Meet Our Team
Board of Directors
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Ryan Hundley
President and Corporate Liaison For the past seven years, Ryan has worked at Google where he leads a team that creates outreach events and programs. He's received degrees from the University of the Pacific and University of St Andrews, Scotland. Ryan has volunteered for a number of organizations through the years, as well as serving as a board member for the Monterey County Chapter of the ACLU, and helped to found a local marriage equality organization in the wake of California's Prop 8. |
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Juan Herrera
Director of Corporate Relations Juan G Herrera was born and raised in Colombia before moving to the United States in 1998. Juan came to Miami, Florida to study Aviation and International Business at Florida Atlantic University. For the past 15 years, Juan has held several positions at banking making a career in the Financial Industry. He is now an Academy Manager for a financial institution where he develops and delivers training to Relationship Managers across the country. He has vast experience in financing, learning & development, project management and education. Juan understands the asylum process as he was a recipient of political asylum back in 2005. |
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Neil Austin
Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair Neil is a human resources professional with over 30 years of experience. He is currently working as product analytics director at Artemis Health, and his work experience include companies like PG&E, Optum Health and AT&T. Neil and his husband Tom are LGBTQ activists volunteering at several organizations including San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, SF AIDS Foundation and GLBT Historical Society. |
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Gulhan Yuzgec
Event Promotion Chair Gulhan has been working as a language expert for several corporations for over 7 years and is currently working at Facebook as language lead in Turkish. He has been a great supporter for LGBTQ rights and been volunteering for the LGBT Asylum Project since inception. He is now thrilled to be managing corporate relations for the LGBT Asylum Project. |
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Chisimdi Ogbodo
LGBTAP Spokesperson Dr Chisimdi Ogbodo is a Nigerian Physician. He immigrated to the United States in December 2017. He was part of the NIH Funded Implementation Science Study of HIV Care and Prevention with men who have sex with men (MSM) in Nigeria. He managed a research/health clinic which carried out quarterly physical and clinical evaluation of MSM, testing and counseling on HIV (HCT). The positives were placed on anti-retroviral (ARV) and encouraged to bring in their partners to access health care. While the negatives are further evaluated, and encouraged to accept Pre exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) if found eligible. Currently, he lives in East Bay California and work with Gilead Sciences Clinical Operations, Late Phase HIV. |
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Rawi Chahwan
Outreach, Director of Street Fairs and Pride Festivals, Asylee Rawi Chahwan was born and raised in Lebanon before moving to the United States in 2016. His passion for helping others sustain a blissful life lead him to the asylum project. He was previously involved in helping an organisation in Lebanon create an accepting and welcoming social environment for teenagers and young adults from various backgrounds. Rawi understands the struggles the LGBT communities still face all over the world, having gone through it himself, and so aims to raise the bar of respect, safety, and freedom for all LGBTQ+ immigrants concerned. |
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Anjali Rimi
Trans & Gender Non-Conforming Community Liaison Anjali Rimi (Koka) (pronouns: she/they) thrives in the community showing up as a leader driving accountability for Trans Justice. Keeping connected to her Indian Asian roots, she co-founded and serves as the President for Parivar Bay Area, the first South Asian TGNCI Queer Trans Organization. She leads the core team for COVID relief efforts in the Bay Area for the LGBTQ communities: Rimi serves on boards for The LGBT Asylum Project, East Bay Stonewall Democrats and San Francisco Pride along with being on The Trans Advisory Committee with the Office of Transgender Initiatives, City of San Francisco. Anjali Rimi holds an MBA and has been in Corporate America for over 20 years in Business Development & eCommerce operations leadership roles. She is an effective facilitator and a consultant with DiversityJourneys holding workshops across many inclusion at workplace topics. She currently works for Constellation Brands as a Business Development Leader focused on Wine operations. " |
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Fatima Reynolds
Fatima Reynolds (pronouns: she/they) is an LGBT activist living in San Francisco. She is working in health care, and also a student. Fatima is volunteering at several organizations including SF AIDS Foundation, GLBT History Society, Transgender Historical District and The LGBT Asylum Project. |
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Sharla-Elyn Robinson
Sharla-Elyn Robinson is a San Francisco native currently living in the East Bay. She is currently putting her 20+ years of payroll experience to good use at Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP, the first law firm with offices in all 50 states. Sharla has raised funds for and participated in various walks for charities such as Santa Skivvies Run, AIDS Walk SF, March for Babies and is proud to join the LGBT Asylum Project. |
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Rigo Bazan
Finance Committee Member Rigo is a professional staff accountant with over 15 years of experience in financial accounting, and currently working for Western Union Financial Services as an accountant assistant. He was born and raised in Mexico before moving to the Unites States in 1999. Rigo has a BS in Accounting from University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and currently enrolled in a Master of Accountancy program from Golden Gate University. He was also accepted and approved to sit for the CPA Exam and become licensed by the California Board of Accountancy. His background also includes Volunteering for the IRS VITA Program (Preparing Individual Income Tax Returns for low income taxpayers) at Mission Economic Development Agency in SF. Rigo supports the values of the LGBT Asylum Project and completely understands the asylum process as he was granted political asylum back in 2013. |
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Adam Li
Asian Pacific Islander Community Co-Liaison Adam Li (he/him) is an immigration court/USCIS Mandarin interpreter and the owner of Masters Translation and Immigration Services. He has been volunteering with the LGBT Asylum Project for over a year. He is passionate about helping LGBT+ individuals seek protection and freedom from persecution in their home countries. During his time pursuing a master’s degree in Asia and Pacific Studies at University of San Francisco, he focused on LGBT+ human rights issues in East Asia. Living in San Francisco for the past seven years, he is keen on giving back to the community and promoting LGBT+ rights for our less fortunate brothers and sisters. |
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Raissa Peniche
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 Distric 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. |
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Brian Gougherty
Director of Fundraising Brian (he/him) has worked in the non-profit sector for over 15 years, focusing on development and growth strategies for both local and international organizations. He enjoys storytelling, hosting events, and raising funds that support people who are bringing positive change to the world, including the hard-working staff of the LGBT Asylum Project. |
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Seth Thuta
Asian Pacific Islander Community Co-Liaison Seth Thuta was born and raised in Myanmar. He moved to San Francisco in 2016 to study & pursue his career in Fashion Merchandising. He is currently finishing his degree in San Francisco State University while working in a lawfirm. Seth is also an asylee through The LGBT Asylum Project. He is also volunteering in The LGBT Asylum Project as a Burmese Interpreter and now, he is ready to give more back to LGBT community. |