Board of Directors

Linda Ackerman
President

Linda Ackerman currently serves as Vice-Chairman of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, representing the Municipal Water District of Orange County.  Linda also serves as a Board Member on the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board.  In addition she is a Board Member of the Association of California Water Agencies, and serves as their Federal Affairs Chair.

Linda is a member of the California Republican Party and represents California at the Republican National Committee as their National Committeewoman.  She is a member of the Resolutions Committee and the Committee on Arrangements for the 2016 Republican Convention.  She has served on the Rules Committee and the Standing Committee on Contests at the 2012 Republican National Convention.

Linda believes strongly in the mission of the Bergeson Series to recruit, train and mentor Republican women to get involved in the public arena.   She has been a life long Republican activist, volunteer and philanthropist in her community.

Kate Keena
Founding Member, President

In 1995 after serving two well respected not-for-profit organizations for over ten years, Kate launched her own public affairs firm.  To this day she’s the principal of Kate Keena Public

Affairs/Public Relation taking on special projects to advance specific causes.  Her career has involved many infrastructure projects such as transportation and water and other municipal interests. In these capacities she was highly successful in creating awareness, understanding and education of complex technical issues on the local, regional and national level, building coalitions, developing strategies and persuasively communicating client messages to a variety of audiences.

Distinguished Qualifications:

• Strategic communications for the public, private and not-for profit sectors
• Building strategic partnerships and collaborative alliances
• Adept in identifying and recruiting key community stakeholders
• Legislative advocacy and government relations
• Grassroots mobilization
• Media strategies and crisis communications
• Skilled in understanding complex scenarios and analyzing the impact on the various stakeholders

Pat Douglass
Vice President of Government Relations, Pacific Life Insurance Company

In the fall of 2003, Pat Douglass joined Pacific Life as Vice President of Government Relations.  Pat acts as Pacific Life’s day-to-day liaison with the American Council of Life Insurers, the company’s principal Washington-based trade association, as well as several other trade groups at the national level.  She coordinates the Federal government relations strategy.

Pat has a rich background in public policy and public affairs with extensive experience in Congress and private industry, both in Washington, D.C., and in California.  Previously, Pat was Director of Government Relations and Public Policy at PacifiCare Health Systems in Cypress, California, responsible for federal legislative policy, lobbying activities, grassroots efforts and the political action committee.

Before that, Pat had extensive experience in the legislative arena in Washington, working for several congressional offices before becoming Legislative Director to Congressman Dan Coats of Indiana.  (Mr. Coats went on to serve in the U.S. Senate and as U.S. Ambassador to Germany under President George W. Bush.)  In this position, Pat worked closely with the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which plays a critical role in formulating Federal health care policy.  She also ran the Washington office for Centel Corporation, a Chicago-based telecommunications company that is now a part of Sprint.

In addition to serving on the Board of the Marian Bergeson Excellence in Public Service Series, Pat previously served on the Board of the Lincoln Club of Orange County and currently is a member of the Club’s Board of Counselors.  Also, she is a member of the California Women’s Leadership Association (CWLA).

Pat is originally from East Texas and has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas.

Jaime R. Huff, Esq.
Manager of Political Affairs, Southern California Edison (Marian Bergeson Graduate 2006)

Jaime Huff is currently the Manager of Political Affairs for Southern California Edison in Sacramento. Prior to this, Jaime lobbied for SCE’s parent company, Edison International, in Washington, DC. She is also a licensed attorney and has been involved in legal practice and governmental relations since 1998. Jaime has international experience, having worked for the British Parliament in London, England, developing campaign strategies for various Member of Parliament. She has a B.A. in Political Science with a focus in Economics from American University in Washington, DC and a Juris Doctorate from Baylor University School of Law in Texas.

Gina Simas
Attorney, Hunton & Williams

Gina is a Los Angeles attorney at Hunton & Williams whose practice focuses on environmental, insurance and complex business litigation. She has more than 10 years of complex litigation experience, during which she has resolved matters at trial, as well as in arbitration and mediation. She was chosen and attended an advanced Legal Academy for training in Constitutional Law in 2013 and in 2012, as well as awarded as a Southern California Super Lawyer “Rising Star,” by Law & Politics and Los Angeles magazines in 2006, 2007 & 2008.  She graduated with a Juris Doctorate from University of California at Los Angeles School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts from University of California, San Diego (summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa).

In addition to law, Gina is passionate about politics.  She was selected for and graduate of the Marian Bergeson Excellence in Public Service Series in 2013. She attended the Republican National Convention in 2012 and has participated and assisted in various political campaigns, including both local and state-wide races.  She also worked as a legislative aide for two years for a Republican Assemblyman.   Gina’s other interests include fitness, yoga, film, music and travel.

Donna Varner
Perception Public Relations/Affairs

Donna Varner owns Perception Public Relations, a public relations/public affairs firm located in Mission Viejo that provides legislative advocacy and government relations, public education and community outreach, campaign and media strategies, and political fundraising. She has provided her services to a variety of clients including candidates for public office, non-profits, the water industry, engineering firms, colleges and public agencies, etc.

She has been appointed to several South County policy-making advisory committees and has served as a board member of the Marian Bergeson Excellence in Public Service, California Women’s Leadership Association, Saddleback College Foundation (past president), South Orange County Economic Coalition (past president), and the South Orange County PAC (past chair).

She has also served on the boards of the Orange County Taxpayers Association, Mission Viejo Library Foundation (past president) and Mission Hospital Founders.

Mimi Walters

In November 2014, Mimi Walters was elected to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. She currently represents the 37th District of California in the State Senate. She was overwhelmingly elected to the Assembly in 2004, re-elected in 2006, elected to the State Senate in 2008 and re-elected under new district lines in 2012. Mimi Walters possesses a background in business, finance and local government. Her professional career has included serving as an investment executive for seven years at a major investment banking firm.

Mimi began her public service at the local level, as a member of the Laguna Niguel City Council in 1996. She served as Mayor in 2000. As a Councilwoman, Mimi was a leading voice for fiscally responsible government and local control. She is past Chair of the Laguna Niguel Investment, Banking & Audit Committee. A champion for lower taxes, less intrusive government, fiscal responsibility and property rights, Senator Walters has been active in conservative causes for many years. A graduate of the University of California at Los Angeles, Mimi and her husband, David, live in Orange County with their four children.

Lindi L. Harvey

Lindi L. Harvey has served as a business executive and consultant in private sector, government, nonprofit and NGOs developing comprehensive strategies, policies and programs; alliance and stakeholder management; and, effective communication outreach efforts for significant and substantial impact in achieving the goals and mission of each organization. She has held several senior-level positions in the federal government as a appointee in the George W. Bush Presidential Administration to include the Office of Global Women’s Issues for the U.S. Department of State, the U.S. National Park Service for the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Women’s Business Council for the U.S. Small Business Administration. Lindi’s responsibilities at State Department included managing and conducting diplomatic initiatives that included training programs on entrepreneurship and leadership skills directed to widen women’s economic, educational, civil society and community engagement opportunities. Her private-sector career includes serving as Senior Vice President/Managing Director for the Geneva Capital Strategies Division of Citigroup, where she specialized in mergers and acquisitions, succession planning, business growth and product expansion strategies addressing marketplace conditions for privately held entrepreneurial companies. Lindi is a committed volunteer focusing on women and youth leadership development, health care, public policy advocacy and civic engagement having a long history of political involvement at all levels of government and in political campaigns.