The board of directors of the Friends of Port Chicago National Memorial:
Reverend Diana McDaniel, President – Rev. Diana currently serves as senior minister of Unity Church of San Leandro, in the San Francisco/Oakland Bay area . She also serves on the Board of the West Central Region of Unity Churches She has also served the Association of Unity Churches International Board of Trustees. Rev. Diana has a B.A. in Religious Studies and completed her master’s level ministerial studies at Unity Institute. She is a licensed and ordained minister who has weekly radio broadcasts in seven countries in southern Africa. Rev. Diana’s uncle served at Port Chicago at the time of the explosion.
David Salniker, Treasurer – David is a Senior Advisor and the Director of Administration and Finance for the Equal Justice Society. David brings over 25 years of experience as a nonprofit executive and manager. From 1996-2003, David served as the Executive Director of the Tides Center, and before that was for seven years the Executive Director of Pacifica Foundation. David was initially a practicing attorney specializing in civil rights and employment law. He is one of the original members of the National Lawyers Guild Affirmative Action Committee formed in 1978. David has a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley (Boalt) and a Masters of Law (in Labor Law) from New York University School of Law.
Marc Bruner, Board Member. Marc Bruner is an environmental and land use attorney with the law firm of Perkins Coie in San Francisco. Marc represents public agencies and private clients undertaking a wide variety of projects and advises on permitting strategies, long-range development plans, environmental reports and analyses, and addressing the requirements of local, state and federal regulations on a wide range of issues. Marc has been practicing since 1995 and has been involved with the Friends of Port Chicago as pro bono legal counsel since 2007, in their efforts to develop a visitors and interpretive center on the former grounds of the Concord Naval Weapons Station. Marc is a graduate of Harvard College and earned his J.D. from Yale Law School. Marc loves to travel and his journeys have included a yearlong honeymoon in 1999 and year-around-the-world adventure with his wife and two small children from August 2010 to August 2011.
Camarin Madigan, Board Member. Camarin is a land use and environmental attorney at Bingham McCutchen LLP in San Francisco. Her practice focuses on complex development, including renewable energy and mixed-use projects. Camarin lives in Walnut Creek and is excited to be involved with this new national park in the East Bay. She also serves as president of Contra Costa County Senior Legal Services. Camarin has a J.D. from the University of California at Hastings and a B.A. from Grinnell College.
Robert L. Allen, Ph.D., Board Member. Dr. Allen is an adjunct professor of African American studies and ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of The Port Chicago Mutiny, which the San Francisco Chronicle called “apocalyptic…stirring…part history, part investigative tract, part courtroom drama, and part psychological analysis…Definitive.” His other books include Black Awakening in Capitalist America; Reluctant Reformers: The Impact of Racism on Social Movement in the U.S.; Brotherman: The Odyssey of Black Men in America; Strong in the Struggle; and Honoring Sergeant Carter: A Family’s Journey to Uncover the Truth About an American Hero. Allen is also editor (with founder Robert Chrisman) of the journal The Black Scholar. He has been the recipient of many honors and awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship and an American Book Award (shared with co-editor Herb Boyd for Brotherman).
Zoë Polk, Board Member. Zoë is a San Francisco-based attorney with a primary practice in police misconduct, and experience in general civil litigation including consumer law, civil rights law and personal injury law. She previously worked at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, where she focused on increasing women and youth civic participation in the Middle East. During law school, she was hired as a consultant to the United Nations Special Representative to the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict. Zoë graduated from St. John’s Law School in New York and obtained her Bachelors of Science degree from Georgetown University in Washington D.C. where she majored in Government with a minor in French.
Kathy Hoffman, Board Member. Kathy retired in 2012 as a field representative for Congressman George Miller after 20 years of service in his office. Kathy is a former Vallejo city councilwoman, served as an aide to former Calif. state Sen. Barry Keane, and was president of the Solano League of Women Voters. Her tremendous service to the community included co-chairing the Solano Ridge Trail Committee, serving as the Vallejo city representative on the Tri City County Open Space Area Citizens Advisory Committee, and chairing the Solano Bicycle Advisory Committee.
John A. Lawrence, Board Member. John Lawrence served for 38 years as a staff member in the US House of Representatives, the last eight as Chief of Staff to Speaker/Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). Upon his retirement in February 2013, Speaker John A. Boehner and Speaker Pelosi recognized his dedication and bipartisanship by conferring on him the John W. McCormack Award for Excellence. He served as Staff Director of the Committee on Education and the Workforce (2001-2005), and Chief of Staff and Legislative Director to Congressman George Miller (D-CA) (1975-2005). As Staff Director of the Committee on Natural Resources (1993-2001), he played a major role in the creation of the Port Chicago National Memorial and in securing a presidential pardon for Freddie Meeks, one of the 50 sailors court martialed following the explosion. He is a visiting professor at the University of California campus in Washington, DC and writes and speaks on public policy and politics, and is author of the blog, DOMEocracy. Born in Paterson, N.J., John holds a Ph.D. in American History from the University of California (Berkeley), and an A.B. (with high honors in history) from Oberlin College.
