From Sally Ride, the first woman in space and lifelong Californian, to Maya Angelou, one-time Californian, famed poet, and San Francisco’s first female African American streetcar conductor, California has a history of incredible women paving the way.
California offers opportunity to all who seek it and many female leaders have jumped at the chance, contributing to the state’s penchant for innovation and job creation that has made California into a global economic powerhouse.
The California Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors has many business-savvy women of its own, leaders and role models in their respective fields. The CalChamber Board is lucky to include 27 California women who contribute their unique perspectives, experiences, skills and know-how to molding the business leadership in the state, 5 of whom sit on the CalChamber’s Executive Committee.
The CalChamber Executive Committee is made up of 10 CalChamber Board members: the Board chair, the first, second and third vice chairs, three former Board chairs, and three directors who are appointed to a one-year term as “at-large” members. Five members of the current Executive Committee are women.
The Executive Committee is charged with making decisions on behalf of the greater Board of Directors when it is not possible for the Board to meet. The Executive Committee is responsible for recommending the officers who should succeed them as well as for directly employing the CalChamber president and CEO who directs the CalChamber staff.
The women of the CalChamber Executive Committee include:
- Janet A. Liang, Second Vice Chair
Group President and COO, Care Delivery, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Hospitals - Maryam S. Brown, Third Vice Chair
President, Southern California Gas Company
Environmental Policy Committee - Donna L. Lucas, Immediate Past Chair
President and CEO, Lucas Public Affairs
Privacy Coalition - Grace Evans Cherashore, 2019 Chair
Executive Chairwoman, Evans Hotels
Tourism Committee, Taxation Committee, Housing Coalition - Sima Patel, At-Large Member
CEO, Ridgemont Hospitality
Tourism Committee
The role of the CalChamber Board is to provide leadership for the CalChamber. The Board sets and approves the policy agenda of the organization and therefore major issues in the state. A third of the CalChamber Board members are elected each year by the CalChamber membership.
CalChamber Board members come from a variety of industries, with companies ranging from small and medium-sized enterprises to larger multinational corporations. The diversity of the Chamber Board helps make the CalChamber a broad-based voice for business in the state.
The women on the CalChamber Board of Directors include:
- Susan Corrales-Diaz, 2017 Board Chair
President and CEO, Systems Integrated
Immigration Committee, Council for International Trade - Lisa Daniels
Managing Partner, KPMG LLP - Diana Davis
General Manager, Toyota Motor North America - Sandra O. Floyd
President and CEO, OUTSOURCE Consulting Services
Co-Chair, Health Care Policy Committee - Jennifer M. Haley
President, Kern Energy
Energy and Telecommunications Committee, Labor and Employment Committee, Public Affairs Council, Legal Reform and Protection Committee - Kerry Tullis Hattevik
President, Trans Bay Cable LLC
Energy and Telecommunications Committee, Environmental Policy Committee, Privacy and Cybersecurity Committee, Privacy Coalition, Public Affairs Council - Fiona Hutton
Founder and CEO, Fiona Hutton & Associates - Sarah Iselin
Executive Vice President and COO, Blue Shield of California - Rhonda Johnson
President, AT&T California - Stefanie Kane
Managing Partner, Southwest Market, PricewaterhouseCoopers - Julie Kreger King
Greater Northern California Operations Leader, Antea Group - Janet W. Lamkin
California President, United Airlines - Diane D. Miller
President, Wilcox, Miller & Nelson
Privacy and Cybersecurity Committee, Privacy Coalition - Christine Moseley
Founder and CEO, Full Harvest Technologies, Inc.
Food and Agriculture Committee, Environmental Policy Committee - Patricia K. Poppe
CEO, PG&E Corporation - Kate Renwick-Espinosa
President, VSP Vision Care - Ariel Roblin
President and General Manager, KCRA-TV - Susan Savage
CEO, Sacramento River Cats
Tourism Committee - Margaret Wong
President and CEO, McWong International, Inc.
Council for International Trade - Jessica Word
President, Word & Brown General Agency
The women of the CalChamber Board of Directors represent a wide array of industries, including finance, marketing, hospitality, transportation, utilities, telecommunications, energy, engineering and more. They each bring to the CalChamber Board long lists of individual accomplishments, helping to form a complete and fully functioning Board of Directors. Their leadership is essential to the CalChamber’s efforts to foster a strong, growing economy and promote job creation.
Past Women Chairs of the CalChamber Board
(Title and company name shown as existed during that year.)
- Donna L. Lucas, 2021 Board Chair
President and CEO, Lucas Public Affairs - Grace Evans Cherashore, 2019 Board Chair
Executive Chairwoman, Evans Hotels - Susan Corrales-Diaz, 2017 Board Chair
President and CEO, Systems Integrated - Anne Buettner, 2014 Board Chair
Senior Vice President, The Walt Disney Company - Larree M. Renda, 2010 Board Chair
Executive Vice President, Chief Strategist and Administrative Officer, Safeway, Inc. - Donna F. Tuttle, 2006 Board Chair
Co-Owner and Chairman, Elmore Tuttle Sports Group - Amy McCombs, 1998 Board Chair
President and Chief Executive Officer, Chronicle Broadcasting Company - Dr. Shirley R. Chilton, 1982 Board Chair
Chairman of the Board, Clavis Corporation
To see brief bios of the women currently on the CalChamber Board, visit this link.
For photos of past CalChamber chairs, see the slideshow on the CalChamber history page.
