Arnie Sowell is Executive Director of NextGen Policy (NGP), a non-profit organization that works to advance progressive policy solutions across a range of areas including: climate change, affordable housing, healthcare, education, criminal justice, immigration, mental health, voting rights, food insecurity, and income inequality. Arnie leads the NGP team and manages their legislative, political, advocacy, and programmatic activities.

Before joining NextGen, Arnie spent over two decades in the California State Assembly, serving as Policy Director for five Assembly Speakers. Prior to that, he held various positions in state and local government including as Undersecretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency during the Governor Davis Administration and as a Budget Manager in the San Francisco Mayor’s office. Arnie started his career in the Legislative Analyst Office.

He is an Oregon State alum, a Sloan Foundation Fellow, and holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Washington. Arnie is a proud father of three and a new grandfather. He is the son of a career military officer and has lived in numerous states and overseas.

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Adriana Sanchez-Ochoa is the Chief Deputy Director of NextGen Policy and directly assists in team management and daily operations. Her policy areas of emphasis include: immigration, women’s issues, and environmental justice (e.g. drinking water in low-income communities). She also serves as the NGP liaison to the ethnic, women’s, and LGBT caucuses of the CA State Legislature.

Before joining the NextGen Policy team, Adriana spent 18 years working in the California Legislature in various key positions. She worked for four Assembly Speakers and, in her last job with the Assembly, was the Director of International Relations and Protocol. In addition, Adriana has worked extensively with the California Latino Caucus.

Adriana has a Bachelor’s degree from UC Davis in International Relations and Political Science with a minor in Spanish. She is the proud mother of three daughters and has two beautiful grandchildren. In her spare time, she loves gardening, restoring old furniture and traveling with her husband. She is a proud immigrant and is fully bilingual in Spanish.

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Stacey Smith serves as the Deputy Director for NextGen Policy, assisting with team management, political operations, and advocacy campaigns — she also handles policy work in the veterans affairs area. She previously worked for NextGen America as Director of Outreach, managing legislative advocacy and the California political team’s electoral work at the Congressional level.

Prior to NextGen, Stacey was the Deputy State Director and State Press Liaison for United States Senator Barbara Boxer (D- CA), serving as the Senator’s liaison in northern California, overseeing six field offices, and managing press events across California.

Stacey proudly attended public schools from kindergarten through college and holds a BA in Government-Journalism from California State University, Sacramento. In her personal time she enjoys exploring California with her husband and two young sons, and coaching youth soccer.

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Kat Bocanegra-Speed works on small business programs, policies, and initiatives for NextGen Policy. Her responsibilities include: assisting in the development of innovative funding and e-commerce solutions for small businesses; partnering with community groups, grassroots organizations, and trade associations that support the small business sector; and advocating for resources and policies that support small business owners.

Kat joined NextGen Policy after working as a Research and Project Manager for the Tom Steyer PAC, where she worked on the Governor’s Task Force on Jobs and Economic Recovery. Prior to her work at the Tom Steyer PAC, she served as the Deputy Research Director for the Tom Steyer presidential campaign and as a Research Associate for multiple Steyer-led programs and initiatives.

Kat has a Bachelor’s degree from UCLA in Political Science with an emphasis on American politics.

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Sam Couch leads NGP’s development team and is responsible for helping our organization create a sustainable funding model.

Prior to leading the development team, Sam helped manage NGP’s staffing engagement with the Governor’s Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery–which generated over 20 policy and program proposals and over $20 billion in state budget funding.

Prior to joining NGP, Sam worked with NextGen America, the largest youth-vote mobilization organization in the country and had roles with their political, advocacy, and communications teams. As a Senior Project Manager, Sam developed and launched a large-scale voter mobilization program as well as a multi-million dollar immigrant rights initiative. She also directed NGA’s social media campaign for the 2018 midterms before moving to work on the Need to Impeach team in 2019, and as a senior member of the Steyer for President campaign in 2020.

Earlier in her career, Sam was drawn to education policy, managing an afterschool program and then joining an education based non-profit. Sam held several key roles with the non-profit, including supporting the CEO and helping to coordinate their development functions. As a product of California’s public school system, Sam is passionate about ensuring all children have the right to a high quality education, regardless of their zip code.

Sam is from Salinas, CA and attended community college before receiving her degree in Communications from CSU, Sacramento. In her free time she enjoys cooking, traveling, and spending time with her husband, 2 year old son, and their dog.

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Chris Fadeff has worked for NextGen Policy Founder Tom Steyer or entities he founded since 2013. Most recently, Chris was vice president of Fahr LLC and chief operating officer of Steyer’s presidential campaign.

Prior to that, Chris served in senior roles at NextGen America, formerly NextGen Climate for five years. Chris is a Truman National Security Project partner and sits on an advisory committee of the Tides Foundation.

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McKenna Jenkins is an Executive Associate at NextGen Policy. Her broad responsibilities primarily include providing administrative support to the Executive Director as well as assisting the Legislative Director in the tracking, monitoring, and advocacy coordination around the NGP bill, budget, program, and regulatory priorities. She also manages the operational functions and processes for the organization.

Prior to joining the NextGen Policy team, McKenna held various positions in the legislative advocacy world where she specialized in grassroots coalition building and digital advocacy campaigns.

McKenna holds a B.A. in Political Science with a minor in Sociology from Sonoma State University. She has many outdoor hobbies and enjoys spending time with her two cats.

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Chris Lehman is a Political Advisor to NextGen Policy — advising on political, advocacy, and messaging activities on both legislative and ballot measure issues.

Chris has over 20 years of experience in California state government and has held leading strategy, messaging, and management roles on over 50 national, statewide, ballot measure, candidate, and political campaigns including Tom Steyer for President 2020. His career started in 1998 in the Office of Senator John Vasconcellos, one of the longest serving legislators in California history. Chris has been an advisor to four consecutive leaders of the California State Senate: Don Perata, Darrell Steinberg, Kevin DeLeon, and Toni Atkins.

Chris holds degrees in Political Science and Physics from UC Davis. He hails from the rugged and rural North Coast of California. Chris is a father of three, and in his spare time loves being present with his kids, exploring his faith, and considers serving others his life’s work.

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Courtnie Thomas works on mental health issues for NextGen Policy. Her work includes coalition building, advocacy, program development and policy analysis, and, most importantly, listening to those who have lived experiences in this space. She is also the Human Resources Manager for NGP.

She joined NextGen after working for various Speakers and Assemblymembers in the California State Assembly. Prior to her stint at the State Capitol, Courtnie came from the local government world of Sacramento City Hall, where she worked tirelessly to change the social and economic landscape of the Oak Park neighborhood where she grew up.

She is a proud first-generation college graduate, a proud daughter of a single mother, and a proud mother of a wonderful child.

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Milena Paez manages the strategic communications operation for NextGen Policy and is responsible for amplifying the organization’s wide range of legislative, policy, programmatic, advocacy, and community engagement initiatives. She administers all press and media communications and supervises the digital outreach program.

She began her career community organizing in rural Central America as a Program Supervisor for an international non-profit, Amigos de las Americas, which sparked her passion for civic engagement. Prior to joining NextGen Policy, she worked on outreach and communications initiatives for the California Secretary of State and the California Assembly Speaker’s Office.

Milena holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Political Science from California State University, Sacramento and was a 2017 HOPE Leadership Institute Fellow. Se habla español.

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Tyler Bushnell works with the Communications team as the Content and Media Coordinator to support our policy, advocacy, and digital outreach efforts through social media content development and management, earned media efforts, and other writing, editing, and copywriting activities.

Before joining NGP, Tyler worked on various local and statewide outreach campaigns for a marketing and PR firm based in Roseville. Prior to that, he spent several years living and working for various marketing organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

Tyler holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing from San Francisco State University. When away from work, Tyler enjoys spending time outdoors exploring Sacramento’s restaurants, parks, and live music offerings with his family and friends.

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Dustin Moon is the Communications Manager at NextGen Policy. He is an experienced communications professional specializing in digital management, digital advocacy, and implementing digital content for the NGP Facebook page, Twitter account, organization website, email, digital advocacy programs, and texting programs.

Prior to working for NextGen, Dustin worked in the public sector managing digital outreach strategies to effectively communicate organizational messaging. He holds a B.A. in Communication Design from Chico State and enjoys spending his time away from the office with his wife, daughter, and son.

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Andrea Serrano is the NGP Communications Specialist (Digital and Design) and works closely with our Policy team on digital support items, designing materials for social media and website, developing external messaging, and creative branding strategies. Before coming to NextGen Policy, Andrea worked at the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, leading the Graphic Design visuals for prominent Chamber and community partner campaigns. Andrea has worked in design planning and strategy with La Familia Counseling Center, The Sacramento Kings, The Golden 1 Center, and Caltrans Division of Human Resources. Andrea has a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, East Bay, in Graphic Design. In her spare time, she enjoys visiting local art museums. She is second-generation and fluent in Spanish.

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