Veronica Valenzuela Williams, MBA, MSN, PHN, RNC-OB, RN relocated to the Coachella Valley 18 years ago from Alaska on a nursing travel assignment and made this beautiful valley her home. She has over 25 years of experience in healthcare with most of those years being in Women’s Health. Veronica worked 17 years at Desert Regional Medical Center, as both a Staff Nurse and Perinatal Manager. Following her years of employment at Desert Regional, Veronica worked one year at JFK Memorial Hospital in the role of Director of Maternity Services before transitioning to Eisenhower Health’s Family Birth Center as the Director of Maternity Services. Here she has been instrumental not only in the reopening of the Family Birth Center, but also in the licensing of the Inland Empire’s first licensed OB Emergency Department. Additionally, Veronica has been involved with organizations to bring awareness to human trafficking, has helped develop the first Maternal Substance Exposure Program in the Coachella Valley, and is a member of Eisenhower Health’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee. As the proud mother of two teenagers, a daughter who is currently completing her first year at UC Irvine and a son who is a sophomore in High School, Veronica remains passionate about making a difference in the community in which she lives and works. 

Bruce W. Finch has spent the past 40 years in the global travel industry, primarily focused on corporate travel and events.  Bruce graduated from Salem State University with a BS in Geography with a concentration in Travel and Tourism.  Bruce has worked on both the supplier and buyer sides of the travel business including such companies as Eastern Airlines, The Gillette Company, Fleet Boston Financial as well as owner/manager of his own travel company in the Boston area.  Most recently, Bruce was the Senior Director of Global Travel and Meeting Services for Autodesk, Inc.

Bruce served as chairperson of the Technology Committee for the New England Business Travel Association, co-chaired the Global Business Travel Association’s Technology and Sustainability committees. Bruce served on the Board of Directors for the Association of Corporate Travel Executives and the Salem State University Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. 

After retiring from Autodesk in 2020, Bruce and his husband Keith moved to Palm Springs full time from Boston. Both are active volunteers for DAP Health and other Palm Springs area non-profits.

Karyl E. Ketchum, Ph.D., is a Professor and the Department Chair of Women, Gender, and Queer Studies at California State University, Fullerton. She is also a Senator representing the Humanities and Social Sciences in the CSUF Academic Senate. Professor Ketchum received both her MA and her Ph.D. in Cultural Studies from the University of California, Davis. She has published internationally in some of the most influential academic journals in her field. Her book, Gender Diversity and LGBTQ Inclusion in K-12 Schools: A Guide to Supporting Students, Changing Lives (Routledge), is a first resource for educators interested in creating schools that are responsive to the needs of women and LGBTQIA+ students.

Her work has, for decades, focused on creating institutions and systems attuned to the needs of minoritized and historically marginalized groups. Toward this end she routinely acts as a pro bono expert witness for women and LGBTQIA+ refugees seeking asylum in the U.S. and created and implemented a national training program for Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers working with these same asylum seekers. In her role as a founding member and President of the Orange County Equality Coalition School Compliance Task Force, she led a class action lawsuit against the California Dept of Education for their mishandling of complaints of discrimination by California public school students. She has also received special commissions and grants from the American Psychological Association and from the California Department of Mental Health.

Professor Ketchum has held multiple community leadership positions, including as an advisor to Chapman University's Center for Global Law and Development - LGBTQ Rights and Feminism Division, on the Executive Board for The Orange County Equality Coalition, and for The LGBT Center of Orange County. Dr. Ketchum is a reviewer for The M. Katherine Baird Darmer Equality Scholarship for law students. Her awards include Planned Parenthood of California's Advocacy Award, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California Vern Bulloughs Social Justice Award, the Rich Cook Community Bridge Award, the Orange County Lavender Bar Association Equality Award, the OCEC Excellence in Leadership Award, and the Women for Orange County Social Justice Award.