (Springer Publishing)

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Carol Sewell, ​Policy Director, is the Coordinator of CEJC's A*TEAM and directs CEJC's statewide network of local multidisciplinary teams. Prior to coming to CEJC, she served as the Legislative Director of the California Commission on Aging, where she supported the Commission’s advocacy work on a broad range of policy issues and helped secure passage of multiple laws promoting elder justice and  increase the Legislature’s knowledge and awareness of elder justice concerns.

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Christine Damonte, CEJC Coordinator, has worked for CEJC since 2015.  Prior to joining CEJC, Christine worked in the human resources field for 15 years.