Announcing WDN Action’s Executive Committee!

We are thrilled to announce the new Executive Committee of the WDN Action Board of Directors: Quinn Delaney, Chair of the Board; Cynthia Beard, Vice Chair; Michelle Mercer, Secretary; and Virginia Meany, Treasurer. Grounded in the power and purpose of our community and our collective action, the Executive Committee will play a critical role in guiding the next stage of WDN Action’s work. 

Quinn Delaney, Chair of the Board
Quinn is the founder and board chair of the Akonadi Foundation, which supports the development of powerful social change movements to eliminate structural racism and create a racially just society. She also serves on the boards of East Bay Community Foundation, Oakland Museum of California, and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Quinn is also a Commissioner on the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls and was recently appointed by President Biden to the Commission on Presidential Scholars. She has served on the WDN Action Board since our founding in 2017.

Cynthia Beard, Vice Chair
Before moving to Colorado, Cynthia spent most of her life in various parts of Texas and currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Texas Future Project. In Colorado, she manages her donor advised fund The Moon Song Fund, teaches piano, and is an academic editor with a focus on music and the humanities. In 2022, she joined the newly launched Ambassador Council for NextGen America. She is active in local politics and was part of the core organizing team for the Abolish Slavery Colorado ballot initiative campaign. She joined the WDN Action Board in 2020, and has served as Chair of the Board Development Committee.

Michelle Mercer, Secretary
Michelle is especially passionate about gender justice, immigrant rights and getting progessive women, especially women of color, elected to political office. She has worked as a Legislative Aide to a California State Senator, as a federal law clerk for US District Court Judge Thelton Henderson, and as the Development Director for the Coalition for Immigrant, Refugee, Rights and Services in San Francisco. In addition to the WDN Action Board, she currently serves on the board of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, and her prior nonprofit board work includes serving as Vice Chair of the Board of Seeds of Peace, Chair of the Board of Park Day School in Oakland, California, and as a member of the Board of the East Palo Alto Community Law Project. She joined the WDN Action Board in 2020.

Virginia Meany, Treasurer
Virginia divides her time between Massachusetts and Florida and is involved in organizational leadership efforts with a focus on DEIA (A = Accessibility). She also serves on the board of the Boston Women’s Fund, a local music conservatory, and the League of Women Voters in Florida. Before retiring in 2014, she ran a consulting firm that provided strategic consulting to nonprofit organizations. She has extensive knowledge of financial best practices through her many years of work in Financial Services as well as during her time as Assistant Director at the US Securities and Exchange Commission. She joined the WDN Action Board this year.

We are grateful for their commitment and their leadership in this important moment of growth for WDN Action.