By admin 
Nearly 20 candidates have thrown their hat in the ring for three open seats on the Board of Trustees of Los Rios Community College District. Only one of them is an incumbent. While current board president Deborah Ortiz will be competing to hold onto her seat, longtime trustees Dustin Johnson and Robert Jones decided not to seek reelection, leaving the field open for at least two newcomers.
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The seven-member board is the governing body of Los Rios Community College District, which consists of four colleges in the greater Sacramento region. The second largest community college district in California, Los Rios enrolls 70,000 students annually.
The board is entrusted with the educational, physical and financial well-being of the district. It also sets legal policy for the district. Members are elected to four-year terms by voters in the district’s service area. This November, terms for the Area 1, 2 and 6 trustees are coming to an end. The board also includes a non-voting student trustee who is elected by students in the district.
Los Rios Trustee Area 1
Area 1 covers the northwest part of Sacramento County, including Del Paso Heights, McClellan Air Force Base, North Highlands, North and South Natomas, and Rio Linda.
Dustin Johnson, the current Area 1 trustee, has been on the board since 2009. The retired civil rights and criminal defense attorney decided not to run this year due to health concerns and other personal issues he felt would distract from his service on the board.
Who are the candidates in the Area 1 race?
Devon Graves is an assistant professor of community college leadership at North Carolina State University, where he researches the disparities faced by students of color in American higher education. Born and raised in Southern California, he attended Cal Poly Pomona before earning his PhD in education at UCLA in 2019. He relocated to Sacramento for work, where he currently lives with his wife and daughter.
According to his campaign website, his major priorities if elected to the board would include mentorship and academic resources for students, transparent funding models and financial aid programs, and modernized technical education to train the workforce.
Magdalena T. Gonzalez works as a human resources staffer for the city of Sacramento. She began taking classes at Sacramento City College at the age of 15 and earned an associate degree for transfer in business administration before she graduated high school, per her campaign website. She went on to get her bachelor’s degree at San Jose State and an MBA from Sacramento State.
If elected, her priorities would include raising graduation rates, increasing student employability and greater transparency in district results.
D’Andrea Chapman is an education programs consultant with the California Department of Education. Previously, she has served as a school principal and an instructional leader with expertise in special education.
She is running, her campaign website says, to “bring experienced, student-centered leadership” to the Los Rios board. Her major priorities include fiscal stewardship, student outcomes and transparent governance.
Who’s funding the Area 1 race?
As of Sept. 8, Graves had raised more than $17,000, with $5,000 coming from the Los Rios College Federation of Teachers. The union represents approximately 2,500 instructors, counselors, librarians, college nurses, and program coordinators at all campuses of the district.
Gonzalez did not record any substantial donations and Chapman is running her campaign without fundraising.
Los Rios Trustee Area 2
Area 2 covers Citrus Heights, Orangevale, Fair Oaks, and part of Carmichael.
Robert Jones, the current Area 2 trustee, has been on the Los Rios board for two decades, having first been elected in 2006. His career in public higher education includes teaching and serving in leadership roles within the community college, California State University and University of California systems. He decided to retire, he told The Sacramento Bee, because he believes the district will benefit from younger leadership on the board.
Who are the candidates in the Area 2 race?
Oranit Limmaneeprasert has been a professor at American River College for 25 years. She has also served as the union president for faculty at that college and advocated for better wages, benefits and working environments for her colleagues. Central to her campaign is her edge as a longtime Los Rios insider.
Born in Sacramento, Mark Gregg runs a construction company. He is an alumnus of American River College. His priorities, if elected, include making responsible financial decisions, centering community voices and strengthening the college-to-workforce pipeline. He has the endorsement of current Area 2 Trustee Robert Jones.
Paula Villescaz works as a deputy legislative affairs secretary in the Governor’s Office, where she advises on policy matters related to health and human services, childcare and immigration. Previously, she served on the San Juan Unified School Board for two terms. Endorsed by Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty, her priorities include expanding support services for students and strengthening partnerships with local businesses and employers.
Tim Loree is a retired business owner, according to his campaign filing. A former Los Rios trustee, he said he is running to “bring practical experience, fiscal oversight and a strong emphasis on career technical education back to the board.”
Martin Ross is the deputy director of external affairs, partnerships and workforce development at Health Education Council, a nonprofit dedicated to improving health outcomes of people living in the Sacramento region’s historically underserved neighborhoods. He was also appointed to the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Commission.
His major priorities include ensuring all students have access to the resources they need to excel academically, preparing students for the workforce and creating safe and modernized campuses.
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Sukdip “Steve” Chima, listed as a parent in his candidate filing, does not have a campaign website or contact information on record.
Phil Davis, former assistant fire chief at UC Davis and deputy fire chief in the Cosumnes Fire Department, is running to ensure “Los Rios continues to provide a top-tier community college education.”
Myisha Rachelle Robertson does not have a campaign website or contact information on record.
Jonathan Brownell is a senior project manager, per his candidate filing. He does not have a campaign website and did not respond to a request for more information.
Who’s funding this race?
Limmaneeprasert has raised more than $13,500 for her campaign, with $5,000 coming from the Los Rios College Federation of Teachers. Gregg has also raised more than $13,000, with more than half that sum coming from Redus Group Inc., his construction company. Villescaz has raised over $5,000, with half that sum from the campaign committee for Assemblymember Mia Bonta, D-Alameda. More than $14,000 in contributions flowed into Ross’s campaign coffers, $5,000 of which he loaned to himself.
Los Rios Trustee Area 6
Area 6 covers the central part of the city of Sacramento — including downtown, Midtown, East Sacramento, River Park and Campus Commons — and parts of Carmichael and Rancho Cordova.
Deborah Ortiz, current board president, holds this seat and is making a bid to retain it.
Who are the candidates in the Area 6 race?
Deborah V. Ortiz was first elected to the Los Rios board in 2010. A lifelong Sacramento resident, she has served in many elected positions, including as a member of the Sacramento City Council, the California State Assembly and the California State Senate. At present, she works as a healthcare consultant in primary care and community clinics. Earlier this year, she ran in the primary for a seat on the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors but did not receive enough votes to advance.
Now, Ortiz is campaigning for the Los Rios seat on the plank of “proven leadership” with the promise of bringing stability and governance experience to the board. She hopes to continue the work that the district is already doing. She is endorsed by the Los Rios College Federation of Teachers and four current trustees.
Zima Creason is a member of the Carmichael-based San Juan Unified School District Board of Education. Outside of her board service, she serves as executive director of the California EDGE Coalition, a policy advocacy group that pushes for workforce investments, stronger career pathways and economic mobility. The coalition is a project of the Community College League of California, a nonprofit that provides advocacy support to California Community College districts.
Her priorities include campus safety, strong student support services, partnerships and affordable pathways to certificates, degrees, transfer and careers, she said.
Pearl Koven works in the California State Senate as a constituent services specialist. Her team, she said, assists district offices of senators statewide with community engagement tools, casework resources and connections to state agencies. Earlier, she worked in the office of Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, R-San Diego, as an executive assistant and scheduler.
A first-generation transfer student from Santa Monica College to UC San Diego, Koven’s priorities include ensuring safety on campus, focusing on career readiness and boosting academic outcomes.
Keith Ellis works at the California Department of Rehabilitation where he supports people with disabilities. Previously, he worked in disability services at Folsom Lake and Cosumnes River colleges and also served as a campus representative for the Los Rios Classified Employees Association. He was an alumni member on the University of California Board of Regents from 2023 to 2024.
If elected, his focus will be on timely degree completion and transfer rates, workforce preparation and fiscal stewardship, he said.
William Thomas Bernal is a retired stonemason and union leader. Listed as a chaplain in his candidate filing, Bernal said on his campaign website he has spent decades guiding young people through challenges.
Now, his campaign priorities are to strengthen career and transfer pathways, expand student support and ensure colleges facilitate the classroom-to-career transition. He hopes to build partnerships with nonprofits and faith communities to support students facing housing insecurity.
Who’s funding this race?
As of Sept. 8, Ortiz had collected $2,000 in campaign contributions for this race, while Creason had received nearly $10,000. Creason’s top donor is the North Coast States Regional Council of Carpenters political action committee.
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The other candidates have not so far recorded any major contributions.