Regent Emerita Laphonza Butler

Laphonza Butler is the president of EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, where she leads the organization’s efforts to elect Democratic pro-choice women across the county, up and down the ballot. Prior to joining EMILY’s List, Butler was the director for Public Policy and campaigns at Airbnb. In 2019 and 2020, she was also a partner at SCRB Strategies, a firm specializing in complex communications challenges for political campaigns, companies, and organizations.  For more than a decade, she also served as the president of SEIU Local 2015, a union representing more than 325,000 nursing home and home-care workers throughout California. SEIU Local 2015 is the largest union in California and the largest long-term care local in the country.

Previously, Ms. Butler served for seven years as President of SEIU United Long Term Care Workers (ULTCW) and also as SEIU's Property Services Division Director in which she was responsible for the strategic direction of the more than 250,000 janitors, security officers, window cleaners, and food service workers across the country. Ms. Butler also served as an SEIU International Vice President and president of the SEIU California State Council.

Additionally, she has served as a board member for the National Children’s Defense Fund, BLACK PAC and the Bay Area Economic Council Institute. She was a fellow for the MIT Community Innovators Lab, and was the former director for the Board of Governors of the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve System.

Ms. Butler received a BA in Political Science from Jackson State University. She was appointed to the Board in August, 2018 by Governor Jerry Brown for a 12 year term ending in 2030, and resigned from her appointment in September 2021.