The people behind the people

A small national team backs thousands of members and volunteers across the country. Meet the staff and boards behind them.

A small national team, thousands of organizers.

The full-time team builds training for new chapter leads, campaign playbooks, the endorsement process, and the fundraising that keeps the lights on. The wins belong to the volunteers.

A key founder of the YIMBY movement in 2014, Laura has grown YIMBY Action into a thriving grassroots political organization with tens of thousands of activists nationwide.
Laura Foote
Executive Director
Andrew Gothard
Chief of Staff
Leora Tanjuatco Ross
California Director
Zachary Pitts
LA Director
Brandon Powell
Bay Area Organizing Director
Amy Klein
Director of Development
Joh Gehlbach
Senior Campaigns Manager
Connor Riley
National Chapter Manager
Pranay Bhargava
Chapter Systems Manager
Margaret Gooding
Senior Manager of Major Gifts
Courtney Porcella
Senior Manager of Business Partnerships
Mariah Redfern
Marketing and Communications Manager
Sebastien Marie
Development Assistant
Daira Fernández
Event Coordinator

Our board.

Founders, housing builders, and organizers who govern YIMBY Action: they hire and oversee the executive director, approve the budget, and keep the org pointed at the mission.

A key founder of the YIMBY movement in 2014, Laura has grown YIMBY Action into a thriving grassroots political organization with tens of thousands of activists nationwide.
Laura Foote
Board Member
Sonja founded SF BARF in 2014 and now leads YIMBY Law, supporting community organizing for housing proposals and pro-housing local and state policy.
Sonja Trauss
Board Member
A housing activist since 2014, Vincent founded CoderPad, a tool for remote, skills-based job interviews for programmers.
Vincent Woo
Board Member
Parag Gupta is a Board Member of YIMBY Action and a Commissioner on the San Francisco Board of Education. He is the founder of Velocity Impact, a consulting practice that advises philanthropy and nonprofits. He served as Chief Program Officer of Mercy Housing, the largest nonprofit affordable houser in the United States, overseeing wrap-around resident services. He previously led the Stupski Foundation's $300 million spend-down as Chief Program Officer and founded a solid waste social enterprise in India. He began his career at the Bridgespan Group. Parag holds a Master of Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School and lives in San Francisco, where he supports pro-housing initiatives at public meetings.
Parag Gupta
Board Member
Jeff leads policy and partnerships at the Center for Land Economics. Prior to that, he started his career in tech, working at startups in the logistics and building tech spaces.
Jeff Fong
Board Member
Nick built a factory in San Francisco and joined YIMBY Action after seeing firsthand how building regulations affect operations and residents.
Nick Pinkston
Board Member
Giselle Hale is Managing Partner at Abundance Network where she leads the Abundance Elected Network. She has a trifecta of expertise in campaigns (Obama 08, Eshoo for Congress), tech (Facebook), and policymaking as the former Mayor of Redwood City.
Giselle Hale
Board Member
Gillian Pressman is a Board Member of YIMBY Action and Head of Development at partner organization Inclusive Abundance. Prior to joining the Board, Gillian was on staff at YIMBY Action and YIMBY Law, where she spent 6.5 years overseeing fundraising and operations to grow the grassroots movement for housing. Prior to YIMBY Action, she was the Senior Director of Development at Peer Health Exchange (PHE) and Executive Director for Massachusetts at Generation Citizen (GC).
Gillian Pressman
Board Member
Eddie was an early YIMBY Action member and chapter leader in San Francisco and now lives in New York City, where he leads the product team for Blue Rose Research, a Democratic opinion research firm.
Eddie Siegel
Board Member