Our Team:
With decades of political experience across California, our team is ready to help you advance your cause.
Doug Linney, President
Doug has served the environmental community of California for over 35 years as an advocate, political strategist, coalition builder, and fundraiser. He likes to say he lives at the intersection of politics and the environment - serving each with equal passion.
In 1996, he founded The Next Generation (TNG) to advance the environmental agenda by offering campaign services and political strategy to nonprofit organizations, environmental coalitions, and progressive candidates. Since then he has been a consultant to over 200 political campaigns at all levels of government.
His environmental service includes past or present membership on the boards of directors for the California League of Conservation Voters, Friends of the River, Coalition for Clean Air, the Planning and Conservation League, and the East Bay Municipal Utility District.
He has also been a serial social entrepreneur, founding new non-profit organizations including Activate America, ZEV2030, EcoLogical Solutions, Center for Voter Engagement, ecoVenture, Green Watchdog, and the Headwaters Sanctuary Project. dlinney@nextgeneration.org
Buffy Martin-Tarbox, Operations Director
Buffy is a communications, media relations and advocacy professional with more than 25 years’ experience. She has worked with TNG in three previous campaign cycles, guiding numerous candidates and ballot initiatives to success. Buffy has been the lead on more than six dozen San Francisco Bay Area political races handling media, direct mail, communications and overall campaign strategy.
Prior to returning to TNG, Buffy served as the media spokesperson and Communications Manager for the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA generating hundreds of news stories, including broadcast television, in print, radio and on-line in the San Francisco Bay Area, nationally and internationally highlighting the work of the organization. Buffy also led the 2013-2014 successful battle to defeat the Golden State Warriors proposed development project at Pier 30-32 in San Francisco by engaging community members, political leaders and the media. In her capacity as the American Cancer Society’s Government Relations Director in Nevada, Buffy passed 23 new state laws supporting cancer prevention, detection and research, including being the driving force for the passage of the 2006 state wide ballot initiative to ban smoking in most public places in Nevada.
Buffy attended the University of Nevada, Reno majoring in Art History and Anthropology. She has also earned certificates in Medieval Studies from the University of Cambridge, England. buffy@nextgeneration.org
Donald Lathbury, Campaigns Director
Donald joined TNG as our Communications Director in October 2017. Previously, he served as Congressman John Garamendi’s Communications Director for eight years (including time when he served as California’s Lieutenant Governor), where he helped coordinate the Congressman’s message and priorities. Prior to that, Donald served as Deputy Communications Director in the offices of Speaker Fabian Nunez and Speaker Karen Bass. He serves as the Co-Chair of the Political Action Committee of the Alameda County Democratic Party Central Committee, as a California Democratic Party Delegate, and as an ExCom Member and the Political Representative for the Sierra Club Northern Alameda County Group. He is the former president of East Bay Young Democrats and served as the Chair of the Berkeley Transportation Commission.
Donald attended the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in Political Science. While there, he was Editor-in-Chief of the Berkeley Political Review, Berkeley’s only non-partisan political magazine. donald@nextgeneration.org
Nidia Mikkonen, Art Director
Nidia works closely with our staff to design original, fresh, graphically striking campaign logos, mail pieces, and campaign literature for our clients, often on very tight deadlines.
Nidia has worked with Doug Linney and TNG for over 20 years. She has also done design work for The California Bar Association, Alameda County Community Food Bank, Clean Water Action, Fred Finch Youth Center, the Labor Project for Working Families, and the California Child Care Resources and Referral Network.
For examples of Nidia’s work, please visit www.mikkodesign.net.
Kathy Neal, Client Relations Manager
Kathy Neal, a veteran of working in, managing, and directing political campaigns since her college days, has over 35 years in business management, more than 25 years of public sector involvement, and 15 years serving in in statewide and local government regulatory and policy-making positions. She is recognized for multi-faceted strategic thinking, organizational abilities, and creative communications and messaging.
Kathy represented the California State Assembly on both the CA Integrated Waste Management Board and State Bar Board of Governors, was a gubernatorial appointee to the CA Community Colleges Board of Governors and a Port of Oakland Commissioner. She has been elected to and an officer of the Alameda County Democratic Party, President of the Oakland Community Fund and has been on numerous non-profit and community service boards.
A published author, Kathy earned a BA in Political Science from the California State University at Los Angeles; a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of San Francisco; and two Business Management Certificates from Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business. kathy@nextgeneration.org
Elias Rappaport, Communications Director
Elias joined TNG as our Campaign Associate in March 2022. Using his background in persuasive writing, Elias creates compelling communications and digital strategy that gets clients noticed and grows their profiles.
Previously Elias served as Communications Director for State Representative Brianna Henries, where he handled constituent and press relations, drafting written testimony, and conducting legislative research.
Elias graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020, majoring in Intellectual History. While there he served as Senior Editor of Under The Button, the satirical wing of The Daily Pennsylvanian. Getting his start on political campaigns in 2018, Elias interned for Bob Casey’s Senate re-election campaign helping him win re-election by 13 points in a purple state. elias@nextgeneration.org