Board of Directors
Current Board

Cynthia K. McLachlan
Founder of Girl’s Best Friend Foundation

Cynthia K. McLachlan (1940-2005) created Girl’s Best Friend Foundation (GBF) in 1994 with an expansive vision for fueling the power, well being, and self determination of girls and young women. Cyndie, as she was known to her many friends, made it possible for GBF to support feminist social change organizations with millions of dollars in grants, and many supplemental training and peer education opportunities. Girls, young women, and youth have had extraordinary encouragement to make their voices heard and activism respected, as a result of Cyndie’s generosity.

In addition to contributing money, Cyndie was vitally involved in every aspect of GBF’s work and development. As a guiding force, she regularly urged her sister board members and staff to think big, be bold, and take risks with and for girls. She cherished girls’ curiosity, imagination, and insights. She admired the adults who help youth move toward individual development and changing their communities for the better. We offer our comfort to her family. We will miss Cyndie greatly.

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Girl's Best Friend Foundation's (GBF's) Board of Directors includes community members committed to women's and girls' issues.  GBF's board currently consists of 13 members who volunteer their time to governance and program direction.  Board members serve up to two, three-year terms.

Girl's Best Friend Foundation is committed to assuring that its leadership is diverse and inclusive.  We know that diversity of cultures, backgrounds, age, abilities, opinions, life experiences, and expertise makes us collectively smarter and stronger, and better able to attract and evaluate the wide range work for and by girls and young women we seek to support.

The FY05 GBF Board members report they are:
  --Thirteen women
  --Four African American, two Latinas, two women of color, one Asian, one multicultural, five white/Euro American women (one of whom is Jewish).*
  --Three are in their 20s, 8 are in their 30s, one is in her 40s, and one is in her 60s.
  --Four are immigrants or children of immigrants.
  --Two speak Spanish, and one speaks French.  The others are monolingual (English).
  --Three are lesbian/queer, and nine are straight/heterosexual.
  --While eleven women do not have a disability, two Directors do.

*Numbers add to more than because some women self-describe in dual categories.

Biographical information about our current members is available below.

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Current Board:

Mariela G. Alburges

Nikita Buckhoy

Tiffany Chiang, treasurer

Jackie Lynn Coleman

Tracy Fischman, co-chair

Stephanie Kanter

Kate McLachlan, secretary

Suleyma Pérez

Karen Tamley

Presita West

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Mariela G. Alburges currently works as a Bilingual Sexual Assault Counselor for the Logan Square satellite of the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago.  She firmly believes in the integral role of an all-embracing, supportive community in the physical, mental and spiritual development of young women.  Having been born in Venezuela and spending most of her formative years moving from city to city, Mariela understands the importance of fostering positive connections.  Her nomadic existence has resulted in an eclectic, never stagnant and always progressive perspective of what it means to be a Queer Woman of Color.  Mariela has had the opportunity to collaborate with a variety of grass-roots and not-for-profit organizations in the U.S. and abroad committed to anti-violence and anti-oppression work within under-represented communities.  She hopes that her professional and personal experience will bring a welcomed outlook that will serve to promote GBF's mission.

Nikita Buckhoy is a Masters level Social Worker and serves as the Associate Director of Grants and Policy at Heartland Health Outreach. She has centered her life and career on the belief that people are individually and collectively powerful, and has supported progressive change through political activism/advocacy, direct service, social service program design, administration, and evaluation. Nikita is active in African American lesbian and gay social and cultural programming, and raising awareness about women's health and HIV/AIDS issues. She has worked with the United Way, the Women's Justice Fund, a group of women who envisioned a lesbian healing center, Mujeres Latinas en Accion, the People of Color Coalition, and participated in organizing the first Women Who Love Women Health Festival.  Nikita joined the GBF Board of Directors in 2002.

Tiffany Chiang, board treasurer, finds the collective work done by GBF's volunteer board members, staff and young women inspiring and enjoyable. Tiffany's belief in girls' leadership began when she was the founder and program coordinator of Girl World located in the Uptown and Edgewater neighborhoods. Being a board member allows her to continue making a powerful difference in girls and young women's lives through supporting non-profit organizations.  After a stint in the trading and education fields, she has returned to a community-based organization, Alternatives, as a grantwriter.  Currently, she is also committed in the development of social entrepreneurship with this enterprising non-profit.  Tiffany has been a member of the GBF Board of Directors since 2000.

 

Jackie Lynn Coleman serves as the Technical Assistance Manager of the National Community Tax Coalition, a project of the Center for Economic Progress.  Jackie Lynn has 5 years of experience in Community Banking and 10 years of experience working in the areas of organizational, community, economic, and workforce development, as well as public policy.   Much of her experience has focused on homeless issues, housing development, women and girls¡¦ access to nontraditional training and employment opportunities, job development for women and women with disabilities and tax services for low- and moderate-income workers.  In the past she has provided capacity building to a number of organizations, apprenticeship programs across the nation, the Chicago One-Stop Career Centers and the Illinois Department of Human Services.   She is a candidate for a Ph.D. in Human Services Administration, graduated Magna Cum Laude from Spertus College with a M.S. in Human Services Administration, and gained a B.S. with honors in Political Science from Chicago State University. Jackie Lynn joined the GBF Board in the summer of 2004.

 

Tracy Fischman is the Vice President of Public Policy for Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area (PP/CA). She leads the organization's public affairs, public issues education and political organizing activities, and directs activities to mobilize agency, community and political support for the organization's issues and services. Prior to her role with PP/CA, she was the Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs for the Chicago Department of Public Health Division of STD/HIV/AIDS, where she developed state and federal legislative, administrative and appropriations-related strategies which impact people living with and at risk for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. Ms. Fischman's past professional experience also includes policy-related work in the areas of maternal and child health and reproductive health care for other organizations such as the Illinois Maternal and Child Health Coalition and the California Abortion Rights Action League. Tracy sits on the Board of Directors of Health and Medicine Policy Research Group, and the American Jewish Congress of the Midwest. Tracy became a GBF Board member in 2002.

Stephanie Kanter, board co-chair, is the former public relations and marketing coordinator of Access Living, a disability rights and services organization. Currently, she works as an independent consultant focusing on program development in the area of disability rights, while earning a graduate degree from DePaul University. She has served on the board of Women in the Director's Chair, a feminist media organization, and the advisory board of VSA arts of Chicago. Stephanie has been a member of the GBF Board of Directors since 2000.

Kate McLachlan, secretary, is a midwife living and practicing in Portland Oregon. Prior to becoming a midwife she worked in the field of health care policy for approximately eight years. Her particular areas of interest are adolescent health, maternal and child health, reproductive rights, women's health, and access to health care. In 1998 Kate moved to San Antonio Texas and, in addition to beginning her training as a home birth midwife, founded the Martinez Street Women's Center with a small group of women friends and colleagues. Kate is a founder of Girl's Best Friend Foundation; she participated on the board 1996-1998 and rejoined the Board in 2002.

Suleyma Pérez has a Masters of Education Leadership from Northeastern Illinois University and currently works as Legislative Liaison at Office of the President and Associate Director with the Northeastern Illinois University Chicago ENLACE (Engaging Latino Communities in Education) program, a W.K. Kellogg Initiative in Hispanic Higher Education. She brings experience in higher education, research and evaluation skills, as well as experience with foundation and state funded initiatives to GBF. Suleyma has a strong commitment to create educational opportunities for minority students as well as a strong passion to work with community-based Latina/o communities. Her personal interest is the investment of developing young Latinas/os to become future leaders in our communities.

 

Karen Tamley has been active in the disability rights movement for fourteen years.  She currently serves as Program Director of Access Living, Chicago's Center for Independent Living which provides advocacy and services to people with all types of disabilities.  As Program Director she oversees all organizational programs in the areas of housing, health care, personal assistance services, nursing home transition, youth leadership, school inclusion, civil rights enforcement, and peer support services.  She has dedicated her career to advocating for the rights of people with disabilities to live independently in the communities of their choice.   In 1994, she co-founded the Disability Rights Action Coalition for Housing (DRACH), a national grassroots advocacy organization working to promote federal housing policy that promotes housing choice and respects the civil rights of people with disabilities.

 

Presita West has a long history of advocacy work with children and adults in the criminal justice system. She is dedicated to working with girls and girls' issues and is a collaborative member of GirlTalk, a program for young women in the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center and is currently an Assitant Public Defender and a mother of two.  Presita has been on the GBF Board of Directors since 2001.