Alex De Ocampo, Chairman

Alexander De Ocampo is a consultant at Hartigan & Associates, a Los Angeles-based consulting firm. Hartigan & Associates provides strategic political & government relations advice and philanthropic consulting to a small elite group of clients. De Ocampo has extensive political and non-profit experience. He has consulted on several campaigns and non-profit organizations ranging from strategic development to community outreach. De Ocampo's former clients include Small Business Majority, Los Angeles Business Council, African American Women & Health Foundation, Citizens' Healthcare Working Group, Wiley Nickel for State Senate and worked with Capital Strategies, which specifically focused on Harold Ford, Jr. for U.S. Senate and Sherrod Brown for U.S. Senate. He has appeared on state and national media (CNN, CNN International, Fox News) as a political commentator.

De Ocampo served two terms (2003-2005) as State President of the California Young Democrats (CYD). He is the first Filipino American to be elected to the position. As CYD State President, he implemented a youth oriented campaign plan that targeted competitive Democratic State Assembly and State Senate races in 2004, coordinated Kerry/Edwards volunteer outreach in California and Nevada. He organized youth mobilization efforts for the 2003 San Francisco mayoral race. De Ocampo broke CYD's previous fundraising record by tripling their budget, and hiring the first CYD Executive Director & Campaign Manager in 25 years.

He was appointed by former Governor Gray Davis to the California Advisory Board on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency (2003 to 2006) and is a former Executive Board Representative to the California Democratic Party. He has formerly worked for Castle Rock Entertainment in television development.

James Johnson

James Johnson is the Assistant City Auditor for the City of Long Beach. James’s focus at the City Auditor’s Office is to reduce fraud and waste in city government and to ensure that taxpayers’ dollars are used efficiently.

Prior to working for the City Auditor’s Office, James was a Senior Policy Advisor at the City. In that capacity, he worked on a variety of projects, such as the City Manager recruitment process and the effort to help commissions operate more effectively. James also advised the City’s Charter Amendment Committee in the first successful structural charter reform effort in over twenty years. 

Before working for the City, James practiced law at an international law firm in Los Angeles, where he focused on complex and commercial litigation, including work in trade secret misappropriation, unfair business competition, and trademark infringement actions. He also maintained a significant pro bono practice and helped obtain a settlement in a major international slavery and trafficking case. 

James also has long been involved in government and politics. He worked in the policy office of Governor Gray Davis before attending law school. Additionally, he served as the national headquarters of the Clark for President campaign and in the Iowa office of the Kerry/Edwards campaign. These experiences have inspired James to get involved in Progress for America and help pave the way for the next generation of leadership.

James is a graduate of Harvard College and U.C. Berkeley School of Law. He lives in his hometown of Long Beach with his wife Nicole, who teaches at Claremont McKenna College.

Negar Noushkam, Treasurer

Nikki Noushkam is a Space Environment Engineer with Northrop Grumman Space Technology. She is responsible for testing, evaluation and analysis of spacecrafts electrostatic charging issues. Prior to working for Northrop Grumman, Nikki was an Environmental Remediation Project Manager for ExxonMobil Corp. and NPDES subject matter expert. In 2007, Nikki also Co-Founded and is the President of Environmental Remediation Service, Inc. (ERS) an environmental consulting firm that specializes is Environmental Site Assessments (ESA), Environmental Impact Reports/Statements (EIR/EIS), plan preparations, and air and water quality permitting, with emphasis on serving cities and municipalities in Southern California.

Nikki holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a Master of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Southern California (USC). She is a licensed Professional Engineer (P.E.) and a Registered Environmental Assessor (REA) in the State of California.

Nikki has also been representing the City of Cerritos as a Trustee on the Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District Board since 2004 and was recently elected as the President of Hubert Humphrey Democratic Club.

Mike Bonafede

Michael Bonafede, a native of Rochester, New York, is currently a consultant at Capital Strategies, Inc. During his time at Capital Strategies, Mike has worked with a broad range of clients, including national party committees, federal candidate campaigns, non-profit organizations and high net worth individuals.

Prior to joining Capital Strategies, Mike was a corporate attorney in the New York City office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP and then the Los Angeles office of Akin Gump Strauss Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. Mike’s legal practice focused primarily on Capital Markets transactions. Before practicing law, Mike worked for the California Democratic Party and Gore 2000, Inc., and also interned with the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance.

Mike is a graduate of UCLA and Cornell Law School.

Matthew Dababneh

A native of Los Angeles, Matthew is the Senior District Advisor to Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA). In this position Matthew oversees the Congressman’s field and communication efforts. Matthew has also worked on numerous campaigns, including the 2004 Presidential Election and 2006 gubernatorial race in California.

Matthew recently served as Senator Clinton’s Presidential Campaign State Labor Director for Nevada. Matthew currently serves as an Advisory Board Member for The Phoenix House Drug Rehabilitation Academy in Los Angeles and The Help Group, the nation’s premier Autism and Spectrum Disorder research and educational center. Matthew is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles.

Adam Englander is an attorney at the law firm of Cox, Castle & Nicholson, LLP, a law firm specializing in real estate, practicing in the Firm's Residential, Resort & Hospitality Properties practice group.

Adam has been involved in government and politics his whole life and has assisted in campaigns on the local, state and national level. Adam is a graduate of Cornell University and U.C.L.A. School of Law. He currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

Anton Jongeneel is an attorney at O'Melveny & Myers LLP and is a member of firm's White Collar Crime & Corporate Investigations group.

He is a graduate of Columbia Law School and the University of California, Los Angeles. Jongeneel previously worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and externed at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

Prior to joining the legal profession, Jongeneel worked at the International Rescue Committee in Los Angeles, was a Peace Corps Volunteer for two years in West Africa, and was a high school teacher in American History and English Literature in Alhambra, California.

Progress for a New Generation represents Jongeneel's first connection to public politics, although he has recently become involved in Senator Obama's presidential campaign. Jongeneel brings with him an extensive background in fundraising for non-profit programs and was the Chair of Columbia Law School's Class Gift Committee for 2007, which organized the greatest number of contributions in the school's 150-year history.

Kenneth Maxey currently serves as the Deputy Political and Outreach Director for Democrats across Southern California.

He is a lifelong resident of California. A graduate of Notre Dame De Namur University in Belmont California, Ken also is an alumnus from American and Howard University, earning his Masters Degree in International Peace Conflict Resolution and Public Administration respectively.

He has worked with some of Californian’s elite in providing solutions to issues ranging from Education, Poverty, Foster care, Public Safety and foreign policy.

His life mission has been to unify people through celebrating the rich similarities each culture and religion brings.