David Welch has been a registered nurse since 1981 and works in the Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit. He became active in the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United in 2000 when he helped to organize his own hospital into the CNA/NNU. David has served on the Board of Directors of the organization since 2003. He played an active role in dogging Governor Schwarzenegger around the country in 2005 after the Governor attempted to roll back nurse to patient staffing ratios. David contributes to the DailyKos and a number of other websites to promote safe staffing and providing everyone in the United States with a single high standard of care. He also is helping to build one national nurses union across the United States.

David lives in Chico, California and in his spare time participates in a number of local social justice activities as well as sports and out door activities.

Andrew McGuire is the Executive Director of California OneCare, the statewide campaign for single payer health care. Prior to this, he was Executive Director of the Trauma Foundation at San Francisco General Hospital for 35 years. He has been directly involved in or has led many public health campaigns that have prevented traumatic injuries. Defeating the health insurance, pharmaceutical, medical device and other profit-taking industries in order to usher in a single payer health care system will be the last campaign he will work on.

As the first director of Action Against Burns (Boston, 1973-1975), he successfully lobbied for a flame resistant sleepwear standard in Massachusetts. In 1978, as Executive Director of the Trauma Foundation, he began and led a national campaign for fire-safe cigarettes (cigarettes which will self-extinguish and not cause ignition if dropped on bedding or furniture). The campaign has led to mandatory fire-safety regulation of cigarettes in the U.S., Canada, South Africa, Australia and, in 2011, the 27 countries of the European Union. He was on the founding board of directors of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) from 1981-1983, and was responsible for securing MADD’s initial major funding, and served as national Acting Executive Director. He organized and served as statewide director of the California Coalition to Reduce Car Crash Injuries, which assisted in passage of the mandatory seatbelt law. He led the statewide campaign in California that successfully banned small-caliber handguns known as Saturday Night Specials and .50 caliber sniper rifles. In 1998, he established the first national grassroots gun control organization, the Bell Campaign, which was later renamed the Million Mom March (MMM). He Chaired the March on the U.S. Capitol Mall, which was attended by over 700,000 people. He directed the MMM until 2001.

Andrew is a MacArthur Fellow (1985-1990), Kellogg National Leadership Fellow (1982-1985), and received an Emmy Award (1982) after his film, “Here’s Looking At You, Kid,” was shown as a NOVA on PBS. He holds the position of Associate in the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Public Health and Adjunct Faculty, Sociology Department, Sonoma State University.

As the national Communications Director for Democracy for America, Levana Layendecker promotes the work of DFA to support Progressive Democrats who stand up for our values. She works with national press and supports local DFA groups in their work on local issues and elections. Ms. Layendecker's career has always centered around holding Members of Congress accountable to voters and influencing the media to have a substantive debate on all issues.

Levana Layendecker recently completed a campaign as the the Director of Online Campaigns for Health Care for America Now, a grassroots coalition mobilizing millions to win a guarantee of quality, affordable health care. Previous to her work with Health Care for America Now, Ms. Layendecker worked as Web Communications Director for the American Friends Service Committee, and as a consultant for online campaigns with other progressive organizations. Ms. Layendecker became an online organizer after working as a campus organizer and canvass director for the State PIRG's (Public Interest Research Groups.) She also obtained a Master's degree in Governmental Administration from the Fel's Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of Presbyterian College, Clinton, SC. In her spare time, Ms. Layendecker is an avid cook (she makes a wicked eggplant parmigiana). She also is proud to be a former member of the Philly for Change's steering committee, the local DFA group in Philadelphia.

Melinda Gibson is the Operations Manager for Health Care for America Now! (HCAN!). Health Care for America Now! is a national grassroots campaign made up of a variety of organizations (including labor, think tanks, online, and community based organizations) who are dedicated to quality, affordable health care we all can count on. Melinda moved to Washington, DC from Santa Monica, CA in the spring of 2007 and began her work on health care reform as the Health Care Policy Analyst and Organizer for Campaign for America’s Future.