NSBA Director
Dr. Kerry Clegg, a board member in the Sulphur Springs Union Elementary School District in Los Angeles County, is a member of the National School Boards Association's Board of Directors representing the Pacific Region.
Clegg has served on the board of trustees for the Sulphur Springs Union Elementary School District since 1989, with three terms as president. He has also served as president and secretary-treasurer of the Santa Clarita Valley School Trustees Association. He represented Region 22 as a member of CSBA’s Delegate Assembly, and was on the association’s Board of Directors from 1998 to 2002.
Clegg’s service as chair of CSBA’s School Facilities Task Force, which was instrumental in determining the facilities needs of school districts across the state and helped to develop strategies that led to the passage of Proposition 47, led to his appointment to the advisory board of the Division of State Architects. Clegg has also served on CSBA’s Budget Committee, Nominating Committee, Policy Platform Committee, Federal Issues Council, K-Higher Education Remediation Task Force, and as a site validator for CSBA’s Golden Bell Awards.
In addition, Clegg chaired CSBA’s Legislative Committee in 2004 and in 2005 chaired the association’s Joint Task Force on Science, its Education Legal Alliance Steering Committee and its Superintendents Council. In 2006, Kerry is chairing the School Facilities: Construction Management Task Force. As an officer of the association, he also serves on the board of the Cities, Counties and Schools Partnership. In April 2006, Clegg was elected to serve a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the National School Boards Association.
Clegg has a doctorate in biology from the University of California,
Los Angeles. He and his wife, Rosanna, have five children.
Director-at-Large, API
Ben Liao, a board member in the Cupertino Union School District in Santa Clara County, is the Director-at-Large Asian Pacific Islander of the California School Boards Association. He was elected by the Delegate Assembly in December 2004, 2006 and 2008.
Ben has served on the board of trustees for the Cupertino Union School District since 1997, including serving as president from 2001-2003 and 2008-2009. He established and led the Asian American Parents Organization, which bridges the API community and the school districts. He is also very active in serving several local and international non-profit organizations.
He has served on the Delegate Assembly since 2001; Ben has also served on the Audit, Bylaws, Golden Bell and Annual Conference Committees, as well as participated in many CSBA professional development workshops and trainings. He has been a member of the Asian Pacific Islander School Board Member Association since 1997.
Ben has a Bachelor’s of Science and a Masters in Computer Science. He had worked in software research and development at Data General, Apple, Taligent and HP.
He and his wife, Ellen, have been married for 27 years. They have a son and a daughter.
Director - CCBE President
Cathie Bustos has been a member of the Madera County Board of Education since 1998. Bustos is also this year’s President of the California County Boards of Education (CCBE) and is currently the California School Boards Association Delegate for Region 10 (Madera County). She became a member of the CSBA Board of Directors in 2009.
Active in her local community, Bustos was appointed to serve on the oversight committee for Madera Unified School District’s Measure “T” transportation bond initiative. She was part of the Measure “U” bond oversight committee that funded completion of Madera South High School campus.
She has received numerous recognitions in honor of her work in the district and community. These include the Friends of Education Award from Madera Unified School District; the Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger, Senator Jeff Denham, Madera Mayor Sam Armentrout, Madera Unified Teachers Association, Congressman George Radanovich, Madera County Board of Supervisors, Assemblyman Mike Villines, and Senator Dave Cogdill.
Cathie and her husband, David, have three children attending Madera schools.
Director-at-Large, County
Sara Wilkins is the Director-at-large, County for the California School Boards Association. A member of the Madera County Board of Education of the past 21 years, serving 18 years as board president, Wilkins is a former president of the California County Boards of Education association and in 2003 served on the CSBA Board of Directors representing county boards.
Wilkins served as liaison to the Education Coalition for Special Education and has been a member of the Eastern Madera County Chamber of Commerce Education Committee for the past 10 years, including two years as president.
She was a member of the CSBA Small Schools District Committee, the Golden Bell Committee, the Federal Relations Network and the Federal Issues Council. Wilkins has been a member of CSBA’s Delegate Assembly for eight years, served on the association’s Annual Conference Planning Committee and has worked as an evaluator for the Golden Bell Awards program.
Wilkins serves on the First 5 Commission in Madera County and has been active in community service in her community for 38 years.
Director-at-Large, American Indian
Shelly Yarbrough, a board member in the Val Verde Unified School District in Riverside County is the Director-at-Large, American Indian for the California School Board Association. Shelly is the second American Indian Board of Director to serve CSBA and was elected in 2003.
She is a 2004 graduate of CSBA’s Masters in Governance program and has participated in several professional development trainings and workshops. She served on the Policy Platform Committee, the Federal Issues Council and was a NSBA Delegate. She also served on the Board of Directors Handbook Committee, School Construction Task Force, Annual Education Conference Planning Committee, Accountability Task Force, NCLB Focus Group, Bylaws and Audit Committees. She is currently the American Indian Student Issues Conference chairperson, and is a regular session speaker at the CSBA Annual Education Conference.
In addition, she is President of the American Indian/Alaskan Native School Board Caucus of the National School Boards Association. As a member since 2001, she has served on the Caucus Bylaws Review and Revision Committee, Annual Education Conference for the Powwow and Luncheon and hosted a number of sessions at the NSBA Annual Conference. Shelley is also a memeber of the California and National Indian Education Associations.
Shelly has served on the board of trustees for the Val Verde Unified School District since 2000, including several years as President. Very active in her local community, Shelly is CEO of the Perris Valley Chamber of Commerce and President of the Perris Valley holiday parade. Shelley was recognized as a Woman of Achievement by the YWCA in 2009, whose theme was eliminating racism.
Shelly is Ojibwe Indian. She and her husband, Perris City Councilman R. Mark Yarbrough, have four children and four grandchildren. Together they own two businesses: Swedish Speed, Inc. and Champion Towing.
Director-at-Large, Hispanic
Dr. Susan M. Heredia, a board member in the Natomas Unified School District in Sacramento County, is the Director-At-Large, Hispanic of the California School Boards Association and was first elected by the members of the Delegate Assembly in December 2004.
Heredia has served on the board of trustees for the Natomas Unified School District since 2000. She is Board Vice-President and board representative for the district on the English Language Learner, Achievement Gap, and Multicultural Advisory committees. Previous committee work includes: Strategic Planning, Charter School and County Committee on School District Organization. She is very active on the Hispanic Research Special Interest Group for the American Educational Research Association, the California Latino School Boards Association and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO). As a member of NALEO, she has presented at their institute on NCLB and higher education access and success for Latino students. She served on the PTA and school site council for her local elementary and high schools.
She has participated in many CSBA professional development workshops and trainings, and on CSBA’s Bylaws Committee, Policy Platform, Annual Conference, and Federal Issues Council. Currently, she serves on the Golden Bell Review Committee, NCLB Focus Group and Board Development Committee. Additionally, she was appointed by State Superintendent Jack O’Connell to the Brokers of Expertise Advisory Board and Expert Panel on Culturally Relevant Professional Development.
Heredia has more than 28 years of experience as an educator in issues related to linguistically, socio-economically and culturally diverse students. She earned a doctorate in socio-cultural studies in education from the University of California, Davis, and a Master of Arts in Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies from California State University, Sacramento. She holds a multiple subjects teaching credential with an emphasis in bilingual education and a preliminary administrative credential from CSU, Sacramento. She is currently a Professor, Department Chair, and Director of the Cross-Cultural Resource Center in the College of Education at CSU, Sacramento.
Director-at-Large, Black
In December 2007, Emma Turner, Psy.D. was elected by members of the Delegate Assembly to the position of Director-at-Large, Black. Turner, a retired military officer, was elected in 2006 to the La Mesa-Spring Valley School Board in San Diego County. She is the current President of her board.
Turner has been involved in the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District since 1998. Her participation has included terms as a president and vice president of the school site council, a member of the district advisory council from 2002-2004 and PTA president and program director for the Mt. Helix Council PTA from 2003-2006. In addition, she served as a member of the citizens’ bond oversight committee for the district’s modernization bond from 2004-2006. Currently, Turner serves as a board representative on the district budget study committee as well as representative to the Audit Committee.
Also, Turner facilitates a self-esteem college preparation course for middle school students for the University of California Upward Bound program. She has coordinated and sponsored a scholarship oratory contest for community high school students and has coordinated programs for the Pathways2College Foundation for middle and high school students and parents. Since 2004, Turner has assisted with developing and implementing a literacy writing program for parents and students in a disadvantaged area in San Diego. She serves on two foundations dedicated to providing scholarships to underprivileged college-bound students.
In addition to her role as Director-at-Large, Turner is currently a member of CSBA’s Annual Education Conference Planning Committee and CSBA’s Federal Issues Council.
While on active duty in the Navy, she taught military law courses to undergraduate and graduate students from 2000-2004. Currently, Turner teaches diversity, communications and psychology classes to undergraduate students as an adjunct professor for the University of Phoenix. She has three daughters.