Team
Kyla Christoffersen Powell
President and CEO
Kyla was previously Senior Legal Counsel and Assistant Vice President at AT&T, focusing on product development, data privacy, and corporate contracts. Prior to that, she was counsel to AT&T’s California legislative and local external affairs teams. Kyla was also a Policy Advocate for the California Chamber of Commerce on legal reform, taxation, and labor and employment issues. Early in her career, she defended private and public sector employers in court on labor and employment matters.
Kyla earned her BA in Political Science and English from the University of New Mexico and her law degree from Pepperdine University School of Law. She is admitted to the Bars of California and District of Columbia.
Jaime Huff
Vice President and Counsel, Public Policy
Jaime previously served in roles as a legislative advocate and then political director for Southern California Edison in Sacramento. She was a manager of federal affairs for Edison International in Washington, DC. Prior to that, she was a chief of staff in the California legislature and a legislative correspondent on Capitol Hill.
Jaime is admitted to the California Bar and earned her law degree from Baylor University and her BA in Political Science from American University.
Fred J. Hiestand
General Counsel
Fred 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. Fred has served as counsel to the California Legislature’s Joint Committee on Tort Liability, the Assembly’s Select Committee on Medical Malpractice, and to former California Governor Jerry Brown on medical liability.
He is a graduate of the University of California’s Boalt Hall School of Law and admitted to the California Bar.
Susan Loscotoff
Director, Finance and Operations
Susan was previously a legislative aide for CJAC and parlayed this and her diverse background in compliance and finance to take on her current role. She worked as a compliance coordinator in the high-tech space and garnered experience in office management and financial operations with a Sacramento law firm. Susan also interned for the State Legislature’s Senate Caucus Communications Department.
She has a BA in Criticism and Public Communications from Sacramento State.
Jesse Vallejo
Manager, Legislative and Public Affairs
Jesse started out at CJAC as a legislative aide and then took on an expanded role as legislative and communications coordinator before being promoted to his current role. Jesse also has significant experience conducting campaign research for California Project and, before coming to CJAC, political consulting firm Garnett Lake. He has also worked on several state legislative campaigns.
He is a graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a BA in political science.
Barbara Souza
Membership and Events Manager
Barbara brings 25 years of experience working for nonprofit trade associations in the financial services and healthcare industries. She is a specialist in member services, marketing, and events management. Her broad range of expertise includes membership database implementation, production of large conferences, and membership retention and recruitment.
She is a graduate of University of Oregon with a BS in Public Health Education. She has a certification in Specialized Studies Marketing from UC Davis Extension and is a member of the CA Society of Association Executives.
Jim Anderson
Consultant, Political Affairs
Jim previously served as Political Director for the Personal Insurance Federation of California and chief of staff and campaign manager for Senator, now Congressman, Juan Vargas. He was also a partner with public affairs firm Elevate, LLC. Over the course of his career, Jim has managed multiple campaigns for state legislative and local government races. He has also co-managed two campaigns for United States Congress.