Who We Are

Katherine is a board member of the Library Foundation of Contra Costa. She has lived in Contra Costa County since 1998. Katherine started working as a book seller in Ireland in 1984. Since moving to the US, she worked in Cody’s on Telegraph, fulfilling a book seller’s dream, and then moved to work in the UC Berkeley library system. Katherine served on the Library Commission as the Pleasant Hill commissioner for 14 years, was Citizen of the Year in 2015, was involved with the campaign to build a new library in Pleasant Hill and volunteers with the Friends of the Pleasant Hill library as book store co-manager. Katherine has a BA with honors in Medieval English and Philosophy from Trinity College, Dublin.

Michael is Secretary of the Library Foundation of Contra Costa and is the El Cerrito City designated member of the Contra Costa County Library Commission. He has resided in Contra Costa County since 1971. Michael represented the California state courts as an attorney for over 36 years prior to retirement. In addition to library work Michael serves AARP-California as a volunteer legislative advocate and mentors seven people interested in careers in public policy or public interest law. He has an AB and JD from the University of California, Berkeley, and an LLM from Harvard Law School.

Nicole is the Board Chair of the Library Foundation of Contra Costa.  She has been a resident of Contra Costa County for over 30 years and she is a member of the Contra Costa County Library Commission.  She supports multiple non profit organizations focused on public education, food and housing insecurity, and college readiness/success.  For over 25 years, Nicole held roles in professional services organizations in the financial services and technology industries.  Nicole is a certified public accountant (inactive) and received a BA in business economics with high honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Susan Hildreth lives in Walnut Creek, CA and has been a Rossmoor resident since 2015. She is the Treasurer of the Library Foundation of Contra Costa and a member of the Contra Costa County Library Commission representing Supervisorial District 2. She is a member of the Diablo Valley League of Women Voters. She is the President of the Democrats of Rossmoor and an elected representative from District 2 to the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County. She led the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services from 2011 through 2015 and held library leadership positions including California State Librarian and City Librarian for the Seattle and San Francisco Public Libraries. She has a BA from Syracuse University, an MLS from the State University of New York at Albany and an MBA from Rutgers University.

Rachel works to advance racial equity, economic justice, transformative social movements, and community belonging by amplifying underrepresented voices in print, elevating historically and structurally marginalized individuals to positions of power, and centering underserved communities in social agendas and political arenas. For over twenty-five years, through her business, Write You Are, she’s served in various roles and environments to empower diverse populations through critical inquiry, political engagement, literary appreciation, historical understanding, and creative exploration. Rachel is motivated by a drive to construct more egalitarian, accessible, and inclusive systems and spaces and build a social infrastructure that lifts people up instead of pinning them down or hemming them in. Core to this effort is her lifelong collaboration with and advocacy for academic and public libraries. Rachel is the Library Foundation of Contra Costa’s Vice Chair, serves on Contra Costa’s Library Commission and Measure X Community Advisory Board, and performs extensive public service throughout the country. She holds a BA in political theory and literature from NYU’s Gallatin School for Individualized Study, a dual PhD in African American Studies and American Studies from Yale University, and a Master of Library and Information Science from San José State University.

Tommy leads the social impact strategy for a large healthcare organization, leveraging its buying power to support economic development as a means of improving community health. Tommy develops strategies and programs to promote local impact purchasing and capacity building for suppliers and local businesses. In prior roles, he conducted policy analysis and program evaluation in civic engagement, economic development, education, supplier diversity and workforce training. Tommy holds a BA in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He is a veteran of the United States Navy’s Submarine Service. He is a husband and father of two who in his scant free time enjoys reading, hiking, home brewing and camping.

County Librarian Alison McKee has worked for Contra Costa County Library since 2002. She previously served as deputy county librarian and has held positions including library assistant, librarian, and senior community library manager during her tenure. Ms. McKee holds a master’s degree in library and information science from San Jose State University and a bachelor’s in music performance from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She serves as a non-voting advisor to the Library Foundation of Contra Costa.