Eric comes to San Diego Pride with a breadth of leadership experience and perspective. Prior to joining San Diego LGBT Pride, Eric Heinritz was the Executive Director at Milwaukee Pride after being a long –time volunteer and former board member. He has prior executive leadership experience from Milwaukee World Festival, Inc. where he worked from 2001-2014. Eric has applied his knowledge of finance, operations and project management to increase efficiency, create organizational structure and improve overall festival performance. Eric holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Management from Cardinal Stritch University. Eric is a proud father of 3-year old twin girls.
Through his work with marketing, media, guest lectures, and serving on a multitude of campaigns, boards, and committees Fernando has been a consistent advocate ensuring the struggles of the LGBT community are ever visible.
With a strong background in accounting and administrative roles, Jose brings his skills to San Diego LGBT Pride to continue his passion towards community involvement and the pursuit of equality.
Bob Leyh
Interim Volunteer Manager
A longtime member of the San Diego LGBT community and Pride family, Bob is thrilled to be stepping in as Interim Volunteer Manager to lead Pride\'s Volunteer team. Come volunteer with Pride and let me show you the wonderful world of San Diego LGBT Pride.
Gardenia Partridge
Entertainment Manager
Through her commitment to the nonprofit sector and a background in entertainment, Gardenia strives to bring a vibrant community of global artists together through music to celebrate and support LGBTQIA
San Diego LGBT Pride Leadership Team:
Connor Maddocks
Festival Advisor
Connor is a former member of the San Diego Pride Board of Directors and has been an active volunteer for 11 years, now donating his time as the Pride Festival Advisor. He has been doing advocacy and civil rights work in the San Diego Transgender community for the past 12 years.
Joseph Smith
Medical Director
Joe is a registered nurse with the San Diego County Sheriff\'s Department. He joined the military as a corpsman with the Marine Corps in 2004 where he practiced tactical medicine and care-under-fire as a Fleet Marine Force Warfare Specialist. He\'s been volunteering for 16 years and continues to do so with San Diego Pride since 2012.
Chad Ryan
Parade Manager
Chad has been a dedicated volunteer with San Diego Pride since 2008. He has worked in various departments and in different roles at both the Pride Festival and Parade.
Larry M. Sanchez
Festival Front End Manager
Trust the heart of a volunteer.
Amanda Nelson
Parade Setup Coordinator
Struck by the high expense of quality marketing resources for nonprofits, Amanda founded Jupiter Production House in 2014 to offer affordable social media, video production and event planning services to nonprofits. She has over 10 years’ experience in social media and public relations.
Edward Condreay Jr
Festival Entrance Coordinator
While serving in the Marine Corps for nine years, his experience in leadership and organizational skills allowed him to adapt to many different areas and situations.
Vanessa Dubois
Photography Coordinator
I moved to San Diego 14 years ago from France and started volunteering for San Diego Pride as a photographer the following year. Photography is a passion, so capturing the essence of Pride is an honor and it is always a pleasure to connect with staff, volunteers and the entire Pride family.
Jennifer Restle advocates and educates on issues of disability and bisexuality, which sprang from personal experience and began long before she knew the words to describe any of it.
Naomi Velez-Mack
Parade Check-in Coordinator
Throughout her work with the San Diego Unified School District and volunteering with various other organizations, Naomi has been consistent in her desire to help others and ensure that everyone is fully comfortable in their own life.
We have but one life to live; why live it unhappily.
Daniel Horan
Festival Manager
Dan has been an activist for progressive causes for the past nine years, and he has been a member of the core festival staff since 2015. A recent graduate of UCSD, he hopes to continue his work with Pride far into the future.
Melissa is currently involved with Young Professionals Council-Executive Committee, San Diego Pride, San Diego Trans Pride and SheFest as their accessibility coordinator, making sure all community events and meetings are accessible through American Sign Language.
Tom Urbanski
Parade Finish Line Manager
Happily keeping the end of every year\'s parade finish line orderly for over a decade
