Our Board of Directors
The Oakland Peace Center is growing and so is our board of directors. We seek a variety of experiences and expertise to help lead the strategic direction of our work. If you are interested in volunteering on our board, please contact Kalynn, OPC Transition Director, at kalynn@oaklandpeacecenter.org.
Dr. Renato Almanzor
Renato Almanzor is a transformation catalyst, whose experience emerges from 30 years developing leaders committed to transformative social change. As a leadership development expert, he delivers university courses, programs, keynote addresses, and seminars on issues related to leadership, equity, and organization design. His work has been dedicated to supporting leaders working with and in low-income communities and communities of color. He has a PhD and MA in organizational psychology, an MS in counseling, and BA in psychology, as well as certifications in coaching and Zumba Instruction. He serves on the Boards for East Bay Meditation Center and the Oakland Peace Center.
Norman Bardsley
Norman Bardsley grew up in a small town near Manchester in northern England, among a family with four generations of members of a small church affiliated with the Disciples of Christ. He was educated in mathematics and physics at Cambridge and Manchester Universities and came to the US in 1968. The three major phases of his career were as a Professor of Physics at the University of Pittsburgh, a research manager at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and as a consultant on lighting and electronic displays to the US Display Consortium, the US Department of Energy and the International Solid-State Lighting Alliance. He is a member of Lafayette Christian Church and chairs the Economic Justice Task Force of the Multi-faith ACTION Coalition in Contra Costa County. Norman has three children, five grand-children and one great grandson, scattered around the US and UK.
Rev. Dr. Monica Cross
Rev. Dr. Monica Joy Cross serves as Pastor at First Christian Church of Oakland in Oakland, Ca., Associate Minister at Tapestry Ministries in Berkeley, Ca., and Director of Women’s Ministries in the Northern California Nevada Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). She is a Transformational Leader Fellow of the Sojourner Truth Leadership Circle of Auburn Seminary in New York, City, NY, and Founder of Global Prayer Network. Her activist organizing work includes, Laney Teach In/Poor People's Campaign League of Revolutionaries for a New America, and work with the National Center for Transgender Equality. She has authored: Reflections of a Prophet Without Honor - a book of reflections which emerge from her life with God; Authenticity and Imagination in the Face of Oppression - Autobiographical, it addresses gender, race, religion, sexuality, and strategies towards liberation, and has a Blog entitled: The Transgender Scholar. While being a native of Southern California Monica currently makes her home in Richmond, California.
Jeffrey Ishmael
Jeffrey (he/him) is the Chaplain for the Outpatient Palliative Care Team at John Muir Health, Walnut Creek. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley CA. His residency and fellowship in Clinical Pastoral Education was at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center where he started his work in end-of-life care with children and families living with Cystic Fibrosis. He has held both spiritual care and bereavement care positions at California Pacific Medical Center, Kindred Hospice, Vitas Hospice, George Mark Children’s House, Kaiser Hospital, San Francisco Juvenile Hall, and Larkin Street Youth Center. Before his career in chaplaincy Jeffrey was a hairdresser and owned his salon in Lexington, Kentucky. He worked his way through Architecture at University of Kentucky, moving to San Francisco in 1994 after graduation. He was ordained at FCC Concord in 2000 and is a board certified chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains. In addition to serving on OPC’s board, he has served as a trustee for First Christian Church Oakland since 2009 and is also an Elder for Lafayette Christian Church. Jeffrey lives in Martinez with his husband Henry Velasco, two teen children Haylee and Sage, and Grandma Velasco.
Jim Mitulski
Reverend Jim Mitulski has been a pastor and community organizer for almost 40 years, in New York City, San Francisco, Berkeley, Denver, Dallas, Atlanta and Boston. He is currently the interim pastor of Island United Church in Foster CIty, co-president of the Peninsula Mutlifaith Coalition, and an active member of the NAACP San Mateo Branch. Jim brings many years of LGBT and HIV/AIDS activism to the OPC board. Jim has done non-profit development and fundraising for several religious, educational, political and arts organizations and has helped establish community centers in several cities. Jim is a resident of Oakland, California.
Don Stump
Don retired in 2020 after having worked 42 years at Christian Church Homes in Oakland where he served as a small site manager in 1979, and ultimately retired as President/CEO. CCH is proud of the long used tagline, “CCH – building more than a home.”
Don completed his undergraduate degree at Phillips University in, Oklahoma and his master's degree from Oklahoma State University. He is also a Certified Property Manager. He has taught many workshops, seminars and classes on affordable housing and has received multiple honors including the National Affordable Housing Management Association’s (NAHMA) “Pioneer in Affordable Housing” and the Affordable Housing Management Association’s (AHMA) coveted “Pamela E. Stroud” award for leadership in the field.
Don has lived in senior housing as a child and has held nearly every level of job within the company. He enjoys a unique background and an unusual ability to blend the multiple disciplines required to effectively operate a broad and diverse organization.
In Memoriam
Karen Barrett
Karen was on our board for five years but supported the vision of the Oakland Peace Center before it even officially existed. Karen was deeply committed to the thriving of Black lives in Oakland and the Bay Area, a deep believer in immigration justice, LGBTQ+ justice and an end to homelessness, and a passionate worker for ending violence in our community. Karen was on our board for five years but supported the vision of the Oakland Peace Center before it even officially existed. Karen was deeply committed to the thriving of Black lives in Oakland and the Bay Area, a deep believer in immigration justice, LGBTQ+ justice and an end to homelessness, and a passionate worker for ending violence in our community.