A Bay Area native, Alessandra Carter is driven by her passion to advocate for and support marginalized communities. She began her career in education and community services by working for organizations like the Level Playing Field Institute (S.M.A.S.H.) and Harlem Children’s Zone. She currently manages Diversity Equity and Inclusion strategy and initiatives at brightwheel, a SF-based education technology company.  Her professional role models include Daisaku Ikeda and bell hooks, as she is inspired by their respective ideas about race, equity, and education. Alessandra received a B.A. in Psychology from Spelman College and M.A. in International Education from the Steinhardt School at New York University. 

A dancer, choreographer, filmmaker, and public speaker, Amelia Rudolph is best known as the founder and director of the Oakland-based vertical dance company BANDALOOP. Her award winning work is centered in the unexpected use of gravity to make dances that inspire positive disorientation and wonder through site-responsive practices and community engagement that often includes a focus on social justice and environmental stewardship. Amelia holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in comparative religion from Swarthmore College and the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, has received over forty grants, fellowships and commissions, and in 2021 was awarded an honorary doctorate from 17, Institute for Critical Studies, Mexico City. 

Amy Hsieh is an experienced multi-sector collaborator with over 20 years of experience working in nonprofit development, most recently as the Fund Development Manager at Bay Area Community Health. Amy has worked for several nonprofits in the Bay Area and New York City, including Samaritan House and the Health Trust. She serves on the boards of the Eating Disorders Resource Center and the San Francisco Unified Lion’s Club. Amy has a background in Fine Arts, enjoys hiking and healthy living, and is committed to helping nonprofits in the Bay Area magnify their impact.  

Bill Casher was born in San Francisco, CA and raised in NorCal. He attended UC Santa Cruz, where he studied Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and was an active member of African American & Filipino Student community groups. Bill has been married for 15 years and has 3 kids spanning elementary through high school. Currently, he is an Associate Director of Laboratory Operations at Gilead Sciences, where he oversees a team of 40 staff that maintain analytical equipment in the labs. He is also launching a nonprofit organization (Black Men’s Alliance) focused on enabling Black Student success.

Britt Burkett entered her second season as the Generation Thrive Coordinator for the Warriors Community Foundation after working with the Golden State Warriors Community Relations department since 2019. Before her time with the Warriors, Britt worked for the 49ers Foundation and the San Francisco 49ers Community Relations department. Britt studied Sociology at Santa Clara University, where she graduated in 2012 and, in 2015, received her Master’s in Sport Management from the University of San Francisco. As a Bay Area native and product of the public education system, Britt is passionate about deepening her impact and philanthropic efforts in local communities and believes that all people deserve empowerment and access to unlock their greatest potential.

Corinne Neuman brings over twenty years of experience in non-profit finance to COTS along with a B.S. Degree in Business Administration with a concentration in accounting. Prior to joining COTS, Corinne spent ten years with Sonoma Land Trust and six years with the Community Foundation Sonoma County. She is passionate about advancing the work of Equity and Inclusion in the non-profit sector, socially responsible investments, and trust-based philanthropy. As a Sonoma County native, Corinne has a deep understanding of Sonoma County. Raising her kids and keeping them housed while completing her education as a young single-parent is her greatest accomplishment. When not investing her time in the non-profit community, she can usually be found working on her equestrian performance and horsemanship with her Quarter Horse, Miley.

Danielle Adams is a Program Manager for San Francisco Achievers. She has been working in education for 15 years. She enjoys helping assist students reach the goals they set out for themselves. Danielle is also a part-time Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach at Merritt College. Being able to connect her love for basketball and education is rewarding, and she looks forward to her continued professional growth in both sectors.

David Rose is a successful entrepreneur with experience in all phases of business creation, organizational growth, and management with demonstrated talent in business development and relationship management. He is the Co-Founder of Aduro Biotech, which went public in 2015 (NASD:ADRO) and is now Chinook Therapeutics (KDNY). David is also General Partner of KG Partners LP, a real estate investment, property management, and development company where he has been responsible for investment, debt, and liquidation decisions. He has experience in the non-profit sector, where he was Executive Director of Small Schools for Equity. David is looking forward to transitioning out of the private sector to address challenges that face the Bay Area and the world!

Emily Luepker has spent the last five years at Google working at the intersection of technology and access to information. She led global product and policy marketing for news as well as efforts to help people engage with elections around the world through Google products. Her early days at Google were focused on supporting news organizations online and as a founding member of the Google News Initiative, Google’s umbrella effort to help journalism thrive in the digital age. Prior to her work at Google, Emily worked at a number of social impact nonprofits, cultural institutions, and as a U.S. Senate intern. She graduated from Yale University, where she focused on how political structures impact economic development outcomes. 

Frances Sawyer leads Pleiades Strategy, where she advises mission-oriented organizations on strategic planning, policy design, program management, and partnership development.  An interdisciplinary thinker, Sawyer loves early stage ventures and projects designed to pull strategic levers that shift the way large, global systems function, thus creating better, more equitable outcomes for people and the planet. Sawyer formerly served as policy advisor to Tom Steyer during his presidential primary campaign and as Deputy Director of External Affairs to CA Governor Jerry Brown. She has also served as chief of staff to the Internet Archive and the healthcare start-up, Detect. Sawyer earned her masters at the Yale School of the Environment. Her favorite hobby is picnicking.

Gina Benson Warren is a purpose driven community leader with a love of partnerships, research, and data in all its forms. As a consultant at Custom Research Inc., she managed research for a consumer driven Fortune 500 client base. As a VP in Corporate Development for Viacom, Inc. she drove user-focused profitability through both internal strategic planning and focused external partnerships. Gina moved to San Francisco with her husband 22 years ago and is currently at the tail end of raising a family of three. During this time, she has built finance, audit, strategic planning, programming and leadership experience across a number of community organizations who share the mission of Educational and Economic Equity.  

Inés C. Barbosa is the Assistant Dean of Advising, Career & Global Learning at Mills College. Inés has dedicated her career to supporting historically marginalized individuals on their journey to post-secondary success. Inés was a founding staff member at First Graduate, a San Francisco college success organization. In her role as an Assistant Dean in the Division of Student Life, Inés leads a team that creates programs which empower students to build culturally sustaining networks, for life-long achievement and positive contribution to society. Inés is the proud daughter of Mexican immigrants and a first generation college graduate. She holds a BA in International Relations and an MA in Sociology focused on stratification & inequality from Stanford University. 

Jessica Fain is the Director of Planning at the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), a California state coastal management agency. She oversees BCDC’s planning for resilient environments, equitable communities, and the future of our shoreline, with a core focus on adapting to rising sea level. Prior joining BCDC in 2018, Ms. Fain worked in planning and coastal resiliency in New York City at the New York City Department of City Planning and the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay. She has taught as part-time faculty at The New School and has been a guest lecturer at various schools. Ms. Fain holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Joy Massey is a Program Manager at TransForm, a non-profit addressing climate change and social inequity through transportation and housing solutions. Her work prioritizes the development and implementation of clean mobility programs for Black and Brown communities in the Bay Area. Joy has over 10 years of professional experience in public health program development, the leadership of project management processes, data analysis, the creation of strategic partnerships, and the facilitation of community decision-making efforts. She also is a founding board member of Supportive Housing Land Alliance. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Public Health from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.   

Kevin Peña is a Strategic Partnerships Manager at Headsets.com. He’s been with Headsets.com for 15 years, focusing on learning and growing to become a better leader. His first role was shipping boxes to Customers and he’s progressed to leading shipping operations in Nashville, TN, to contact center operations in North America and now leads a business development team focused on creating partnerships between phone system providers and contact center providers. Kevin is a loyal husband and proud father. He’s lived in Mexico, South Carolina, Tennessee, and is now back in the Bay Area to raise his kids near family.

Dr. Landon Hill serves as the Director of Program Effectiveness at the East Oakland Youth Development Center (EOYDC), located in his hometown of Oakland, California. In his role, Dr. Hill manages all aspects of EOYDC programming, which serves students across the kindergarten through undergraduate spectrum. He is uniquely positioned to help ensure that programmatic and organizational goals are aligned, practical, and best support the needs of the students from the community at large. In addition to his work with EOYDC, he teaches first year doctoral students in the Graduate College of Education at San Francisco State University and is involved in other community efforts with various organizations, including Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

At Hirsch Philanthropy Partners, Laurel Severt works with philanthropists, nonprofits, and community leaders to connect philanthropic vision and goals with real community needs. She drives social change by developing impactful program strategies and managing comprehensive grant portfolios across a range of complex issues, including urban green space and democracy. As a 21/64 Certified Philanthropic Advisor, Laurel also works with the next generation of philanthropists to realize bold ambitions. She previously served as Program Coordinator for International Specialized Programs at the University of Washington, where she designed and managed study abroad programs for international students. Laurel holds a B.A. in International Studies and Economics from the University of Washington.

Lily Langlois is a seasoned urban planner with over fifteen years of experience in project management, land use policy, and community engagement. Currently, she is a Principal Planner with the San Francisco Planning Department. In this role, Lily is responsible for managing a team of planners and urban designers that establish land use policy, lead community engagement, and convene inter-agency teams to develop comprehensive community plans. She holds a B.A. from UCLA and a Masters in Urban Planning from Columbia University.

Lynn Fine is a native San Franciscan with over fifteen years of experience building, leading, and scaling social impact programs. She currently leads LinkedIn’s $20 million media grant program and manages commercial relationships with large nonprofits, advising them on leveraging the platform to achieve their missions. Before LinkedIn, Lynn worked in the nonprofit sector in the Bay Area and lived and worked in ten countries, including six years working in public policy in Argentina. She received a master’s in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and graduated Summa Cum Laude from UCLA. In her free time, you can find her practicing yoga and in Pt. Reyes exploring the West Marin coastline.

Mathew Larson serves as an Innovation Strategist for the City & County of San Francisco’s Office of Civic Innovation (OCI), where he helps manage OCI’s public-private partnership programs. Before joining OCI, Mathew worked for five years with the nonprofit organization Coro Northern California. He has also interned for the ACLU of California’s Center for Advocacy & Policy, and U.S. Congresswoman Anna Eshoo in her Washington, D.C. office. Mathew earned his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California, Davis.

Minerva Sarellano is married with 3 children ages 2, 3, and 16. She is originally from Zacatecas, Mexico, and immigrated to the Eastside of San Jose when she was 5 years old. She graduated from San Jose State with a bachelor’s degree in Child and Adolescent development and is a member of Sigma Alpha Zeta. Minerva works for FIRST 5 Santa Clara County. In her role as Director of Community Learning, she gets to coach and support a team on capacity building and transfer of learning. Minerva has been in the nonprofit world for over 15 years and has held roles that provided direct services to oversee county-wide initiatives that promoted early education and family support.  

Mira Rao is a User Experience Lead at Salesforce, helping teams better understand the problems they’re trying to solve and the people they’re trying to serve. She loves helping researchers ask the right questions and design research that is strategic, collaborative, inclusive, and tells a compelling story. A lifelong researcher and professionally curious person, over the years Mira has led research across many different industries and contexts, from NASA to veterinary clinics to Dropbox. Before moving into the tech & software space, her work focused on health care and health policy.

Oliver Gould is a Director at Third Sector, a nonprofit organization that transforms public systems to address pressing social challenges including poverty, homelessness, and mental illness. He is an experienced social impact professional passionate about ending the addiction epidemic within the next two decades. 

Peter Byrne works for the City and County of San Francisco, where he pioneered short-term rental regulatory practices, and most recently worked in Outbreak Management as part of the City’s COVID-19 response.

Robin Dutton-Cookston is a nonprofit communications and fundraising professional who helps organizations share stories and deliver messages in support of their mission and values. Robin currently works as the Director of Development Communications at the University of San Francisco and has previously worked for many other Bay Area nonprofits and education-focused organizations. Outside of work, Robin enjoys reading and writing for fun. She obsessively collects sea glass at Ocean Beach and believes you can never have too many plants. She recently rediscovered a love of rollerblading during the pandemic. Robin lives in San Francisco with her family.  

Rozeena Jhinnu is currently a Human Services Analyst II with the Collaborative Communities Outcomes (CCO) Branch in San Mateo County, in which she manages the Children’s Fund program and supports special projects such as monitoring contracts, data collection, and assisting with RFPs. In addition, Rozeena is currently providing support for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. Prior to joining CCO, she worked in the Early Care & Education sector with the San Francisco Office of Early Care & Education (OECE) and Alameda County Early Care & Education program. Rozeena holds a BA in Political Science from UC Davis and an MA in Education Policy from Columbia University. In her free time, Rozeena enjoys hiking with her dogs, trying new restaurants, and traveling.

Dr. Talia Moore is an Assistant Professor and the Undergraduate Criminology Program Coordinator at Holy Names University. In addition, she is a business owner, self-published author and poet, adjunct professor and forensic researcher specializing in criminal justice, law enforcement culture and community and client engagement. Dr. Moore received her B.A. in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley, with a concentration in Psychology and a minor in African American Studies, earned her M.A. in Psychology from Golden Gate University, and her Ed.D. in Counseling Psychology and Forensics from Argosy University American School of Professional Psychology.

Tamara Walker has over 24 years of experience in workforce development. She is currently a Program Analyst for the City of Oakland’s Economic and Workforce Development Department and oversees business engagement and services. Prior to the City of Oakland, Ms. Walker worked as a Youth Program Manager for the City of Richmond’s Employment & Training Department and Fund Developer for the Richmond Police Activities League (RPAL). Through her tenure in Richmond, she authored several grants that total over $20M to support youth and adult workforce development programs. She is currently the secretary of the San Francisco/Bay Area Chapter of the National Forum for Black Public Administrators.

Trent Ostrander is a skilled craftsman and automotive technician. He is the founder of Citizen Motors, which is an automotive restoration company based in San Francisco. Trent is passionate about the transition to electric transportation and seeing a community of people join together for the health of our world.

As a paralegal and refugee rights advocate at East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, Yuko Matsumoto focuses on winning asylum for Mexican and Central American unaccompanied minors and Brazilian LGBTQIA+ migrants. Their personal stories continue to motivate her to work towards advancing the rights of migrants, especially of those who are queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Yuko completed her MA in Latin American Studies at UC Berkeley and her BA in Liberal Arts at Soka University of America. The Bay Area is now her home, where she is determined to make a difference.