Thomas K. Bannon
Chief executive officer
Thomas K. Bannon holds lead responsibility for general management of the California Apartment Association. Prior to joining CAA, he was the staff director for U.S. Congressman Robert Matsui; vice president and legislative advocate for the California Building Association; and director of political affairs for the California Association of REALTORS. Bannon holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and psychology and a master’s degree in public administration from California State University, Chico.
Contact: tbannon@caanet.org, (916) 449-6432
Public affairs
Debra L. Carlton
Executive vice president of state government affairs and compliance
Debra L. Carlton is responsible for planning and implementing strategy for all legislative and regulatory issues of interest to members of CAA. She serves as the association’s chief legislative representative and is a registered lobbyist. Prior to her present position, she worked for the Sacramento law firm of Weintraub, Genshlea and Sproul, providing legal and legislative research for the real property section of the firm. Carlton holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of California, Davis, and a master’s degree in public administration from Golden Gate University, San Francisco.
Contact: dcarlton@caanet.org, (916) 449-6422
Joshua Howard
Executive vice president of local public affairs
Joshua Howard leads the association’s local public affairs strategy, government advocacy, community relations, and political action programs throughout California. Before joining CAA, he served as vice president of public policy and communications for the San Jose/Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce and as a senior aide to a former San Jose City Council member. Howard is a registered lobbyist in several Silicon Valley cities. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Santa Clara University and a master’s degree in public administration from the University of San Francisco.
Contact: jhoward@caanet.org, (408) 342-3507
Fred Sutton
Senior vice president of public affairs for Los Angeles County
Fred Sutton oversees the association’s local public and legislative affairs efforts throughout Los Angeles County. In addition, Sutton manages public affairs in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Prior to joining CAA, Sutton served as the director of government affairs for the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles and previously served as a deputy to a member of the L.A. City Council. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Arizona.
Contact: fsutton@caanet.org, (424) 307-1378
Greg Terzakis
Senior vice president for Central California
Greg Terzakis is charged with the overall management of the association in Central California and serves as its primary lobbyist in the region. Prior to joining CAA, he was the public affairs manager for Granville Homes in Fresno, the senior aide to a San Joaquin County supervisor, and a partner in a political-consulting and lobbying firm. Terzakis holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in government from the University of San Francisco.
Contact: gterzakis@caanet.org, (559) 221-2533
Rhovy Lyn Antonio
Vice president of public affairs
Rhovy Lyn Antonio manages local public and legislative affairs in San Mateo and Contra Costa counties. Prior to joining CAA, she served as chief of staff for former San Jose Councilman Pete Constant and worked for the city of San Jose for eight years managing land use policies and community development issues. Antonio holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from San Jose State University.
Contact: rantonio@caanet.org, (408) 342-3506
Anil Babbar
Vice president of public affairs
Anil Babbar manages local public and legislative affairs in Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties. Prior to joining CAA, he held government-affairs roles for PG&E and the Santa Clara County Association of REALTORS. Babbar holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from San Jose State University and a graduate degree in public administration from Golden Gate University, San Francisco.
Contact: ababbar@caanet.org, (408) 342-3509
Ben J. Benoit
Vice president of public affairs
Ben J. Benoit manages public and legislative affairs in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Benoit has been a council member for the City of Wildomar for nine years. He is also the vice chair of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the largest air district in the nation by size and population. Further, he is a member of the Southern California Association of Governments, a board that handles many issues, including setting the regional housing needs-assessment number.
Contact: bbenoit@caanet.org, (951) 226-5030
Whitney Benzian
Vice president of public affairs
Whitney Benzian manages legislative advocacy and political action for San Diego and Imperial counties. Prior to joining CAA, Benzian served as Rules Committee consultant, liaison to the business community and director of special projects for San Diego City Council President Ben Hueso, who is now a state senator. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in liberal arts from Sarah Lawrence College in New York and a master’s degree in public policy degree from the Pepperdine University.
Contact: wbenzian@caanet.org, (619) 261-5374
Tony T. Bui
Senior vice president of state public affairs
Tony T. Bui is responsible for planning and implementing strategy for legislative, regulatory and political issues for CAA. He serves as one of the Association’s legislative representatives and is a registered lobbyist. Bui also directs CAA’s political activities through its political action and independent expenditure committees and oversees all candidate support and recruitment programs. Prior to assuming his present role, Bui served as deputy chief of staff to various state legislators and then moved on to be director of public affairs for DeBoo Communications. He has also successfully managed numerous political campaigns. Bui studied political science at San Diego State University.
Contact: tbui@caanet.org, (916) 449-6423
Matt Buck
Vice president of public affairs
Matt Buck manages CAA’s legislative advocacy and political action programs in East Los Angeles County. Prior to joining CAA, he was the regional public affairs staff for the Western Municipal Water District, the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues and O’Reilly Public Relations. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in social science from California State University, Los Angeles, and has an executive master of business administration degree from the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School.
Contact: mbuck@caanet.org, (949) 734-2025
Victor Cao
Vice president of public affairs
Victor Cao manages CAA’s legislative advocacy and political action programs in Orange County. Before joining CAA, he was chief of staff for the Orange County Board of Supervisors and government affairs manager for the Building Industry Association of Orange County. Cao is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science.
Contact: vcao@caanet.org, (949) 474-1411
Beverly Kenworthy
Vice president of public affairs
Beverly Kenworthy manages CAA’s legislative advocacy and political action programs in Central Los Angeles. Before joining CAA, she was director of public policy with the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and senior planning deputy for former Los Angeles City Councilman Jack Weiss. Kenworthy is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where she holds a master’s degree in public policy and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and American literature.
Contact: bkenworthy@caanet.org, (213) 804-6870
Mallori Spilker
Vice president of public affairs
Mallori Spilker manages local public and legislative affairs for the greater Sacramento Valley region, including the counties of Butte, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Shasta, Solano and Yolo, and assists CAA’s public affairs program with statewide legislative advocacy. Prior to joining CAA, she served the California Association of REALTORS as a government affairs field representative, and United Contractors as their regulatory affairs manager. Mallori holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics from University of California Santa Cruz.
Contact: mspilker@caanet.org, (916) 449-6456
Robert Bicker
Legislative analyst
Robert Bicker is CAA’s legislative analyst and is responsible for coordinating the day-to-day tracking of the association’s public affairs program, which includes bill identification, tracking and analysis. Prior to joining CAA, Bicker was a legislative assistant at the California Chamber of Commerce and a law indexer for the Capitol Legislative Counsel Bureau. He holds an Associate of Arts degree from Sacramento City College in languages and literature.
Contact: rbicker@caanet.org, (916) 449-6424
Mike Nemeth
Communications director
Mike Nemeth manages CAA’s media relations and communications programs, including the association’s weekly electronic newsletter. Prior to joining CAA, Nemeth was managing editor for The Salinas Californian. He also worked as a reporter for two daily newspapers in Florida. Nemeth holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the University of Central Florida.
Contact: mnemeth@caanet.org, (916) 449-6426
Keshav Kumar
Public affairs manager
Keshav Kumar supports CAA’s advocacy efforts by researching and analyzing public policies on rental housing, tracking legislation, writing fact sheets, briefing memos and other documents. Prior to joining CAA, Kumar held positions including government affairs associate for the Santa Cruz County Business Council, campaign representative for Santa Cruz Together, which fought against Santa Cruz’s rent control campaign, and outreach coordinator for the Mayor of Santa Cruz. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Contact: kkumar@caanet.org, (408) 342-3508
Membership & Operations
Kevin Pellegrino
Senior vice president of membership and operations
Kevin Pellegrino manages the business side of the organization, and his team is responsible for accounting, events, finance, human resources, information technology, marketing and membership. He has a long career of working in the information-technology, financial-services, medical, education and nonprofit/association industries. Pellegrino’s specific areas of expertise include database design and marketing, sales, and operational auditing and implementation. He has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a master’s in business administration from Canisius College in Buffalo New York. Prior to joining CAA, he worked for Hewlett-Packard and the California Chamber of Commerce.
Contact: kpellegrino@caanet.org, (916) 449-6441
Laura Meadows
Controller
Laura Meadows is the controller for CAA, with principal responsibility for accounting, finance, human resources, payroll, IT and office management. Laura holds a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration and accounting from California State University, Sacramento. Prior to joining CAA, Meadows worked as a member service representative for the Golden 1 Credit Union.
Contact: lmeadows@caanet.org, (916) 449-6437
Compliance & Education
Heidi Palutke
Education, policy and compliance counsel
Heidi Palutke holds principal responsibility for CAA’s compliance and education programs, including the development of statewide and local compliance forms and materials. She conducts research and analysis of state and local legislation to support CAA’s public affairs team. She also represents CAA before various regulatory agencies and departments and manages CAA’s various litigation projects. Prior to joining CAA, she was an associate with the Law Offices of Andrew L. Packard in San Francisco and served as a legal policy analyst for Lead Safe California. Palutke holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in international relations from Michigan State University, and a Juris Doctorate from Golden Gate University School of Law, San Francisco. She is a member of the California State Bar and has been admitted to the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal.
Contact: hpalutke@caanet.org, (916) 449-6425
Margarita Carazo
Education and training director
Margarita Carazo is responsible for managing logistics of all education programs, including in-person classes, webinars, on-demand classes, educational email marketing, and video editing. She also manages the California Certified Residential Manager certification program. Prior to joining CAA, she worked for Gerson Baker & Associates. Carazo has also held positions as a medical assistant and holds the designation of certified medical assistant.
Contact: mcarazo@caanet.org, (408) 342-3511
Ninder Aulakh
Policy and compliance counsel
Ninder Aulakh advises CAA’s state and local public affairs teams, provides education and compliance materials, and helps staff the member helpline. She brings over direct experience in landlord tenant real estate law through her past representation of property owners and managers in all areas of the residential landlord tenant relationship including unlawful detainers, rent control, subsidized housing, lease enforcement, property abandonment, landlord’s right of entry, landlord’s duty to repair and maintain property, and changing terms of tenancy. She has Bachelor of Arts degrees in math and business management economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, a Juris Doctorate from the Seattle University School of Law and is a member of the California State Bar. Previously worked as an attorney for the Kimball, Tirey & St. John law firm.
Contact: naulakh@caanet.org, (916) 449-6436
Embert P. Madison, Jr.
State advocacy and compliance counsel
Embert Madison analyzes and drafts state legislation impacting CAA, develops CAA’s education and compliance materials, and supplements CAA’s advocacy with legal input on legislative proposals. Madison has extensive experience drafting state legislation due to his time with the Office of Legislative Counsel and has years of private practice experience advocating on behalf of property owners in real estate transactions and land use projects. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of California, Riverside, a Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Davis, and is a member of the California State Bar.
Contact: emadison@caanet.org, (916) 449-6439
Andrea Moss
Member compliance services attorney
Andrea Moss is the primary attorney for CAA’s Landlord Helpline, which provides answers to member questions on state and local laws on landlord-tenant matters. She also provides support for CAA forms. In addition to practicing law, Moss has held several positions in property management, working for companies such as Gerson Bakar and Associates and the Irvine Company. Moss holds a Bachelor of Science degree from California State University, Long Beach, and a Juris Doctorate from Western State College of Law. She is also a member of the California State Bar and holds a State of California Real Estate Broker’s License.
Contact: amoss@caanet.org, (916) 449-6428
Whitney Prout
Policy and compliance counsel
Whitney Prout advises CAA’s state and local public affairs teams, develops CAA’s education and compliance materials, assists members on CAA’s Helpline, and represents the interests of CAA members on regulatory issues. Prout has extensive experience advocating on behalf of rental housing providers throughout California in litigation and compliance matters, as well as legislative and regulatory fora. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Redlands, a Juris Doctorate from the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law, and is a member of the California State Bar. She previously worked as an attorney for the firms Law Offices of Joseph W. Carroll, PC and Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP.
Support staff
Amy Baker
Data integrity specialist
As the data integrity specialist, Amy Baker works on accounting matters with CAA’s controller and senior vice president of membership and operations. Since joining CAA in 2001, Baker has worked in many areas of the association, including education and the CCRM Certification program, and she has worked closely and directly with the events and membership teams.
Contact: abaker@caanet.org, (916) 449-6452
Sonia Chavez
California membership specialist
Sonia Chavez oversees statewide renewals for CAA. Her duties include addressing prevalent membership questions, verifying property data within CAA’s membership and facilitating the renewal process for existing members.
Contact: schavez@caanet.org, (916) 449-6451
Briana McDaniel
Member services coordinator
Briana McDaniel is CAA’s front-line member services coordinator. She is the voice you hear when you first call CAA. Before joining the association’s team, McDaniel worked in customer support in the telecommunication industry.
Contact: bmcdaniel@caanet.org, (916) 449-6444
