Biographies

Sande George
Sande George, a partner in the firm of Stefan/George Associates, first came to the Legislature in 1974 as a legislative intern for then Senate Majority Leader George Moscone. In 1980, Ms. George became an associate in the lobbying firm of Winner/Wagner & Associates with a strong background in planning and environmental issues.

Ms George joined George R. Steffes, Inc. in 1987, one of the top five lobbying firms in California. She represented over sixteen clients including the California Chapter of the American Planning Association, Hughes Electronics, Bechtel, IBM, Johnson and Johnson, Exxon Corporation, 3M, Raytheon, The Resilient Floor Covering Institute, and Matsushita Corporation on issues ranging from planning, the environment, taxes, labor management and the internet to packaging and energy.

Ms. George started her own lobbying firm in 2000, joining her husband in Stefan/George Associates, a governmental advocacy and association management firm. Since starting the lobbying arm of the firm, Ms. George has represented Carnival Cruise Lines, Pillsbury/Diageo, the City of Redlands, California Preservation Association, and California Main Street, in addition to her current clients.

Tom Stefan
Prior to forming Stefan/George Associates in 1987, Tom Stefan worked as managing editor, news director and on-camera reporter for ten California television stations, reporting on capitol-related news stories and acting as the Capitol News Bureau for these stations. He determined which Capitol, legislative and administrative events were newsworthy, assigned camera crews to cover the events, supervised the editing of news stories sent to stations over satellite, and worked closely with legislators, and administrative press secretaries to ensure their issues were heard in local districts. Prior to his media experience, Tom managed the Sacramento office for Lockheed Air Terminal, a subsidiary of Lockheed Corporation.

Tom specializes in a broad range of association management services, including event services, public relations consultation, awards, board services, financial management, election oversight, membership services and recruitment, newsletter and publication assistance, and conference management.

Francine Farrell
Ms. Farrell joined Stefan/George Associates in March 1999. In addition to working with Ms. George as her legislative assistant, Ms. Farrell is the full charge bookkeeper for Stefan/George Associates. Having acquired extensive knowledge in all aspects of business accounting, she is responsible for managing the financial accounts maintained by the firm for the California Chapter of the American Planning Association, the Association of Environmental Professionals, and the Bay Area Business Travel Association, as well as for Stefan/George Associates. She also handles all of the travel arrangements for the firm.

Previously, Francine worked for twelve years as a legislative assistant for the lobbying firm of George R. Steffes, Inc., one of the top five lobbying firms in California. Ms. Farrell has also worked in the travel industry in various positions, including accounting assistant, airport agent, and station manager at both the Sacramento International and San Jose International airports.

Laura Murphy
Laura joined Stefan/George Associates in 1991, and performs a wide range of services for our association management accounts. Laura responds to all phone calls and e-mail requests regarding membership questions and Board services for the California Chapter of the American Planning Association, Association of Environmental Professionals, and the California Paint Council.

In addition, Ms. Murphy coordinates all association events including annual conferences, award programs, elections and workshops. She is responsible for handling all advertisements and billings for the California Chapter of the American Planning Association and Association of Environmental Professionals State newsletters and websites. She also maintains the databases for membership, advertisers and events.

Elaine Sledge
Elaine Sledge joined the firm in February 2005. In addition to her role as a legislative assistant, Elaine handles a number of the firm's association management account services.

Elaine comes to us with extensive experience in information technology and medical policy, having worked for several years as a technical analyst in the health insurance industry. Prior to that, Elaine worked for the lobbying firm of Winner/Wagner & Associates in a legislative analyst role, as well as performing a variety of association management services.