Leslie Elion, J.D.

A graduate of the California Western School of Law, Leslie Elion has been involved with Deaf Community Services of San Diego, Inc. (DCS) since the 1990s when she first joined the board and was appointed interim Executive Director for 8 months. After taking a break for several years, she was elected Chair of the Board of Trustees. In 2008 she stepped down to take the reins as the full-time Executive Director.

Leslie received her B.A. from Hamilton College in her home state of New York. Following graduation she joined the U.S. Peace Corps as a Deaf Rehabilitation Volunteer in the Philippines. Once she returned stateside, she worked in county government, private industry and financial publishing for a few years. She relocated to San Diego in 1991 to attend law school, becoming the school’s first Deaf student. While at Cal Western she wrote an art book, Chuck Baird: 35 Plates, for DawnSignPress. She has served on the Consumer Advisory Board of the National Captioning Institute and was appointed by the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) to co-chair the joint NAD-RID Code of Ethics Review Committee, which revised and expanded the code of conduct that governs sign language interpreters certified by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf.

Leslie’s work on the Code of Ethics Review Committee has been recognized by the NAD with the Chief Executive Officer’s Award for Exceptional Service on Behalf of the Association (2006) and by the NAD and the RID with the Outstanding Services to Interpreting Award “in recognition of significant dedication to and involvement in improving the quality of interpreting in the United States” (2005).

Currently Leslie serves on the Mayor’s Committee on Disability and is a consultant to the Moores Cancer Center University of California/San Diego Cancer Education Program for the Deaf community.

As Executive Director, Leslie encourages teamwork, creative thinking and problem-solving, inclusiveness, ambitious goal-setting, and open dialogue. Laughter, kindness, and honesty are hallmarks of DCS, which is like a family. Nonprofit work is challenging yet deeply rewarding. “Chop wood, carry water” is her motto. We are all in this together, and everyone is expected to pitch in, including the boss who the staff has kiddingly dubbed ‘El Queso Grande’ (the Big Cheese). Next time you see Leslie, feel free to call her ‘EQG.’ It makes her feel grandly important, if slightly cheesy.