Jennifer Fearing, President

Jennifer Fearing opened Fearless Advocacy -- a Sacramento-based advocacy firm specializing in advancing the policy agendas of mission-based and cause-oriented organizations -- in November 2014, after serving for six years as the lead state advocate for a major national nonprofit advocacy organization. Jennifer has helped pursue more than one hundred and fifty positive state and local legislative and regulatory outcomes and has led - with creativity and tenacity - many high-profile successes. She maintains deep relationships and broad networks with key decisionmakers in the legislature, the executive branch and with key stakeholders. Jennifer has led efforts to recruit and activate citizen advocates, developed a new legislative caucus, prepared multiple voter scorecards, produced myriad lobby days, and helped with the formation of new Senate and Assembly select committees on the nonprofit sector.

Recognized by many as the “go-to” lobbyist for nonprofits, Jennifer authored a chapter on nonprofit lobbying is included in a new textbook published by Kendall-Hunt entitled A Practitioner’s Guide to Lobbying and Advocacy in California. She also has penned numerous opinion editorials published by many California newspapers and frequently engages local, state and national media (earned and editorial). Jennifer has been named multiple times by Capitol Weekly as one of the 100 most powerful people in the California capitol community. In 2019, she was honored with a Golden Bear Legislative Award for “Public Interest Lobbyist of the Year.”

Jennifer serves on the board of Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, a leading environmental justice organization based in the San Joaquin and Eastern Coachella Valleys. Jennifer has degrees from UC Davis and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. She is a regular guest speaker at several leading universities.

Jeanie Ward-Waller, Director of Transportation Advocacy

Jeanie Ward-Waller joined Fearless Advocacy in 2024 as the first Director of Transportation Advocacy, bringing expertise from top leadership roles in government and nonprofit advocacy. For six years, Jeanie was a visible change agent inside Caltrans, the largest state department of transportation in the country. She oversaw planning and sustainable transportation programs with a multi-billion dollar budget and over 600 staff as Caltrans’ Deputy Director for Planning and Modal Programs. She also led development and growth of Caltrans’ Sustainability Program and established the first-ever Office of Race and Equity. Jeanie was awarded the Rosa Parks Diversity Leadership Award from the Sacramento Chapter of WTS for her championship of racial and social equity at Caltrans. 

Prior to her time in state government, Jeanie served as a highly effective advocate and coalition builder in Sacramento as the policy director for the California Bicycle Coalition and for the Safe Routes National Partnership. She has led broad and diverse coalitions of organizations to major policy wins, collaborating across sectors with transportation, housing, equity, and environmental groups to help create and increase funding to state programs that fight climate change through sustainable development. Jeanie was awarded a Streetsie award in 2016 for Tireless Statewide Advocacy from Streetsblog California, a leading sustainable transportation and livable communities publication. 

Jeanie began her career as a structural engineer designing high-rise and large-scale building structures for Boston-based LeMessurier Consultants. She serves as board president for Civic Thread, a local nonprofit that promotes active transportation and mobility justice in Sacramento, and is a licensed professional engineer in California. Jeanie earned her bachelor’s degree from Brown University and holds two master’s degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Cambridge.