Staff
Veronica Garcia Dávalos, Executive Director/CEO
Veronica has lived in Long Beach since 1994 and brings more than 30 years of experience in nonprofit management to the role of Executive Director/CEO. In addition to her work leading the Library Foundation, Dávalos serves on the Long Beach Citizens Police Complaint Commission, is a past president of Leadership Long Beach, and co-founder of the United Latino Fund and National Latina Alliance. She received the Nuestra Imagen Award from Centro CHA in 2015 and the Go Long Beach Award from Mayor Robert Garcia in 2017.
Erica Bradley, Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations
Erica, a graduate of UC San Diego, has been a development professional for more than 20 years, most notably serving more than eight years on behalf of both Mattel Children’s Hospital UCLA and the Long Beach Public Library Foundation. Her career reflects a commitment to children’s causes and education. As a resident of Long Beach, she is eager to improve resources for the diverse families of her community.
Eleazar Salazar, Finance and Operations Manager
Eleazar has been a long-time lover of public libraries and a strong believer on all the services they provide to enrich and grow the minds of their communities. As a resident of Long Beach, he comes to the foundation with great enthusiasm and 18 years of Accounting and Management experience.
During the weekend you can catch him walking his dog BellaNova along with his partner Ricardo all around the city. His interest includes the Arts and exploring vegetarian menu items in restaurants.
Janice Yim, Database Coordinator and Executive Assistant
Janice, who was born and raised in Long Beach, is devoted to supporting her hometown through the Library Foundation. After earning her Master’s Degree in English at Fordham University, she discovered her affinity for data and administrative work. Now, she hopes to combine her academic and professional experience to help the library provide resources for her community. Aside from reading, Janice enjoys playing guitar and spending time with her husband and pets.
Caitlin Yoshioka, Director of Communications and Public Affairs
Cait has lived in Long Beach since 2007 and brings more than 10 years of experience across the nonprofit, public, and private sectors to her role as the Director of Communications and Public Affairs. In addition to her work leading these efforts for the Library Foundation, she is a past alum, Executive Board Member, and committee member of Leadership Long Beach, Long Beach RotarAct, local city initiatives such as Long Beach G.R.I.P., and is raising two young library lovers.
Thelma Valenzuela, Director of Individual Giving
Thelma is an experienced nonprofit development professional from Long Beach, CA with a passion for music, education, and service. She previously held fund development positions at Pacific Chorale, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Los Angeles (spcaLA), and is excited to join the Long Beach Public Library Foundation team as Director of Individual Giving. She is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine with a B.A. in Drama with an emphasis in Musical Theatre. Thelma enjoys volunteering and giving back to the community. She is a graduate of the Leadership Long Beach program class of 2023 and was elected by her cohort to serve as class President. Thelma currently serves on the boards of both Leadership Long Beach, and the Long Beach Chorale and Chamber Orchestra. Thelma also volunteers as a mentor to first-gen college students at Cal State Long Beach through the SCPD program and is passionate about helping others navigate college and career paths. She regularly hosts workshops at OneOC for nonprofit professionals who want to learn how to “Overcome Imposter Syndrome in the Workplace”.
Thelma continues feeding her passion for music by performing as a singer-songwriter under the stage name Dina Valenz and is proud to have been awarded the 2022 Absolute Best of Long Beach Award for Best Local Artist. She has traveled the country playing popular venues, fairs, and festivals sharing her upbeat brand of original music, and can currently be seen playing with her bands Dina Valenz and the Lemon Drops and as a part of the popular local 80s and 90s cover band The Rebel Scum. For fun, Thelma enjoys spending time with her rescue dog Rory, spending time with friends, and reading.