Board of Directors
Our board of directors includes leaders from the fields of healthcare, education and labor.
David Grossman, MD, MPH
David Grossman, MD, MPH, is interim senior vice president of social and community health for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Hospitals.
In this role, Dr. Grossman leads Kaiser Permanente’s social health strategy in partnership with the Permanente Medical Groups as well as oversees the organization’s public health advocacy and response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He reports directly to Kaiser Permanente’s chairman and chief executive officer and is a member of the National Executive Team.
Dr. Grossman leads the organization’s efforts to advance a social health practice that connects members with social services, programs, and resources to alleviate food insecurity, social isolation, and other social needs. He partners with Kaiser Permanente’s executive vice president and chief medical officer on programs that drive equitable health outcomes.
Dr. Grossman brings more than 30 years of medical and community health experience. He most recently served as senior associate medical director for community health and external relations for Kaiser Permanente Washington including executive oversight in community health, business development, and government relations, and was national senior medical director for community health for Kaiser Permanente. He served as executive medical leader and research investigator for Group Health Cooperative prior to its transition to Kaiser Permanente through an acquisition in 2017.
Before joining Group Health Cooperative and Kaiser Permanente in 2004, Dr. Grossman was a professor of pediatrics and adjunct professor of health services at the University of Washington, and was the director of the Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center in Seattle.
Dr. Grossman received his undergraduate education in chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley and medical degree at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. A board-certified pediatrician, he completed his residency at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Chokri BenSaid
Chokri BenSaid is the hospital division director for SEIU-UHW, a member of the SEIU-UHW executive board and committee, a board member of the Healthcare Advancement Program (HCAP), and the secretary treasurer of the SEIU-UHW West and Joint Employer Education Fund. Originally a rank-and-file member of SEIU local 347, BenSaid went from member to leader to staff to the Kaiser Permanente director position at UHW, where he served for three years before becoming hospital division director in 2016.
BenSaid has negotiated contracts on behalf of thousands of private- and public-sector workers which resulted in improved standards of living for thousands of workers in California and beyond. His leadership has increased the local’s hospital-based membership by thousands and contributed to delivering raises to over 8 million low-wage workers through the minimum-wage campaign. BenSaid continues to live his dream both working to improve the lives of millions through the aggressive progressive agenda of UHW, and teaching his children to find satisfaction in helping others succeed. BenSaid has graduated from several leadership programs including Rockwood Leadership Institute and the Harvard Business School.
Dave Regan
Dave Regan is the president of the 95,000 member SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW), and a vice president of the 2 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Under Regan’s leadership, SEIU-UHW has become a leader in ensuring that all people – whether union members or not – have access to quality, affordable healthcare and a living wage. Under Regan, SEIU-UHW was one of the most active organizations in the nation in the rollout of the Affordable Care Act, signing up more than 20,000 Californians in the first two years of the program.
In 2015, SEIU-UHW spearheaded a ballot initiative to gradually raise California’s minimum wage to $15. A week after it qualified for the ballot, Governor Jerry Brown credited the initiative for prompting him and the state legislature to pass a $15 minimum wage benefiting more than 5 million working people and their families. Regan also led SEIU-UHW leaders to provide startup funding for The Fairness Project, a national organization that works with state partners to file ballot initiatives improving the standard of living and access to healthcare for millions of Americans. Prior to joining SEIU-UHW, Regan served as president of SEIU District 1199, a three-state local union representing more than 34,000 members in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. Under his leadership, District 1199’s membership grew from 13,000 to more than 34,000.
Hortencia Armendariz
Hortencia Armendariz has been in the labor movement for over 18 years, since she began as a grassroots community organizer for the United Farm Workers in the borderlands of the tip of Texas. She has worked with SEIU since 2005, leading statewide campaigns, operationalizing vision and programs, and developing strong leaders. In Texas, she organized public-sector workers and negotiated with school districts and public administrations at the city and county levels over worker benefits and working conditions.
In 2009, she joined SEIU-UHW in the Kaiser Permanente Division, where she worked on the labor-management partnership and led the field program through two contract negotiations. Armendariz currently leads the Healthcare Justice division of SEIU-UHW, which organizes everyday people around the mission of ensuring everyone has affordable, accessible, high-quality care provided by valued and respected caregivers. The innovative program identifies, recruits, and trains patients, healthcare consumers, and working families to advocate for themselves as leaders in their communities and to navigate the political environment to achieve healthcare justice. Armendariz is also on the board of the SEIU International Latino Caucus. She studied International Relations at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterey (ITESM) in Monterey, Mexico.
Janet Liang
Janet Liang is executive vice president, group president and chief operating officer, care delivery, for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Hospitals. In this role, Liang directs Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California Region, which provides high-quality and affordable care and coverage for more than 4 million members. Liang also oversees Kaiser Permanente’s 21 Northern California hospitals and a large network of medical offices, continuum care and ancillary services locations.
Liang is a native San Franciscan, with 25 years of experience in the health care industry. Prior to returning to Northern California, she was the president of Kaiser Permanente Hawaii for seven years, and held executive roles over a 15-year career at Group Health Cooperative in Washington State. As an active community steward, Liang has served on numerous community boards supporting education and socio-economic development.
In 2018, she was named one of the “Top 25 Minority Healthcare Executives” by Modern Healthcare magazine and a “Game Changer” by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. Liang has also repeatedly been honored by the San Francisco Business Times as one of the most influential women in Bay Area Business. Liang earned her master’s degree in Health Administration from the University of Washington and holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Boston University.
Lily Hickman
Lily Hickman is an active leader in her communities, and has served on boards or committees for API Equality–LA, the Asian American Democratic Club, Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center (LYRIC), San Francisco Human Rights Commission, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Older Asian Sisters in Solidarity (OASIS), and United Educators of San Francisco. She spent 26 years as a California public school teacher.
Hickman also worked at SEIU-UHW as a leading member of the union’s Organizational Development Department, where she applied her experience in education to design and coordinate multi-day membership summits targeted at specific constituencies in the membership, such as young workers, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and Spanish speakers. She has mentored new field organizers, led teams of members at national conferences, and designed and coordinated the Justice Junction program highlighting systemic social, economic and racial injustice in the United States. Hickman earned her master’s degree in Special Education from San Francisco State University and has a Bachelor of Arts from UC Santa Barbara.
Pat Thomas
Pat Thomas volunteers as a reading tutor in the Humboldt County Literacy Program, as the Secretary of the McKinleyville Lions Club promoting vision health in area schools, and with the Humboldt State University Equity Alliance to bring the diverse student body together with community members. She has had a 40-year career in SEIU focused on education, training, and leadership development. She served as the SEIU’s education director for 10 years, where she developed and directed the union-wide education program for leaders, staff, and stewards.
Following that, Thomas served in a variety of roles for the union, where she developed and led national organizing programs, ran organizing conventions, and helped set up new union locals in Colorado, Florida, and Texas. In 2011, she came to SEIU-UHW, where she developed a leadership program for the union’s 350-member executive board, staffed the vice president on budget and finance committees, and served on the election committee for officer and board elections. Throughout her career, Thomas has strived to develop and encourage leaders at every level of the union by providing them the tools and training they need to succeed in the roles. Thomas has a master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.