Hema Sareen Mohan

Hema Sareen Mohan is a seasoned policy strategist and justice advocate with more than 20 years of experience in the public and nonprofit sectors. During her ten-year tenure in the California State Senate and the County of Santa Clara, Hema championed landmark initiatives, most notably the legislation that established Transitional Kindergarten (TK)—a transformative expansion of California’s public schools system that reshaped early childhood education.

Specializing in justice reform, Hema spent seven years at the Vera Institute of Justice in New York, where she directed a program to transform school policing and piloted the first-of-its kind alternative-to-detention program for immigrants in deportation proceedings. Her commitment to institutional stewardship is reflected in her extensive board service, including Stanford University’s Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, CalMatters, the Asian Art Museum, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula.

In addition to her policy leadership, Hema is a published poet and was most recently a finalist for San Mateo County Poet Laureate. She holds an MPA from Columbia University and a BA from Hunter College. A native of Queens, New York, she resides in the Bay Area with her husband and three children.