Team
Kyla Christoffersen Powell
President and CEO
Before taking the helm at Civil Justice Association of California in May 2019, Kyla was Senior Legal Counsel at a top-ten Fortune 500 company for product development, specializing in data privacy, big data analytics, and identity verification. At the same company, she had an earlier role as counsel to the California legislative and local external affairs teams.
Kyla was also previously a Policy Advocate for the California Chamber of Commerce, with a focus on legal reform, taxation, and labor and employment.
Early in her career, she defended private and public sector employers in court on labor and employment matters.
Kyla earned her BA from the University of New Mexico and her law degree from Pepperdine University School of Law.
Jaime Huff
Vice President and Counsel, Public Policy
Jaime Huff previously served in roles as policy advocate and political director at Southern California Edison and Edison International. She was a staffer in both the California legislature and on Capitol Hill. She is admitted to the California Bar and earned her law degree from Baylor University and her BA from American University.
Fred J. Hiestand
General Counsel
Fred J. Hiestand, CJAC General Counsel, manages the Appellate Program. Mr. Hiestand has nearly 30 years of appellate experience. He participates in oral arguments before the state Supreme Court in cases where CJAC has filed an amicus brief and is consulted by appellate attorneys preparing cases for argument.
Carlos Gutierrez
Political Director
Carlos Gutierrez serves as CJAC’s Political Director. With over 10 years of political experience in both the public and private sectors, Carlos has built a name for himself as a successful campaign and communication strategist.
In 2013 he co-founded Battleground Campaigns LLC that focused on electing candidates at the local and state levels, ultimately obtaining a 90% success rate for his clients.
Susan Loscotoff
Finance and Operations Manager
Susan Loscotoff is CJAC’s Finance and Operations Manager. Susan was previously our Legislative Aide coordinating our legislative department’s activities.
Prior to joining CJAC, Susan worked as a Compliance Coordinator for a High-Tech company in San Francisco working directly with state and local agencies nationwide to ensure the company’s freedom to operate.
In addition, she has over five years of experience as an Executive Assistant at Culbreth Schroeder Law Firm in Sacramento managing logistics, expense reporting, payables, and overall office management.
Jesse Vallejo
Legislative and Communications Coordinator
Jesse was previously a Public Policy intern at CJAC where he conducted in depth research for The California Project. He is a recent graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and has over four years of grassroots campaign experience.
Jamie Price
Event and Membership Consultant
Ms. Price has been composing, directing and executing events for various organizations for 15 plus years. Her experience spans the private sector as well as non-profit fundraising and corporate event planning. She has been responsible for a wide variety of events including large-scale conferences, executive level meetings and political fundraisers. She is a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a BS in Journalism.