Meet the Staff

Dorinne Jordan joined the office of Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas in February 2009 as the Second Supervisorial District’s Budget Deputy. Since then, she has worked on a number of initiatives including the introduction of Freedom Schools; Second Saturdays, a capacity building training program for nonprofit organizations; and the Empowerment Congress Leadership Institute. In November 2016, she was appointed to the role of Chief Deputy. In this role, Ms. Jordan oversees office administration and operations including personnel and ensures organizational effectiveness and efficiency. Ms. Jordan also manages the recruitment and selection of Second District Commissioners and is the Second District’s representative on the Los Angeles County Audit Committee. Ms. Jordan also oversees budget policy development and implementation and ensures coordination and integration of the supervisors overall policy agenda.

Ms. Jordan has significant private and public financial and budgetary experience. She came to the Office of Supervisor Ridley-Thomas from Newhall Land, a private real estate developer, where she leant her expertise as the Senior Financial Analyst and managed financial models for land valued at $6 billion. Prior to working at Newhall Land, Ms. Jordan worked as a budget analyst for the County’s then-Chief Administrative Office, and was responsible for budget development and management for multiple County departments with budgets in excess of $400 million.

Ms. Jordan earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Barnard College at Columbia University and Master of Business Administration degree from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.

Karly Katona, Associate Chief Deputy, serves as the lead for environmental sustainability, transportation and community development. She provides policy and programmatic support on a range of issues and serves as the Office’s liaison to the Departments of Public Works, Parks and Recreation and Community Development Commission. She also interfaces on behalf of the Second District with the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Before joining Supervisor Ridley-Thomas’ staff, she served as a Deputy to Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke and was responsible for handling a range of policy issues and constituent affairs.

Prior to serving the Second District, she completed a Coro Fellowship in Los Angeles. During the year-long fellowship, she worked with a variety of businesses and organizations that impact public affairs in Los Angeles, including the American Diabetes Association, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the County of Los Angeles, and the public affairs firms Rose and Kindel and the MWW Group.

Ms. Katona graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California at Berkeley where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies and completed a minor in Public Policy. Ms. Katona has also earned a Master of Arts degree in Public Health from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Emily C. Williams, Senior Deputy for Human Services and Child Welfare is responsible for all matters related to social services including child welfare, senior services, and public benefits. Ms. Williams is also responsible for policy development in the areas of education, workforce development, and veterans. One of her key responsibilities is to articulate and implement the Supervisor’s multi-faceted approach to ending the commercial sexual exploitation of children.

Prior to joining the County, Ms. Williams enjoyed a fourteen-year career with the City of Los Angeles, working as a policy advisor with the Human Relations Commission, overseeing non-tactical training for the Los Angeles Fire Department, and serving as a Deputy Chief of Staff for former Los Angeles City Councilmember Tony Cardenas.

Ms. Williams earned her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Master of Public Policy degrees from UCLA.

Kimberly Jo, Senior Deputy for Budget Advocacy and Information Technology, is responsible for the advancement of budget and technology policy and initiatives that support economic development, environmental, health and human services, justice and public safety, transportation, and communication priorities.

Previously, Ms. Jo served as the Associate Chief Information Officer (CIO) in the area of Information Technology (IT) Strategic Planning and Governance for the County of Los Angeles’ CIO. The CIO serves as the in-house IT consultant providing strategy, coordination, and oversight of the County’s more than $1 billion dollar IT investment.

Before joining the CIO, Ms. Jo worked in the Chief Executive Office’s Strategic Planning and Special Projects division where she managed a newly-created $25 million dollar IT Innovation Fund. She also consulted for the economic development of Los Angeles’ industrial and commercial corridors supporting the formation and administration of Business Improvement Districts.

Active in her local community, Ms. Jo served as the Chairperson of the City of Burbank Planning Board for two terms in addition to the Art in Public Places Committee, the Sister City Committee, and on the board of various non-profits whose missions are to increase technology and innovation throughout Los Angeles. She is passionate about the issues that impact the future of municipalities and the converging challenges that fall in the intersection of government technology, public policy, and urban planning. Ms. Jo earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a minor in Public Policy from UCLA and her Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Southern California.

Dhakshike Wickrema, Assistant Senior Deputy for Homelessness and Mental Health, serves as the lead on policies, programs and advocacy related to homelessness and mental health. Most recently, she supported the Supervisor’s successful efforts to pass Measure H, a quarter-cent special sales tax, estimated to raise $355 million annually to fund strategies to prevent and end homelessness in Los Angeles County.

Prior to joining the Supervisor’s office, Ms. Wickrema worked at Shelter Partnership, a non-profit focused on public policy and advocacy related to homelessness and affordable housing. She has also worked for the World Bank’s Poverty Alleviation, Health Services and Social Development sectors. Ms. Wickrema earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Illinois Wesleyan University and her Masters degree in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she investigated international housing strategies.

Jethro Rothe-Kushel joined the Second District’s Team in 2011 as Deputy for Information Technology and New Media. He has worked on a number of initiatives during his tenure including interfacing with all major news media outlets, strategizing the County’s first hackathon, and producing over 1,000 documentaries, videos, and live streams. In March 2018, he was appointed to the role of Assistant Senior Deputy for Communications where he is responsible for communications in video, digital media, social media, and emerging technologies as well as interfacing with local and national news media.

Prior, he worked in investigative journalism for the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning long-form television series FRONTLINE for PBS, the Academy Awards for CBS, digital strategies for statewide campaigns, and commercial campaigns for Apple, AT&T, Comcast, Disney, and Microsoft. His work as a producer includes independent documentaries about Martin Luther King, Jr., religious rituals in Mexico, and homelessness in Los Angeles. His award-winning documentary, “Pharaoh’s Streets” about homelessness in Los Angeles was featured at a “Days of Dialogue” in 2004 convened by then State Assemblyman Mark Ridley-Thomas.

As the youngest vice president and member of the National Board of Directors elected by the Producers Guild of America, he has represented 8,700 producers of news, documentary, film, television, and new media. He serves on the Advisory Board for the Earl Jones Institute to create and support cultural diversity in the fields of film, television, and digital media. He has lectured at UCLA, USC, AFI, Dartmouth, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Medical Campus in Willowbrook. His writing, published by Pearson Publishing and translated into sixteen languages, enriches media textbooks at colleges and universities worldwide. His career also includes stints as a creative executive, where he was involved in the creative economy in Los Angeles shepherding creative television and film projects at CBS, Paramount, and Fox.

Mr. Rothe-Kushel graduated with honors from Dartmouth College where he studied Religion, Film & Media Studies, Computer Science, and Comparative Literature. At Dartmouth, he served as a Presidential Research Scholar for his work in Video and Information Technology. As a Dartmouth alumnus, he was awarded the “Young Alumni Award” for career and community achievement. He studied film, media, communications, and accounting at University of Barcelona, UCLA and CalArts. He has served as President for the Dartmouth Club of LA and Founding President of Dartmouth Alumni in Entertainment and Media Association. He subsequently led an organization of 49,000 ivy league media, entertainment, and communications professionals from Yale, Princeton, Brown, Penn, Columbia, Cornell, Stanford, and Harvard.

Fernando Ramirez is the Special Assistant/Policy Advisor in the Office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. Prior to his current position, he served as a legislative assistant in the California State Senate for then-Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas and proudly served as a Jesse Marvin Unruh Assembly Fellow in the California State Assembly in the office of then-Assemblymember Mark Ridley-Thomas.

He has served on the Board of Directors for La Casa de la Raza, a non-profit community center in Santa Barbara, the Isla Vista Recreation and Park District and the United States Student Association. He currently serves as the Board President of the statewide non-profit, the Chicano Latino Youth Leadership Project, and is a fellow with the Next Generation LGBTQ Leaders’ Initiative.

Mr. Ramirez earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Chicana/o Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara.