BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mark W. Bucher

Mark Bucher has been actively involved in public affairs since the 1993 Proposition 174 school choice campaign, when he acted as the volunteer coordinator for Orange County. His observations during that campaign of the power and influence of the unions in our state led him to found the Education Alliance, a group dedicated to assisting independent school board candidates as well as authoring, qualifying, and chairing the 1998 Proposition 226, which would have required unions to receive permission to use their members’ dues for political purposes.

Bucher obtained his undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Biola University, and his Juris Doctorate from Western State University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude, first in his class, and with the additional honor of Valedictorian. Mr. Bucher and his family live in Tustin, CA.

Robert W. Loewen

Robert Loewen is the President of the Lincoln Club of Orange County, where he has been a member for 20 years. He has served on the Executive Committee and Board of Directors of the Lincoln Club for more than ten years.

An attorney licensed in California since 1975, Mr. Loewen is a member of a prominent international law firm in its 85-lawyer Irvine, California office. He specializes in business litigation with an emphasis on environmental and appellate cases and is often consulted on constitutional issues concerning personal freedom.

Loewen received his bachelor of arts degree from Pomona College in 1970. He graduated first in his class from the University of Southern California School of Law in 1975, where he served as Executive Editor of Lead Articles for the Southern California Law Review and was a member of the Order of the Coif. Following law school, Mr. Loewen served as a law clerk to Justice Byron R. White at the United States Supreme Court and for Judge Walter Ely at the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Loewen serves on the Board of Directors of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Orange County, the Board and Executive Committee of the Lincoln Club of Orange County, the Board of Visitors of Chapman Law School, and is a member of the Alexis de Tocqueville Society of the United Way of Orange County. Mr. Loewen and his family live in Laguna Beach, California.

TJ Zane

TJ Zane has 15 years of experience as a political professional and has provided direct campaign management services for candidates for public office at every level, as well as consulting services on several local ballot initiatives, including successful campaigns for the preservation of the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial and the renewal of “TransNet,” the region’s transportation infrastructure bond.

Zane received degrees in Political Science and Communication from the University of Pennsylvania. An Eagle Scout and native of Connecticut, Mr. Zane is a member or director of numerous professional, social, non-profit, and political organizations, including current affiliations with the Boy Scouts of America, San Diego County Taxpayers Association, Herb Klein Leadership Roundtable, Hugh O’Brien Youth Foundation, “No Excuses University” Foundation, American Association of Political Consultants, and the Penn Club of San Diego. Mr. Zane and his family live in San Diego, California.

CONTRIBUTORS AND ADVISORS

Gloria Romero
Former California State Senator Gloria Romero is the State Director of Democrats for Education Reform and has been a forceful advocate for education reform and civil rights. She brings to the post not only a great passion for quality education opportunities for all children, but a keen knowledge of the legislative and political process. She was elected to the 24th Senate District in 2001, representing East Los Angeles and the greater San Gabriel Valley. Upon her election she was recognized as one of the hardest working members of the Legislature and quickly rose in leadership positions. She was elected by her peers to serve as Senate Democratic Caucus Chair and as Senate Majority Leader — the first woman to ever hold that leadership position in the history of the California State Senate. Romero served as Chair of both the Education Committee and the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee on Education, making her one of the most influential voices on education policy in California. She believes that education is the civil rights issue of our time.

Larry Sand
Retired public school teacher Larry Sand began his teaching career in New York in 1971. Beginning in 1984, he taught Elementary school as well as English, math, history and ESL in the Los Angeles Unified School District, where he also served as a Title 1 Coordinator. Retired in 2009, he is the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network – a non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues – information teachers will often not get from their school districts or unions. CTEN was formed in 2006 to present objective information to teachers on education policy, education leadership, and education reform, professional liability insurance, options of relationships to teachers’ unions, and the effect of unionism on teacher pay. Sand has appeared on numerous broadcast news programs, panels and talk radio shows in Southern California and nationally to discuss education reform efforts and the impact of teachers’ unions on public education.

Marcia Fritz
Marcia is President and founding board member of California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, dedicated to research, education, and development of alternative solutions to handling California’s emerging public employee pension crisis. She is currently a member of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board Task Force – Pension Accounting and Reporting Standards, the GASB Advisory Committee – Pension Accounting Research Project, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Prior to selling her practice in December 2011, Marcia had over 30 years of public accounting experience, serving clients including the California Justice Dept., CalPERS, CA Dept. of Education, CA Dept. of Insurance, CA Dept. of Corrections, CA Bureau of State Audits, CA Dept. of Health Services, CA Dept. of Finance, and many others in government and the private sector. As a national expert in public sector retirement, she is frequently quoted by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee and other newspapers throughout California.

John Dickerson
Since 2008 Dickerson has been the publisher of the influential website and newsletter YourPublicMoney.com. He focuses on the impact of unfunded pension debt on the 21 California counties that operate their own independent Pension Funds. He is a financial and organizational planner and analyst with 30 years of experience. Dickerson earned his MBA in Strategic Planning from the University of Texas at Austin.

Jack Dean
Since 2004, Jack Dean has edited the influential website PensionTsunami.org, formed to monitor developments in all three pension spheres nationwide – public employees, corporations and social security. He is a former newspaper editor and  a past executive director of the Reason Foundation. He has been active in politics for more than three decades and currently serves as president of the Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers.

William Fletcher
William (Bill) Fletcher retired as Senior Vice President at Rockwell International. During most of his time there he was responsible for international operations and business development for Rockwell Automation. Before joining Rockwell, he worked for Bechtel Corporation, McKinsey and Company, Inc., and Combustion Engineering’s Nuclear Power Division, and was an officer and engineer in the U.S. Navy’s nuclear program. His international experience includes expatriate assignments in Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Canada. In addition to his interest in California’s state and local government finances, he is involved in organizations dealing with national security and international relations.

Ed Ring
Ed Ring is the research director for the California Public Policy Center and the editor of UnionWatch.org. Before joining the CPPC, he worked in finance and media, primarily for start-up companies in the Silicon Valley. As a consultant and full-time employee for private companies, Ring has done financial modeling and financial accounting for over 20 years, and brings this expertise to his analysis and commentary on issues of public sector finance. Ring has an MBA in Finance from the University of Southern California, and a BA in Political Science from UC Davis.