Who we are

Click on a heading to learn more about our board, staff, working groups and National Advisory Council.

Pedro Arista

Pedro Arista is a Vice-President at Third Plateau and a bold advocate for trust-based philanthropy. He leads engagements with philanthropists and community-based programs. He also directs the Hellman Collaborative Change Initiative, an innovative program of the Hellman Foundation, a Third Plateau client. Prior to joining Third Plateau, Pedro led the Healthy Eating and Active Living grantmaking portfolio for the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, where he directed more than $3.2 million to impactful community-based organizations across the U.S. He began his career in public health advocating for Latino LGBTQ+ health through more inclusive behavioral research and clinical trials. Pedro holds a B.S. in Health Science and a Master of Public Health from San Francisco State University, where he previously served as faculty in the Department of Public Health.

Pronouns: he/him/his

Yves Averous

Yves Averous is a journalist, author, and linguist based in San Francisco. Yves started his journalism career in Paris, writing for various entertainment and gay publications. Once in the Bay Area, Yves applied his translation skills and passion for computers to localization, helping tech companies port their products to the French market and beyond.

In the late 80s, before moving to San Francisco, Yves took part in building up ACT UP Paris. In the 2000s, he brought his membership development experience to the Northern California Translators Association, where he served as Director of Publications and Vice-President. Joining the board of the GLBT Historical Society in 2020 felt like a natural evolution after having been a writer for Tetu, an AIDS activist, a student of LGBTQ History at City College of San Francisco, and husband of the prolific gay filmmaker Marc Smolowitz.

Pronouns: he/him/his

Tali Bray (Vice Chair)

Tali Bray is head of Technology Diverse Segments, Representation and Inclusion at Wells Fargo. Previously, she was chief information officer for the Enterprise Technology business unit. She is a recognized leader in driving large-scale, technology-based transformations. Tali has a bachelor’s degree in English from Tufts University and studied classical vocal performance at the New England Conservatory. Tali is currently a Board member for World Institute on Disability. Prior to joining WID’s board, she served as president of the board of directors for the Computer Technologies Program and served on the board of directors for the Randall Museum.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Ben Chavez Gilliam (Chair)

Ben Gilliam is managing principal and national market leader for Coldwell Banker Commercial. He oversees the corporate real estate portfolio for Realogy Holdings, the parent company of Coldwell Bankers, Sotheby’s and 40 other affiliated real-estate brands. He has served on numerous boards and committees in his 35-year career and was instrumental in getting powerlifting back in the Gay Games for 2022. He holds a B.S. in business administration from the University of Colorado and an M.B.A in strategic management from Regis University.

Pronouns: he/him/his

Ardel Haefele-Thomas

Ardel Haefele-Thomas is the author of Introduction to Transgender Studies and Queer Others in Victorian Gothic: Transgressing Monstrosity. They received the doctorate in Modern Thought and Literature with a Minor in History at Stanford University. Haefele-Thomas serves as Chair of LGBT Studies at City College of San Francisco.

Pronouns: they/them/theirs

Mason J. (At-Large Member of the Executive Committee)

Mason is a Black and Indigenous San Francisco-born artist, historiographer, media strategist and community organizer. Their focused passions include land use, youth empowerment, LGBTQ senior services, disability justice, intersex rights and gender/sexuality. In addition to previous jobs handing out condoms and hugs as a kid during the AIDS Walk and more recently working with the San Francisco Public Library’s James C. Hormel Center, Transgender Cultural District, and RADAR Productions, Mason takes great pride in their Public Health Nerd, Two-Spirit, Jewish, HIV War Survivor, Nightlifer, Ballroom, Leather, Punk and Soulie identities.

Pronouns: they/them/theirs or he/him/his

Rachel Pokorny (Treasurer)

Rachel Pokorny is the studio manager for Hardesty, Dwyer & Co, a bonus second career after two decades of queer community building with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus and Olivia Travel. She also serves on the board of the Queer Chorus of San Francisco (formerly the Lesbian and Gay Chorus of San Francisco). Not the first historian in her family, Rachel knows the power of presenting your own narrative, and is excited to be helping queer history find a greater audience and build personal connections within our family.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Ani Rivera

Ani Rivera, a Chicana from the borderlands of San Diego/Tijuana has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 25 years.

Since 2012, Rivera has served as Executive Director of Galería de la Raza. Her work explores intersections of community development, art and social practice that create equitable and sustainable communities that center access and resources in the service of justice.

She is the Board Treasurer of the Chicana/Latina foundation, whose mission is to empower Chicana/Latinas through scholarship/leadership training.  Appointed by San Francisco’s mayor, Rivera is a Commissioner at the Department of the Status of Women. 

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Emily Rosenberg

Emily Rosenberg has served on multiple non-profit boards in the Bay Area and nationally. She was on the founding board of PAWS San Francisco and most recently served as Chair of the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles where she led the board in a three year DEIA initiative and through the lockdown phase of the pandemic. She has a lifelong interest in museums, archives and collecting personal stories to share. Emily is deeply committed to LGBTQ organizations locally, nationally and internationally.  She has a M.A. in Library Science from San Jose State University and is ever curious about people, places and ideas.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Jaime Santos

Jaime Santos is an attorney and partner at Santos Walding LLP, a welcome change after practicing law at big and boutique law firms owned and run by others. Now she can truly say she loves her boss. Jaime grew up in the Bay Area and has been an activist since her move to San Francisco in 1986. She’s helped to raise money and awareness for the LGBTQ+ community ever since. She’s served on the boards of Immigration Equality in New York and the Immune Enhancement Project, formerly in San Francisco.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Jason Seifer

Jason Seifer is the Chief Financial and Administrative Officer at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (the “Museums”) which operates the de Young and Legion of Honor Museums. The Museums are an $80M organization which welcomes 1.5M visitors per year. Prior to joining the Museums in 2017, he was the Director of Finance and Operations at American Conservatory Theater (ACT) which is the largest non-profit theater company in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is also an SF Bay Area native and UCLA graduate. He serves on the Board of the GLBT Historical Society and the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Pronouns: he/him/his

Peggy Sue

Peggy Sue quit school at nineteen to join ACT-UP San Francisco in 1989 and never looked back. From managing the first large online forum for LGBTQ folks in 1993 to a twenty-three year career in software quality engineering, Peggy Sue has dedicated her time and her energy to empowering queers and other marginalized folks. She is also the founder of Culture Impact Consulting, a DEI firm that specializes in teaching privileged folks how to create more inclusive environments. Her career highlights include multiple civil disobedience arrests, teaching Ally Skills at Square and Dropbox, and holding Frank Jordan’s shoe.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Amy Sueyoshi

Amy Sueyoshi is Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at San Francisco State University. They are a historian by training with an undergraduate degree from Barnard College and a Ph.D. from University of California at Los Angeles. Their research area lies at the intersection of Asian American Studies and Sexuality Studies. Amy has authored two monographs, Queer Compulsions: Race, Nation, and Sexuality in the Affairs of Yone Noguchi and Discriminating Sex: White Leisure and the Making of the American “Oriental.” Their essay “Breathing Fire: Remembering Asian Pacific American Activism in Queer History” was a part of the award-winning National Park Service LGBT Theme Study published in 2017. Amy also seeded the intergenerational Dragon Fruit Oral History Project at LavNix, served as founding co-curator of the GLBT History Museum, and co-founded and co-chaired the biennial Queer History Conference hosted by the Committee on LGBT History. They live in Daly City with their partner and two cats, Jax and Chibi.

Pronouns: they/she

Laura Thomas

Laura Thomas is a queer white femme living in the Mission in San Francisco with her three cats. She has been advocating on HIV and public health issues in San Francisco for 35 years, since becoming involved in AIDS activism through ACT UP in San Francisco. She currently works as the Senior Director of HIV & Harm Reduction Policy for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation (SFAF). She has served on the San Francisco Entertainment Commission since 2016, promoting public health and queer nightlife. She is a long-time member of the San Francisco HIV Community Planning Council and volunteers with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory and SFAF Syringe Access Services. She’s a former two-term co-president of the Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club and was a founding organizer of the SF Dyke March. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Masters in Public Health and a Masters in Public Policy.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Lena Wong

Lena Wong is an attorney with deep expertise in the arts and museum sectors. They are currently the Associate General Counsel for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, which is the largest museum in the U.S. devoted to the arts, sciences, and artists of moviemaking. In addition to advising the Academy Museum, Lena also works with the collections at the Margaret Herrick Library and the Academy Film Archives. Lena previously served as in-house counsel at major arts and cultural institutions in New York, including Sotheby's and the Brooklyn Museum. 

Pronouns: they/she

Finance Director

Daniel Bao

Daniel’s relationship with the GLBT Historical Society began in 1990 as a graduate student doing research in the archives. Since then, he’s taken on many different roles at the society, from Archives Committee volunteer to Board Member to Acting Executive Director. He received his master’s degree in Latin American studies from Stanford University in 1990.

Pronouns: he/him/his

Acting Director, Dr. John P. De Cecco Archives & Special Collections

Isaac Fellman

Isaac joined the GLBT Historical Society in 2019, after working in archives at the California Historical Society, the Charles M. Schulz Museum, and Oregon Health and Science University. His work at the GLBT Historical Society has focused on reference services, processing collections, and training new archivists. He earned his MLS from Emporia State University and his M.A. in English from the University of Oregon. Isaac is also the Lambda Literary Award-winning author of Dead Collections, Notes from a Regicide, The Breath of the Sun, and The Two Doctors Gorski.

Pronouns: he/him/his

Development & Events Coordinator

Sailor Galaviz

Sailor is a San Francisco-based genderqueer theater artist, filmmaker, and drag performer, with a background managing several theater companies and arts organizations. Their theatrical work has been produced in collaboration with SF Sketchfest, Oasis, Ray of Light Theatre, Thrillpeddlers, Circus Center, Peaches Christ Productions, and more. As a filmmaker, Sailor has produced and directed several shorts that have been featured at the Oaklash Film Festival, the SF Transgender Film Festival, the Roxie Mixtape, Dark Thoughts Film Festival, Dimensions Film Festival, Chromatic Cinematique Young Filmmakers Showcase, and Cinema SF Theaters. Sailor also served as the production coordinator on the 2020 feature Shit & Champagne (dir. D'Arcy Drollinger). Their drag persona Piranha Psychotronica hosts Media Meltdown Movie Madhouse, a celebration of weird and obscure films, along with their husband Kafka X every 3rd Sunday at the 4 Star Theatre.

Pronouns: they/them/theirs

Visitor Services Associate

Muffy Koster

Muffy is delighted to be a part of the work of preserving and sharing the legacies of queer history with the Historical Society. She also volunteers and works for the Louise Lawrence Transgender Archive in Vallejo, and is a 2024 Community Scholarship Fellow at the transgender archive at the University of Victoria. When not at an archive or museum, Muffy teaches somatic classes and goes crab fishing at China Beach.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Archivist

Devin McGeehan Muchmore

Devin's work as an archivist at the GLBT Historical Society is animated by a commitment to building and caring for infrastructures that help sustain queer and trans historical memory. Prior to joining GLBTHS in 2023, he contributed to archival projects at the Hoover Institution Library and Archives, and the Labor Archives and Research Center at SFSU; and earlier served as Lecturer on History and Literature at Harvard University, a producer of the Sexing History podcast, and, for many years, an editor at the history of sexuality blog NOTCHES. He holds an M.S. in Library and Information Science from Simmons University and a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University.

Pronouns: he/him/his

Executive Director

Roberto Ordeñana

Roberto’s career has focused on strengthening local LGBTQ communities at the nexus of equity, economic opportunity, health, well-being and culture for 25 years. In the late 1990s, he worked at STOP AIDS Project, where he developed nationally recognized HIV prevention programs and community organizing projects with Latinx gay, bisexual, and trans youth. Most recently he worked at the San Francisco LGBT Center, where he built direct service, arts and cultural programs and worked to strengthen its organizational capacity and long-term sustainability. At the Center, he served in several leadership positions, including director of community programs, director of development and marketing and most recently as deputy executive director. In addition to his long professional career leading LGBTQ programs and institutions, Roberto has also volunteered his time as part of San Francisco community boards and city commissions, including Bay Area Young Positives, the LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and the San Francisco Arts Commission, where he served as president from 2019 to 2022.

Pronouns: he/him/his

Visitor Services Associate

Yates Pinkney

Yates is honored to support the work of collective memory and preservation at the Society. Yates previously worked to implement LGBTQ-inclusive curricula at the local and state level, served as an interviewer for an LGBTQ-inclusive oral history project, and co-organized political education study groups, among other endeavors towards the creation of a just world. She contributes her energies towards books and arts cooperatives in the city, and often can be found reading with friends, going for long walks, and writing letters.

Pronouns: any

Senior Manager of Museum Experience

Leigh Pfeffer

Leigh has held a variety of roles in nonprofits and museums, from program and events coordination to visitor services. Leigh manages the society’s museum operations, public programs and volunteers, and is excited about cultivating relationships with community members who share a passion for our mission. Before joining the GLBT Historical Society, they worked for the Exploratorium and managed a volunteer speakers panel program and operations at the Diversity Center in Santa Cruz. In their spare time, Leigh produces and is co-host of the podcast “History is Gay.”

Pronouns: they/them/theirs

Museum Registrar & Curatorial Specialist

Ramón Silvestre

Ramón is an expert in material culture studies. He previously was a Visiting Fellow at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, and has published in many national and international professional journals, including The Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. He holds a Ph.D. in anthropology and a master’s degree in curatorial and museum studies from the University of Arizona, School of Anthropology. He has conducted fieldwork and museum collections acquisitions among the Kalinga and Ifugao tribes in northern Philippines, the Iban in Indonesia and the Dayak in Borneo.

Pronouns: he/him/his