Gabriel Pendas, President.
pres@usstudents.org

Gabriel Pendas, USSAF President.  Gabriel Pendas was elected president of USSA/USSAF in July of 2007 after serving a one-year term as USSA vice president.  Prior to his election, Gabriel served as the Student Senate President at Florida State University.  He also served as chair of the Senate Leadership Committee for the Florida Student Association, a statewide student network representing 12 Florida state universities.  In 2004, Gabriel was hired by USSAF to serve as a part-time campus organizer for a national demonstration project to increase student voting.  Gabriel created a diverse campus coalition of a dozen groups.  Their collective efforts resulted in a nearly 30% increase in student voter turnout.  He is a
2006 graduate of Florida State University and holds a degree in Physics.

Carmen Berkley, Vice-President.
vp@usstudents.org

Rebecca Thompson, Legislative Director.
leg@usstudents.org

Rebecca serves as USSA’s chief lobbyist and provides the student perspective on coalitions such as the Committee for Education Funding, Student Aid Alliance, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.  Rebecca has also served on the Department of Education’s Negotiated Rulemaking committee as the primary negotiator for students and for the ED FAFSA Design Group.  She provides training to students nationwide on issues such as the Higher Education Act, federal budget and appropriations, financial aid and congressional lobbying.

Before joining USSA, Rebecca served as chair of the Association of Michigan Universities (AMU) and as president of the Associated Students of Northern Michigan University.  Rebecca frequently lobbied the Michigan legislature and Congress about lowering tuition and increased funding for Michigan universities.  Rebecca graduated from Northern Michigan University in 2006 with a B.S. in Marketing.

Emily Stuart, Training Director.
training@usstudents.org

Emily has five years experience as a student organizer. During college, Emily was the director of a student-operated progressive resource center, which addressed issues such as promoting a living wage for campus workers and establishing a women’s resource center. Emily also served as an intern and the Midwest regional organizer for United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) where she helped organize a regional conference, a student training in conjunction with SEIU’s annual convention, and weekend-long anti-oppression trainings; maintained a network of students in the Midwest region; and assisted students in planning actions on workers’ rights issues. Emily was also involved in a get-out-the-vote campaign during the 2004 presidential election, including encouraging USAS chapters to sponsor USSAF’s Electoral Action Trainings. Emily is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a degree in Sociology.

Scott Lu, Student of Color Campus Diversity Project Director.
cdp@usstudents.org

While attending college, Scott worked on a variety of campaigns addressing renters’ rights and higher education access. Scott served as the housing advocate for the student government and led a campaign that resulted in the city of Eugene establishing much needed rental housing codes and an enforcement office. Through his involvement in the statewide Oregon Students of Color Coalition—including serving as chair—Scott organized around providing undocumented students with in-state college tuition, allowing college courses to count toward public assistance work requirements, and registering students of color to vote. Scott also organized around issues affecting the Asian community in New York City such as the gentrification of Chinatown and the rights of domestic workers. Scott is a graduate of the University of Oregon with a degree in English.

Bill Shiebler, State & System Student Association Development Director.
ssa@usstudents.org

While a student at the University of California-Santa Barbara, Bill completed student organizing on both the campus and statewide levels around higher education access, economic justice, and voting. Bill served as a member of the student government for two years before being elected vice president. He also served on the Board of the University of California Student Association (UCSA) for two years before being elected president of this organization, which represents students in the University of California system. UCSA is considered one of the strongest statewide student associations in the country. In 2006, Bill played a central role in registering more than 6,000 Santa Barbara students to vote, more than one-third of the campus population. Bill is a 2007 graduate of the University of California-Santa Barbara with a degree in Sociology.

Carlos Jimenez, Student Labor Action Project Coordinator.
slap@usstudents.org

Raised in a working-class immigrant family in Los Angeles, Carlos first became politically active in high school when he joined M.E.Ch.A. Access to higher education, immigrant rights, as well as fighting back the constant budget cuts were some of the issues Carlos first organized around. As a college student at Cerritos College, he was elected to M.E.Ch.A's national coordinating council and represented the Southern California Region for two terms. After ending his studies, he went on to do community organizing in Orange County dealing with housing and tenant rights. Subsequently, he moved on to labor organizing where he worked on a campaign to unionize health care workers in Oregon, and a campaign to unionize hotel workers in Southern California.

Timothy Bingaman, Alumni & Development Director.
development@usstudents.org

Prior to his time with USSAF Timothy was elected President and Treasurer of Towson University’s Queer Student Union. There he worked on successful campaigns for a LGBT Resources Center & Director, and Transgender Inclusion on campus. Timothy graduated Towson University with a degree in English.

Stacy Umezu, Communications & Technology Coordinator.
communication@usstudents.org

Rachel Ackoff, Electoral Project Director
vote@usstudents.org

Rachel comes to USSAF with extensive electoral and environmental organizing experience. She has served on the Sierra Club's Political Committee since 2006; organized students on her campus to participate in field operations for Rep. Sestak's successful 2006 congressional campaign; and organized the Sierra Student Coalition's Pennsylvania Electoral Action Summit, which trained student activists to elect candidates who will advocate for clean energy alternatives. Rachel has been a member of the Sierra Student Coalition's executive committee for the past four years, which has a staff of six and a budget of $400,000. Rachel completed summer internships with the Rainforest Action Network's Global Finance Campaign and Greenpeace's Clean Energy Program. Rachel's commitment to public service and the environment has resulted in her being named a Harry S. Truman Scholar and Morris K. Udall Scholar, in addition to receiving the Brower Youth Award, the nation's most prestigious recognition of a young environmental activist. She is a 2007 graduate of Swarthmore College with a B.A. degree in Political Science, with minors in Religion and English.