Meet our Board of Directors

To contact a Board member, please visit the Contact Page.

Susan Abrams

Ms. Abrams has served on Paratransit's Board since 1996 and has served three terms as Paratransit's President. She comes to the Paratransit Board with a background in social service and gerontology, having obtained her BA in sociology from CSUS.

She was a member of the Sacramento Adult and Aging Commission's executive committee and was Chair of the Commission's Program Review and Development Committee, which recommends federal funding allocations for programs of the Area 4 Agency on Aging. She served ten years on, and is the former Chair of, the San Juan Unified School District's Community Advisory Committee for Special Education, a federally-legislated committee overseeing access to public education by persons with developmental disabilities. She is a member of Hadassah, a Jewish women's health care organization.

For five years, she was the chief troubleshooter for the Chair of the Board of Weeden and Company, a Wall Street stock brokerage. While living in New York Ms. Abrams created the Lower East Side Civic Improvement Association, a non-profit social service and resource agency, and was Treasurer of the Board. She held top managerial positions for two New York Congressional candidates and for the John Lindsay campaign.

Earl Welsh

Mr. Welsh has served on Paratransit's Board since 1997. He is a retired 35-year employee with the State Department of Motor Vehicles where he was a member of the Disabled Advisory Committee and a recipient of the first Outstanding Employee of Disability Award.

Mr. Welsh has been an active member of the Indoor Sports Club, Inc., a national organization for the physically disabled. He has served at the national, district and local levels since the 1960s and supported passage of California's first architectural barrier-free laws; disabled persons’ parking laws; and passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. He is also a former member of the California Association of Physically Handicapped, Inc.

Ron Brown

Mr. Brown has served on Paratransit's Board since 1988 and has served four terms as Board President. In April 1998 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from his alma mater, Kent State University, where he graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in speech with a telecommunications focus.

He is a distinguished African American who, since 1989, has been in charge of discrimination mediation and investigation, and community relations and liaison activities for the Sacramento County Human Rights and Fair Housing Commission. He manages the agency's Tenant/Landlord unit, training interns from McGeorge and UC Davis law schools in this area of law.

Mr. Brown has served several years on the board of the Legal Center for the Elderly and Disabled. He was honored by the Muscular Dystrophy Association in 1994 with the association's national Personal Achievement Award.

Scott Leventon

Mr. Leventon has served on Paratransit's Board since 1992.

Using his educational training in social sciences, he has advocated for improved services to the disabled through his membership on the Sacramento County Committee for People with Disabilities (including its housing subcommittee) and through his seven years of casework at Resources for Independent Living.

Mr. Leventon has held several offices on the Paratransit Board. In this capacity he has developed policy to diversify Paratransit's resource base. He currently works for the Department of Human Services.

Lauren Hammond

Ms. Hammond was elected to the Sacramento City Council on March 4, 1997. She is a long-time community leader and neighborhood activist and has lived in Sacramento for 35 years.

After working 22 years for the State Senate's Coordinator for the Americans with Disabilities Act, Ms. Hammond chose to concentrate full time on her Council duties. Ms. Hammond serves on the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District and the Sacramento Transportation Authority as well as the Board of Directors of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, Sacramento Regional Solid Waste Authority Board and Sacramento Regional Transit. She is a graduate of C.K. McClatchy High School, Sacramento City College and California State University, Sacramento. Ms. Hammond has served on Paratransit's Board since 2005.

Bonnie Pannell

Ms. Pannell's years of political involvement include promoting excellence and quality education for young people. She is an outspoken opponent to the spread of drugs, and champions the involvement of young people in competitive sports, believing that sports are one way to help enhance the self-image of young people.

Ms. Pannell spent most of her professional career as an employee for Pacific Bell, and later as a Database Technician for Unilab Medical Laboratories. In June of 1998 she was elected as the District 8 member on the Sacramento City Council and became Vice Mayor in 2001. She served as an honorary board member for the Sacramento Council for International Visitors and joined the Paratransit Board in 1999.

Steve Gould

Mr. Gould served on Paratransit's Board for two terms from 1982 to 1988 and was a member of the first Board.

He retired from the State after working for the Department of Finance, Department of Consumer Affairs and Bureau of Automotive Repair. He has extensive experience with the California Transportation Plan and is an expert on the Smog Check Emissions Program.

Mr. Gould has a Ph.D. in Government from Claremont University. His most recent volunteer activity has been with Project Vote-Smart which is a non-partisan group that delivers accurate information on candidates for public office through a network of 5,000 public libraries and via the internet. He has served on the Board since 2002.

Martin Omoto

Mr. Omoto has served on Paratransit's Board since 2002. He graduated from California State University, Sacramento, where he majored in Government. He worked as a legislative representative for AARP and was the Executive Director of the California Commission Action Association, a statewide anti-poverty agency association.

Mr. Omoto is currently Director/Organizer of California Disability Community Action Network a non-partisan link to thousands of Californians with developmental and other disabilities, people with traumatic brain injuries, the Blind, the Deaf, their families, community organizations and providers, direct care, homecare and other workers, and other advocates to provide information on state (and eventually federal), local public policy issues. A strong advocate for seniors and people with disabilities, his commitment to paratransit issues grows, in part, through his personal experience with a family member who was disabled.

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