Duane Bay is currently serving as Executive Director of Pahali Community Land Trust as well as East Palo Alto Community Alliance and Neighborhood Development Organization (EPACANDO), returning to intensely place-based projects after five years of regional focus on housing, hazard resilience, and equity with the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG).

For eight years prior, Duane led San Mateo County’s Department of Housing and Housing Authority. In this and previous positions, Duane was instrumental in the development of several sub-regional housing organizations: a 21-jurisdiction policy collaborative, a housing trust fund, and an advocacy coalition.

To these roles, Duane brought earlier local experience as a councilmember and mayor during periods of rapid development, resident displacement, and cultural transition; and life skills as a daycare and middle school teacher and early executive in two tech start-ups, one of which went public.

Vanessa is the Program Lead of Pahali Community Land Trust and EPACANDO’s preservation projects. Due to housing instability, she was raised between two cities, Redwood City and East Palo Alto. Vanessa’s experience in cooperative housing drove her to get involved in her community, interrogate strategies to keep folks housed and combat gentrification.

Before housing justice work, she worked with the Public Defender’s Office in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz County. She’s also worked as a Program Fellow at Stanford Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, visiting detention centers to develop class action lawsuits.

Vanessa serves on East Palo Alto’s Rent Stabilization Board. She also enjoys practicing yoga, traveling with her puppy, and studying critical race theory.

Vanessa earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Spanish from San Diego State University and a master’s degree in History from the University of Leeds.