Yolo County Library Foundation

Who We Are

YCLF Board of Directors

Ben Cadranel, Chairperson

Ben Cadranel is an attorney and philanthropist helping entrepreneurs and nonprofits achieve their fundraising needs through private placements, public/private strategic partnerships, grant writing, and philanthropy case plans.

Ben currently works for Young, Cohen, Durrett, LLP in Sacramento, serving the needs of the Sacramento and California business community.

Ben has also worked for Woodland Community College, U.C. Davis, and Cascade Corporate Management.

Education

University of the Pacific - McGeorge School of Law
Doctor of Law in International Law and Legal Studies

Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University
Master's Degree in Accounting and Finance

University of California, Davis
Bachelor of Arts in French Language and Literature

Camille Chan, Treasurer

Camille was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and moved to Davis in 1972.

Camille graduated from University of California, Berkeley with B.S. in business and later M.S./M.I.S. from Sacramento State University. She worked for 20 years in the Information Technology field and 10 years in Human Resources. She is retired and serves on various community boards.

Lisa A. Baker, Member

Lisa A. Baker is both a consultant, and a housing and community development professional, helping state/local governments and nonprofit entities create access to affordable housing, improved economic opportunity and more equitable outcomes for constituents.

Lisa currently works as a consultant, both for CP HR Consulting, as well as for the firm of Lisa A. Baker Consulting and serves as a contract trainer for local agencies through the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO). She is the former CEO for the Housing Authority of the County of Yolo, where she served for 14 years.

She is a graduate of the University of California at Davis and completed both her B.A. and M.A. at UCD.

Lisa believes that early emphasis on literacy and on a good, well rounded, education are the building blocks for future success in life and that libraries are a foundational key to achieving this.

Randy Byrne, Member

Randy has lived on a ranch west of Esparto since 1978. He served two terms on the board of Friends of the Esparto Regional Library (FERL). He is currently on the board of New Season Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit devoted to the economic growth of Esparto and the Capay Valley.

He graduated from Yale University with a BA and a graduate degree from UC Berkeley. He was the founder of a Microsoft Solution Provider company and then worked directly for Microsoft as a program manager on the Microsoft Outlook team.

Randy believes that libraries are a critical element in the health of our communities. He looks forward to helping the Foundation grow the programs and services provided by our libraries.

Joy Sakai, Member

Joy Sakai is a native Californian, who from an early age, was a lover of books, libraries and reading. Joy and her husband are graduates of UCSF College of Pharmacy. Early in her career as a clinical pharmacist, Joy and her young family relocated to Visalia, California, where she became a volunteer librarian in her children’s school.

In 1989, with four friends, Joy founded Read for Life, a family based literacy program that continues to serve families in Tulare County. Joy remains dedicated to promoting reading, singing, and talking to babies beginning at birth, as the best way to ensure that children are ready for school.

Joy has served as a member of the Visalia Unified School District Board of Trustees, Visalia Education Foundation Board, Visalia County Center Rotary Board, and served as President and board member of Read for Life. She developed the pharmacy technician training program at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia and has published two textbooks for pharmacy technicians. Since moving to Yolo County in 2016, she served as a CASA for Yolo County and is a Yolo County Master Gardener.

Gregg Atkins, Member

A retired librarian with 40 years of professional experience – university, community college and public libraries as well as service as a public library Trustee – Gregg Atkins actually never planned to be a librarian.  But work as a student in the UC Berkeley School of Law Library and determined mentoring from the Law Librarian put him on the path, beginning with the School of Librarianship at Cal.

 

Gregg continues to work part-time as the Executive Director of the Council of Chief Librarians, California Community Colleges.  He supports and guides a Board which focuses on professional leadership and training development, implementation of a statewide CCC libraries computer system and participation in CCC system-level policy development and operations related to libraries, librarians and the students and faculty they serve.

 

He came to Woodland in 2006, not expecting to remain as long as he and his wife did.  He is an active member and leader in the Woodland United Methodist Church.  His garage contains a restored 1971 Citroen DS 21 Pallas which he enjoys driving on Yolo County’s many wonderful country roads.  His devoted (and stubborn!) companion is Hans the dachshund, the last of four.

 

The opportunity to serve again to support public library services is a joy.  Early childhood engagement to books and reading, defense of intellectual freedom, and keeping libraries in the center of community engagement are critical.

Join the YCLF Advisory Committee

History

The Yolo County Library Foundation was established in December 2016 with an anonymous donation.  A fund was established with the Yolo Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation.

A founding Board of Directors was established in 2017 and YCLF became a nonprofit organization that obtained tax exempt status from both the IRS and the California State Franchise Tax Board in 2018.

Policies and Finances