Shelley Bergum, President

Shelley Bergum is one of the original founders of the California Communications Access Foundation, and she currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and President of the Board of Directors. Shelley and two colleagues founded CCAF in 2002 in order to bid on a contract that would be issued by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to manage and operate the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program (DDTP), which is a state-mandated program providing specialized telecommunications equipment and services to people with disabilities.

Prior to founding CCAF, Shelley was Executive Director of the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program from 1990 to 2003. During these years, the DDTP was administered by a CPUC-appointed consumer committee, which was authorized by the CPUC to hire an independent staff to manage the day-to-day operations of the program. During Shelley’s tenure as Executive Director, the independent staff grew from 3 to 70 employees, and the DDTP consumer base statewide grew from about 250,000 to over 500,000.

Previous to her employment with the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program, Shelley held various positions with AT&T in San Francisco, with the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF) in Berkeley, and some teaching positions. Shelley previously served on the Board of Directors of Disability Rights Advocates in Berkeley and on the Board of Directors of the Center for Independent Living in Berkeley. She has also served on numerous advisory committees, representing disability community issues. Shelley earned her MBA Degree from Stanford University, and her BS Degree from Montana State University.

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Alice Nemon, Chair

As the parent of a daughter with a disability, Alice Nemon brings to her work a deeply personal perspective. A faculty member of the San Francisco State University Department of Counseling from 1966 to 2005 she has served as the Coordinator of the Rehabilitation Counseling Training Program and Project Director of several Rehabilitation Services Administration training grants for counselors to work with Deaf, Deafened, and Hard of Hearing Persons. She served as Project Director of Experimental and Innovative grants and other grants in the area of deafness, independent living, assistive technology and college success skills for students with disabilities.

Alice is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and holds a Doctorate in Social Work. She was Clinical Coordinator at Mental Health Services for the Deaf, a program of Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute from 1971-1973 (now the University of California Center on Deafness). Community involvement has been vital to her work. She is a member of the Board of Directors of Toolworks, a nonprofit agency focusing on supported living and employment of people with disabilities and Through the Looking Glass, a National Institute of Disability Rehabilitation Research and Training Center serving parents and children with disabilities. She is a member of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Advisory Committee to the California Department of Rehabilitation. In 2001 she received the Boyce R. Williams Award from ADARA in recognition of her contributions toward improvement in the rehabilitation of people who are deaf.

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David J. McClure, Treasurer

Dave McClure is a financial consultant serving as the interim CFO for six startup companies. He has been wearing hearing aids since 1985 and is currently classified as having a severe hearing loss. He became familiar with CCAF as a grateful client of the California Telephone Access Program.
After a long career in wireless, networking and other communications technology companies, Dave became the interim CEO of Pacific Medical Research Foundation and then was named CEO of the Hearing Society of the Bay Area. He was instrumental in merging the Hearing Society with San Francisco Hearing and Speech to form the Hearing and Speech Center of Northern California, which he served as the CEO as well as the interim CFO.
Prior to his nonprofit role, Dave was a consultant focusing on business strategy, startup company fundraising, mergers and acquisitions. Before becoming a consultant, Dave was a general manager of Cisco Systems business unit after the acquisition of JetCell, a wireless company he co-founded. Before co-founding JetCell, he was president and CEO of Multipoint Networks, and served in various leadership roles at other Bay Area high-tech companies for fifteen years. 
In addition to serving on the board of CCAF, Dave is a member of the board of directors of Pacific Medical Research Foundation and an advisor to two nonprofits, Youth and Family Enrichment Services and the Hearing and Speech Center of Northern California.
Dave has an MBA from University of California, Irvine, MSEE from University of Southern California and BSEE from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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Laura Strom, Secretary

Laura C. Strom, M.S. holds a Masters degree in counseling (rehabilitation, school and gerontological emphases) with an additional two year specialization in rehabilitation with deafened and hard-of-hearing persons. Additionally she is licensed as a California Marriage and Family Therapist intern. As a Masters student she earned the coveted "Graduate Distinguished Achievement Award" at San Francisco State University; this award is given to 70 grad students out of a population of 7000 and honored her work on transgender aging processes and posttraumatic stress disorder. She also earned awards as the top intern of the year for both years of her program. Laura has experience doing care management for older disabled adults with a specialization in accommodations and assistive technology. She currently works for the Multipurpose Senior Services Program in Contra Costa as the Supervising Care Manager, helping to keep skilled nursing eligible seniors safely in their homes by accessing accomodations and community resources. Laura also works as a child trauma therapist for the Stanford School of Medicine, Department of Child/Adolescent Psychiatry, in a research program designed to help traumatized youth who may be experiencing posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. The program is carried out in schools in low income, high crime neighborhoods in San Francisco and East Palo Alto. Laura has extensive experience working with people who have experienced hearing loss and is passionate about facilitating access for persons with disabilities.

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John L. Darby, Director

While a graduate student in Audiology at Stanford University in 1953, John L. Darby was appointed the first Rotary Fellow in Audiology at the San Francisco Hearing Center, where he continued as a Clinical Audiologist until 1956.  John then became Executive Director of the Hearing Society for the Bay Area, where he was able to concentrate on program development and advocacy in the area of deafness/hearing impairment.  In 1972, during a significant illness, he experienced an ototoxic reaction to certain medications which caused the beginning of a personal hearing loss.  In 1989, he started utilizing binaural hearing aids and is today classified as having a moderate hearing loss.  John served as President of the California Speech/Language/Hearing Association (from which he received the Honors of the Association) and for over 20 years on the Legislative Council of the American Speech/Language/Hearing Association, of which he was elected a Fellow.  He was a founding member of the San Francisco Mayor’s Council on Disabilities and the Association of Executives of United Way Member Agencies in San Francisco.  After 36 years as Executive Director of the Hearing Society, he retired in 1992.  In 1996, John was appointed by the California Public Utilities Commission to the Administrative Committee of the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program of the State of California.  In 1997, he was elected Chair of the Administrative Committee, a position he held until 2002 when his terms expired.  John and two colleagues founded the California Communications Access Foundation in 2002.  As a resident of San Francisco Towers, John served as Resident Representative to the Board of Directors of the Episcopal Homes Foundation from 2003 to 2009.  He has also served with numerous local, state, regional and national groups advocating for communications access.

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Bethann Londynsky, Director

Bethann   Londynsky is a senior tax manager in the San Francisco office of Grant Thornton LLP. She has over 25 years of tax experience in industry and public accounting.   Prior to joining Grant Thornton she was director of tax for Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. where she was responsible for all aspects of taxation including strategic planning, tax provisions, audit management, and compliance with federal, state, local, and international tax laws.
 Bethann has a B.S. in Business & Economics from Lehigh University, a JD from Seton Hall University School of Law and a LLM in Taxation from Golden Gate University School of Law.  She is a member of both the California and New Jersey Bar Associations and a Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York.

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Mary Herman, Director

Mary Herman holds a Master’s Degree in Speech Pathology and has worked with all age groups, from early childhood to senior citizens in the area of Speech, Language and Learning.  She was an Associate Professor at San Francisco State University in the area of Special Education, specifically in the field of Communication Disorders.  She retired as a Professor Emeritus from College of San Mateo, where she developed an innovative program for students with speech, language, learning and hearing loss.  She was a member of the committee which developed the California State criteria for identifying students with speech, language and learning needs at the Community College level.

Mary has been a member of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the California Speech-Language-Hearing Association for over 40 years.  She served on the Board of the San Mateo American Heart Association and was a founding member of the San Mateo Community College District Stroke Group. Mary is profoundly hard of hearing, uses a CapTel phone, and is deeply interested in hearing loss, communication accessibility and adaptive technology.

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Bob Davies, Director

Bob Davies was born and raised in San Francisco. He holds an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of California in Berkeley.
His interest in disability issues stems from having several nieces and nephews with various serious disabilities and his own second generation hearing loss.He has been involved in the local Hard-of-Hearing  community for over 10 years.
He was on the Board of Directors of the Hearing and Speech Center of Northern California for over 7 years and has been actively involved with the Hearing Loss
Association of America (HLAA).

Bob's entire business career was spent in the Bay Area advertising and marketing
industries. He first worked for a major national advertising agency (Dancer,
Fitzgerald & Sample).  For many years he was the President of a marketing communications company (IDEAS) that specialized in the writing, design and production of Annual Reports for major Bay Area companies.  Lastly, he worked for Visual Media Alliance, a national non-profit organization serving design, web and printing companies.

Bob has recently retired and plans to use his sales and marketing experience to help improve communications for California-based disability organizations. He will continue to sail on the San Francisco Bay (a passion since childhood).  He will also be spending more time with his wife, 2 daughters and 4 grandchildren.

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Sister Ann Rooney, Director

Ann Rooney is a Sister of Mercy who practices as a Marriage, Family Therapist. Previously she practiced as a Licensed Vocational Nurse. Recently she completed a three year practice of Spiritual Direction that enhances her skills of companioning her clients. She is in private practice and also a staff member at the Jesuit Institute of Family Life.

After many illnesses in her early childhood, she became hard of hearing, moderate to severe, which was not discovered until age six. She has worn hearing aids since the fourth grade.  Ann has experienced the remarkable advancement in technology for people with hearing loss, as well as increased public awareness of what it means to have a hearing loss.

Sister Ann has been very active in the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA) in local and state activities. She was on the California State Board of Trustees for six years.  She worked on committees for Walk for Hearing and on conferences for people with Hearing Loss. She took a one year course online from the American Academy of Hearing Loss Support Specialists to become a Hearing Loss Resource Specialist. She attended a Hearing Assistance Technology (HAT) workshop sponsored by HLAA to understand and help other Hard of Hearing people understand the technology that can be helpful. She is active in her local Redwood chapter and was co-president for six years. She recently received a Spirit Award from the National Hearing Loss Association of America.

Sister Ann has been on the Board of Directors of Mercy High School in San Francisco for four years. She volunteers and provides support and compassion for Sisters of Mercy in skilled nursing care facilities.

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Anza Vang, Director

Anza Vang is a member of the Real Estate & Facilities team at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, CA, leading and facilitating advanced planning and analytical consulting initiatives to improve strategic, financial, and operational excellence. 

She has built and maintained strategic working relationships that have led her to unique opportunities to collaborate with the Design & Construction community including the redesign of Share Our Selves, the largest comprehensive community clinic in Orange County.  She received the 2011 Superior Performance in Real Estate (SPIRE) Award for Philanthropy by CREW-OC for her role in the project.  

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• Shelley Bergum, President
• Alice Nemon,Chair
  
• David McClure, Treasurer
• Laura Strom, Secretary
• John L. Darby, Director
  
• Bethann Londynsky, Director
  
• Mary Herman, Director
• Bob Davies, Director
• Sister Ann Rooney, Director
• Anza Vang, Director
   

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