ROBERTA C. BROOKS

Professional: Worked for 30 years for U.S. Congress in the Oakland District offices of Congressman Ron Dellums and later Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Since being retired, has served on a couple Boards including LifeLong Medical Care for 12 years where she chaired a capital campaign for the West Berkeley Clinic. Serves as a docent at Rosie the Riveter National Park. Active with Giving Circles and other resistance groups.
Personal: Currently married to Billy McDonald and between them has four grown sons and four grandchildren. Long time resident of Berkeley.
Freight Connection: Attended many concerts at both old and new Freight. Also, was part of Girlfriendz, a vocal group directed by Ellen Robinson. Girlfriendz was the lead group at Open Mic on two occasions.
Music Connection:Loves to sing and has taken various singing classes from time to time. Listens to and appreciates all kinds of music. 

PAMELA CALLOWAY

Professional: Banking and securities attorney who has led nonprofit organizations for more than 25 years including: Private Industry Council San Francisco, Public/Private Ventures (California office), The Bread Project and East Bay Community Foundation. Coach, advisor and facilitator for nonprofit executives including ESQ Apprentice and Oakland Thrives. Public service includes work for the US State Department, FDIC and RTC, former San Francisco mayors, Willie Brown, Jr and Gavin Newsom, former Oakland mayor Ron Dellums and former Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Personal: Happily married to Mark Smith and adoring stepmom to Langston Smith. Long time resident and lover of life in Oakland. Sister/sister-in-law to and daughter of amazing women. Delighted aunt and mentor.

Freight Connection: Love the new Freight, especially The Moth.

Music Connection: learned to play viola as an elementary school student. Enjoys singing and was a member of the Kansas Girls Choir. Especially love the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Favorite artist is Prince. Dances all the time!

ADAM DAVIS

Professional: Writer and creative director currently leading a user experience team at Google. 

Personal: Lives in North Berkeley with his wife and two musical kids—one who plays mandolin, the other fiddle, and both piano. Guitar player, photographer, and wood carver. 

Freight Connection: First visited the “middle Freight” in the mid-1990s. Since then has attended countless shows, is a regular at the Freight’s bluegrass jams, and has even seen his kids perform onstage in student concerts.
Music Connection: Lifelong musician who started college as a music major (but finished with degrees in philosophy and literature). Can be found flatpicking on his Martin D-18 on his front porch and throughout the Bay Area bluegrass scene.

BRYAN S. DYER

Professional: A veteran of some of the Bay Area’s top vocal groups, including Street Sounds, SoVoSo, Slammin All Body Band, Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir, CHELLE! And Friends, and Bobby McFerrin’s MOTION. Bryan also performs with the Funk Revival Orchestra, Rankin Scroo and Ginger, Juke Joint, and the percussion and dance ensemble Crosspulse.
Personal: His musical experiences have taken him around the globe, including several trips throughout Europe, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, and Jamaica, and many legendary stages including Montreaux Jazz Festival, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and Lincoln Center in New York. Bryan’s talents have landed him alongside such artists as Al Green, Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the soundtrack for the movie “La Missión” with Benjamin Bratt, and recording and performing with Huey Lewis and The News, to name a few. He is also a member of The Recording Academy and a voting member of The Grammy Awards.
Music Connection: A multi-talented musician who not only sings, but plays and teaches several instruments, including bass guitar, percussion, and piano; writes and arranges music, conducts choirs and groups, and works in television, radio, and film.

MARILEE ECKERT

Professional: Marilee served as CEO for Conservation Corps North Bay and then for San Francisco Conservation Corps. For over 30 years she has been a leader in the national and statewide conservation corps movement. Her Bay Area career began as Executive Director of Oakland Youthworks, a job training program for youth. She currently serves on the Board of Marin Shakespeare Company, was a Trustee of the Buck Family Fund of the Marin Community Foundation for 9 years and has been a Board Member of the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership, Environmental Education Council of Marin, Fire Safe Marin, and Human Rights Roundtable on Hate Violence. 

Personal: Marilee and her spouse are longtime Marin County residents. They have 4 adult daughters and 2 grandchildren. 

Freight Connection: Marilee has been a Freight attendee and loyal advocate since the early 1980s. She has assisted several musical groups in preparation for their performances. She also occasionally assists photographers and videographers. 

Music Connection: Marilee has been playing drums for over 4 decades. She was a drum technician for many years setting up drum sets for performers and giving feedback during sound checks. She started out playing drum set for 10years, took a break after adopting her four daughters, then continued playing drum set, djembe, dunun, conga and powwow drums.

CALVIN ENG

Professional: Finance Director, Opera Parallèle (part-time) since November 2024. Served almost 2 decades as Chief Financial Officer of Cal Performances on the UC Berkeley campus, after a similar tenure in various finance roles in the commercial sector. 

Personal: UC Berkeley Alum. Former Board Member & Chair, Berkeley Public Schools Fund. Lives in North Berkeley with his wife, their dog Kuma, and 2 adult daughters who come and go. Is often found cycling in the Berkeley/Oakland hills and beyond. 

Freight Connection: Board member since 2017. Served as Interim Managing Director from 2021 – 2023, helping the Freight successfully reopen after the COVID-19 pandemic and transition to its current leadership model.

Music Connection: Arts patron with continually broadening tastes. Believes that the performing arts are vital to our society and help to build a more equitable and cohesive community. 

RENEE HAYES

Professional: Renee Hayeshas been involved in arts philanthropy for more than 30 years, including serving as the Associate Director of Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund (GFTA) and the co-chair of the City of Berkeley’s Civic Arts Commission. She is a nationally certified counselor and life coach specializing in artistic careers. 

Personal: A longtime Berkeley resident, she and her husband Joseph Hicks recently retired to Carrboro, North Carolin. Renee splits her time between Carrboro and Berkeley. 

Freight Connection: She has performed at the Freight numerous times with the whimsical a cappella soul group–The Irrationals as well as sSinger/songwriters Susan Anders, Linda Waterfall, and Don Arbor.
Music Connection: Renee has a diverse musical background: performing in choruses, pop bands and musical theatre as well as recording jingles, back-up vocals, two Irrationals, CD’s and her solo album “Renewable Soul.”

BARBARA HIGBIE

Professional: Composer, pianist, fiddler, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Has performed on more than 100 albums. Was the first female instrumentalist to compose and record for Windham Hill Records. Tours nationally and internationally. Grammy nominated and a Bammy Award winner. 

Personal: Lives in Albany. Married with a high school-aged daughter.
Freight Connection: Long-time and frequent performer on the Freight stage. Was a board member from 2005 to 2014. Rejoined the board in 2016.
Music Connection: See above.

ANAND KALRA

Professional: Anand has served social justice movements since 2004. He’s a professional librarian by training, and has applied theories and concepts of information science to professional work in public health policy for transgender people and people living with HIV, electoral organizing, civil disobedience/public protest, leadership development for underrepresented groups, narrative change work and digital storytelling, finance and operations consulting, and executive leadership in LGBT arts. He is also a certified end-of-life doula. 

Personal: Anand is proud to be a bisexual transgender man from an immigrant family. He is a brother, son, uncle, and great-uncle in his family of origin and chosen family. Anand grew up 30 miles east of the Mississippi River in rural Illinois (Meskwaki, Potawotami, Sac, Fox), spent seven years in Southeast Michigan (Anishinaabeg, Wyandot), and since 2012 has lived all around the East Bay (Ohlone- Lisjan, Chochenyo, Muwekma).
Freight Connection: Anand loves attending music and storytelling events at the Freight. You may have seen him in the lobby selling merch for Skip the Needle, Shelley Doty, or Cris Williamson. 

Music Connection: Anand is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, lyricist, and composer. He loves teaching music to people of all ages. Anand’s collaborative, Uncaged Library Arts, is best known for creating the docu-musical Octavia of Earth (Vols. 1 and 2), inspired by the life of author Octavia E. Butler.

ZAHAVAH LEVINE

Professional: Lawyer and former digital media exec focused on music. Helped develop the business and licensing models that pay artists for music

online, in roles at YouTube, Google, and Rhapsody. Recent focus is on voting rights and election law. 

Personal: Shares time between the Mission District in SF and Mill Valley with her husband Jeff and their sweet pooch. Serves on SFJAZZ’s digital strategy committee. Aspiring gardener. 

Freight Connection: Has cherished countless Freight shows over the past 34 years, starting at the “middle Freight.” Faves include Townes Van Zandt, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Mary Gauthier, Linda Tillery, DakhaBrakha, Marty Stuart, Evie Ladin and Iris Dement. 

Music Connection: Grew up going to the Philadelphia Folk Festival with her parents, and has been a passionate roots music fan ever since.

RUSSELL D. POLLOCK

Professional: I am retired after 40 years in private practice as an attorney representing clients in commercial, business and financial transactions. Aside from The Freight, I served on the board of Slide Ranch, a nonprofit environmental education center in West Marin. 

Personal: I live in Berkeley, am married to a gifted fine artist, and have two grown sons, one in the music industry in Los Angeles, and another in the Bay Area who is a medical professional and a jazz/rock drummer. Freight Connection: I served on the Freight board from 2010 through 2018, and rejoined the board in 2021. In addition to the shows it presents, the Freight has been a delightful source of music community through the jams and classes that it hosts. 

Music Connection: Singing and playing acoustic music with friends has been a passion since I was a kid. I have an undergrad degree in ethnomusicology, and performed in acoustic bands during high school and college. I try to play some guitar and mandolin every day, and enjoy playing music with friends I have made through the Freight.

MARCI RUBIN

Professional: Retired. Former Executive Director of the California Minority Counsel Program, a non-profit providing access & opportunity for attorneys of color for business & professional development, and former Deputy General Counsel at Wells Fargo. Prior board member: Equal Rights Advocates and

California Change Lawyers, and prior advisory committee member: The Institute for Inclusion in the Legal Profession. 

Personal: Lives in Albany. Has a son, daughter-in-law & grandson. Marci is a serious student of Nia – a dance, martial arts & wellness program – and is a certified Black Belt Nia teacher. 

Freight Connection: Freight attendee since it opened in 1968. Prior Freight Board member from 2000-2012, and Board Chair from 2006-2012. Rejoined the Board in 2022. 

Music Connection: Music lover, all genres. Folk music fan since my first Pete Seeger concert at 5 years old.

JONATHAN SIEGEL

Professional: Jonathan is a longtime employee-side labor and employment attorney with an emphasis on representing the victims of discrimination and harassment. He serves as the general counsel of the National Union of Healthcare Workers. 

Personal: Jonathan and his wife Aixa Gannon have lived in Oakland for thirty-five years, where they raised their two daughters. He enjoys the outdoors including fishing and hiking, cooking, reading and listening to music. He is proud to have served as the Board Chair of St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Oakland, which his daughters attended, and which has received national awards for its efforts towards diversity and inclusion.
Freight Connection: Jonathan has been going to shows at the Freight since the San Pablo days when he lived in Berkeley. He was excited to learn of the Freight’s initiatives around equity and inclusion and is happy to combine his enjoyment of board service and music. 

Music Connection: Jonathan initially learned his love of musical performance from his first-generation dad who taught him (and himself) about anyone from Pete Seeger to Art Tatum to Gilbert & Sullivan. He regrets he gave up the trumpet in high school and both admires and is jealous of the incredible talents on this Board.

SHARON J. WASHINGTON

Professional: Higher Education Strategic Leadership Consultant and a kitchen and bath designer. Former executive director of a national non-profit; primarily a career as a faculty member and administrator at colleges and universities in the midwest, northeast, southeast, and west. 

Personal: Lives in Oakland with wife Barbara. Enjoys dance, theatre, and travel. 

Freight Connection: Board member since 2019. Performed at “middle”  Freight in the 1990s and at the “new” Freight in the past decade. 

Music Connection: Music has always been a part of my life, with a mom who was a working musician – teacher and performer. In the 1980s and ‘90s I was part of a concert production collective in Columbus, OH, before becoming a touring musician with my sister. I currently sing in the Oakland Interfaith Community Choir.