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Leadership

Our organization is led by a diverse cross-section of dedicated individuals with backgrounds in non-profit, education, business and more.

Leadership Team

Board of Directors

Emeritus Board Members

Former directors who continue to advise GLIDE.

  • Rev. Charles F. CordesRetired Pastor and former District Superintendent of the United Methodist Church
  • Dr. Phyllis KaplanProfessor emeritus of Education, California State University at Hayward
  • Donald TamakiPartner, Minami Tamaki LLP
  • Jerry L. ValleryCEO, GlobalCom Capital Corporation

Our Co-Founders

Reverend Cecil Williams smiling, in a cream pinstriped jacket and a bright blue shirt

Reverend Cecil Williams

Reverend Cecil Williams, Co-Founder and Minister of Liberation of GLIDE, spent over six decades expanding the boundaries of activism, radical inclusion, and unconditional love in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. He marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Alabama, championed LGBTQ rights long before they became mainstream causes, and grew GLIDE’s congregation and social services into a movement serving thousands of the city’s most marginalized residents. Together with Co-Founder Janice Mirikitani, he built GLIDE into the social justice movement, spiritual community, and social services provider it remains today.

Janice Mirikitani smiling, resting her chin on her hands

Janice Mirikitani

Janice Mirikitani, Co-Founder and Founding President of the Glide Foundation, was a poet, teacher, and activist whose lifelong commitment to the most marginalized transformed tens of thousands of lives in San Francisco and beyond. As a Japanese American Sansei woman who survived wartime incarceration, sexual abuse, and poverty, she channeled those experiences into fierce advocacy, founding and shaping GLIDE’s programs for women, families, and people experiencing homelessness, hunger, and recovery. Together with Co-Founder Reverend Cecil Williams — her husband and partner in the work — she built GLIDE into a nationally recognized fusion of social justice activism, social services, and inclusive spiritual community.

Janice Mirikitani and Cecil Williams Collection at the San Francisco Public Library

The reading room of the San Francisco History Center at the Main Library

The GLIDE Historical Records, which include the papers of Janice Mirikitani and Cecil Williams, are archived at the San Francisco Public Library’s San Francisco History Collection (Collection Number: SFH 744). The collection contains 45 cartons (48 cubic feet) of documents dating from 1945 to 2022.

To view materials, you must request them at least 48 hours in advance by emailing sfhistory@sflpl.org. Browse the full list of items in the collection at the Online Archive of California.

When you receive confirmation that your materials are ready, you will be able to view them at the Main Branch of the Public Library (100 Larkin Street) in the sixth floor San Francisco History Center. Check in at the desk when you arrive. You will be able photograph materials, but you can only take notes using a pencil. No pens or other writing materials may be used while viewing archival documents.

You will only be allowed to view them at the desks in the San Francisco History Center during their regular hours, because archival materials cannot be checked out. Read the San Francisco History Center’s visitor information.