IBIS GROUP INSTITUTE
Our Advisory Team
Ginny Foat
Ginny Foat is a powerhouse activist, focused on women’s issues, civil rights for the LGBTQ+ community, animal rights, and issues for those facing homelessness and poverty. Beginning her activism at a young age in NYC, she helped organize the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. She worked as a government affairs consultant, providing advisory services to individuals, nonprofits, and corporations, often through developing coalitions with local, state, and federal officials and agencies. As Chief Operating Officer of O’Leary & Associates, she worked in political consulting, providing strategic planning, and focused communications/voter outreach advisory services to candidates, issue initiatives, and nonprofits. Ginny is active in the Democratic Party, and served as delegate and/or floor whip at four National Conventions. She was elected to and served as City Councilperson/Mayor Pro Tem of the Palm Springs City Council for fourteen years, and played a critical role in the re-development of Palm Springs to the vibrant community it is today, including the state-of-the-art animal shelter, LGBTQ+ Center, economic revitalization and development, and many homeless and housing initiatives.
Ginny's involvement in governmental and non-profit social services organizations include President of California NOW (National Organization for Women), Executive Director of Caring for Babies with AIDS, National Director of Field Services for YWCA of the USA, National Board of Directors for Federal National Women’s HIV/AIDS Conferences, CWLA National Task Force on Children and Families Health, Battered Women’s Amnesty Project of the Women’s Law Center, Executive Director of Palm Springs Mizell Senior Center, Co-Chair of Los Angeles County Commission on HIV Health Services, among others. She also served in a variety of governmental capacities including the Coachella Valley Association of Government Homelessness Committee, Coachella Valley Association of Government Transportation Committee. League of California Cities, Women’s Leadership Forum, Riverside County Transportation Commission, Coachella Valley Regional Housing Trust, among others. Ginny currently serves as Trustee, Co-Chair, Board Member on several non-profits including the Palm Springs Animal Shelter, and Friends of the Palm Springs Mountains. Ginny received many awards, including International Athena Award, Women’s Leadership Award for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Equality California Lifetime Achievement Award, Human Rights Commission Community Service Award, and others. Originally from New York, Ginny attended SUNY and CCNY, and the Advanced Management Institute at Harvard University. She lives in Palm Springs with her wife and Madison, a 17-year-old Bichon rescue.
Misha Isaak
Misha Isaak is a nationally recognized civil rights litigation attorney, working on key cases that define civil rights in the nation. He is a litigation partner at Stoel Rives LLP, and he was General Counsel to LGBTQ+ previous Oregon Governor Kate Brown. In 2014, Misha was the strategist and attorney who went before the Oregon courts, fighting for LGBTQ+ civil rights, and he led the successful challenge to Oregon’s laws which had previously banned marriage for same-sex couples. He then successfully opposed and blocked efforts to stop the marriages of same-sex couples at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. Supreme Court. Misha’s role in affording same-sex marriage protections in Oregon played a critical component in providing one of the foundations for the 2015 SCOTUS ruling, affording legal rights for same sex LGBTQ+ people’s marriages.
Misha has been widely recognized by the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association as a top “40 Under 40 LGBTQ+ Lawyer”, and by Basic Rights Oregon as one of the five most influential LGBTQ+ Oregonians. Currently, Misha is a prominent national civil rights attorney, litigating cases in trial and appellate courts involving constitutional, political, and government law. He also litigated a variety of business disputes. He is a graduate of Reed College for his undergraduate degree, and University of Pennsylvania Law School for his law degree. He clerked for judges of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. District Court. Misha lives in Portland, Oregon with his husband, daughter, and his sweet dog, Clancy.
Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta
Representative Malcolm Kenyatta is third-generation North Philadelphia native, thought leader, and Legislator, serving in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. He is a barrier-breaking public figure, becoming the first openly LGBTQ+ person of color and one of the youngest members elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2018. In 2022, he became the first openly LGBTQ+ person of color to run for the U.S. Senate in American history. In April, 2023, President Biden announced his appointment as Chair of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans. In 2020, he was chosen by President Biden and Vice President Harris to give the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention along with a group of other “Rising Stars.” Malcolm has multiple legislative leadership roles as Member of the powerful State Government Committee with oversight on state agencies and elections, Chair of the Subcommittee on Campaign Finance and Elections, Chair of Automation and Technology in the Committee on Commerce, and a member of the Finance Committee. Malcolm appears regularly on local and national media outlets including 60 Minutes, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. He was named an “OUT 100 Honoree” by OUT Magazine, their annual list of the most "impactful and influential LGBTQ+ people." He was also awarded the Sen. Tammy Baldwin “Breakthrough Award.” He has been chosen for multiple prestigious fellowships and international delegations including the Bertelsmann Leadership Fellow in the Digital Economy, the bipartisan Hunt/Kean Leadership Fellow in Education, American Jewish Committee (AJC) Project Interchange, among others.
Malcolm is the grandson of the civil rights activist Muhammad I. Kenyatta, and Malcolm has been an active civil rights and activist throughout his life, focused on issues of poverty, which he calls "the moral and economic issue of our generation." Malcolm has worked as a political consultant for multiple state and local races, and has been a vocal proponent of protecting workers' rights, enacting common-sense gun safety policies, and rooting out government corruption and waste. Additionally, he served on Governor Tom Wolf’s Suicide Prevention Task Force, and he has been a member of the Philadelphia Delegation leadership team. Malcolm earned a B.A. in Public Communications and a minor in Political Science from Temple University, a M.S. in Strategic and Digital Communications from Drexel University and completed the Harvard Kennedy School’s Executives in State and Local Government program. His political career and life have been the subject of two documentaries: an award-winning short, “Going Forward,” and an Al Roker (Today Show) produced feature length film, “Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn.” Malcolm lives in North Philadelphia with his husband and their loving dog, Cleo.
Jacqueline Lopez
Jacqueline (Jackie) Lopez is an accomplished government and public affairs professional with two decades of deep experience working with small businesses, government entities, political candidates, and non-governmental organizations. She specializes in areas that include public policy, public affairs, media relations, and political campaigns. Jackie has an extensive and impressive track record serving California’s Inland Empire in Southern California, most recently as the District Director for U.S. Congressman Dr. Raul Ruiz, who represents California 36th Congressional District. Prior to that role, Jackie held leadership positions with California’s State Legislature, serving as Press Secretary to former California State Representative V. Manuel Perez (who is now Riverside County Supervisor) and as District Director to California State Representative Eduardo Garcia. Her leadership in the Inland Empire includes her tenure as the Chief Executive Officer at the Coachella Chamber of Commerce, and her work with the Riverside County CalWORKs and Workforce Development Centers. Jackie also ran many political campaigns in the Inland Empire, including those for U.S. Congressperson Dr. Raul Ruiz, California State Assembly, three LGBTQ+ Palm Spring City Council races (including one for Palm Springs Mayor), and College of the Desert Trustee.
Jackie currently owns and runs two successful businesses, Adelante Public Affairs LLC and Siembra Inc., working in areas of renewable energy, education, land use, and non-profits, specializing in advocacy, grassroots organizing, media and writing, and research. Jackie also currently serves as the Vice Chair of the City of Indio Planning Commission. She founded and runs a political PAC, Mujeres Advancing Leadership Advocacy and Success, with Former Coachella City Councilmember and Civil Rights Attorney Megan Beaman-Jacinto. Jackie’s undergraduate degree is from College of the Desert and Chapman University. She is also an alumnus of HOPE Latina (Hispanas Organized for Political Equality, an organization dedicated to Latina leadership training). Jackie lives in Indio, and is the mother of two adult children, and two adorable Frenchies, Che and Mugsy.
Anthony Mercurio
Anthony Mercurio is an accomplished national Democratic political campaign strategist and fundraiser, having worked on some of the nation’s most important races at the highest levels. Anthony was a key member of Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential primary campaign in 2020, where Anthony served as National Investment Director for the Pete For America campaign. He helped develop and implement strategy for the campaign and raised $100 million for the Buttigieg primary. Anthony previously worked as a key player in Hillary Clinton’s presidential race in her campaign’s National Finance group. He was Finance Director for Forward Majority, an organization focused on protecting democracy through concerted, strategic action and investment to help Democrats build power in state legislatures throughout the U.S. Anthony was Fundraising Manager for Everytown for Gun Safety, a movement of Americans working together to end gun violence and build safer communities. Anthony was also a Congressional Intern with former Congressperson Jackie Speier (CA). Anthony received his bachelor’s degree from Boston University in International Relations and Arabic Language. He played an active role in Boston University College Democrats, College of Arts and Sciences Student Government, and Project Nur.
Currently, Anthony is Senior Advisor to Pete Buttigieg’s Win The Era PAC, a national organization fostering the idea of a new American politics that brings people together in support of bold, equitable, and sustainable thinking and solutions. He is Founder of AFM Strategy, a political consulting organization which Anthony operates. Anthony believes that races at local, state, as well as national ones, are all important in moving the nation forward, from small grassroots efforts to national campaigns. Anthony currently lives in New York City.
Evan Wolfson
Evan Wolfson is among the most influential and iconic LGBTQ+ rights leaders in U.S. history, having founded and led the Freedom to Marry campaign, which ultimately broke the barrier for LGBTQ+ people and won marriage equality for same-sex couples in the U.S. in 2015. Through a successful and well-fought series of statewide ballot and legislative efforts over the decades, Evan brought the issue to the U.S. Supreme Court, with the final SCOTUS ruling in favor of same-sex marriage. He is widely considered the architect of the movement that led to the nationwide victory. Against all odds, Evan is the strategist and force most responsible for conceiving and providing LGBTQ+ people in the U.S., and throughout many parts of the world, the right to marry the person they love. Evan envisioned and authored the book, “Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry,” which Time Out New York magazine called, "Perhaps the most important gay-marriage primer ever written." He was listed as one of Time magazine's “100 Most Influential People in the World.”
Evan’s undergraduate degree is from Yale, and his law degree is from Harvard. where he wrote his law thesis on same-sex marriage, as one of the first to envision and foresee such a framework for LGBTQ+ civil rights. Evan is a civil rights attorney, arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court, and has taught courses in law and social change at Georgetown Law, Columbia Law, Rutgers Law, and, currently, Yale University. He is currently a senior counsel at Dentons, the world's largest law firm. Evan now advises and assists diverse movements and causes in the U.S.. Additionally, he now coaches human rights efforts in 20+ countries worldwide under the banner of Freedom to Marry Global. His advice and guidance are widely sought for civil rights issues throughout the globe. Evan lives in NYC with his husband.