Board of Directors
Amardeep Gill is the Director of the Grocery and Retail Campaign at LAANE, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. Before joining LAANE, Amardeep was a lead organizer for SEIU-USWW’s Airport Workers United Campaign at LAX. She was an integral part of a successful and innovative organizing and policy campaign that helped thousands of workers gain union representation, win family health insurance, and raise the living wage for all LAX workers. Amardeep received her undergraduate degrees in sociology and political science from the University of California, Irvine.
Gene Hurd is the President of United Auto Workers, Local 509, representing auto, aerospace, and industrial manufacturing companies. Gene began his career as an auto worker, and saw firsthand the importance of strong health and safety training and protections for workers. He became a health and safety specialist and labor representative in 1990. Throughout his time at UAW Local 509, Gene has negotiated local and national collective bargaining agreements for aluminum sector plants. Gene has served on the SoCalCOSH Board and as a workplace safety trainer through UCLA-LOSH and WOSHTEP since 2003.
DeAndrea Lottier-Ross is the Leadership Development Coordinator at the LA Black Worker Center. De’Andrea is a Southern California native and an avid activist for social justice and human rights issues including racial inequality, youth & homelessness, and immigration rights issues. She received two Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and History/Political Science from Warren Wilson College in Western North Carolina. While in undergrad, she co-started a peer mentor leadership program for students of color and international students. It has been running successfully for nearly 7 years. De’Andrea currently serves as the Project Coordinator for the Los Angeles Black Worker Center where she oversees the Ready 2 Work program and is currently developing a healing justice program and trauma-informed interventions to facilitate healing spaces for Black folks in Los Angeles.​
Jessica E. Martinez serves as Co-Executive Director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health National (COSH). A nationally-recognized movement leader, Ms. Martinez has been spearheading organizing, public policy and education initiatives at National COSH for over 10 years. Under Ms. Martinez’s direction, National COSH has built ground-breaking coalitions that engage workers to win critical improvements in workplaces and communities, with a particular focus on immigrants, people of color, women and youth. Additionally, she leads efforts around language justice ensuring accessibility and inclusivity of programs for diverse worker populations. She is trilingual, speaking English, Spanish, and Portuguese. A well-respected strategist in economic, racial and labor justice movements, Ms. Martinez has appeared and has been quoted in several mainstream media outlets. In 2014, Ms. Martinez was appointed by U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez under President Obama’s Administration to the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, representing safety professionals. She holds a B.A. in International Development Studies from UCLA and a Master of Public Health from the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Celene Perez is the Chief of Staff at the Inland Empire Labor Council. Celene initially got involved in organizing as a student organizer at the University of California, Riverside and has continued to support workers. Celene went on to lead the Warehouse Workers for six years fighting hard to organize and support courageous workers in the supply chains of Walmart, Amazon and other major retailers. As the current chief of staff Celene leads a variety of community and labor based efforts to improve the Inland Empire.
Hector Saldivar is the Southern California Field Director at the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, covering Bakersfield to San Diego. He works with six labor councils to support and help grow capacity at each council to build more powerful local labor movements. Currently, he is helping to oversee an Immigrant Organizing Project in partnership with the national AFL-CIO, the California Labor Federation, the Los Angeles Federation of Labor, and the Orange County Labor Federation. The Immigrant Organizing Project’s goal is to outreach to immigrant workers to provide immigration services and to provide workplace rights education.
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Hector is a UCLA graduate with a double major in Sociology and Chicano/a Studies. While at UCLA, he was an activist for the passage of the California and Federal Dream Act and interned at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. After graduating, Hector joined the L.A. Labor Fed as a Mobilization Field Representative, working on campaigns ranging from Our Walmart to the Immigrant Organizing Campaign.
Tim Shadix is the Legal Director of the Warehouse Worker Resource Center where he has helped build the legal capacity of the organization to support workers with issues related to workplace health and safety. Tim has been a longtime advocate for environmental justice, workers, and migrant families. Before joining WWRC, Tim supported WorkSafe with efforts to improve workplace safety and economic security for temporary and contingent workers in Southern California.