ACLU of Texas members who have paid their dues within the past 15 months are eligible to vote for the organization's board of directors. The board of directors represents the interests of the state's members and manages the activities of the ACLU of Texas and the ACLU Foundation of Texas.
How the Candidates Were Nominated
Our by-laws specify two methods for nominating candidates for director. Candidates may be nominated by the Nominating Committee, or may be nominated by petition with the signatures of a minimum of 500 current members of the ACLU of Texas. We received no petitions. There are eight candidates for eight open seats on the board.
Who Can Vote
The by-laws of the ACLU of Texas call for the directors to be elected by our general membership for a four-year term. If you are ineligible to vote because you have not renewed your membership but would like to do so, please visit our membership page to renew. Only non tax-deductible membership dues payable to the ACLU of Texas, not donations to the ACLU Foundation of Texas, make you eligible to vote.
Instructions for Voting
The ACLU of Texas is committed to a diverse board and one that is representative of the various regions of Texas.
- This year's candidates are listed below in alphabetical order.
- You cannot cast more than one vote for any candidate.
- If you share a joint membership with another member, each of you may vote for eight candidates.
Online votes must be cast no later than 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, July 12. You will need your membership number to vote, which can be found on your membership card or by calling Tonya Bradley at (713) 942-8146 (x1040).
2019 Board Candidate Bios
Ricardo de Anda
Ricardo is a lifelong resident of Laredo. He was one of the first Latino graduates of Stanford Law School. He is a civil rights attorney who has been practicing for over 40 years and currently has his own firm focusing on trial litigation involving commercial disputes, civil rights, school segregation and immigrants rights in defense of families in need, and legal consultation services for private and public clients. He is a committed, lifelong fighter for underserved communities and immigrants, and has successfully represented asylum seekers as well as confronted racist militias operating in Texas in court.
He has worked with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), and the Webb County Heritage Foundation, as well as served on the Board of Directors of the Texas Rural Legal Aid. He actively participates in state and local politics.
Marilyn Eiland
Marilyn was previously a school speech pathologist in Baytown who sold real estate in the summer to supplement her income, until she fell in love with the industry. She has now been active in the real estate profession since 1972, starting as a training director, then agent, general manager and ultimately becoming the president and partner in that agency. She is now an owner and partner in her own franchised real estate firm.
She served as a Director for both the Houston Association of Realtors and the Texas Association of Realtors and was the 1990 President of the Texas Chapter of CRB.
Marilyn’s community service, volunteerism and fundraising has involved The Sunshine Kids Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Rebuild Houston and the Houston Food Bank, along with the San Jacinto Education Foundation and others.
Robin M. Green
Robin M. Green has over forty-five years of trial experience and is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He began as an Assistant District Attorney in Amarillo, Potter County, Texas. He practiced in Amarillo for sixteen years before moving to Lubbock where he has practiced in several firms and as a solo practitioner.
Robin previously served on the Lubbock Boys & Girls Club Board. He currently serves on the board of the South Plains Food Bank and is a board member and treasurer of the Lubbock League of Women Voters. He is a volunteer mentor/tutor at a local East Lubbock elementary school. Robin is a member of the Lubbock Rotary Club and also a member of the 100 Black Men of West Texas.
Gilberto Hinojosa
Born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, Gilberto attended public schools and was the first in his family to graduate from college. He received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. Returning to Texas, he became the managing attorney for the Brownsville office of Texas Rural Legal Aid.
Governor Ann Richards appointed Gilberto to the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, overseeing the Texas prison and parole system. He has served his fellow Texans as a county, district court, and court of appeals judge in both appointed and elected capacities. Gilberto is currently in private practice in Brownsville.
Gilberto is currently serving as the Texas Democratic Party Chair (since 2012).
Dian Cuellar Ruud
Dian Cuellar Ruud is a third-generation Texan of Mexican heritage, raised in the Texas Panhandle. Her career in social work has spanned over 30 years in health, education, and mental health. Dian’s community service, political, and professional involvement has included the Texas Democratic Party (former State Democratic Executive Committee Woman for SD 24) and the National Association of Social Workers (former State Chair of Women’s Issues Committee). She is currently employed at UT Austin Counseling and Mental Health Center as a Clinical Social Worker.
Dian has a strong advocacy interest in reproductive justice having served on Planned Parenthood of Central Texas Board (2004-2006) and Planned Parenthood of West Texas Advisory Board (2000-2002). She has been a member of ACLU since 1990 and is currently completing an unexpired term on the ACLU of Texas Board.
Graciela I. Sanchez
Graciela follows in the footsteps of her mother and abuelitas, strong women of color cultural workers and activists of San Antonio. As a Buena gente of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center, a community-based cultural arts/social justice organization, Graciela works to develop programs that culturally ground people of color, queer people and women, and survivors of cultural genocide. She challenges notions of arts and politics as separate work environments, leading the vision and operations of Esperanza as a community center, art exhibition and performance space, policy change hub, and network facilitator for social justice, environmental, and community-based arts. Facilitating conversations on colonization, genocide, power, violence, racism, sexism and homo/transphobia, Graciela works to develop and curate programs and organize gente to challenge oppressive laws in San Antonio, the U.S. and the world.
Alisa L. Simmons
Alisa is in her third term as president of the Arlington Branch of the NAACP and sits on the executive committee of the Texas State Conference of NAACP. She is ardently committed to working to eliminate racial discrimination and to ensuring the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights for the marginalized and disenfranchised in Arlington.
She has served on the City of Arlington Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee, the board of the Chisholm Trail Chapter of the American Red Cross and the Parenting Center Board of Directors. She was a longtime member of the YMCA of Arlington Board of Directors.
Alisa is currently a business owner of a promotional products, printing and apparel distributorship; a company she acquired after an 18-year public relations career as Marketing and Communications manager for the Tarrant County 9-1-1 District.
Manpreet K. Singh
Manpreet is Director and Trustee of the Sikh Coalition. She is a practicing attorney who has been recognized by the Houston Young Lawyers Association and a recipient of the State Bar of Texas Diversity Champion Award in 2018 for her work in support of the Sikh and South Asian community in the greater Houston area.
In 2008 and 2014, Manpreet testified in front of the Texas Board of Education to include Sikhism in school textbooks and continued to be a fierce advocate of Sikh education by teaching Sikhism in classrooms across Texas. Nationally, she has traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby for passage of the Safe Schools Act and to advocate for religious tolerance in the U.S. In recent years, she has completed the Harvard Leadership Program. Manpreet was born and raised in Houston.
