Andrew Brown, Ph.D., is the Board’s Secretary/Treasurer and is also the Director of Client Services at Rubicon Programs.

Linda Mills, LCSW, Ph.D., Esq., former Executive Director and founder of The Hawkins Center, is currently  Associate Professor at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Public Policy and Social Research and the School of Law. Dr. Mills founded the Center in 1986, realizing her vision of providing comprehensive legal and support services to assist people with disabilities to navigate the complicated Social Security disability system. Dr. Mills is also the author of two books inspired by her work at The Hawkins Center: The Heart of Intimate Abuse: New Interventions in Child Welfare, Criminal Justice, and Health Settings and A Penchant for Prejudice: Unraveling Bias in Judicial Decision-making. Dr. Mills received her Juris Doctor from the University of California, Hastings College of Law; her Masters in Social Work from San Francisco State University; and her Ph.D. in Health Policy from Brandeis University.

Glenda Bradley, a long-term member of the Board, is the Financial Service Manager at the El Sobrante Branch of  Mechanics Bank. She has been with Mechanics Bank for eighteen years. She graduated from California State University at Hayward with a degree in psychology. She sits on the board of the East Bay Center for the Performing Arts and is an active member of Theta Phi Beta and the Taylor Chapel CME Church.

Versie Hawkins, whom the Center is named after, is a Client Representative of our Board and was the inspiration and driving force in the creation of The Hawkins Center.

Susan Mizner, Esq.  has worked at the Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP) of the Bar Association of San Francisco since graduating from Stanford Law School in 1992.  She is presently the Coordinating Attorney for the Bay Area Regional Benefits Access Collaborative (BAYBAC).  BAYBAC is a collaboration of non-profit groups throughout the Bay Area to improve homeless people's access to federal disability benefits. At HAP Ms. Mizner also provides advocacy and education on disability rights issues for poor and homeless people.

William Segesta received his BA in Sociology from the University of Michigan. He served as a Medic in the US Army and a social worker in Detroit. He received his J.D. from Wayne State University Law School, where he helped found a free legal clinic that continues to this day. He worked as a private attorney and public defender in Detroit, specializing in criminal law. He later became executive director of Bridge over Troubled Waters, a drug rehabilitation program in
Berkeley. Mr. Segesta served as a member of the Berkeley City Council from 1977 to 1981. Since 1981 he has worked as a lawyer in private practice, specializing in landlord-tenant matters.