Ron Milam
DIRECTOR
Ron Milam joined Smart Growth California in 2014 as the coordinator of the Los Angeles Funders’ Collaborative and since fall of 2017, has directed Smart Growth California. Ron brings 17 years of leadership experience in the nonprofit sector, having served over 150 sustainability-oriented organizations as a consultant.
Ron is skilled at developing leadership, building stronger teams, improving organizational effectiveness, and facilitating collaborative change. He brings an understanding of issues related to transportation, land use, climate, housing, water, the environment and racial equity. He served as the founding executive director of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. Under Ron’s leadership, the organization grew from an idea into a 1,000 member organization.
Ron studied planning, public policy, and management at the University of Oregon, and has a Masters in Organization Development from Pepperdine University, where he wrote his thesis on managing collaborative change efforts in Southern California.
Diana Williams
Program Manager
Diana Williams joined Smart Growth California in 2023 as Program Manager. Based in Sacramento, Diana brings a background in journalism, nonprofit leadership and philanthropy.
Previously, Diana led funder engagement with federal and state policymakers as public policy director at The Funders’ Network (TFN) in Washington, DC. As executive director of Urban Ecology, an Oakland-based community design center, Diana led a team offering pro-bono planning services to communities at risk of gentrification and displacement. In other roles, Diana served as communications director for the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California, a grant maker focused on sustainable communities and a beat reporter for several Bay Area newspapers.
Raised in Atlanta and Queens, Diana studied history at Hamilton College and received her Master in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
When she’s not biking or hiking with her husband and three teenaged kids, Diana is working with her midtown Sacramento neighborhood to advocate for more affordable housing and safer streets.