Cindy Powell with Bill Hudson, the 2019 recipient of the William Penn Mott, Jr. Environmental Award.
Latika Malkani helps unload donated restaurant meals to hospital employees.
Kate Wiley with a volunteer driver at a Seniors Around Town Volunteer Driver Appreciation Luncheon.
Orinda Classic Car Show Co-Chairs Bill Waterman and Diane Lautz wear mandatory masks at the 2020 event.
Carlos Baltodano and Chris Laszcz-Davis Volunteer during the 2019 July 4 Parade.
Orinda Association President, Bill Waterman, rides his bicycle around the July 4 Parade route making sure everything goes well.
The Orinda Association (OA) has been around for 75 years, but what exactly does the non-profit do?
A short list of signature activities suggesting the OA’s wide-range of influential programs contributing to the life of Orinda would include planning and organizing the following: The July 4 parade and celebrations; public and political forums; The Volunteer Center; The Seniors Around Town transportation program; Volunteer Emergency Support Program (VESP): Cars2ndChance; a partnership with the Orinda Library to deliver books to seniors, and The Orinda News.
The Orinda Association is run by an all-volunteer board. The Board is always looking for enthusiastic new members who want to better their community and have fun while doing it. Anyone interested, should email oa@orindaassociation.org.
Meet the current officers and board members:
Bill Waterman, President
An Orinda native who attended Sleepy Hollow, Pine Grove and Miramonte High, Waterman enjoyed sports, hiking and Boy Scouts as a youth and later motorcycle racing. He ventured north to the University of Oregon, earning BS and JD degrees before working as a high school teacher and then a civil trial attorney in the East Bay for 30 years.
The OA President, who works in the field of mediation, enjoys teaching law. An OA Board member since 2000, he served as president from 2013-2016 as well as 2021 and currently co-chairs the Fourth of July and Classic Car Show. His wife, Marie, has been the OA office manager for more than 10 years. He said, “It’s been an honor to be associated with so many wonderful OA supporters and to serve the community.”
Sally Hogarty, Vice President
A 42-year resident of Lamorinda, Hogarty has been involved with The Orinda News for the past 28 years. Currently Executive Editor, she has been associated with many of the OA’s programs and those of other non-profits in Orinda.
Sally especially enjoys being a judge for the Friends of the Orinda Library’s Poul Anderson Writing Contest as well as Lamorinda Idol. She writes for several publications. including a weekly performing arts column for the East Bay Times. Her professional acting credits include more than 200 commercials and countless stage performances, including off-Broadway.
Bryan Silveira, Secretary
Living in Orinda for the past 10 years, Silveira has been on The Orinda Association Board since 2019. He has been an insurance professional for more than 30 years and currently represents Orinda as a local State Farm Insurance agent. Silveira is an active participant in the Orinda Unified School District Bond Oversight Committee and coaches local youth sports.
Cindy Powell, Treasurer
Long-time Orinda resident and OA board member since 2004, Powell served as treasurer, secretary and president and is currently back serving as treasurer. She has been a Fourth of July organizer for several years and is currently working for Seniors Around Town and the Volunteer Center several mornings a week in the OA office.
Powell has been a member of Orinda Junior Women’s Club since 1990. She is the past executive director for the Orinda Chamber of Commerce. She is an amateur bartender contestant for Lamorinda Arts Council, model and costume helper for Orinda Woman’s Club’s Festival of Trees and also a food preparer for Orinda Rotary. Hobbies include making jams, chutneys and playing tennis.
Carlos Baltodano, Board Member
A 28-year resident of Orinda, Baltodano is the immediate past president of The Orinda Association and serves on the board of the Orinda Community Foundation (OCF). He was on the City’s Planning Commission for six years and served as chair. Baltodano was director of Contra Costa County’s Building Department for 10 years and initiated the expansion of services to the Lamorinda area. He is presently chair of the Board of Trustees for the East Oakland Youth Development Center (EOYDC).
Barbara Brawner, Board Member
Attorney and Realtor for Compass, Barb Brawner joined The Orinda Association Board of Directors in January.
A long-time resident of Orinda, Brawner moved from Southern California to Orinda in 1964 with her family. After graduation from Miramonte, she moved south again to attend the University of California, Los Angeles and Loyola Law School. She worked as Senior Trial Counsel for USAA Financial Services and in private practice, both in Southern CA and San Francisco. Retiring from legal practice in 2014, Brawner joined Pacific Union Real Estate (now Compass).
Brawner’s previous volunteer activity included Orinda Juniors, Orinda Jr. Garden Club, Acalanes Chapter National Charity League and Miramonte Boosters. She and her husband have two college-aged daughters attending the University of California, Berkeley and Princeton University.
Jacalyn Buettner, Board Member
A 29-year resident of Orinda, “Dr. Jackie” raised sons AJ and Dan, both Miramonte grads and Troop 57 Eagle Scouts. An award-winning chiropractor and entrepreneur, she has practiced at 450 Sutter in San Francisco since 1989. Passionate about chiropractic, posture and health, she enjoys creating awareness and sharing her wealth of wisdom. She has volunteered for numerous causes over the years, her favorite being “Flying Doctors of America,” where she provided chiropractic care to refugees and underserved communities in a variety of countries around the world.
Chris Laszcz-Davis, Board Member
A 32-year resident of Orinda, Laszcz-Davis and her husband Steve raised two children, Lauren and Grant, and supported schools and sports in which their offspring participated. An OA Board member for 10 years, Chris co-chaired Orinda’s July 4 Celebration for four years straight, co-led the recent Frontline Workers/Restaurant Initiative, is an SAT volunteer driver and is championing OA’s Cars2ndChance effort.
Chris worked for the Department of Energy (DOE) in Washington DC, spent 22 years as a corporate VP for a global company and is currently president of The Environmental Quality Organization. She is a Governor-appointed member of a the California State Standards Board, chairs the tri-community Lamorinda Presents Forum, is past-president of Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary Club and is a member of AAUW’s STEM leadership initiatives.
Diane Lautz, Board Member
Lautz has resided in Orinda for 37 years, along with her husband of 45 years, Jim, and Miramonte graduate sons Eric and Grant. Lautz has five degrees, including a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Masters in Health Administration. She spent her career as an OR nurse, OR Manager, Director of Surgery, Director of Nursing Practice and Assistant Medical Administrator.
After retiring, she started a business as a Professional Organizer. She joined The Orinda Association Board in 2018 and has been the co-chair for the Fourth of July Parade and Orinda Classic Car Show since. She is also a volunteer driver for Seniors Around Town.
Latika Malkani, Board Member
An 18-year, South Orinda/Del Rey resident, Malkani identifies fire preparation and emergency preparedness as priority goals along with better vegetation management and maintenance on City properties, public education, access to a chipper program and assisting residents with fire insurance renewal. “I want to help formulate and recommend strategic plans — for not only the next three years, but for the next 20 years,” she said.
Marianne Moser, Board Member
A first-year resident of Orinda, Moser became involved in What’s Up Downtown Orinda (WUDO) and OrindaVision. She recently helped the OA coordinate volunteers for the Fourth of July Parade and plan the organization’s 75th Anniversary Gala.
Marianne has a passion for land stewardship, community building and historical preservation. She fell in love with the area while a student at Cal where she studied city planning and architecture and is thrilled to now live on Claremont Avenue, “on the Orinda side,” where her son started kindergarten at Wagner Ranch Elementary. She has a professional background in real estate development and investment, financial planning and administration.
Devan Sudra, Board Member
Orinda resident and Berkeley City College student, Sudra has been a member of the OA board since 2018 and served as secretary. He is working on degrees in electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. When not in school or working as a web design consultant/architect, he enjoys playing guitar and writing short stories.
Kate Wiley, Board Member
An Orinda resident for 36 years, Wiley left a career in sales and training to devote more time to family and community. Before joining the OA in 2002, she volunteered in Orinda schools, parent clubs and a local service organization.
She opened the Orinda Volunteer Center, chaired programs and events including the Fourth of July Parade and served as president and secretary on the OA board. Wiley co-created, with the City of Orinda, the Seniors Around Town Program, now in its 16th year of continuous operation. She was selected as the Orinda Citizen of the Year in 2009.
She said, “Orinda is a community comprised of so many amazing, creative, devoted residents. The people I’ve met and worked with, and the friends I’ve made, have been the most rewarding.”
