With a strong commitment to the advancement of individuals with disabilities, Dorene has served on the boards of directors of many organizations that are equally dedicated. Currently, in addition to BORP’s board, Dorene is a member of Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund’s (DREDF) board and immediate past president of Community Resources for Independent Living’s (CRIL) board. She was one of the founding board members of Disability Rights Advocates.
Representing the U.S. Department of Transportation, Dorene has been a commissioner on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission since 1995 and on the Bay Area Toll Authority since its inception in 1998. She is the first person with disabilities to serve on the Commission. Dorene is an independent alternative dispute resolution professional. For many years she was a mediator for the California Special Education Hearing Office, where she had previously served as a special education hearing officer. During the drafting and passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act she represented Congressman Norman Y. Mineta, then chair of the Surface Transportation Subcommittee of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee, addressing disability, education and civil rights issues.
A graduate of Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, Dorene received her law degree from UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). Dorene loves pickleball, kayaking, handcycling and swimming and credits BORP virtual fitness for saving her my mind during the pandemic .She has 2 dogs and a husband. She likes to to travel and is pretty heavily extroverted.
