Our Advisory Board
Caroline Kelly (Advisory Board Chair)
Caroline Kelly is president of Common Sense Directives. CSD offers a range of services including training, strategic planning and facilitation as well as trouble shooting for governmental and nonprofit entities. She is the past chair of the Los Angeles County Mental Health Commission and a past advisor to the Director of the Department of Mental Health, where she focused on issues ranging from housing and facility capacity to innovation and expansion of services. She is the current chair of the West Los Angeles Community College Foundation and serves on the cabinet for Los Angeles County’s new Alternatives to Incarceration Initiative.
Caroline has focused on mental health, justice reform and public education for over 30 years. Her previous work as a campaign manager, fundraiser, conference planner and lawyer all inform this work today. In addition to her involvement with CSD, Caroline is a trained mediator, facilitator and executive coach. She is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in communication theory and UCLA School of Law. Caroline participated in the 2017 delegation visit to Trieste, Italy.
Brittney Weissman
Brittney Weissman has spent more than 20 years working to make Los Angeles a healthier, more humane place—particularly for people living with mental health challenges and experiencing homelessness. She currently serves as a Director at the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (LACAHSA), working at the intersection of housing and public policy. Previously, Brittney was the founding Executive Director of Hollywood 4WRD, a community coalition focused on preventing and ending street homelessness in Greater Hollywood. She also served for eight years as CEO of NAMI Greater Los Angeles County, spent 12 years at The California Endowment, and has served on the Los Angeles County Behavioral Health Commission for nearly nine years.
Brittney was part of the inaugural delegation to Trieste in 2017 and returned as part of the Équipe in 2024, experiences that deepened her commitment to innovative, community-centered approaches to mental health and systems change. She is passionate about bringing people together to solve complicated problems. A lifelong Angeleno at heart, she believes better systems start with listening, collaboration, and a dose of optimism, and that community change is a team sport.
Sarah Dusseault
Sarah Dusseault is a changemaker and policy leader in Los Angeles County. She has served in a variety of government and nonprofit leadership roles including Deputy Mayor for Housing and Homelessness under Mayor Hahn, and Senior Policy Advisor to Council President Garcetti among others. Appointed to the LAHSA Commission by Supervisor Solis, she co-chaired the Ad Hoc Committee on Women’s Homelessness and played a pivotal role in implementing Project Room Key during the COVID pandemic. Sarah also led efforts in mental health care reform and co-chairs the LA County Blue Ribbon Commission on Homelessness. She advocates for housing justice through The Angeleno Project and LA4LA, and actively supports political change, contributing to the election of Mayor Karen Bass. Motivated by her brother's life experiences of both severe mental illness and homelessness, Sarah remains dedicated to access to mental health and housing for all.
Phyllis Owens
Phyllis Owens serves as Vice President, Intermediary and Strategic Partnerships for Community Partners. Community Partners works with upwards of 150 fiscally-sponsored projects and 20 initiatives, managing $100+ million in revenues annually. Their projects and initiatives span multi-sector issues including racial and social justice, systems change, public and mental health, climate and environment, civic engagement, arts and culture, education, public policy, social services and youth development. As Vice President, Phyllis leads her organization’s work as fiscal intermediary and third-party administrator, collaborating with public sector and private funders throughout the state to deliver grants and capacity building resources to nonprofits and other businesses in underserved communities. Managing a budget of over $70 million, she applies best practices with an equity lens to achieve maximum impact. Phyllis has 25 years of progressive experience in nonprofit management, strategic philanthropic initiatives, and content development for public media and film.
Previously, Phyllis held leadership roles at American Public Media, where she was Commentary Editor for award-winning business news and global finance programs Marketplace, Marketplace Morning Report and Marketplace Money. She is also an entertainment industry veteran, with roles that included story consultant and Vice President of Creative Affairs for producer Kathleen Kennedy and director Frank Marshall. A native of Los Angeles, Phyllis holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University and an A.B. degree with honors in Psychology and Social Relations from Harvard University. She was a member of the 2017 delegation to Trieste, Italy, and received a Change Leaders in Philanthropy Fellowship from Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) in 2020.
Jon Owyang
Jon Owyang is the founder and president of Market-Based Solutions, an environmental consulting company that pioneered the generation and use of emission credits as an alternative method of environmental regulation compliance. Before founding MBS, he was an investment banker. He is currently president of the Laughlin Park Association, and a member of the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council Homelessness and Housing Committees.
Jon was the founder and president of Friends of GALA, a non-profit organization supporting the needs of Girls Academic Leadership Academy, the first all-girls public STEM-focused middle and high school in LAUSD. He was previously on the boards of the KCRW Foundation, Junior Achievement of Southern California, FoodCycle LA, Performance Composites, and Looney Bins. He graduated summa cum laude with a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.