Board of Directors

The Alliance for Gun Responsibility’s 501(C)3 Board of Directors governs our research, implementation, education and community engagement work.

Matt Bellew, President

Matt is an entrepreneur who stared his own business and sold it to BEA Systems. Previously, Matt worked for Microsoft from 1989-1999, focusing on the Microsoft Access and SQL Server. Matt originally began working for Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in 2002, but spun off in 2005 with LabKey Software, an group that builds open source software for medical researchers. Matt is married to Donna Bellew and they have three kids, ages 12, 15 and 18. Matt got hip to the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility at its formation and is excited to be a part of the Center board.


Ben Carr, Vice President

Ben is an Assistant Attorney General with the Washington State Attorney General’s Office. He previously served for 14 years as a Senior Deputy Prosecutor in the King County Prosecutor’s Office, focusing largely on issues of juvenile justice reform, violent crime, and gun violence prevention. That work afforded him opportunities to build relationships with community partners and participate in the development of new and more effective approaches to crime. His current work with the Attorney General’s Office enables him to pursue companies and organizations that make money by harming Washington consumers. A native of Puyallup and resident of Vashon Island, Ben lost a parent to gun violence in 2001. That loss has motivated him in his work to ensure accountability on behalf of victims.


Cheryl Berenson, Secretary

Cheryl Berenson is a long time member of the nursing and public health communities. She is a member of the King County Medical Reserve Corps, a group focused on disaster response and community health work. Cheryl also serves as the Washington state policy advocate (SPA) for National Council of Jewish Women. One key issue for their group is gun violence prevention. Additionally, Cheryl is the Clinical Research Manager for a medtech startup out of the University of Washington: KitoTech Medical. As a long-time advocate of gun violence prevention and suicide prevention, Cheryl looks forward to continuing this at the Center. Cheryl is also an avid collector of artisan jewelry- in particular necklaces with a socio-political bent.


Stacy Andersen

Stacy Andersen is an attorney with experience in nonprofit management who worked in child abuse litigation here in Washington state. Stacy was Assistant Legal Counsel focusing on non-discrimination work for the public schools in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (in Micronesia). She has also worked with gun violence on and off since about 2007 as an advocate and activist. During the Initiative 594 campaign, Stacy worked with the Faith Action Network on Initiative 594 and other issues, serving a key role as a faith outreach person creating community support for background checks. Stacy continues to stay active at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in their social justice and advocacy work.


Niko Battle

Niko’s life has been defined by political action; at 12, they joined the Young Democrats of Atlanta. At 13, they were the youngest staff member on the 2014 Democratic Party of Georgia’s coordinated campaign. By 16, they were a campaign manager on a winning municipal campaign. Their work as a veteran of the I-1491 and I-1639 statewide GVP campaigns, and a former CEO of student-led non-profit, We Won’t Be Next (WWBN), is why Seattle Magazine named them one of Seattle’s Most Influential people in 2018. In total, their campaign experience ranges from municipal to presidential campaigns in WA, GA, AL, & PA. From 2018-2020, they served as the youngest ever elected WA State Democratic Central Committee member. Moreover, they have spoken to over 16,000 people at the Tacoma Dome during WE Day 2019.


Kevin Brannon

Dr. Brannon is currently an Assistant Special Agent in Charge with the Department of Homeland Security. Prior to his current position he served as a Special Agent for the Department of Defense where he was a Lead Agent investigating the leaders of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Bin al Shibh. He is also an Army veteran, serving with the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, earning a Bronze Star Medal among other accolades.

Dr. Brannon has led and conducted hundreds of terrorism investigations worldwide. His primary area of professional expertise is in counterterrorism and has conducted operations worldwide. He has presented training for various domestic and international law enforcement and intelligence agencies. In addition to his terrorism expertise, he had led and conducted investigations into espionage, murder, rape, robbery, fraud, and drug offenses. Dr. Brannon also serves and has served on multiple public, nonprofit, and private boards and commissions.

Dr. Brannon holds a Doctorate in Law and Policy from Northeastern University, a Master’s of Criminal Justice from Boston University, and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy.


Emily Cantrell

Emily Cantrell is the director of World Trade Center Seattle. She is a survivor of the 2017 October Las Vegas shooting — the deadliest U.S. shooting in modern history. She has spoken publicly of the horror of not knowing whether or not she was going to survive.


Sue Cary

A longtime resident of Seattle’s Mt. Baker neighborhood, Sue is a founding Board member of Grandmothers Against Gun Violence, formed in 2013 in the aftermath of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. As the grandmother of four young children, this horrific event hit very close to home, and inspired a commitment to working for the reduction of gun violence in our communities. In addition to being on the GAGV Board, she serves on the Legislative Committee where she is the 37th Legislative District liaison.

Sue retired in November 2012 after a thirty year career in affordable housing, the last twelve years with the Capitol Hill Housing Improvement Program (CHH), where she held the positions of Director of Property Development and Director of Asset Management. CHH, recently renamed Community Roots Housing, is a Public Development Authority that owns, manages, and develops affordable housing in Seattle. Before joining the staff at CHH, Sue worked for a private, for-profit housing developer, and for ten years served as the Housing Development Manager for South East Effective Development, a Seattle nonprofit community development corporation working in Southeast Seattle. She has served on the Board of the Mt. Baker Housing Association since 2014. Sue is also the former Chairperson of the City of Seattle Planning and Economic Development Commissions, and the Seattle/King County Housing Development Consortium. In 2013, she was presented with a Friend of Housing Award by the Washington State Housing Finance Commission.


Adrian Diaz

Adrian Z. Diaz is a 20+ year veteran of the Seattle Police Department who holds the rank of Sergeant. Sergeant Diaz oversees the Community Outreach Section to include; Youth Violence Prevention, Community Outreach, Race and Social Justice Initiative, Crime Prevention Coordinators and False Alarms.

Innovative problem-solving and community building are key areas SGT Diaz works hard to bring to his work. He currently oversees the Seattle Police Department’s Micro Community Policing Plans and coordinates the police department’s involvement in several youth initiatives including: Opportunities Youth, Youth Job Opportunities Initiative and The Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative.

SGT Diaz has contributed to several national publications on Community Policing and Juvenile Justice. He was an instructor for IACP’s Juvenile Justice Institute in 2014-2015. Diaz holds a B.A. in Law and Justice from Central Washington University and a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Washington. He is a commissioner for the Washington State Supreme Court’s Minority and Justice Commission.

He is married to Kelly Diaz and has three amazing kids, Alexander, Gabriella, and Zachary. In his spare time, he has coached high school wrestling for 15 years.


Meredith Goldstein, Past President

Meredith Goldstein is a marketing professional with a diverse career. She worked in Marketing Communications for several scrappy Internet startups in Seattle and in Product Management and Human Resources for the oldest bank in the nation in New York City. She received her MBA from New York University and her undergraduate degree from Cornell. Currently a stay at home parent, Meredith is an active PTA leader having served as President, Advocacy Chair and board member over the past decade. It was in this capacity that Meredith’s passion for gun violence prevention led her to secure the endorsement of I-594 from the WA State PTA. Meredith spends much of her free time on the bleachers watching her two sons play high school baseball and, an avid reader, has been in the same book club for 20 years.


Rory Graves

Rory is a local media professional and gun responsibility advocate. Rory’s mother survived a domestic violence shooting in 2012. Since that day, Rory has been an outspoken advocate for policies that address the public health threats of both gun violence and domestic violence. Raised in a conservative town in Idaho, she believes that a culture change around gun ownership that emphasizes responsibility is key to helping curb our gun violence epidemic —something that can only happen with the support and collaboration of gun-owning allies. Rory works as the senior web editor for Seattle’s local PBS affiliated station and also as a freelance writer for various media publications. She is the mother of three children and a local Girl Scout troop leader. She can often be found hiding from her kids in the closet while eating chocolate chips (which she aspires to bake something with, but never does). Her perfect day would include a truck food, a sandy beach, and roasting marshmallows around a campfire with family and friends.


Marcus Harrison Green

Marcus Harrison Green is the publisher of the South Seattle Emerald, and a columnist with the Seattle Times. Growing up in South Seattle, he experienced first-hand the impact of one-dimensional stories on marginalized communities, which taught him the value of authentic narratives. After an unfulfilling stint in the investment world during his twenties, Marcus returned to his community with a newfound purpose of telling stories with nuance, complexity, and multidimensionality with the hope of advancing social change. This led him to become a writer and found the South Seattle Emerald. An award-winning journalist, he was awarded the Seattle Human Rights Commissions’ Individual Human Rights Leader Award for 2020, and named the inaugural James Baldwin Fellow by the Northwest African American Museum in 2022.


Shalisa Hayes

Shalisa is the Executive Director at The Billy Ray Shirley III Foundation and Consultant at Shalisa Hayes, LLC. She also works full time in the healthcare industry. Here is a little more about Shalisa in her own words:

In an effort to see my deceased 17 year old son’s dream of having a safe, fun place for young people to co-exist outside of school hours, I set out to fulfill his mission of having a community center built on the east side of Tacoma, Washington. With much support and community partnerships, I successfully lobbied multiple government agencies and private donors to construct the new, $31 million, 55,000 square foot, state of the art, Eastside Community Center. The construction of this building was completed in the fall of 2018.


Drew Johnston

Drew works in public affairs, currently as Director of Government Affairs and Compliance for the Seattle Seahawks. His work with the Alliance began with Initiative 1639, where he served on its steering committee while working at Vulcan. He is passionate about policy and community work to address gun violence prevention. Drew has worked in a variety of public policy positions in the Pacific Northwest and DC, and resides in Seattle with his wife and two young children.


Regina Malveaux

In August 2020, Regina Malveaux was appointed to Governor Jay Inslee’s cabinet as Director of the Washington State Women’s Commission. Regina has served as one of our nine inaugural Commissioners for the past two years. Regina has over 20 years of experience as a tenacious advocate for women and children as a non-profit executive, victim’s services provider, community leader and policy advocate.

Previously, Regina served as CEO of YWCA Spokane, Executive Director of YWCA South Hampton Roads, Legal Advocate at YWCA San Diego and founder of the Women’s Legal Center. Through her work with the YWCA, Malveaux has established a national reputation as an aggressive advocate on issues related to gender-based violence and funding supports for families experiencing poverty.

Regina holds an undergraduate degree in Social Policy from San Diego State University, a law degree from Howard University School of Law and a certificate in Non-profit Management from the Harvard University School of Business. During law school, she worked in both the White House and in Congress, for First Lady Hillary Clinton and the Honorable Maxine Waters respectively.

She has worked to train a new generation of advocates as an adjunct professor in Political, Women’s and African American studies at San Diego State University, the Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Old Dominion University, and Whitworth University.

Regina has served on a number of boards aimed at advancing racial justice, economic empowerment and victim safety including the San Diego NAACP, Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Alliance for Gun Responsibility and the YWCA USA. Regina is the mother of two adult children and currently resides in Olympia, Washington.


Linda Parrish

Linda Parrish is an attorney who has practiced in the Seattle area and in Tokyo since receiving her JD degree from the University of Washington. She has worked primarily with high-tech start ups, labor unions, small businesses, and families. Linda worked as an International Law Specialist for Hirakawa, Sato & Kobayashi in Tokyo and also served as the General Counsel of Washington State Nurses Association in Seattle. Linda has volunteered with several non-profit boards and organizations that focus on serving children. She currently lives in Bellevue. Linda is a certified mixologist and avid cook who loves to experiment with new cuisines on her family and friends.


Alina Santillan

Alina is the Director of Racial Equity for Seattle Arts & Culture for Anti-Racism. In this role he supports more than 40 arts and culture organizations in their work to help create more racially equitable, inter-sectional, inclusive, and diverse organizations. He is also the Founder and Principal consultant with Santillan Consulting. His lived experience as a queer, Trans, Latinx person of color who is passionate about creating a world that is more anti-racist and equitable allows him to authentically engage with diverse communities, building power for collective liberation. Alina is a member of the King County Equity Cabinet and sits on the Board of Seattle Works.


April Schentrup

April and her family moved to the Seattle area following the death of her daughter Carmen in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. April is active in the gun violence prevention movement. She has a professional background in education and was a school principal in Florida before relocating to Washington.


Zach Silk

Zach Silk is the President Civic Ventures, a Seattle-based public policy incubator. He oversees strategy, outreach, and policy development. He is an experienced civic leader and entrepreneur. Zach’s most notable recent successes include managing the successful campaign to pass and defend Washington State’s marriage equality law in 2012 (Approve Referendum 74), co-founding the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility and managing Initiative 594, the successful ballot measure that requires background checks on all gun sales. Zach’s middle name is Eagle because his father was a hippie and a patriot.


Danny Weiner

Senior Rabbi Daniel Weiner believes passionately in building Judaism for the 21st century and in healing the world through social justice. Temple De Hirsch Sinai has grown to more than 4,000 members and 1,500 families in two campuses in Seattle and Bellevue since he became Senior Rabbi in 2001. He is married to Cindy Tepper Weiner of Baltimore. They are the proud parents of Julia and Benjamin. He frequently enjoys the glorious climes of the Pacific Northwest while walking their black lab, Sadie.


Jane Weiss

Jane Weiss is a retired Elementary teacher, a native of the northwest, and a survivor of gun violence.

In 2014, Jane’s 19 yo niece, Veronika was shot and killed while walking to her sorority the Friday evening of Memorial Day weekend near her campus of UC Santa Barbara.

Since Veronika’s shooting, Jane had become an volunteer advocate for gun violence prevention, including working with the Alliance on all three initiatives, testifying for numerous gun safety bills in Olympia, advocating for common sense gun laws in Washington state and Washington DC, and she is the Washington state Survivor Lead for Mom’s Demand Action.

In 2019, Patty Murray awarded Jane a Golden Tennis shoe for her volunteer advocacy.

C4 Board