Vidya Chander
Supply Chain Manager
Vidya is interested in Corporate Social Responsibility and hopes to lead organizations to better human rights and labor standards within their supply chains. She recently graduated from MIT with a Master’s in Supply Chain Management and, while there, worked with the World Food Programme in Ethiopia to complete her thesis project on security dangers in humanitarian supply chains. Currently, Vidya is working as a Supply Chain Manager at Hewlett Packard. She previously worked for Cisco Systems and received a BS from Stanford.
Alicia Cornish
Investigator, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR)
Alicia Cornish is an attorney working as an investigator for OCR where she investigates complaints alleging violations of federal civil rights statutes. Alicia graduated from University of Missouri (UMC), Columbia School of Law in 2007, passed the Missouri bar, and moved to California in 2008. During law school Alicia worked as an investigator for the Human Rights Commission, a law clerk for the State Office of the Public Defender, Capital Division, a law clerk for the Department of Social Services, Division of Legal Services, a research assistant for professors at UMC, and completed a clerkship with the Boone County Circuit Court. Prior to law school, Alicia attended Southern Illinois University at Carbondale where she received her bachelor’s degree in Workforce Education. As an undergraduate, Alicia was a fulltime AmeriCorps Literacy Branch volunteer and a volunteer teacher at the local alternative high school and several group homes.
Nick Ellis
Entrepreneur
Nick is an entrepreneur focused on market-based solutions to social and environmental problems. He currently operates Job Rooster, a bottom-of-the-pyramid job placement service working with at-risk and low-income populations. He previously founded and operated Bright Green Talent, a green job placement firm. Before working in the labor markets, Nick worked as an investment banker in public finance, advising California cities such as Stockton, Palo Alto, the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, and Fremont. Nick graduated from Stanford (BA) and the London School of Economics (MSc).
Toluwanimi Fadeyi
Attorney & Art Entrepreneur
Tolu Fadeyi is an attorney and art entrepreneur living in San Francisco by way of Nigeria, Iowa, and finally, DC. With experience in public relations, policy analysis, and event planning, Tolu enjoys streamlining communication efforts and managing information between public and private stakeholders. She launched her career in Washington, D.C. with the U.S. House of Representatives, the Global Health Council, and the Public International Law and Policy Group, working with both domestic and international clients. With one foot in the policy sphere, Tolu keeps the other firmly planted in the arts. She founded ToluSF, a consultancy helping artists navigate the business of art entrepreneurship. When she is not exploring the San Francisco art community or working with The Stark Guide to San Francisco art, Tolu is planning her 2010 wedding to her best friend and favorite clean energy policy expert, Mackinnon. Tolu graduated from Case Western Reserve University with a BA in Political Science and International Affairs, and a minor in Studio Art. She holds a JD from American University’s Washington College of Law and is a member of the California Bar.
Navi Ganancial
Outreach Associate, Netroots Nation
Navi Ganancial is the Outreach Associate for Netroots Nations, which implements programs that teach and empower Netroots communities to affect change in the public sphere. Coming from a background assisting in event planning, Navi abruptly changed her career focus with the social media revolution. Outside of NN she has helped consult various companies, such as San Francisco Magazine, with their social media strategies and initiatives. Philanthropically Navi is a self-proclaimed serial volunteer, working with various non-profits on events and with fundraising. She currently sits on the San Francisco BRAVO! Club Opera Board and the 30 & Under Committee for the San Francisco Ballet.
Leslie Garner
Director of Alumni Affairs, Teach For America
Leslie is not a certified life coach (yet!) but the work she does on a daily basis as Teach For America’s Director of Alumni Affairs might make you think otherwise. Charged with building a community that is both engaged in the local education landscape and work of Teach For America and that is willing to make career and civic choices that position them to influence reform, she partners with regional school districts, other education non-profits, and the 1,300 person alumni network to drive change. A five-time marathoner, on weekends you can find her running around town, often stopping at Philz, her favorite coffee spot in the city. Originally from Pennsylvania, she holds a BS from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, an MAT from Webster University in St. Louis, and was a 2004 Teach For America corps member in St. Louis.
Schuyler Hudak
Development Manager, San Francisco School Alliance
Schuyler heads up the Development Department for the San Francisco School Alliance, a group which develops strategic partnerships, raises money, and advocates for policies to ensure that each of the 56,000 children in San Francisco’s public schools receives a world-class education. She has raised over $2.5 million for public education in San Francisco and loves having the chance to be involved with the ground-breaking work being done in San Francisco Unified School District. Outside her work with the Alliance, Schuyler works with the Homeless Prenatal Project, Junior League of San Francisco, and is currently in the Leadership San Francisco class of 2010 with the Chamber of Commerce.
Adeel Iqbal
City Hall Fellow
Adeel Iqbal is a 2009-2010 City Hall Fellow working at San Francisco’s Department of Public Works on challenges related to 311, the city’s central calling center. Prior to his Fellowship, he was in southwest India where he worked on improving sanitation and water quality for urban slum residents. He graduated in 2008 with a B.A. in Development Studies and Minor in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley, and while there, served as Editor in Chief and President of The Daily Californian campus newspaper.
Yonatan Landau
Founder of the Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive
Yonatan Landau is the founder of the Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive (Co-Fed), a network, training program and research institue that helps students create sustainable food cooperatives on their campuses. After launching a successful campaign to prevent the first fast food chain from opening at UC Berkeley, he created a positive alternative and helped raise over $140,000 for the Berkeley Student Food Collective.
Johnny Lin
Associate Consultant, The Bridgespan Group
Johnny is an illustrator-turned-social-entrepreneur with a bad habit of connecting people and thinking up more ideas than he can execute. Johnny is founder and board president of Strait Talk, a youth-focused nonprofit that seeks to create a transformative solution to the Taiwan Strait conflict by bringing together emerging leaders from China, Taiwan, and the US. Johnny’s day-time job is at The Bridgespan Group, a strategy consulting firm that serves nonprofits and philanthropies, where he has focused on the education sector. Johnny graduated from Brown Univ. with degrees in International Relations and Education Policy, and studied art at the Rhode Island School of Design.
Arthur Meirson
Assistant District Attorney
Arthur Meirson is an Assistant District Attorney working in the Misdemeanor Trial Unit at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. In addition to striving every day to bring justice to victims of crimes and ensuring the rule of law, Arthur is also an active participant in several community organizations. As an active member of the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, Bar Association of San Francisco, and Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom, Arthur demonstrates his passion for social justice and active citizenship.
Giselle Schmitz
Co-founder, Civio
Giselle would like you to buy her ideas or things. At age 8 she was mesmerized at the state fair by the Shammy demos and by age 10 had earned the top cookie sales badge in the Girl Scouts. Since then, she has spent 7 years in sales and marketing with companies like Cisco and Coca Cola and earned her MBA at Thunderbird School of Global Management. While looking out of the window of a hotel in Bangalore, Giselle decided it was time to rip-cord out of the corporate world and dive into her passions. She spent a year with the Obama campaign as the lead staffer for a large portion of the bay area while managing the re-election campaign for Congresswoman Anna Eshoo. Frustrated by the barriers to entry in politics, Giselle and fellow Obama staffers co-founded Civio, a technology provider that lets any campaign mobilize and engage people. Giselle lives in Mountain View, CA with her husband Brian.
Paul Schreiber
Software Engineer
Paul Schreiber spent a decade as a software engineer, including eight years on Apple’s Mac OS X team. In 2008, he volunteered for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. In addition to knocking on doors and making phone calls, Schreiber co-developed Vote For Change, registering over half a million voters and helping hundreds of thousands find their voting location. Schreiber’s interests are many and varied: he can often be found at your local hockey rink, on his bicycle or behind the lens of his Nikon D70s. He cofounded a nonprofit student news organization, a music classifieds web site and a health care video storytelling project (Stories of Health).
Charles Sheehan
Communications Manager, Power Enterprise – San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Charles Sheehan is the Communications Manager for the Power Enterprise Division of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. Whether it’s solar power, hydro power, or bold new ways to serve San Francisco residences and businesses with clean, renewable energy, Charles keeps the public and media up-to-date with the latest environmental initiatives. Recently, Charles was a senior associate consultant for Barnes Mosher Whitehurst Lauter & Partners, where he managed candidate and ballot measure campaigns locally, regionally and statewide. Not surprisingly, Charles doles out political advice to inquiring minds that want to know and the multitude of candidates that are his friends. Politics also abounds in Charles’ personal life where he Co-Chairs the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club, our nation’s oldest charted LGBT Democratic Organization.
Santiago Suarez
Associate, Technology Crossover Ventures
Santiago works at Technology Crossover Ventures, where he focuses on healthcare information technology investments. Prior to TCV, he was with McKinsey he helped major banks navigate the credit crisis of 2008. He is currently working with a team of Colombian NGOs on a town-reconstruction project 10 years after a massacre forced the town’s inhabitants to leave. He has worked with the United Nations to promote financial inclusion and founded an international non-profit that promoted locally-staffed microfinance projects in partnership with the World Bank and ICICI. Santiago has conducted extensive field research on voting behavior, which has been published in both English and Japanese. He holds both Masters and Bachelors Degrees in Political Science from Yale University.
Nick Warshaw
Senior Administrative Coordinator, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (The State Stem Cell Institute)
Nick has been an active participant in Democratic and progressive politics. Most recently, he worked as a communications staffer on the Obama Campaign in Missouri. Before working on the presidential campaign, Nick interned for Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Washington DC, and for Senator Barbara Boxer in Los Angeles. From 2007 through 2009, Nick was the President of the California College Democrats. Currently, Nick works at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine- the State Stem Cell Institute.
Leora Wolf-Prusan
School Partnership Manager, College Summit Inc
Leora is a native San Franciscan, and a graduate of UC Davis (2006) with a B.A. in Spanish and International Relations and a minor in Social and Ethnic Relations. She spent much of her undergraduate experience working in student affairs, specifically with the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) Information Office, working both as a Peer Advising Counselor and then as the Coordinator. Dedicated to higher education access, she continued her work with urban education while at Mills College earning a 6-12 social studies teaching credential in the Teacher’s for Tomorrow’s Schools program. After teaching in small essential schools and public and private schools, she moved to Jerusalem for a graduate research fellowship in Non Profit Management, Community Leadership, and Education at Hebrew University. She is now happy to be back in the Bay Area, living in the Mission, yogaing and working as a School Partnership Manager for College Summit where she gets to actualize her vision of educational equity and higher education access with youth communities every day.
Aaron Williamson
Math Coach, Ravenswood School District & President, Ravenswood Teachers Association
Aaron is a middle school Math Coach in East Palo Alto’s Ravenswood School District. When he’s not assisting teachers with improving their math programs, he’s serving teachers and the community as the Union President for the school district. His involvement in the teacher’s union has lead him into a variety of roles and responsibilities, ranging from labor contract negotiations to helping head up local education-based political campaigns. Most recently he has been working with East Palo Alto community leaders to design a more collaborative system of public and social services modeled off of Geoffery Canada’s Harlem’s Children Zone, incidentally the redevelopment model adopted by President Obama’s Promise Neighborhoods. The basic idea is to eradicate poverty by more efficiently coordinating efforts amongst local governments, CBOs, and school districts.