Silicon Valley Democratic Club (SVDC)

formerly known as the Santa Clara County Democratic Club (SCCDC)

2025 EXECUTIVE BOARD ELECTION

The 2025 SVDC Executive Board will be elected by the membership via electronic ballot for a one year term to begin Jan. 1, 2025. The Executive Board includes Club Officers and Members at Large who meet monthly online.

Only current SVDC Members in good standing are eligible to vote, and because online account access is required to vote, the window to apply for membership for voting eligibility closes at 9am on Dec. 28 to allow our volunteers adequate time to prepare for eligibility validation.  Registered Democrats may APPLY for membership online and previous members may RENEW - FOR A LIMITED TIME, MEMBERSHIP IS FREE, SO THIS IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE!

Slate of Nominees

Sousan Manteghi-Safakish • Interim President & Vice President Outreach

RETURNING - Sousan is a wife, a mother, an activist , and an American by choice. She holds the ideals to protect women’s rights, human rights, the secular state, and cultural pluralism. She supports a woman’s right to choose and  access to contraception as the right of women everywhere to take control of their own reproductive future. As a community activists, her experience includes CADEM- Delegate, SCCDP- Elected Delegate- Active Member, South County Dem. Club –SCDC  Past President, BAIAD (Past President & current E-Board member), DAWN- member, AAUW- member, Tahirih Justice Center -  Member, and Order of the Eastern Star- member. Life experiences have fortified her belief in social and economic justice.

Juan Rodriguez • At Large Board Member

RETURNING - Juan Rodriguez is a legislative staffer for Assemblymember Ash Kalra and serves as a delegate to the California Democratic Party. A graduate of San José State University with a degree in Economics and a minor in Political Science. Most recently, he ran for Campbell City Council, earning 47% of the vote. Dedicated to empowering working families, uplifting underserved communities, and steering the party away from corporate influence, Juan is focused on encouraging more Democrats to unite through collective action for the policies that matter most. Now seeking the Vice Presidency of the Silicon Valley Democratic Club, he aims to help others navigate politics, foster meaningful advocacy, and strengthen the party’s grassroots foundation.

Vinod Menon • Recording Secretary

RETURNING - Vinod is a Semiconductor Industry Executive, who is serving as the Executive Vice-President Engineering at a Santa Clara-based global semiconductor company. He volunteers every weekend, as an inspirational mentor to empower jobseekers and entrepreneurs. He joined SVDC in December 2016, served on the SVDC Executive Board as an At-large member during 2018, and as the SVDC Secretary since January 2019. He has walked precincts in Sunnyvale neighborhoods for now Congressman Ro Khanna and has held various elected Student Government roles.

Bill Roth • Treasurer

NEW - Bill Roth is a life long Democrat who has worked on campaigns since the late 1980s. This includes the campaigns of Ada Deer, Tammy Baldwin, Russ Feingold, Howard Dean, and Josh Harder. He is also former union member of both AFT and AFSCME. He has a background at budgeting at Silicon Valley companies like Sun, BEA and VMware, and has been treasurer at Sacred Heart Community Service, and is currently the Audit Committee chair of the largest community clinic in San Jose, Gardner Family health.

Kristen Lyn • At Large Board Member

RETURNING - With nearly 20 years of professional experience in accounting, Kristen is a dedicated advocate for education and climate action. A former Trustee of the Cupertino Union School District (CUSD) Board, she also served as the designated representative for the Santa Clara County School Boards Association and Treasurer for the Asian Pacific Islander School Board Members Association. Kristen currently serves on the board of Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action, working to empower the next generation in the fight against climate change. Her leadership reflects a commitment to equity, sustainability, and ensuring every child has access to quality education.

Elizabeth Agramont-Justiniano • At Large Board Member

RETURNING-Justiniano has been a resident of San Jose for 9 years. Working at a shelter for unhoused families, she is passionate about housing and racial justice and has volunteered her time for these efforts for the last 5 years.

Elizabeth is a staunch supporter of democracy. As a Black and Bolivian/Quechua woman, survivor of 17 years of trauma and abuse, along with 2 mental health disabilities, she knows the essential role democracy has in our community. Involved in politics and social justice since just 5 years old, Elizabeth firmly believes in the collective power of people coming together in our community and demanding fair and equitable representation—particularly for those most vulnerable in our community. As democrats we are constantly faced with the decision of helping or harming. It is crystal clear that democratic values do not include occupation, apartheid, or genocide. Democratic values are equal representation, freedom, diversity, and equity. Elizabeth is committed to dedicating her entire life to ensuring that everyone in our community is guaranteed these rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Mariam Ghazvini • At-Large Board MemberRETURNING - Dr. Mariam Ghazvini holds an Ed.D degree from USC, a Master’s degree in Counseling from Santa Clara University, and a Master’s degree in Education from San Jose State University. She is a Professional Mentor, Coach, and Distinguished Toastmaster. Her favorite areas of research and teaching include Successful Approaches to Leadership, Emotional Intelligence, Management Tactics, and Human Resources Management. Her experience includes retail, high tech and non-profits. A proud immigrant, Dr. Ghazvini wants to contribute to her community specifically to women's and immigrant’s issues by giving them the best opportunity to succeed through her own experiences and education.

She is a Professional Mentor very passionate about the achievement and status of women. For many years she has been involved in helping women succeed in many areas of their lives including Women’s Penitentiaries and WIC (Women in Community). In addition, she has been an activist with voter registration and part of Indivisibles since 2017. Prior to that she phone banked for Obama and other candidates. Recently, she has been very active in 2018 election and 2020 election by card-writing and phone banking.

Diya Tahiliani • At Large Board Member

RETURNING - Diya Tahiliani is a data scientist in Silicon Valley with more than a decade in the technology industry. Their experience includes Data Analytics for local political campaigns and organizations, Big Data marketing, and low cost domestic sourcing, economic development and secondary education specializing in classroom technology integration. Diya volunteers her free time as a crisis intervention specialist with the Silicon Valley Golden Gate Bridge YWCA, Diya is an in person advocate and counselor for Sexual Assault survivors, as well as those fleeing from gender based violence, domestic violence and human trafficking. Diya holds a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from UC Davis, and is a champion for the intersection of women, LGBTQ, and marginalized communities and the environment.

LezLi Logan • At Large Board Member

RETURNING - As a long-time volunteer and advocate for youth, LezLi has held leadership positions on the boards of several parent organizations, and co-founded the local citizen’s group We Support Los Gatos which successfully helped win the Los Gatos Economic Development and Jobs Retention Initiative in 2014. Through these efforts, LezLi has coordinated hundreds of volunteers and helped to dramatically increase fundraising and local tax revenues for local school districts, all while supporting and amplifying the work of Project Cornerstone to help local youth to thrive. As a co-chair for the successful and historic campaign to recall Judge Aaron Persky in Santa Clara County and former member of the board of directors for the Enough is Enough Voter Project, LezLi has worked to end gender based violence. LezLi has coordinated social media, organized GOTV postcards to voters, designed collateral and websites, along with the coordination of text-banking about 125,000 local voters, volunteers, and donors from across the nation.

In addition to her role as System Administrator for SVDC, LezLi is also the Lead Administrator of Action Together Bay Area, a private Facebook group covering the greater San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley with over 14,000 members and hosting the Bay Area Progressive Action Calendar (www.ActionTogetherBayArea.org).

Jennie Hutchinson • At Large Board Member

RETURNING AFTER HIATUS - Jennie Hutchinson is a fierce advocate for social justice 
with a focus on ending gender-based violence. She served as a board member of Women’s Marc
h Bay Area, lead organizer of the Silicon Valley March for Science, and led many other protest movements that brought together tens of thousands of people. Jennie co-chaired and ran the field operations for the Committee to Recall Judge Persky, the first judicial recall in California in over 80 years. She co-founded Enough is Enough Voter Project, a political action committee that was dedicated to addressing violence against women through electoral politics. Her efforts have helped pass local gender equity ordinances and initiatives that invest millions of dollars in sexual violence prevention. She also championed AB 17111, a law that closed the spousal rape loophole in California, as well as other major successes both inside and outside of California. Jennie earned her Ph.D. in Biomolecular Engineering by developing novel HIV vaccine candidates. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, she worked on the frontlines, partnering with the CDPH Equity Task Force to launch testing and vaccination sites throughout the state in the hardest to reach communities. She is currently a Clinical Genome Scientist where she is working with others to build the most diverse health databases in history as part of the National Institute of Health's All of Us Research Program. She also serves as an officer for the National Women's Political Caucus California.

For questions about our elections process, slate of nominations or membership, please CONTACT US

Silicon Valley Democratic Club™
FPPC ID# 1288723  •  FEC ID# C00419028 

FPPC ID# 1288723  •  FEC ID# C00419028 

Attn: Silicon Valley Democratic Club  •  2901 Moorpark Avenue, Suite 110  •  San Jose, CA 95128

Contributions or gifts to Silicon Valley Democratic Club are not deductible as charitable contributions for Federal income tax purposes.

Copyright © 2019 Silicon Valley Democratic Club. All Rights Reserved.

SILICON VALLEY DEMOCRATIC CLUB, SVDC, and the donkey logo are trademarks of Silicon Valley Democratic Club.

Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software