President

Portia Lewis

Casa Zimbabwe 2018-20, Rochdale 2020-21, Hillegass and Parker – HiP 2021

Portia first moved into Casa Zimbabwe (CZ or Die) in 2018 after transferring to UC Berkeley following four fantastic years at community college (CC). While at CC she earned two AS degrees in Natural Science and in Social and Behavioral Science, as well as, an AA in Anthropology. At Cal she double majored in Anthropology, BA and Conservation and Resource Studies, BS. It would be an understatement to say living in the Berkeley Student Cooperative changed her life. Portia had the opportunity to be the Non-Perishables Coordinator at CFS, and work as a Herstorian, Workshift Manager, and House President while living at CZ. She then moved to Rochdale and then Hillegass and Parker (HiP – formerly Le Chateau), while at HiP she was the Kitchen Manager and Community Builder. Not to mention she made memories and the friends of a lifetime. She graduated in 2021 and continued to remain heavily involved with the BSC. She was one of the lead organizers of the Save Rochdale Coalition and is currently involved with the ongoing lease negotiations. She is grateful for the opportunity to be on the BSCAA Board, and she plans to use the opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the BSCAA and BSC, fundraise for the Rochdale remodel, and to plan for the future of the BSC/BSCAA.

Vice President

Jim Ausman

Chateau House 1990-93

Jim served on the Board of Directors of the USCA for two years, mostly as the VP of Finance. He was the Board President one summer, the summer they decided to foreclose on Barrington and get it back from the man they had sold it to. Other accomplishments were to raise rent slightly to tackle the backlog of deferred maintenance and to allow any students from any college to join the USCA, not just Berkeley. There was a vacancy problem in this era. Jim would like to add more structure to the Board’s projects and goals and his experience as a Project Manager proves useful therein.

Secretary

Sean Sowell

Lothlorien boarder 1984, Kingman 1984-89, Northside 1989-92

Sean (he/him) was born in Boston and grew up in Watertown, Massachusetts. He earned a BA in Psychology in 1992 and credits the USCA for making it possible to work his way through school at Cal. He served as Kingman’s Board member in 84, House President and Workshift Manager in 85, House Manager 86-88, as Board President in the Summer & Fall of 88, and as Kingman’s and Northside’s House President in 89 (concurrently). He led membership referenda 1 (84), 2 (86) and 3 (88) that eventually closed and sold Barrington in 1989. His twin sons are Matt and Nick. He served as Zephyr Teachout’s volunteer deputy texting director in her 2018 run for New York State Attorney General, leading a team of 275 volunteers nationwide who contacted 1.01 million registered Democrats in New York with a cell phone. He misses Warren Zevon, Harry Chapin, and Johnny Cash, and regrets never seeing Warren in concert. He drives for GrubHub, used to work for Open Heart Kitchen in Pleasanton, and still delivers meals to folks who are hungry. He welcomes the chance to return his service to the BSC. USCA President Emeritus.

Treasurer

Afsheen Lebastchi

Cloyne 1996-98, Rochdale 1998

Afsheen has worked at Google for the past fifteen years in various leadership roles. Prior to that, he worked at Intel. He also received a graduate degree from Johns Hopkins University. He is a Bay Area native, lived in Berkeley as a child (on Hopkins Street) and now lives in San Francisco. He’s been active with BSC fundraising and is on the Political Economy Advisory Board at UC Berkeley. He loves to travel.

Alexander Barone

Davis House 2011-14

Alexander’s 2.5 years living and boarding at Davis house from 2011-2014 (two years living, one semester boarding) were by far the most formative during his time at Berkeley and represent some of the best years of his life (to date). The BSC presented him with the resources and community to learn about himself and others and he would like to make sure that future generations of students have the same opportunities for success both during their time at Berkeley and beyond. He currently lives in Santa Barbara and works at Hulu in advertising sales but when he’s not working from home you can catch him experiencing the beauty of nature through surfing, snowboarding, hiking or mountain biking. He’s looking forward to working with and learning as the BSCAA supports and enriches the BSC community.

Nancy Brigham Blattel

Barrington 1973-75, Rochdale 1975-76, Northside Apartments 1976-80

Nancy is currently Data Management Lead supporting UC’s database for fundraising and engagement needs. In 1996, she founded the BSC alumni association with a group of dedicated alumni who valued their experience, wanted to give back, and knew other alumni would want to as well. At the BSC, Nancy served on the student board and was vice president for three semesters. She graduated in 1977 with a degree in Social Welfare and then worked at the BSC Central Office in the housing department. She has had a long career of leadership with the Better Business Bureau and the Cal Alumni Association.

Miguel Duarte

Cloyne 2011-13, Kingman 2014

Miguel Duarte has experienced the BSC as a member, member of the Board, and staffer. He moved into Cloyne in 2011. In 2014, he was Board representative for Kingman during the very difficult decision to re-theme Cloyne as a substance-free, academic theme house. He was also a delivery coordinator for CFS and was hired as Assistant CFS Supervisor in 2014–he was promoted to Supervisor in 2017. Finally, he is also a member and former president of the BSC Employee Association and currently represents the union on the BSC Board.

Louise Nelson Dyble

Chateau 1991-93, Lothlorien 1993-94, Rockridge 2012

Louise graduated from Cal with a BA and PhD in history and went on to write and teach about California history and politics. She returned to Cal for a degree in law, and now works as an environmental attorney in San Francisco. Louise is passionate about planning and the built environment, and about ways to adopt policies that support affordable, sustainable and vital cities. She lives in Richmond with a dachshund named Arlo who loves East Bay parks, particularly Tilden. Louise played basketball for Cal, and is now an enthusiastic weightlifter.

John Ehrlich

Barrington Hall 1974-77

BS Business Administration. John had many elected positions at Barrington Hall leading to being the House Manager. at Barrington. He was on the USCA Board when we bought Lothlorien, Kingman & Chateau & sold Oxford. and, in 1977, was elected President of the USCA. After 32 years of service in the San Francisco PD, John retired as a Captain. For many years his family & he enjoyed the Lair of the Bear 5th week Gold. John has served on the BSCAA Board since 2012. He lives in Berkeley with his new wife, Sandy whom he met when house manager at Barrington Hall.

Zach Gamlieli

Casa Zimbabwe 2014-18

Zach valued his time in the co-op even more than his education at Cal. The BSC provided the opportunity for incredible leadership positions, and he had the privilege of being elected to the role of House Manager and the Board Representative for CZ. In his time on the BSC’s Board, he served as the VP of External Affairs (2016-17), and the BSC President (2017-18). During his tenure in those executive roles, he worked hard to improve the BSC’s public perception, which significantly benefited their recruitment efforts geared towards low-income students as well as their relationships with UC Berkeley and City of Berkeley officials.

Steve Greenberg

Cloyne Court, 1980-85

Steve will always value his BSC (fka University Students’ Cooperative Association) experience as one of two educations he got at Berkeley, the other being a couple of Cal degrees. The BSC was and is much more than a cheap place to live; it’s a special place for students to learn and grow. He worked on the maintenance crew at Cloyne, was the Maintenance Manager, and was active in helping Cloyne and the USCA broadly become more energy efficient. He started working at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab when he was a grad student still living at Cloyne and is still at the Lab, working on energy efficiency in buildings. He bicycles to work every day, riding past Northside, Kidd, and Cloyne. He’s been on the BSCAA Board since 2009.

Margie Guillory

Hoyt Hall 1970-73, Northside Co-op 1974-78

Margie graduated from Berkeley with a degree in mathematics, two teaching credentials, and a certificate in accounting. She was involved with the BSC as the BSC’s first woman Maintenance Manager (1970-1972), first woman on Summer Maintenance Crew (1972), Decentralization & Inventory Control Clerk (1972-1975), A/P Bookkeeper (1975-1988) with a 6-month break to convert all houses to the Home Cooking Program in 1980, and BSC’s Accountant (1988-2012). She was inducted into the North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO) Hall of Fame in 1990 as an Educator. She is now in a recovery program as the Treasurer of the BSCAA.

Jennifer Heller

Cloyne 2000-01, Rochdale 2001, Kingman 2002-04

Jen (she/her) was destined to go to and love living in Berkeley. From a young age, her parents brought her to Cal; she has been frequenting Lama Beans (formerly Jimmy Beans) since 1990! She worked for CO first as Receptionist, then Communications Coordinator and then acting Development Director between 2001 and 2009. Some of her key accomplishments were two complete website overhauls, the development of the online application, and the 75th Anniversary Gala. While at Kingman, she served as Social Manager for two years. Following her time as a staff member at CO, she served on the BSCAA Board until August 2012. In 2010 Jen founded Artsy Geek, a design and marketing agency. In the past decade, she has continued to work with various non-profits and small businesses on branding and marketing. She looks forward to bringing this experience to the BSCAA Board. She will be forever grateful to the BSC not only for the professional experience but for introducing her to her best friends and husband. All of the people she is closest to in the world she met through the BSC. She currently lives in San Leandro with her husband (Lothlorien, Castro, Casa Zimbabwe, Rochdale) and three-year-old son. She enjoys baking, gardening and reorganizing closets.

Laura Vargas Hernandez

CZ 2016, Afro House 2016, Hoyt Hall 2016-17

After Laura graduated from UC Berkeley in 2017, she worked with nonprofits doing marketing, fundraising, podcasting, and event planning. She currently works at an elementary school in the Bay Area and volunteers with an education nonprofit. The reason she joined the BSCAA board was because the BSC helped her during her time at Cal, and she would like to give back. As a Latina immigrant, she hopes that she gets to inspire others to also pursue similar opportunities in their communities.

Grayson Johnston

Cloyne 2009-11

Grayson lived at Cloyne Court from 2009-2011, while pursuing his B.A.s in English and Anthropology. While living at Cloyne he usually pursued normal work shifts, but did also serve on the social crew, as well as one semester as editor of the Cloyne Crier. His experience living in the co-ops was without a doubt the most formative and influential aspect of his experience as a student at Cal. Many of his closest friends, and even his wife, he first met while living at Cloyne. Currently, he has worked in the UCB departments of Rhetoric and Film & Media for the past 4 years, serving as the Undergraduate Major Advisor for the last 3. While he loves working with all of his students, he finds it especially gratifying to advise current co-opers. He loves gardening, travel, and his two cats and dog.

Jon Lampman

Barrington 1967-68, Cloyne 1968-69

Jon lived at Barrington and Cloyne when he was a student at Berkeley. After retirement Jon joined the Coop Alumni Board. He actively helped organize a number of events including a Cloyne history night, a happy hour for younger alumni, and several Strawberry Creek tours and optional work parties. For the past 5 years Jon actively participated in Special Give and helped the Coops through donations.

Kaye McKee

Cloyne Court, Davis House 2012

Kaye works as a commodity trader in Houston, TX with expertise in financial markets. He wants to help sustain the BSC so that higher education is accessible to everyone and students can continue to grow the cooperative culture (which the world needs more of)!

Katrina McLaughlin

Hoyt, Kidd, Wolf, Kingman 2011-14

Katrina McLaughlin lived in the co-ops from 2011-2014, during which time she served on the board of directors and washed many many dishes. She’s motivated to join the BSCAA board to give back to the co-ops which provides vital affordable housing, community, and growth opportunities to students. She currently lives in D.C. and works on energy and climate policy at a nonprofit. She hopes to use her time on the BSCAA board helping to organize alumni events and mentorship opportunities connecting recent grads to alums.

Marcella Murphy

Stebbins, Oxford, Sherman, Cloyne, Northside, Rochdale

Marcella thoroughly enjoyed her nine years of co-op living. She lived in Stebbins, Oxford, Sherman, Cloyne, Northside, and Rochdale. She held several positions and did a wide variety of workshifts. She loved welcoming new members and she confesses to having cried more than once when the house emptied out at the end of the year. She believes now more than ever co-op principles hold many of the keys to solving the economic problems we face today, and she is determined that the BSC should thrive during this pandemic and beyond. 

Michelle Nacouzi

Sherman 2012, Wolf 2013, and Castro 2013-14

Michelle was a member of the BSC during her junior and senior years at Cal, including serving as BSC President from 2013-14. Her memorable workshifts included bathroom cleaning, Sunday cook crew, and council note-taking. Between the BSC and the Berkeley Student Food Collective, Michelle learned more at the student-run coops than she did ‘across the street’ and attempts to apply the cooperative business principles to her career work. After graduating, Michelle moved to New York City where she has worked as a management consultant for A.T. Kearney and now as an investor for Northzone (early-stage venture capital). She keeps in touch with BSC alumni and is the proud older sister of two BSC alumna.

Kevin Ramirez

CZ 2013, Andres Castro Arms 2013 & 2014-16, Person Of Color Themed House 2016-2017

Kevin is passionate about disrupting systems and coaching people for more significant equity and justice. His experiences as President and VP of Experience & Training on the BSC Board of Directors and a founding leader of the Person of Color Theme House informed his career to collaborate with organizations to build equitable practices to recruit and retain talent. Currently, he works as a talent equity consultant at Edgility Consulting, where he partners with social sector organizations to embed equity in their talent management programs. He previously worked as a talent strategy associate and a program coordinator for education nonprofits supporting public schools in Los Angeles, California. He received a Bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley, where he studied Legal Studies and Philosophy. He is a Fellow at the Riordan Programs at the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Wick Smith

Barrington 1974-75. Ridge Project (now Casa Zimbabwe) 1974-77

B.A. Psychology ’77 M.S.W. ’80 UC Berkeley. Most memorable workshifts: Cooking Sunday Brunch for 125 people, House Photographer, and Switchboard. Career in local government including Alameda County Administrator’s Office, Contra Costa County Schools and Contra Costa County.  IT Manager Contra Costa County for 28 years and senior consultant in a firm that specialized in IT for non-profits and local governments. BSA adult volunteer for the last 25 years. Ham Radio operator and CERT volunteer. Wick’s interest in public service and working cooperatively for others all started with the Coops! He loves continuing that with the co-op students and alums.

Analise Electra Smith-Hinkley

Cloyne 2008, Oscar Wilde 2009-10

Analise joined the board in 2010 and has served consistently for the past twelve years. As a co-oper she served as a board rep and special events coordinator for CO and really loved working with alumni and students together, so joining the board immediately upon graduation was a natural choice. Her priorities as BSCAA President in the coming years are to prioritize diversity, accessibility, and inclusivity (starting with the Board itself!); to strengthen the BSCAA’s internal infrastructure in order to better empower the members to do more; and to facilitate the most harmonious and productive collaboration between the BSC and BSCAA yet. In her paid life Analise is a realtor with Generation Real Estate serving Berkeley, Oakland, and San Francisco; prior to that she worked in marketing communications at UC Berkeley’s Cal Alumni Association and in e-commerce in Los Angeles. She just finished writing her first novel, and she married a fellow Clone–so needless to say she’s never escaping the co-ops.

Alana Theriault

Rochdale Village ’90-’92, Andres Castro Arms ’92-’94

Alana Theriault is a writer, proponent of the Oxford Comma, and a retired trainer and advocate. She still dabbles in disability benefits advocacy, long-term care problem-solving, and supporting disability justice. She cooks, gardens, reads, and plays board games in Berkeley with her partner Chuck and their Libertarian (aren’t they all?) feline, HighTop.

Alfred Twu

Afro House 2003

Alfred has been a co-oper since 2003, starting out at Afro House and now around Lothlorien and Wilde. In addition to holding various house and central level positions, Alfred worked at CO for a couple years in the early 2010s and has been on the Alumni Board since, focusing on events like reunions and happy hours that connect current members to alumni.