Meet Our Team
Advisory Council
Jason Hall
Founding Member Jason is the vice president, Enterprise Regional Compliance, with the National Compliance, Ethics & Integrity Office (NCO) at Kaiser Permanente. Jason joined Kaiser Permanente in 1995 in the Southern California region, where he held various roles in Health Plan Administration, Regulatory Services, and Compliance and Privacy. Jason served on various community boards in Southern California and Hawaii and he is currently on the board for the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Greater Bay Area. He is also an executive sponsor of KP Pride, Kaiser Permanente’s LGBTI multicultural business resource group. Jason holds a bachelor’s degree in Global Peace Studies from Wilmington College, a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is a member of the Health Care Compliance Association. |
David J. Tsai
Legal Consultant David Tsai is a law partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP’s San Francisco office. His legal practice focuses on intellectual property and litigation. He works with clients of all sizes from Fortune 500 corporations to startups. David currently serves on the Board of Directors of EQCA and Lambda Legal. He also is a trustee of the University of California, Riverside Foundation, past Co-Chair of BALIF (the SF Bay Area LGBTQ+ Bar Association), and past president of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area. David is committed to pro bono work and has successfully represented a number of LGBT and HIV+ clients in asylum matters. He also led the drafting of amicus briefs filed in the California same-sex marriage/Prop 8 cases for which more than 100 organizations signed. David has been recognized as a Best Lawyer Under 40 by the National LGBT Bar Association and by the California State Legislature for his work in civil rights. |
Cip Cipriano
Entertainment Liaison and Director of Events Cip Cipriano has been a San Francisco nightlife entrepreneur since 1992. His hardworking approach as an owner/operator has made him well known in the nightlife, DJ, and live music scenes. In 1992, Cip became a partner in My Place, a seedy leather bar on Folsom St with barely any business. Through his leadership and programming, My Place became the go to destination for the leather/sex positive community. As the co-owner of Insipid Productions, starting in 1998, Cip’s career as a talent buyer & independent promoter, brought hundreds of bands to the Bay Area in almost every live music venue. Through Insipid Productions, his love of extreme music led him to being a co-owner of the Pound SF, a live music venue famous in the metal, hardcore & punk scenes. As the chief talent buyer - he brought his years of expertise to the Pound, hosting 300+ shows per year and providing a home to live music fans of all ages. As the sole owner, property owner and founder of Underground SF, Cip hosted parties nightly in the Lower Haight nightclub. From iconic gay parties such as Cockfight and Drunk & Horny to the city’s longest running drum and bass club, Underground SF offered something for everyone. After 10 years, Cip decided to sell the venue and promote events in SF and NYC. Eventually, having decided to live full time in SF again, Cip became the general manager at QBar SF in 2012. He is proud of the diversity he has brought to QBar and looks forward to many more years in this iconic location. |
Ayse Nur Yilmazer
Cultural Liaison Ayse was born and raised in Turkey, and is a political activist focusing on human rights and freedom. She is the founding general manager of Arsan Travel Center, the first travel agency of Gaziantep,Turkey and the South East Anatolia. In addition to her professional life in tourism, she has served in community as deputy Mayor and member of Municipal Council for 15 years. She is a board member or founding member of American Society of Travel Agents, United States Tour Operators Association, Lions Club, Museum Friends Association, University Women’s Association, Association of Turkish Travel Agencies, and Zeugma Platform. Ayse started Gay Tourism in South East Anatolia in 1986 and is still the leading figure, being featured in Lonely Planet Turkey. She has received several national and international awards on her social and professional work. She has two sons. |
Yad Konrad
IT Consultant Yad is an applied researcher within the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning. The starting point of his journey to immigrate to United States originates from Mesopotamia (current day Iraq). His profession concerns around educating science and reasoning, freedom of thought and building more habitable societies. |
Desmond Adebayo
Asylee Settlement Liaison Desmond was an human rights activist in Love Planet Organization in his home country of Nigeria. He is the first client of The LGBT Asylum Project and has since been a part of The LGBT Asylum Project since his stay in the United States. He is currently pursuing a masters degree in health administration and has a passion to assist LGBT immigrants in every way possible. He is currently working as a patient access representative for California Pacific Medical Center. |
Yigit Ucar
Corporate Liaison Yigit Ucar was born and raised in Izmir, Turkey. He moved to the United States in 2011. He is a civil engineer with a master’s degree in water resource engineering from Istanbul Technical University. He worked for Parsons Corporation as field project manager. He is currently working for a local utility company as Sr. Records and Information Analyst. He has experience about project management, construction management and information management. Since he moved to US, he is actively involved in LGBT community here. |
Kelly Walsh
Founding Member and Partnership Liaison Kelly Walsh is a business development analyst at Fenwick & West law firm, where she focuses on strategic business planning and execution for the international and intellectual property practice groups. In addition to her marketing role, she is a tireless advocate for gender and sexuality equality. Kelly holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Vermont. She has a son named Oliver. |
Ozkan Boyar
Founding Member and Outreach Liaison Ozkan Boyar was born and raised in Turkey before moving to San Francisco in 2014. He is a civil engineer with an MBA degree from Istanbul Technical University. He worked at Tekfen Construction Co. for Istanbul Subway Project as an engineer. Afterwards, he focused on real estate financing and he switched his career to banking & finance to become a project finance specialist at Finansbank, a leading Turkish bank. For the past 11 years, he has been the General Manager and member of the Board of Fiba Real Estate Development Co. at Fiba Holding in Istanbul. He has vast experience in construction, financing, project management, project development & asset management. Currently he is a freelance consultant and asset manager in real estate sector. |
Adam Sandel
Founding Member, Fundraising & Events Liaison Adam Sandel served for six years as the Leadership Council and Media Awards Chair for GLAAD in San Francisco. He's a playwright, screenwriter, and journalist who's contributed to LGBT publications including The Bay Area Reporter, dot429.com, StartOut.org, and The Advocate. He is currently teaching at De Anza College, Skyline College and Berkeley City College. His satirical web series "The Gay Husbands of San Francisco" recently launched on www.revry.tv and will soon appear on Funny or Die. |
Tim McQuillan
Founding Member Tim McQuillan has a Master's Degree in Taxation from Golden Gate University. In addition to his educational background, he comes to The LGBT Asylum Project with several years' experience as an accountant at a Bay Area Refugee-focused non-profit. He originally hails from Iowa where he is half of the first legally married gay couple in the state. In this capacity, he was involved in the campaign for marriage equality and served as a spokesperson for Lambda Legal, who represented the plaintiffs in Varnum v Brien. Tim and his husband have a daughter. |
Raissa
Queer Women Community Liaison & Brazilian Community Liaison Raissa M is an actor and a dancer, with a degree in Law from Brazil where she worked as an intern at the District Attorney Office in the city of Santos. She is the co-founder of Chelegers, a theater company that focuses its artistic work on LGBTQ themes. She became so enthusiastic about The LGBT Asylum Project, that she has decided to pursue a Law degree in the USA with an emphasis in LGBT Rights . Raissa lives with her wife and their two and a half year old son, Wren. |