Our Staff
Norma López
Executive Director
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Norma was raised in a strong union household; Labor has always been an important part of Norma’s life. Beginning with her grandfathers who represented Farmer Workers, Bus and Taxi Drivers in Mexico, to walking pick-lines with her father a 28-year Steel Workers Local 515. She is committed to improve the lives of working men and women, their families, and all communities. Empowering workers to have the courage to face the new and ever-changing challenges and the obstacles that labor faces every day. Developing, implementing, and executing plans that educate, organize, and mobilize union members, to build a culture where union members see the importance of investing in their communities.
The experience and knowledge of Organized Labor in coalition building, organizing/political campaigns, and community outreach, that Norma brings to Labor Community Services will continue Armando Olivas legacy.
In her 29 years working in the Labor Movement, she has worked for SEIU, Teamsters and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor under the leadership of Martin Ludlow, Maria Elena Durazo and Miguel Contreras. As the former Mobilization Director for the LA Fed Norma assisted the over 850,000 union members in Los Angeles County in all labor disputes, working in collaborations with LCS.
Norma’s experience with organized labor, elected official and community-based organizations has prepared her with the skills necessary to continue the work of Labor Community Services and grow the organization to continue to provide the essential services for our most vulnerable communities that are socioeconomically disadvantaged, underserved, employment or underemployed, the elderly and our Veterans’.
Taro O’Sullivan
Assistant Director
Taro O’Sullivan, who once served as the Executive Director for Labor Community Services, has over 20 years of experience in the non-profit and labor sector as a political advocate, diversity trainer, columnist and author.
After working on the Gore/Lieberman campaign, Taro took his three children and left the United States for Canada where he remained for nearly ten years. There, he was the executive director of the Service Employees International Union, Canada. He was also the Executive Director of ASIA, the Asian Society for the Intervention of AIDS in Vancouver, British Columbia. He served on the Board of Directors of the Asian Heritage Month Society, the Japanese Canadian Citizens Association; the Asian Writer’s Workshop and served on the city of Vancouver Mayor’s Special Advisory Committee on Diversity Issues.
Taro was the first Executive Director for the State Commission on Asian Affairs in Oregon for Governor John Kitzhaber. In Oregon, he served on the Secretary of Education’s Underrepresented and Minority Student Achievement Advisory Team, President’s Board of Visitors for Minority Affairs, Oregon State University, Board of Directors, Immigrant Refugee Center of Oregon (IRCO), Multicultural HIV-AIDS Alliance of Oregon, Multicultural/Multiethnic Education Task Force, Portland Public Schools, Asian Pacific American Network Organization, Oregon Health Division Office of Minority Health Multicultural Health Board, HIV-AIDS Care Consortium of Oregon, Hate Crimes Commission and others.
Marcos Juan
Programs Manager
As our Programs Manager, Marcos is in charge of overseeing day-to-day operations within the office and managing event logistics for our food distributions. Working closely with our Executive Director and Pantry Coordinator, Marcos will ensure that we are able to continuously work with our community partners are addressing the needs of our families who rely on the aid from LCS.
A former staff member to Congressmember Karen Bass and paralegal working extensively on workers’ compensation and personal injury, Marcos appreciates the quality of service needed in direct services to clients and with the community at large. Marcos has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and a Minor in Finance from California State University, Northridge..
Pilar Arrellano
Pantry Coordinator
Pilar has been an integral part of the LCS family, as she has been on staff since January 1999. Born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico, Pilar is responsible for managing the LCS food pantry. This includes keeping inventory of food stock, ordering food, tracking food distribution resources and assisting with food distribution efforts during emergency relief events, labor strikes and layoffs. On her free time, Pilar enjoys doing yard work with her plants at home and is involved in various volunteer efforts to help others in her community.
Ulisses Sanchez
Communications Director
As Communication Director, Ulisses leads our outreach efforts in the community and abroad. With an extensive resume stretching 20 years in local and state government along with private enterprise, Ulisses has been involved in many large-scale political and marketing campaigns. After serving under Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s administration, Ulisses served in the California State Legislature as Communications Director and working on a multitude of public policy efforts dealing with IT Infrastructure, Transportation and Housing Development in Southern California. His efforts played a crucial role in the reconstruction of the Paramount Blvd Overpass along the 60 Freeway in Montebello, developing and executing multi-governmental community engagement efforts that were a part of the one of the quickest completed projects in the history of California. In 2011, Ulisses left the state legislature and launched his own communications and outreach firm, Centro Strategies, where he has worked with various elected officials, labor unions, businesses and non-profit organizations on their media and community outreach strategies. Recent achievements include the successful entitlement process for the Weingart Center’s new large-scale, two-tower, transitional and supportive housing facility located in the Downtown Los Angeles Skid Row area (the largest of the Prop HHH-funded developments in the City of Los Angeles) and the successful Western Region mobilization effort for the ratification of the 2018 UPS-Teamsters Contract which is one of the largest union-led contracts in the history of organized labor in the United States.
Ulisses has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from UCLA and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science and Engineering from CalTech.