Sarah Moga Alemany

Term ending March 1, 2026

Sarah Moga Alemany recently served as the Binational Affairs Manager for San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. Sarah received her M.A. in Latin American Studies and is fluent in Spanish. In her role she served as the liaison to the Mayor of Tijuana and the Governor of Baja California. She also dealt with issues related to the ports of entry and the Tijuana River Valley. 

Sarah also formerly served as Mayor Gloria’s Coordinator for the “Back to Work San Diego” task force. Prior to joining the Gloria administration, Sarah was a Campaign Coordinator and the campaign’s Press Secretary. 

Before getting involved in Democratic politics, Sarah was an Emmy-nominated television producer, booker and writer in the news and entertainment business. After working for several years as a writer for local news in Chicago, Sarah moved to New York in late 2006 to work for CBS National News. During that time she covered many world events including the 2008 Presidential campaign, the “Miracle on the Hudson” and the death of Osama Bin Laden. Because of her fluency in Spanish, Sarah frequently covered events in Latin America for the network. She also served as a senior producer in the control room for “The Early Show" (now "CBS This Morning").

In 2011, Sarah helped develop the PBS interview series, “The Artist Toolbox.” She then helped launch the first season of “Anderson,” Anderson Cooper’s syndicated daytime talk show. Sarah was then recruited to help expand original video programing for “The Daily Beast,” and handled all high profile celebrity, news-maker and political bookings for the site’s shows.

Sarah has degrees from The University of San Diego and The University of Chicago. She lives in Point Loma with her husband and three young children.

Patricia Williams Bevelyn

Term ending March 2026

Ms. Bevelyn is a retired County of San Diego employee who worked for the Department of Social Services as well as the Health and Human Services Agency. She started her career with the County as a social worker and rose through the ranks to retire as the Child and Welfare Services Manager. Ms. Bevelyn is a founding member of Project Save Our Children -- a community-based program that aims to eliminate the disproportionate number of African American children in Child Welfare Services. She has also served as past President and Treasurer of Webster Academy of Science PTSA. Ms. Bevelyn attended Southern University and A & M College in Baton Rouge, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology. She then earned a master's degree in Social Work from San Diego State University.

Wendy Ranck-Buhr, Ph. D.

Term ending March 2025

Wendy Ranck-Buhr is an avid reader and life-long learner which made the field of education a natural career fit for her. Wendy has over 30 years of experience in education working at preschool through university levels at schools and universities throughout San Diego. Wendy earned her Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Art degrees at San Diego State University and completed her Ph.D. at Claremont Graduate University and San Diego State University. She currently serves as an Instructional Support Officer for San Diego Unified School District.

Phyllis Pfeiffer

Term ending March 2026

Phyllis Pfeiffer is the founding chair of the La Jolla Community Foundation and is also on the board and executive committee of Enhance La Jolla, the 501c3 that manages the Village Maintenance Assessment District.  

After 50 years in journalism, she retired in 2023 as publisher of the Union-Tribune Community Press, which publishes 11 community newspapers in San Diego County.  Prior to that she was senior vice president of the San Francisco Chronicle, publisher of the Marin Independent Journal and general manager of the Los Angeles Times San Diego Edition.  

She is a former board member of the UCSD Chancellor's Advisory Council, the Chambers of Commerce in San Francisco and San Diego, the Oakland Museum of California, Guide Dogs for the Blind, the National Park Trust, Dominican University, California Press Association, Marin Theatre Company, California Newspapers Publishers Association, the UCSD Medical and Research Foundation, and the United Way of San Diego.

Phyllis graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor’s of Science degree.  She worked closely with the Friends of La Jolla Library to digitize historical issues of the La Jolla Light.

Sitara Sethi

Term ending March 1, 2026

Ms. Sethi is the CEO of the San Diego Imperial Counties Developmental Services Foundation and has over 20 years of experience leading in nonprofit program development and evaluation. Ms. Sethi holds a Master of Science in Psychological Rehabilitation from India. She is being appointed to a two-year term, ending March 1, 2026, in the District 6 Representative Seat.

Linda Sotelo

Term ending March 1, 2025

Ms. Sotelo is the Executive Director of the New Americans Museum. She was previously President and CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Ms. Sotelo created opportunities for Hispanic businesses while empowering the wider community. She has also held senior level executive positions with the San Diego Workforce Partnership, inSITE97 and inSite2000, where she worked to support artistic and cultural collaboration across the border of San Diego and Tijuana. Ms. Sotelo received a Bachelor of Arts in business and history from the United States International University and a Masters of Arts in international business and economics from Regents College, London.

Mark Tran

Term ending March 1, 2026

Mr. Tran currently works for The California Endowment, a private health foundation whose mission is to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities and promote fundamental improvements in the health of all Californians. He previously worked with Mid-City Community Advocacy Network, East Biloxi Hope CDA, and East Biloxi Coordination Relief and Redevelopment Agency. As a child of refugee immigrants from Vietnam who settled in City Heights in 1985, Mark grew up dependent on the services and offerings of the old public library located on Fairmount Ave and Polk Ave (now relocated and replaced by the newer and renamed City Heights/Weingart Library). Mr. Tran holds a Bachelor of Arts in History/Asian American Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is being appointed to a two-year term ending March 1, 2026, in the District 9 Representative Seat.

Scott Walter

Term ending April 9, 2026

Scott Walter is Dean of the San Diego State University Library. Prior to joining SDSU in 2020, Dr. Walter held senior leadership positions in a number of academic libraries, including DePaul University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Kansas. A native of Southern California, Dr. Walter earned his MLS from Indiana University Bloomington and his PhD in Educational Leadership (Higher Education Administration) from Washington State University. In addition to his work with academic libraries, Dr. Walter has served as school library volunteer and a partner with public libraries through consortia including Chicago Collections and the San Diego Circuit. In addition to professional service provided through elected and appointed positions in the Association of College & Research Libraries and the American Library Association, Dr. Walter served for almost a decade as an elected representative to the Chicago Public Schools' Local School Councils.

Samadi Yoeuth

Term ending March 2026

Samadi (Sam) Yoeuth is a Library Foundation Trustee and a Marketing & Communications Committee member. She is also a Director for the Friends of the San Diego Public Library and serves as President of the Serra Mesa-Kearny Mesa Chapter. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Applied Mathematics from California State University Long Beach of which she attended with a full scholarship as a Presidential Scholar.  She has worked in the Aerospace industry for over 15 years as a Materials and Processes Engineer and has had a lifelong passion for her role as an avid reader since childhood. Besides reading, her hobbies include sending New Yorker comic clippings via snail mail to friends, buying books for strangers at restaurants, and watching her husband cook.