Best Startup
At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top California based Director operating in the Non Profit space. If you think a Director is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Denelle Dixon
CEO and Executive Director of Stellar Development Foundation
Denelle Dixon is the CEO and Executive Director of the Stellar Development Foundation, a non-profit organization using blockchain to unlock the world’s economic potential by making money more fluid, markets more open, and people more empowered. Before joining Stellar, Dixon served as COO of Mozilla, one of the most successful mission-driven open-source organizations. During her tenure at Mozilla, she led the organization’s business, revenue and policy teams including the ongoing fight for Net Neutrality and the global effort to ensure that people can control their personal data. She also pushed Mozilla to understand how to partner with commercial entities while staying true to its core mission of openness, innovation, and opportunity on the web. A lawyer by trade, Denelle previously served as a general counsel and legal advisor in private equity and technology. Throughout her career, Denelle has been a vocal advocate for net neutrality, encryption, the disclosure of vulnerabilities by governments, and greater user choice and control.
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About Stellar Development Foundation: Stellar Development Foundation supports the development and growth of Stellar, a blockchain network that connects financial infrastructure.
Andrea Lo
Sr. Director of Investments of Stellar Development Foundation
Profile from 2013: Andrea believes that regardless of a person’s educational background or socio-economic status, success can be achieved by those who think big, work hard, and persevere. She hopes that Piggybackr can inspire youth to learn those skills early on.
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About Stellar Development Foundation: Stellar Development Foundation supports the development and growth of Stellar, a blockchain network that connects financial infrastructure.
Lisa Nestor
Director of Partnerships of Stellar Development Foundation
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About Stellar Development Foundation, Stellar Development Foundation: Stellar Development Foundation supports the development and growth of Stellar, a blockchain network that connects financial infrastructure.
Wendell Wierenga
Member of Board of Directors of SRI International
Wendell Wierenga, Ph.D., joined SRI’s Board of Directors in 2014. Previously, he was executive vice president of research and development (R&D) of Santarus, Inc. from 2011 to 2014, executive vice president of R&D at Ambit Biosciences from 2007-2011, and executive vice president at Neurocrine Biosciences, which he joined in 2003. From 2000 to 2003, Wierenga was chief executive officer of Syrrx, Inc., a private biotech company specializing in high-throughput, structure-based drug design (sold to Takeda in 2004/5). Prior to joining Syrrx, from 1997 to 2000, he was senior vice president of worldwide pharmaceutical sciences, technologies, and development at Parke-Davis/Warner Lambert (now Pfizer). From 1991-1997, Wierenga was senior vice president of drug discovery and preclinical development at Parke Davis. Concurrent with his tenure there, he was vice president of Medtech Ventures, a Warner Lambert investment fund. Prior to Parke-Davis, Wierenga was at Upjohn Pharmaceuticals for 16 years, where his last position was executive director of discovery research. Wierenga led and/or participated in the R&D of more than 70 Investigational New Drug (IND) disclosures, more than 15 New Drug Applications (NDAs), and 16 marketed products, including Lipitor®, Neurontin®, Lyrica®, and Uceris®. Wierenga serves on the following public company boards: Xenoport, Inc., Cytokinetics, Inc., Apricus Biosiences, Inc., Concert Pharmaceuticals, and Ocera Therapeutics, Inc. He also serves on the scientific advisory boards of Ferring Research Institute, aTyr Pharma, and Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, and is an ongoing advisor to WibiWorks Pharmaceuticals and the Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan. He earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University.
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About : SRI International is a nonprofit, independent research center serving government and industry.
Karen Myers
Lab Director Artificial Intelligence Center of SRI International
Karen Myers is Director of SRI International’s Artificial Intelligence Center and an SRI Fellow. Dr. Myers’ research interests include autonomy, multi-agent systems, automated planning and scheduling, intelligent assistants, and privacy. She has led the development of several AI technologies that have been successfully transitioned into operational use in areas that span robotics, text understanding, collaboration tools, task management, and end-user automation. Myers has a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford, a B.Sc. in mathematics and computer science from the University of Toronto, and a degree in piano performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music.
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About SRI International: SRI International is a nonprofit, independent research center serving government and industry.
Paul Chang
Director of Design of SRI International
Paul Chang, Ph.D., is Director of Design at SRI International and has over two decades of experience in the areas of product management, design strategy and user-experience design. At SRI, Paul provides user experience guidance to startups and large corporations for technology-intensive products. Previously, Paul served as Chief Product Officer at Otto Radio, a personalized (AI and human-curated) podcast and news service, recently acquired by Ximalaya FM of China. Prior to joining SRI, he consulted for corporate and startup clients including DataRobot, Immuta, Medidata, SolarWinds and Volkswagen.
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About SRI International: SRI International is a nonprofit, independent research center serving government and industry.
Reenita Hora
Director, Marketing & Communications of SRI International
Reenita Malhotra Hora is SRI International’s Director of Marketing & Communications. She works directly with the SRI executives to communicate SRI’s strategic goals and objectives to drive storytelling around next generation technologies. Before joining SRI, Reenita was VP of Content for Otto Radio/Ximalaya FM, and prior to that she was an anchor, editor and producer for Bloomberg Radio. She was an award-winning producer for RTHK Radio 3 in Hong Kong and has also produced several broadcasts for the BBC. Over the course of her career, she has contributed to CNN, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the South China Morning Post, the Hindu and has authored seven books (fiction and non-fiction). She is a regular speaker on content, marketing and communications strategies for tech, health care and financial companies, and also for digital literary platforms. Her background as an Ayurveda Clinician and coach has led her to teach clinical programs at the University of California schools, California Pacific Medical Center and Hong Kong University’s Li Ka Shing School of Medicine. An entrepreneur at heart, she founded, built and subsequently sold Ayoma, an Ayurvedic self-care product line and the Ayoma LifeSpa, a premier Ayurvedic wellness spa. Reenita holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Economy from Williams College and a Master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Hong Kong.
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About SRI International: SRI International is a nonprofit, independent research center serving government and industry.
David White
National Executive Director & Chief Negotiator of SAG AFTRA
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About SAG AFTRA, SAG-AFTRA Health Plan, Ulu Ventures: SAG-AFTRA is an American labor union that aims to secure the rights of media professionals.
Tim Sommer
Senior Partnerships Director of DonorsChoose
Tim Sommer is the Senior Partnerships Director at DonorsChoose.
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About DonorsChoose: DonorsChoose is a nonprofit classroom funding site for public school teachers.
Genein Letford
Member of the Board of Directors of DonorsChoose
Genein Letford is an elementary music teacher from Canoga Park, CA and believes that every child, despite socioeconomic status, deserves a quality education that includes the arts. Genein began her teaching career as a third grade teacher of low-income English language learners. It was there she discovered the power of using music and dance to help teach vocabulary and academic concepts to her students. Genein is now the music director at the same elementary school and has created a dynamic award-winning music curriculum that not only teaches music standards but also incorporates corresponding math, science, language arts and social studies concepts. In 2009, Letford began the Music For All: Instrument Scholarship Fund, which awarded low-income high achieving students with instruments for their ongoing music education. In 2010, Genein was named the Great American Teacher of the Year and was a recipient of the Los Angeles Music Center’s Bravo Arts Educator Award. In 2014, she was honored with the ‘Innovation in Education’ Award from the Valley Economic Alliance for her dynamic arts program and has traveled to Japan and South Korea during the summer of 2014 as part of the prestigious Hilton Worldwide Teacher Trek program. Genein was honored with the Charter School Teacher of the Year Hart Vision Award in March of 2015. Letford received her bachelor degree from UCLA in psychology and completed her master thesis, ‘Integration With Integrity: The Importance of Keeping Music in the Elementary Classroom’ at California State University, Northridge in 2010. Due to her extensive knowledge in arts integration, she was recently appointed as a lecturer of the ‘Interdisciplinary Arts Education’ masters course at CSUN’s Eisner College of Education. She has done numerous professional presentations on this topic and remains focused on bringing arts education to underserved communities.
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About : DonorsChoose is a nonprofit classroom funding site for public school teachers.
Jennifer Friedenbach
Executive Director of Coalition on Homelessness
Jennifer Friedenbach is the Executive Director of Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco. She has also worked as Executive Director at Hunger and Homeless Action Coalition of San Mateo County for over five years.
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About Coalition on Homelessness: We shine a light on poverty and injustice in San Francisco.
Vandana Pant
Senior Director Design & Innovation of Sutter Health
Vandana has broad-ranging experience with social sector practice in the US and India and specializes in envisioning and implementing sustainable models for organizational growth. Prior to joining the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, she led strategic development at The Health Trust, a Silicon Valley-based operating foundation advancing solutions for health equity and wellness. Vandana has also consulted on strategic planning, program design and board development with several Bay Area organizations and continues to serve in an advisory role to build scale and capacity for nonprofit organizations. At PAMF’s Druker Center for Innovation, Vandana leads strategic initiatives to support deployment of the Center’s work including partnerships, program modeling & operations, communications and a student internship program. Vandana has a graduate degree in Mass Communications from the Mass Communications Research Center in New Delhi and an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Delhi University.
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About Sutter Health: Sutter Health is a non-profit organization operating a network of hospitals and physicians in Northern California.
Veena Goel
Medical Director, Digital Patient Experience of Sutter Health
Goel is the Medical Director for Digital Patient Experience at Sutter Health, where she is responsible for providing clinical and change management leadership to garner patient engagement through digital health solutions. This includes My Health Online, the digital patient portal through which over 1.4 million Sutter patients to access their personal health records and activities as well as communicate with their providers. Over the past few years she has contributed significantly to the medical literature on her work using analytics and big data to improve bedside monitor alarm fatigue, and has also provided clinical informatics expertise and consultancy during local and international electronic health record implementations. Clinically, she practices as a pediatric hospitalist at PAMF, caring for newborns and hospitalized children, while helping patients and their families navigate the healthcare system.
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About Sutter Health: Sutter Health is a non-profit organization operating a network of hospitals and physicians in Northern California.
Steven Lane
Clinical Informatics Director, Privacy, Information Security & Interoperability of Sutter Health
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About Stanford University School of Medicine, Sutter Health, UCSF health: Sutter Health is a non-profit organization operating a network of hospitals and physicians in Northern California.
Raffi Krikorian
Managing Director of Emerson Collective
Raffi Krikorian was, until August 2014, Twitter’s VP of Engineering in charge of the Platform – the core infrastructure of Twitter. During his tenure, Platform Engineering was primarily responsible for the scalability, efficiency, reliability, and performance of Twitter, as well as the developer productivity of all software engineers at Twitter. He lead the Twitter’s transition from a Ruby on Rails web site, to a JVM-powered services oriented architecture which currently serves about 250 million monthly active users who send about 500 million tweets daily. He also created and used to chair Twitter’s Architecture Group, the team of senior software engineers in charge of Twitter’s overall technology portfolio as well as ensuring that software got written to the same consistent standards across its entire global development team.
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About Emerson Collective, WattzOn: Emerson Collective strengthens schools, secures rights for immigrants, and restores relationship between humanity and nature.
Stacey Rubin
Managing Director, Strategy of Emerson Collective
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About Emerson Collective: Emerson Collective strengthens schools, secures rights for immigrants, and restores relationship between humanity and nature.
Brad Powell
Managing Director, Investments of Emerson Collective
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About Emerson Collective: Emerson Collective strengthens schools, secures rights for immigrants, and restores relationship between humanity and nature.
Sarah A. Pinto Peyronel
Partner (Senior Director) of Emerson Collective
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About Emerson Collective: Emerson Collective strengthens schools, secures rights for immigrants, and restores relationship between humanity and nature.
Amy Low
Managing Director, Communications of Emerson Collective
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About Emerson Collective: Emerson Collective strengthens schools, secures rights for immigrants, and restores relationship between humanity and nature.
Ariane Bertrand
Director, Thriving Communities of Emerson Collective
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About Emerson Collective: Emerson Collective strengthens schools, secures rights for immigrants, and restores relationship between humanity and nature.
Ross Jensen
Senior Director, Strategy & Innovation of Emerson Collective
Senior Director, Strategy & Innovation at Emerson Collective.
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About Emerson Collective: Emerson Collective strengthens schools, secures rights for immigrants, and restores relationship between humanity and nature.
Anne Marie Burgoyne
Managing Director, Social Innovation of Emerson Collective
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About Emerson Collective: Emerson Collective strengthens schools, secures rights for immigrants, and restores relationship between humanity and nature.
Jonny Dorsey
Director, Innovation and Policy of Emerson Collective
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About Emerson Collective: Emerson Collective strengthens schools, secures rights for immigrants, and restores relationship between humanity and nature.
Arianne Nichol
Director, Special Events of Emerson Collective
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About Emerson Collective: Emerson Collective strengthens schools, secures rights for immigrants, and restores relationship between humanity and nature.
Kavitha Sreeharsha
Senior Director, Immigration Portfolio of Emerson Collective
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About Emerson Collective: Emerson Collective strengthens schools, secures rights for immigrants, and restores relationship between humanity and nature.
Konstantin Guericke
Member of the Board of Directors of StartX (Stanford-StartX Fund)
Konstantin Guericke is a Partner at Earlybird. He is based in Silicon Valley. Konstantin is Co – Founder of LinkedIn, where he has led marketing activities from launch to first six million members and profitability as Vice President of Marketing. Previously, he has been CEO of jaxtr (social communications start-up, over ten million registered users, purchased by SabSe Technologies). Konstantin has long-time entrepreneurial experience as founder of successful startups and he has helped established companies towards increased growth. Currently, he is Board member of several startups and Mentor of student entrepreneurs at Stanford University. Konstantin holds a B.S. and M.S. in Engineering from Stanford University.
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About : StartX is an educational non-profit that helps Stanford’s top entrepreneurs.
Dan Ha
Co-Founder, Sr. Managing Director of StartX (Stanford-StartX Fund)
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About StartX (Stanford-StartX Fund): StartX is an educational non-profit that helps Stanford’s top entrepreneurs.
Danielle Cass
Silicon Valley Initiative Director of Amnesty International
Danielle Cass is Director of Amnesty International’s new Silicon Valley Initiative, which aims to connect with the technology sector to transform the human rights movement. She explores how technology can expand Amnesty’s reach and impact, how to mitigate the risks of technologies that pose a human rights issue, and how to leverage technologies to protect human rights and human rights defenders. Danielle joined Amnesty International in October 2017 from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Global Development Lab, where she established USAID’s first-ever Silicon Valley presence in January 2015 to engage the technology, innovation and investment communities in global development.
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About Amnesty International: Amnesty International is a global charity organization of people fighting injustice and promoting human rights.
Elsayed Mohamed
Middle East Regional Director of IFAW
Elsayed’s focus as Director IFAW Middle East has been on training government officials who are responsible for implementing CITES convention agreements. In cooperation with IFAW’s Wildlife Trade Programme staff, he organizes Prevention of Illegal Wildlife Trade (Wildlife Law Enforcement) training in many Arab-speaking countries and works to increase capacity for fighting the trade within the region. In addition to working with government officials on illegal trade, Elsayed has implemented Animal Action Education programmes for school children and conservation campaigns for the public in Middle Eastern and North African countries, increasing awareness of key IFAW wildlife and habitat concerns to the community at large. Under Elsayed’s leadership a “Think Twice” campaign, which educates tourists regarding the damage caused by trade in wildlife souvenirs, has also been organised within the region. As a member of the United Arab Emirates national CITES team, Elsayed was responsible for issuing CITES permits and certificates, attending national CITES meetings and preparing United Arab Emirates Humane Handling of Marine Mammals in Captivity Guidelines. Internationally, Elsayed has been a regular attendee at CITES Convention of the Parties for many years
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About IFAW: IFAW is a non-profit organization that saves individual animals, animal populations, and habitats all over the world.
Ellen Levy
Managing Director of Silicon Valley Connect
Ellen Levy is the Managing Director of Silicon Valley Connect.
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About Arizona State University, Arizona State University, Birdeye, Broadway Angels, Silicon Valley Connect: Silicon Valley Connect creates programs, services and initiatives meant to build bridges between Silicon Valley and the rest of the world.
Brooke Stafford-Brizard
Director of Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
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About Chan Zuckerberg Initiative: Chan Zuckerberg Initiative supports community-driven solutions to accelerate progress in science, education, and justice.
Addison Nuding
Managing Director of WellDone International
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About WellDone International: WellDone International employs design, technology, and advocacy to empower communities that lack access to water and sanitation
Shingo Yatsui
Managing Director of BTIG
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About BTIG: BTIG provides institutional brokerage and fund services worldwide.
Keith Berwick
Founding Executive Director, Henry Crown Fellowship Program of The Aspen Institute
Keith Berwick is founding Executive Director of the Henry Crown Fellowship Program and the inaugural recipient of the Keith Berwick Chair on Leadership at the Aspen Institute. In this capacity, he serves as a consultant to the Henry Crown Fellowship, the Aspen Global Leadership Network and other programs of the Aspen Institute. Keith is also an Emmy Award-winning television broadcaster, and principal of Berwick Communications, Inc., a newspaper and communication consulting company. Keith has taught at various universities, including UCLA and the Claremont Graduate School. He has been associate editor of Pacific Historical Review and editor of New Management magazine. Among his published works are The American Revolutionary Experience, 1776-1976 and The Federal Age, 1789-1829: America in the Process of Becoming. He is currently at work on The Search for an American Hero, a book on the American presidency.
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About The Aspen Institute: The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC.
Terry Chay
Director, Features Engineering of Wikimedia Foundation
Terry started editing Wikipedia in 2006. At the end of February 2012, Terry became Director of Features Engineering at Wikimedia Foundation. Terry’s role is to be administrative overhead at the Foundation. If he is not doing his job, it probably means the others are doing theirs.
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About Wikimedia Foundation: Wikimedia Foundation encourages the development and distribution of free educational content with projects such as Wikipedia.
Zachary McCune
Director of Brand of Wikimedia Foundation
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About Wikimedia Foundation: Wikimedia Foundation encourages the development and distribution of free educational content with projects such as Wikipedia.
Ann Friedman
Member of the Board of Directors of Conservation International
Ann Friedman is Member of the Board of Directors at Conservation International.
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About : Conservation International is a financially accountable and transparent organization that empowers societies to responsibly care for nature.
Ann Friedman
Member of the Board of Directors of Conservation International
Ann Friedman is Member of the Board of Directors at Conservation International.
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About : Conservation International is a financially accountable and transparent organization that empowers societies to responsibly care for nature.
Brian Behlendorf
Executive Director of the Hyperledger Project of Linux Foundation
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About Hyperledger, Linux Foundation, Linux Foundation: The Linux Foundation builds sustainable ecosystems around open source projects to accelerate technology development and industry adoption.
Jim Zemlin
Executive Director of Linux Foundation
Jim’s career spans three of the largest technology trends to rise over the last decade: mobile computing, cloud computing and open source software. Today, as executive director of The Linux Foundation, he uses this experience to accelerate innovation in technology through the use of open source and Linux. At The Linux Foundation, Jim works with the world’s largest technology companies, including IBM, Intel, Google, Samsung, Qualcomm, and others to help define the future of computing on the server, in the cloud, and on a variety of new mobile computing devices. His work at the vendor-neutral Linux Foundation gives him a unique and aggregate perspective on the global technology industry. Jim has been recognized for his insights on the changing economics of the technology industry. His writing has appeared in Businessweek, Wired, and other top technology journals, and he is a regular keynote speaker at industry events. He advises a variety of startups, including Splashtop, and sits on the boards of the Global Economic Symposium, Open Source For America, and Chinese Open Source Promotion Union.
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About Linux Foundation: The Linux Foundation builds sustainable ecosystems around open source projects to accelerate technology development and industry adoption.
Lisa Caywood
Director of Ecosystem Development, LF Networking of Linux Foundation
Lisa Caywood is Director of Ecosystem Development for the OpenDaylight Project, the largest open source SDN platform. She has been involved with the SDN movement since 2011 and with the OpenDaylight Project as an employee of Brocade, a founding member, since 2013. At Brocade, she initiated outbound marketing for the company’s SDN strategy, and launched the company’s OpenDaylight-based controller. Prior to Brocade, she served in a variety of data center and security marketing and communications roles at Cisco, with previous experience in the enterprise software and semiconductor sectors. Lisa holds a B.A. in Asian Studies and English from Tufts University; her senior thesis focused on the role of the technology industry in the political economies of mainland China (PRC) and Taiwan (ROC).
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About Linux Foundation: The Linux Foundation builds sustainable ecosystems around open source projects to accelerate technology development and industry adoption.
Dan Cauchy
Executive Director of Automotive Grade Linux of Linux Foundation
Dan is the General Manager of Automotive at The Linux Foundation and the Executive Director of Automotive Grade Linux. He is responsible for the overall management and execution of the Automotive Grade Linux collaborative project, an industry effort to build an open source automotive reference platform backed by leading car manufacturers around the world. Dan has over 22 years of experience spanning the automotive, telecom, networking, and mobile business verticals. Prior to his current position, Dan was the Vice President and General Manager of MontaVista’s Automotive Business Unit (acquired by Mentor), responsible for P&L and worldwide execution of MontaVista’s automotive software strategy, sales, marketing, products, and services. During this period, Dan served on the Board of Directors of the GENIVI Alliance and was responsible for the creation of the GENIVI Compliance Program, a group that he chaired for its first three years, which led to the release of the GENIVI Specification, a widely adopted standard in the automotive industry. While at MontaVista, Dan previously held the position of VP of Marketing and BD, where he was responsible for the development and execution of MontaVista’s global marketing strategy, which led to an acquisition by Cavium. Based in Silicon Valley, Dan has extensive startup experience. He was the Director of Product Management at Atrica (acquired by Nokia-Siemens Networks), a carrier Ethernet equipment provider startup. Prior to Atrica, Dan was the Director of Architecture and Strategy at BlueLeaf Networks, a tunable laser optical networking startup (now Picarro). He also previously held senior management positions and engineering leadership positions at Cisco Systems, Newbridge Networks (acquired by Alcatel), and Nortel. Dan earned a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering (with a Computer Engineering major) from the University of Ottawa. He holds three patents in the areas of routing and networking, with several others pending.
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About Automotive Grade Linux, Linux Foundation: The Linux Foundation builds sustainable ecosystems around open source projects to accelerate technology development and industry adoption.
Raj Khandwalla
Director of Digital Therapeutics of Cedars Sinai Medical Center
Raj Khandwalla, MD is Director of Cardiovascular Education, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Cedars Sinai Heart Institute.
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About American College of Cardiology, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Cedars Sinai Medical Center: Cedars-Sinai is a non-profit, academic, community-centric medical center in Los Angeles, California.
Brennan Spiegel
Director of Health Services Research of Cedars Sinai Medical Center
Brennan Spiegel is the Director of Health Services Research for Cedars-Sinai Health System and Director of the Cedars-Sinai Master’s Degree Program in Health Delivery Science. Spiegel directs a multidisciplinary team that investigates how digital health technologies, including wearable biosensors, smartphone applications, virtual reality, and social media, can improve people’s lives. His team developed the largest and most widely-documented medical virtual reality program in the world at Cedars-Sinai. Spiegel has published numerous best-selling medical textbooks, editorials, and more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is listed in the “Top 100 Influencer” lists for digital health and virtual reality. His digital health research has been featured by major media outlets, including Bloomberg, CBS News, Forbes, Huffington Post, LA Times, NBC News, Reuters, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. His virtual reality research won the 2017 “Webby Award” for best technology on the internet. His research team receives funding from the NIH, PCORI, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Hearst Foundation, Veterans Administration, State of California precision medicine program, and industry sources. Spiegel is Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Gastroenterology, the leading clinical gastroenterology journal in North America.
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About Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Gi Health: Cedars-Sinai is a non-profit, academic, community-centric medical center in Los Angeles, California.
Ann Marie Olivo-Shaw
Marketing Director of Zigbee Alliance
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About Zigbee Alliance: Zigbee Alliance is the foundation and future of the IoT.
Peg Maddocks
Executive Director of NapaLearns
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About NapaLearns: Non-profit organization in Napa County, California which encourages the success of every student.
Peg Maddocks
Executive Director of NapaLearns
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About NapaLearns: Non-profit organization in Napa County, California which encourages the success of every student.
Marcie Keever
Oceans & Vessels Program Director of Friends of the Earth Trust
Marcie Keever is Oceans & Vessels Program Director at Friends of the Earth Trust.
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About Friends of the Earth Trust: Friends of The Earth organizes campaigns on climate change; environmental justice; land, food, and water; and nature.
Lisa Archer
Director, Food and Technology Program of Friends of the Earth Trust
Lisa Archer is Director, Food and Technology Program at Friends of the Earth Trust.
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About Friends of the Earth Trust: Friends of The Earth organizes campaigns on climate change; environmental justice; land, food, and water; and nature.
Heather White
Director of Membership & Sponsorship of Toronto Region Board of Trade Home
Heather White is a Director of Membership & Sponsorship at Toronto Region Board of Trade.
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About Toronto Region Board of Trade Home: Toronto Region Board of Trade Home
Caterina Paun
Director of Women Who Code
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About PLEXGROUP, Portland State University, Women Who Code: Women Who Code is a global organization dedicated to inspiring women to pursue and excel in technology careers.
Tom Lines
Director of Communications & Social Media of Alliance for Global Good
Tom Lines is a retired Advertising/Marketing Executive from McDonald’s Corporation. His 31 years with McDonald’s included positions in Corporate Operations, Communication Services, Training, Advertising, and Marketing. Tom retired as McDonald’s National Director of Field Marketing in 2002 to become a freelance McDonald’s commercial technical advisor and consultant. Tom joined AFGG in 2013 and now directs all aspects of our communications and social media.
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About Alliance for Global Good: Alliance for Global Good is focused on developing strategies and best practices for effective collaboration to tackle complex global issues.
Pete Stauffer
Environmental Director of Surfrider Foundation
As the Surfrider Foundation’s Environmental Director, Pete works with Surfrider’s environmental, chapter and legal staff to devise and implement advocacy and organizing strategies to advance the organization’s mission in the United States. He also represents Surfrider on national advisory boards and coalitions; works in collaboration with local, state and federal partners, agencies and others in supporting coastal and ocean campaigns and political initiatives. Access Pete’s photo, here. Prior to becoming the enviornmental director in 2015, Pete led the Surfrider Foundation’s national Ocean Protection Initiative as its Senior Ocean Program Manager for 10 years. In this position he drove the organization’s engagement in issues such as marine protected areas, regional ocean planning and protecting our coasts from new offshore drilling. Earlier in his tenure at Surfrider, Pete paved the way for how Surfrider conducted statewide policy work as the first regional policy manager in Oregon. “I am very honored to be the Surfrider Foundation’s Environmental Director. Our environmental team works hard to maximize the impact of our national and regional efforts across our core initiatives by strengthening the execution of our campaigns and programs, which ultimately furthers our mission of protecting our ocean and coasts,” says Pete. Pete holds a master’s degree in Marine Affairs from the University of Washington’s School of Marine and Environmental Affairs, and a bachelor’s in Environmental Policy from Duke University. After completing his master’s degree, he spent a year in Washington D.C. working for the NOAA Fisheries Service in the Office of Science and Technology. In December of 2014 he was appointed to represent non-consumptive recreational users on the Marine Protected Area Federal Advisory Committee of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
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About Surfrider Foundation: Surfrider Foundation is an online community that protects oceans, waves, and beaches through activist networks.
Rick Kuykendall
Board of Directors of Surfrider Foundation
Rick is a Gulf coast native who has had a life long interest in the environmental quality of the region, especially the natural waters. In addition to the Surfrider Foundation, he is a Founding member and Board Member of the Pensacola, Florida/Gulf Coast River-keepers, an Honorary Board Member of the Mobile Bay-keeper, and an active supporter of the national Water-Keepers Alliance. He was appointed by the Governor of the State of Alabama to serve as a member of the Alabama Coastal Commission on Environmental Affairs. His interest in the environment makes a fluid transition from the courtroom to the ocean, taking to the tide with his surfboard in tow, catching as many panhandle waves as possible.
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About : Surfrider Foundation is an online community that protects oceans, waves, and beaches through activist networks.
Steve Rabineau
Board of Directors of Surfrider Foundation
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About : Surfrider Foundation is an online community that protects oceans, waves, and beaches through activist networks.
Angela Howe
Legal Director of Surfrider Foundation
People may wonder why a girl who grew up in land-locked San Antonio, Texas (Go Spurs!) is now working for the Surfrider Foundation. It was actually a very organic migration, starting with a move out to the Bay Area for law school at UC Berkeley and quickly learning to love the wonder of surfing and snowboarding that California has to offer. I decided to take the bar exam in Cali and stick around. I’ve always enjoyed natural spaces, including soccer fields, and have always despised litter, critter-killers, and polluters – so my foray into environmental law made sense. I also started volunteering for the Surfrider Foundation soon after graduating. After a couple of years honing my legal skills at a large law firm, I transitioned to become one of the Surfrider Foundation staff. I’m now the Legal Director for the Surfrider Foundation and leading the Foundation’s legal strategy. In this capacity, I fight for sustainable solutions to environmental challenges and work to increase Surfrider’s impact for healthy coasts. My appreciation for the majesty of the ocean grows everyday, and this drives my passion to protect it. Next time you are seeking happiness, go to the beach, breathe in the healing ocean air, and experience the wonderment of our oceans, waves and beaches.
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About Surfrider Foundation, University of San Diego School of Law: Surfrider Foundation is an online community that protects oceans, waves, and beaches through activist networks.
Rob Nixon
Board of Directors of Surfrider Foundation
Born and bred in Texas for better and worse. Rob grew up around his Father, a pioneering FBI Agent and Texas Ranger who instilled in him the Texas ethos of doing what is right and standing up for what you believe. He grew up spending every summer in a small trailer with his family on the beaches of Isla Blanca Park on South Padre Island. In 2005, his beloved park was threatened by development that would have destroyed the lifestyle that generations of South Texas Families had enjoyed in camping at the beach. He became an accidental Activist and became a founding member of the South Texas Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. Since that time, he has built the South Texas Chapter into a well respected Community and Environmental Organization utilizing the Surfrider Foundation Chapter Network. In any issue that he is involved in his only thought is, “I want to look into my boys eyes when they get older and be able to say to them that I did everything in my power to protect and preserve our beaches and your right to enjoy them.”
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About : Surfrider Foundation is an online community that protects oceans, waves, and beaches through activist networks.
Edward Mazzarella
Director of Chapters & Clubs of Surfrider Foundation
The constant in my close to 20 years with Surfrider Foundation are the people — The people who give their time and energy to our mission and reaffirm my faith in grassroots activism on a daily basis.Surfrider Foundation is truly an organization where you can contribute on so many levels from membership to a tweet to core leadership in our chapter network. For me grassroots activism is more of a belief in something larger – not merely a means to an end. It’s something that contributes an extremely important element to making our society great. I realize that I’m fortunate to work in an environment that is both satisfying and makes things happen, but I also practice this in my personal life by volunteering in my local community group. The coolest thing about volunteering — there are so many ways to do it and all are important. Will I always be a core volunteer? Probably not, but that’s okay because everyone needs a break, but that doesn’t mean I’ll stop signing a petition or posting on a blog or renewing my Surfrider Foundation membership. We can all contribute, so plug into Surfrider Foundation at any level you feel comfortable!
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About Surfrider Foundation: Surfrider Foundation is an online community that protects oceans, waves, and beaches through activist networks.
Jim Lindberg
Board of Directors of Surfrider Foundation
As lead singer and songwriter for the legendary L.A. based punk band Pennywise, Jim has mixed his career as a musician with a healthy dose of charity work and activism. In 2000 Pennywise donated all proceeds from one of their largest shows to local charities, and again in 2007 they donated earnings from their record release party to the UCLA Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy center. A lifelong surfer, he’s also spearheaded the bands involvement in ocean related causes, benefit albums and celebrity surf events. Growing up in the south bay of L.A. and witnessing firsthand the deterioration and re-birth of the regions sea life, Jim is dedicated to maintaining and protecting our beaches, coastlines and oceans.
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About : Surfrider Foundation is an online community that protects oceans, waves, and beaches through activist networks.
Tiffani Bell
Founder & Executive Director of The Human Utility
Tiffani Ashley Bell is the Founder and Executive Director of The Human Utility, a platform bringing people together from around the world to help people in the United States with their water bills. Since its founding in July 2014, The Human Utility has helped over 3,000 people and is a Y Combinator-backed not-for-profit. Tiffani was a 2017 Technology & Democracy Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She was a 2014 Code for America Fellow and previously, was the CEO & Founder of Pencil You In, enabling over 2,000 local businesses to accept appointments online, bringing many of them online for the first time. In 2015, she was nominated and voted as one of The Root’s 100 Most Influential African Americans for her work protecting the right to water. She was also named to the inaugural Mic 50 class celebrating impactful leaders, cultural influencers, and breakthrough innovators. In 2016, she was named as an inaugural Grist 50 awardee as an innovator working toward a more sustainable future. Tiffani is a programmer who earned a Bachelor of Science in Systems & Computer Science from Howard University. In 2021, Tiffani will start a one-year Master of Science in Management program as a Sloan Fellow at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Tiffani invests.
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About The Human Utility: The Human Utility helps low income and elderly families with their water bills.
Peter Knights
Founder and Executive Director of WildAid
Peter Knights was formerly a program director working on illegal wildlife trade with Global Survival Network and a senior investigator for the Environmental Investigation Agency. He specialized in conducting global on-site investigations and campaigned against the trade in wild birds for pets and the consumption of endangered species in traditional Chinese medicine, such as bear gallbladder, rhino horn, and tiger bone. On birds, this work led to over 150 airlines stopping the carriage of wild birds and the Wild Bird Conservation Act, which cut imports of wild birds into the US from 800,000 to 40,000. In 1996 while working across Asia, Peter created the first international program aimed at reducing demand for endangered species products. He received an Associate Laureate of the Rolex Award for Enterprise for this work. The program used sophisticated advertising techniques, donated airtime, and celebrity spokespeople with the message “When the buying stops, the killing can too” and has over 100 actors, athletes, and musicians appearing in its campaigns. In 2011 it raised $200 million in donated media in China alone. The campaign Peter started on shark fin is attributed with helping to reduce demand for fins by 50-70% in China in 2012 and helping to secure bans in a number of US states.Peter has served as Executive Director of WildAid since its founding in 2000. He initiated the Marine Protection Program and currently leads the Demand Reduction Program for shark fin, manta ray gill rakers, ivory, and rhino horn. Peter holds a B. Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics.
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About WildAid: WildAid is a organization that aims to conserve wildlife through public awareness programs.
John Baker
Managing Director & Chief Program Officer of WildAid
John is the driving force behind WildAid’s operations including program strategy, fundraising efforts, international program management, and organizational operations. He brings valuable expertise from 15 years of managing conservation programs in Southeast Asia and 12 years at PRBO Conservation Science. John’s entrepreneurial spirit and hands-on attitude have helped launch innovative rural development projects in Thailand, manage a conservation program for the largest protected area in Laos, and establish an award-winning family planning program for the Vietnam Women’s Union. He works closely with like-minded individuals including pre-eminent social entrepreneur Mechai Viravaidya and lends his expertise to the creative process including the publication of a guidebook to Thai national parks and a coffee table book on Thai flora and fauna. During one watershed moment in recent Thai political history, John seized the opportunity to write speeches for Thailand’s Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun. When not in the water or in the forest, he enjoys gardening and cooking.
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About WildAid: WildAid is a organization that aims to conserve wildlife through public awareness programs.
Michael Chertok
Senior Director of Philanthropy of Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund
Michael Chertok is co-founder, former Board Chair, and Chief Business Development Officer at DDD. Previously, he served as Program Officer in the Global Development Program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Michael has also worked as a consultant on philanthropy and international development to other private foundations and individual donors and was a Digital Vision Fellow at Stanford University. Michael was the co-founder and Managing Director of Global Catalyst Foundation, the philanthropy arm of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, where he facilitated a seed grant to help launch DDD. Prior to this, he helped start the non-profit organization Schools Online to bring Internet access and training to more than 5,000 schools around the world. Michael holds a BA in Russian Studies from Yale University and an MBA and a Certificate in Public Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
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About Digital Divide Data, Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund, Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund, Silicon Valley Community Foundation: A vibrant, connected, and enduring Jewish community that is a force for good locally, in Israel, and around the world.
Mark Reisbaum
Senior Director of Philanthropic Engagement of Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund
Mark joined the Federation in 1997. Serving as Chief Endowment Officer and, now, as the Senior Director of Philanthropic Engagement, he has overseen one of the largest Jewish community foundation programs in North America, with funds and foundations totaling nearly $1.6 billion in assets and granting over $160 million in the past year. He has a B.A. from Columbia College and an M.A. in nonprofit administration from the University of San Francisco; and he is a graduate of the Wexner Heritage Program.
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About Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund: A vibrant, connected, and enduring Jewish community that is a force for good locally, in Israel, and around the world.
Julie Golde
Interim Senior Director of Community Impact of Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund
Julie has been working for the Federation in planning and community impact for over 9 years. During this time, she has collaborated with community partners on Israel and Global grantmaking, Jewish informal education and engagement locally, and, most recently, as the Director of Grants, helping to implement strategic grantmaking and community planning on behalf of the Federation. Previously, Julie served as the East Bay Regional Director of JCRC, among holding other positions in the Jewish community. Her passion for working in the Jewish world began after living in Israel. She has a B.S. in Speech and Hearing Science from Arizona State University and an M.A. in Special Education from San Francisco State University.
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About Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund: A vibrant, connected, and enduring Jewish community that is a force for good locally, in Israel, and around the world.
Mark Toney
Executive Director of TURN – The Utility Reform Network
As executive director of TURN, Mark Toney sets the organization’s strategic course and directs TURN’s legal and political advocacy on behalf of over 37 million Californians. Before coming to TURN in January 2008 Toney ran a successful nonprofit consulting business focused on coaching executive directors and effective strategic planning. He has substantial experience in nonprofit leadership, development, fundraising and organizing. Toney was the Executive Director of the Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO) in Oakland from 1999 to 2003, where he initiated a major realignment of CTWO organizing, training and communication resources. He also worked as Senior Research Associate for the Applied Research Center in Oakland. Previously, Toney founded Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) in Providence, Rhode Island, working on such issues as benefits for home daycare providers, parent involvement in bilingual education, and preventing utility shut-offs in the winter for low-income families. He was the Executive Director/Chief Organizer at DARE from 1986-1994. Before that Toney was Lead Organizer with Workers Association for Guaranteed Employment, working for welfare rights in Providence. Toney received his BA from Brown University and holds a Doctorate in Sociology from the University of California at Berkeley. He is also Kellogg National Leadership Fellow and his leadership accomplishments have been featured in Mother Jones Magazine and Brown Alumni Monthly.
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About TURN – The Utility Reform Network: TURN is a non-profit organization that aims for fair rates and consumer protection rights in the clean energy sector.
Regina Costa
Telecommunication Director of TURN – The Utility Reform Network
Regina Costa became TURN’s research director in August 1991. She is responsible for developing TURN’s policy on regulatory, economic and public policy angles of telecommunications issues and participates heavily TURN’s legal work in telecommunications as well. She also serves on the telecommunications committee of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA). Prior to joining TURN, Costa was a policy research specialist for the state of Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. She also worked for MCI as an analyst helping to prepare a major telecommunications anti-trust lawsuit, and served as a consultant to the British Columbia Public Interest Advocacy Center in Vancouver, BC. Costa received an undergraduate degree and a master’s degree, both in communication, from Simon Fraser University. A native of Salinas, California, Costa lived in England for one year while doing post graduate research.
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About TURN – The Utility Reform Network: TURN is a non-profit organization that aims for fair rates and consumer protection rights in the clean energy sector.
Ana Montes
Director Of Organizing of TURN – The Utility Reform Network
Ana M. Montes joined TURN in April, 2008 as Organizing Director. She has 12 years of consumer advocacy experience as Director of Technology and Consumer Education at the Latino Issues Forum. In that role she created an innovative model for bringing technology to low income and minority communities, developed community civic engagement in limited English speaking communities and managed statewide consumer education projects geared towards Latino and Asian Communities. A published poet, Montes has also worked as a teacher of La Raza Studies at San Francisco State University and as an editor and columnist with EL TECOLOTE, a bilingual newspaper in San Francisco She has testified on the Digital Divide in Sacramento and Washington D.C. and has given presentations at numerous technology conferences and forums. Montes serves on the board of directors of several community based organizations, El Concilio of San Mateo County, Accion Latina, Consumers Union: Hear Us Now and the California Community Technology Policy Group. Montes received her BA in Journalism/La Raza Studies from San Francisco State University. She is also a graduate of the California-based Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE), an institute that trains Latina women to run for political office.
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About TURN – The Utility Reform Network: TURN is a non-profit organization that aims for fair rates and consumer protection rights in the clean energy sector.
Cindy Cohn
Legal Director of Electronic Frontier Foundation
Cindy Cohn is the Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. From 2000-2015 she served as EFF’s Legal Director as well as its General Counsel. Ms. Cohn first became involved with EFF in 1993, when EFF asked her to serve as the outside lead attorney in Bernstein v. Dept. of Justice, the successful First Amendment challenge to the U.S. export restrictions on cryptography.
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About Electronic Frontier Foundation: Electronic Frontier Foundation defends rights in the digital world.
Kurt Opsahl
Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel of Electronic Frontier Foundation
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About Electronic Frontier Foundation: Electronic Frontier Foundation defends rights in the digital world.
Dipali Mehta
Senior Director of Finance of Team Rubicon
Dipali Mehta is the Senior Director of Finance at Team Rubicon, Inc.
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About Team Rubicon: Team Rubicon is a non-government organization providing disaster relief from the moment a disaster happens.
GI Wilson
Board of Directors of Team Rubicon
Col. G.I. Wilson USMC (ret) is a combat veteran with 33 years of military service and several years of experience in law enforcement-emergency services. He is widely published in professional journals, appears on national television, radio, and in documentaries. He coauthored the seminal paper “The Changing Face of War: Into the Fourth Generation” (which coined the term “fourth generation warfare”). He has BA in psychology from the State University of New York at Albany, an MA in Business and Organizational Security Management from Webster University, and an MA in Forensic Psychology from Argosy University.
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About : Team Rubicon is a non-government organization providing disaster relief from the moment a disaster happens.
Bob Verhey
Board of Directors of Team Rubicon
Bob Verhey brings twenty-five years of entrepreneur experience and has successfully launched and managed five new ventures in Silicon Valley as the CEO in healthcare, high technology and telecommunications companies. Having experienced a successful career as an operating entrepreneur and executive, Bob chooses now to guide others so they may also succeed. Bob earned his BA in Economics from Duke University and his MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College.
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About : Team Rubicon is a non-government organization providing disaster relief from the moment a disaster happens.
Doug Bloch
Political Director of Teamsters
Doug Bloch has been political director at Teamsters Joint Council 7 since 2010. In this capacity, he works with over 100,000 Teamsters in Northern California, the Central Valley, and Northern Nevada in a variety of industries. He was the Port of Oakland campaign director for Change to Win from 2006 to 2010 and a senior research analyst at Service Employees International Union Local 1877 from 2004 to 2006. Mr. Bloch was statewide political director at the California Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) from 2003 to 2004 and ran several ACORN regional offices, including Seattle and Oakland, from 1999 to 2003. He was an organizer at the Non-Governmental Organization Coordinating Committee for Northeast Thailand from 1999 to 2003.
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About Teamsters: Teamsters mission is to organize and educate workers towards a higher standard of living.
Nate Soares
Executive Director of Machine Intelligence Research Institute
Nate Soares is the executive director of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), a Berkeley research nonprofit focused on the challenge of making superhumanly capable AI systems robust and reliable. Nate first joined MIRI as a research fellow, during which time he was the primary author of the organization’s technical agenda. He has contributed to ongoing work in decision theory, game theory, algorithmic information theory, computational reflection, online machine learning, mathematical logic, and a number of other areas. Prior to working at MIRI, Nate worked as a software engineer at Google.
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About Machine Intelligence Research Institute: The MIRI is focused on developing the mathematical theory of trustworthy reasoning for advanced autonomous AI systems.
Karen Cator
Director of Digital Promise
Karen Cator is President and CEO of Digital Promise and a leading voice for transforming American education through technology, innovation and research. From 2009-2013, Karen was Director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education, where she led the development of the 2010 National Education Technology Plan and focused the Office’s efforts on teacher and leader support. Prior to joining the department, Cator directed Apple’s leadership and advocacy efforts in education. In this role, she focused on the intersection of education policy and research, emerging technologies, and the reality faced by teachers, students and administrators. She began her education career in Alaska as a teacher, ultimately leading technology planning and implementation. She also served as Special Assistant for Telecommunications for the Governor of Alaska. Cator holds a master’s in school administration from the University of Oregon and recently received the 2014 College of Education Distinguished Alumni award. The American Association of Publishers has awarded Cator with the 2014 Visionary Award. She received her bachelor’s in early childhood education from Springfield College, and she is a member of the Aspen Pahara Fellows. She is a past chair for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and has served on boards including the Software & Information Industry Association-Education.
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About Digital Promise: Digital Promise provides support to advance technologies that can transform teaching and learning.
Lisa Jobson
Project Director of Digital Promise
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About Digital Promise: Digital Promise provides support to advance technologies that can transform teaching and learning.
Maria Bernabe
Director, Marketing and Communications of American Lung Association
Maria Bernabe is Director, Marketing and Communications at American Lung Association.
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About American Lung Association: American Lung Association aims to save lives by improving lung health through research, education, and advocacy.
David Aufhauser
Member of the Board of Directors of The Atlantic Council
David Aufhauser is a Member of the Board of Directors at Atlantic Council.
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About : Renewing the Atlantic community for global challenges
Jennifer Aguilar
Director of Community of Communities for Cause
Jennifer Aguilar has an accomplished background in local community engagement and technology development. For the past 9 years she has been dedicated to her family while leading volunteerism and fundraising activities for the Special Olympics Tennis and The Pegasus School in Huntington Beach. Previously, Jennifer was a management consultant with Ernst & Young for 8 years where she focused on systems implementation for online businesses. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from UCLA.
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About Communities for Cause: Communities for Cause is a mobile and online marketplace connecting charitable organizations with merchants to raise funds for their cause.
Daniel Burka
Director of Design of Vital Strategies
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About Project N95, Resolve to Save Lives, silverorange, Vital Strategies: We are a global public health organization that designs solutions to pressing health problems.
Marshall Peden
Co-Founder & Director of Customer Success of Classy
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About Classy: Classy offers an online and mobile platform that enables socially good organizations to raise funds for various causes.
Sharad Gupta
Director of Enterprise Architecture (Systems & Applications) of Blue Shield of California
Sharad Gupta is an executive leader responsible for the enterprise technology vision, strategy, and roadmap at one of the leading health plans in California. Sharad is also part of the adjunct faculty at the University of California, Davis, and teaches the Data Design & Representation course in the Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program.
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About Blue Shield of California: Blue Shield of California is a health insurance service provider.
Elisabeth Lang
Board of Director of JDRF (The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation)
Lisa joined Bill.com after five years with the San Francisco 49ers as the Vice President of Corporate Communications and Government Relations where she successfully led the marketing campaign to win approval for a new NFL stadium development in Santa Clara. Lisa’s background includes 25 years of experience in communications and marketing for major brands in the consumer software, Internet services, and telecommunications industries. Prior to the 49ers, she was the Vice President of Corporate Communications and Marketing and Privacy at Intuit. During her five years with Intuit, she oversaw successful product launches and marketing campaigns, led the effort to establish the company’s privacy policies, created a new brand strategy, and helped shape the company’s market transition from software-in-a-box to web-enabled services. She also had a 12-year career at Pacific Bell (now known as AT&T) where she rose through the ranks from staff manager to Vice President and managed the launch of new lines of business. Lisa currently serves on the Executive Board of Directors for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Association. Lang was awarded Intuit’s Excellence in Leadership Award, won the 2007 Award for Marketing from the San Jose Business Journal and is a graduate of The Ohio State University. She also is a graduate of Tante Marie’s culinary school and enjoys cooking with family and friends, skiing and cycling.
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About : JDRF is a global organization dedicated to funding type 1 diabetes (T1D) research.
Ernest Borden
Director of the Center for Hematology and Oncology Molecular Therapeutics of Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Director of the Center for Hematology and Oncology Molecular Therapeutics Practicing Oncologist with >20 years research and clinical trials experience with immunomodulatory therapy in cancer
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About Cleveland Clinic: Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit medical center that combines clinical and hospital care with research and education.
Patrick Lane
Director, Product Management of CompTIA
Patrick Lane, M.Ed., is a Director, Product Management for CompTIA. He manages IT workforce skills certifications, including CompTIA Security+, CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CSA+), CompTIA Advanced Security Professional (CASP) and CompTIA Server+. He is a participant of the U.S. White House’s National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCSA) and has worked directly with the Director of Cybersecurity Policy at the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) for the “Lock Down Your Login” campaign. He has implemented a wide variety of IT projects, including an intranet and help desk for 11,000 end users. Patrick is an AFCEA lifetime member and has authored andco-authored multiple books, including Hack Proofing Linux: A Guide to Open Source Security (Syngress/Elsevier). Patrick has received certifications in CompTIA Network+, Security+, (ISC)2 CISSP, Microsoft MCSE and CIW Internet working Professional and Server Administrator.
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About CompTIA: Computing Technology Industry Association focuses on advancing the growth of the information technology industry.
Patrick Lane
Director, Product Management of CompTIA
Patrick Lane, M.Ed., is a Director, Product Management for CompTIA. He manages IT workforce skills certifications, including CompTIA Security+, CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CSA+), CompTIA Advanced Security Professional (CASP) and CompTIA Server+. He is a participant of the U.S. White House’s National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCSA) and has worked directly with the Director of Cybersecurity Policy at the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) for the “Lock Down Your Login” campaign. He has implemented a wide variety of IT projects, including an intranet and help desk for 11,000 end users. Patrick is an AFCEA lifetime member and has authored andco-authored multiple books, including Hack Proofing Linux: A Guide to Open Source Security (Syngress/Elsevier). Patrick has received certifications in CompTIA Network+, Security+, (ISC)2 CISSP, Microsoft MCSE and CIW Internet working Professional and Server Administrator.
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About CompTIA: Computing Technology Industry Association focuses on advancing the growth of the information technology industry.
Roxanne Gentile
Director of technology of JustGive
I.T. Operations: distributed team building; Technical ownership of working product backlog; SDLC administration; Scoping and Budget; PCI and third-party compliance management and data custodianship; CMS development, streaming application development; Macworld Online; ZDTV; TechTV; JustGive
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About JustGive: Destation for Online Charitable Giving
Rabbi Abe Cooper
Associate Dean, Director Global Social Action Agenda of Simon Wiesenthal Center
Rabbi Abraham Cooper is the Associate Dean, Director Global Social Action Agenda of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading Jewish human rights organization with over 400,000 family members. Born in New York in 1950, Abraham Cooper has been a longtime activist for Jewish and human rights causes on five continents. His extensive involvement in Soviet Jewry included visiting refuseniks in the 1970s, helping to open the first Jewish Cultural Center in Moscow in the 1980s, and lecturing at the Soviet Academy of Sciences and the Sakharov Foundation in the 1990s.
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About Simon Wiesenthal Center: Simon Wiesenthal Center is a man who speaks on the safety of the Jewish people.
Kate Kimmel
Director of Programs of CFY
Kate leads CFY-Los Angeles’ Digital Learning Program to ensure a strong, positive, and sustainable impact in our partner communities. She plays a pivotal role in shaping the program vision and managing program execution. Kate’s previous roles at CFY involved management of the Blended Learning Consulting team and the teaching and learning at Family Workshops. Kate’s experience as a 2007 Teach For America Los Angeles corps member, where she taught middle school math and science, inspired her life-long pursuit to close the achievement gap. Prior to joining CFY, Kate was an analyst at a consulting firm that advised high profile philanthropists and high-net-worth individuals on their education reform initiatives. Kate holds a double major in human development, psychological services and African American studies from Northwestern University as well as a masters in secondary education from Loyola Marymount University.
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About CFY: CFY is a national nonprofit organization that helps students, teachers and parents use digital learning to improve educational outcomes.
Richard H. Scheuermann
Director, Informatics of J. Craig Venter Institute
Richard H. Scheuermann, Ph.D., Director of Informatics at JCVI, received a B.S. in Life Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. After completing his doctoral research on bacterial replication fidelity at U.C. Berkeley, he accepted an independent research position at the Basel Institute for Immunology in Switzerland, where he identified the CDP protein as a critical regulator of immunoglobulin gene expression and the role of nuclear matrix attachment in transcription regulation. In 1992 he joined the faculty in the Department of Pathology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas where he rose to the rank of Professor with tenure. In 2012, after 20 years on the faculty of U.T. Southwestern, Dr. Scheuermann pulled up his roots and moved to San Diego to become the Director of Informatics at JCVI. While at U.T. Southwestern, Dr. Scheuermann established a productive research program investigating signal transduction pathways that regulate normal lymphocyte development and function and that induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in lymphomas, supported through numerous research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and other granting agencies. In the Pathology Department, he also worked on the development and validation of novel diagnostic methods for viruses that mediate chronic infectious disease and for chromosomal translocations that drive leukemia and lymphoma development. In 2001 he made a dramatic career shift into the discipline of bioinformatics, initiated with a sabbatical year at the San Diego Supercomputer Center on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. Since 2001, Dr. Scheuermann has applied his deep knowledge in molecular immunology and infectious disease toward the development of novel computational data mining methods and knowledge representation approaches, including the development of biomedical ontologies and their use in data mining, novel methods for the analysis of gene expression, protein network and flow cytometry data, and novel comparative genomics methods. These knowledge representation approaches and computational methods have been made available to the research community through several public database and analysis resources, including the Influenza Research Database (IRD; www.fludb.org), the Virus Pathogen Resource (ViPR; www.viprbrc.org) and the Immunology Database and Analysis Portal (ImmPort; www.immport.org) supported by the National Institutes of Health. At JCVI he is also expanding his bioinformatics research program into the area of human genomics.
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About J. Craig Venter Institute, J. Craig Venter Institute, University of California, San Diego: J. Craig Venter Institute is a non-profit organization engaged in the research of genomics.
Jeremy Schwartz
Co-Founder & Executive Director of World Possible
Jeremy is the Executive Director and Cofounder of World Possible. Jeremy has led World Possible since he became the organization’s first Executive Director in October 2012. Prior to running World Possible, Jeremy was a venture capital associate at Norwest Venture Partners focused on growing for-profit education and technology enterprises. Before Norwest, Jeremy spent four years as an investment banking Associate at Wells Fargo. Jeremy graduated UCLA with a dual degree in business economics and political science. His passion for information technology and global change is attributed to his time on Semester at Sea, a global study ship based abroad program.
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About World Possible: World Possible is a small non-profit based in San Francisco, CA.
Spencer Weisbroth
Board of Directors of WE CARE Solar
Spencer W. Weisbroth, Esq. is an attorney in San Francisco. Through his firm, Weisbroth Law, Spencer advises a variety of entrepreneurs, businesses, and non-profits. His practice is focused on complex business transactions and business formation and structural planning. He has a diverse background in the law, business, media and the arts. He is credited on numerous award-winning public radio documentaries, and has won a Peabody Award for his legal services. In the past, Spencer was Business Affairs Director for the Grammy Award-winning Kronos Quartet, and was a founding member and Director for Starter Fluid, a $32M venture capital fund, and was an attorney in the Business Affairs office of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Spencer holds a J.D. degree from the University of Maryland School of Law, and a B.A., with dual majors of Political Science and Journalism, from the State University of New York.
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About : WE CARE Solar designs portable, cost-effective solar suitcases that power critical lighting and medical devices.
Kurt T. Barnhart
Director of Women’s Health Clinical Research Center of University of Pennsylvania
Kurt T. Barnhart, M.D., M.S.C.E. – Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Epidemiology; Associate Director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, and the Director of Women’s Health Clinical Research Center, University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Barnhart received his medical degree at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and performed his clinical training and received his M.S.C.E. degree (Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics) at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Barnhart’s research has focused on practical clinical issues in reproduction and early pregnancy. His work has been published in such journals as New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Journal of the American Medical Association, Fertility and Sterility, and Human Reproduction and has served as reading material for the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) certification and maintenance in general obstetrics/gynecology and reproductive endocrinology and infertility (REI). Dr. Barnhart has twice been recognized as the recipient of the General Program Prize Paper Award at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). He is an active clinical and research mentor for REI fellows. His fellows and mentees have received awards at ASRM for the last five consecutive years. Dr. Barnhart is an active member of both ASRM and Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility (SREI). He has served on the ASRM Practice Committee for the past six years, has served as chair of a special interest group, has spoken at both Aspen and Park City conferences for REI fellows and is currently an Associate Editor for Fertility Sterility and Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety. He has also served on the SREI Board and on National Institutes of Health study sections.
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About University of Pennsylvania: The University of Pennsylvania is an American private Ivy League research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Maurice Emsellem
Director, Fair Chance Program of National Employment Law Project
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About National Employment Law Project, National Employment Law Project: National Employment Law Project is a national advocacy organization for employment rights of lower-wage workers.
Lilia Garcia-Brower
Board of Directors of National Employment Law Project
Lilia Garcia-Brower is Board of Directors at National Employment Law Project.
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About : National Employment Law Project is a national advocacy organization for employment rights of lower-wage workers.
Reza Marashi
Research Director of National Iranian American Council (NIAC)
Reza Marashi joined NIAC in 2010 as the organization’s first Research Director. He came to NIAC after four years in the Office of Iranian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Prior to his tenure at the State Department, he was an analyst at the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) covering China-Middle East issues, and a Tehran-based private strategic consultant on Iranian political and economic risk. Marashi is frequently consulted by Western governments on Iran-related matters. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and The Atlantic, among other publications. He has been a guest contributor to CNN, NPR, the BBC, TIME Magazine, The Washington Post, and the Financial Times, among other broadcast outlets.
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About National Iranian American Council (NIAC): The National Iranian American Council is a non-partisan organization dedicated to advancing the interests of the Iranian-American community.
George Wang
Co-Founder & Director of SIRUM
Co-founder SIRUM
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About SIRUM: SIRUM is an innovative organization committed to reducing barriers to health for underserved populations.
Christopher Borg
Executive Director of Community Music Center
Since his arrival in October 2011, Christopher Borg has led the development of a master plan for CMC’s historic Mission District campus doubling its capacity through property acquisition and facilities integration. He has also revamped the school’s core infrastructure and diversified its revenue streams. Prior to joining CMC, Borg was a member of the faculty at Groton School where he created curriculum-based programs in instrumental music and global education in addition to teaching violin, viola, and music theory. He also led that community through the construction of music education and performance facilities. Borg began his musical training in a community music school very similar to CMC in Massachusetts. He holds a graduate degree in viola performance from Northwestern University and a bachelor of arts in music history from Vassar College.
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About Community Music Center: Making music lessons and performances affordable for the Bay Area since 1921!
Denise Wells
Director of Finance and Administration of Community Music Center
Denise Wells, Director of Finance and Administration, has held high level finance positions for non-profit organizations for over 20 years and is a CPA with an MBA from Golden Gate University. Denise comes to us from First Place for Youth where she was Vice President of Administration and Finance
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About Community Music Center: Making music lessons and performances affordable for the Bay Area since 1921!
Mary Ann Grossman
Development Director of Community Music Center
Mary Ann is working to ensure sustainable funding for CMC for its next hundred years. Prior to joining CMC, she was Development Director for The Daily Californian, UC Berkeley. Before she moved to the Bay Area in 2013, she transitioned from a career in financial services to private fundraising and community outreach for a number of leading New York nonprofits. She was Chief Development Officer, New York, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, where she opened the first northeast regional office of this national organization for missing and endangered children. A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in psychology and English, she holds a Masters degree from Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, and the Harriman (Russian) Institute, She is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE). A lifelong piano student, she also studied organ (on scholarship) and was assistant organist in her local church. She is very proud to have known and heard the Amadeus String Quartet, where her husband’s cousin, Peter Schidlof, performed as the violist. A board member for the Del Sol Quartet, she believes in the essential need to sustain and evolve the art of music, as well as to make it accessible to future generations.
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About Community Music Center: Making music lessons and performances affordable for the Bay Area since 1921!
