After founding Terris Communications (which has grown into Terris, Barnes & Walters) in 1988, Michael has guided the firm as it grew in clientele and partners for over two decades. Today, he is actively involved in marketing, creative, message development, earned media and targeting for a wide variety of political clients. He is also a founder of Terris, Barnes & Walters’ sister firm TBWB Strategies which specializes in public finance campaigns.
Michael graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1984. He has served on the board for the Urban School of San Francisco and the Town School of Boys. Michael lives in San Francisco with his wife Maureen and three sons.
For more than 25 years, Scott has been helping companies achieve their potential through his work as a CEO, CFO or advisor to Boards and management teams in the US and around the world. Scott is currently CFO of GlobalLogic, a leader in digital product engineering, where he is responsible for all global finance, accounting and legal functions. He joined GlobalLogic from TPG Global, a leading alternative asset firm, where he was an operating partner and managing director for the company’s credit arm. He began his career at accounting firm Arthur Andersen, and he spent over ten years in various business process improvement roles at management consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal.
Scott holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and an undergraduate degree in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Michael is General Counsel of Bechtel Group, Inc. His responsibilities include the legal, ethics and compliance, internal audit and risk management functions. Prior to his current position, from 2005-2010, Michael was based in London as a Managing Director in Bechtel’s global Civil business. His responsibilities included managing the global aviation business line as well as a number of services and functions. Michael was elected a Senior Vice President in 2001 and elected to the Board of Directors in 2010.
He lives in Marin with his wife and children.
Jennifer Chang is a Senior Group Program Manager at Zendesk. Jennifer’s strong sense of social responsibility has led her to continually encourage and enable community involvement by employees and companies in the technology sector. Food security and the impact of food on health has long been an interest of hers: Jennifer received a Masters in Public Health Nutrition before being swept up by the dot-com wave.
In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, live music, climbing rocks, and skiing.
Kathryn Grant Ellman has spent her career managing international marketing and public relations programs for both private and public companies. Prior to starting Shout Communications in 2001, Ellman was Director of Public and Investor Relations for The Sharper Image. Shout Communications’ client list included Zappos.com, Johnson and Johnson, Ariat International, The York Family’s social media ventures and many others. Her efforts resulted in frequent story placement in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press and Business Week. The companies’ products have also been promoted on The Today Show, The View, The CBS Early Show, The Dr. Phil Show and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Ellman graduated with honors from The University of California at Davis in 1992. Ellman has served on the Advisory Board for The Northern California Catalog and E-Commerce Club. Ellman founded the East Bay Chapter of Women In Consulting, an educational networking organization for women entrepreneurs.
She lives in Tiburon with her husband, her two sons, and their pug, Gloria.
Rodney A. Fong is a native San Franciscan and serves as President of Fong Real Estate Company, LLC.
Rodney is a third generation operator/owner of the world famous Wax Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf, where he served as President, until its closing in August 2013. Rodney has been active and held office in a wide variety of civic, tourist and travel related organizations including the Fisherman’s Wharf Merchant’s Association, Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefit District, Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, and California Travel Industry Association. Rodney served for over four years on the San Francisco Port Commission and was voted its President in 2009. That same year, he became Chair of San Francisco Travel Association (formerly San Francisco Convention & Visitor’s Bureau) and continues to serve on the Board of Directors. In 2010, he joined the Board of The Bay Institute and the San Francisco Planning Commission. In February 2012, Rodney was voted President of the Planning Commission and was re-elected in January 2013. Rodney is also the Director of the Fong Family Foundation, a philanthropic organization created by his grandparents to benefit many worthwhile social services in the City. In May 2012, as part of the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Rodney was honored by the City and County of San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Çigdem Gencer is EVP for International HR for Wells Fargo & Co., for the 18,000 Wells Fargo team members in 40 countries outside the US. Çigdem joined Wells Fargo in 2004, in the Wealth Management Group, serving as Group Finance Officer. She has served in sales management, operations, and strategy roles throughout her tenure at Wells Fargo. Çigdem spent ten years as a management consultant to the financial services industry in New York and Europe.
Çigdem holds a BA in Economics from Harvard University and an MBA in International Management from the Wharton School of Business. She served as a Trustee of the Bay Area Discovery Museum and is on the Leadership Council of Futures Without Violence. She lives in San Francisco with her ten-year-old son.
Pepe Gonzalez was born and raised in Point Reyes Station in rural West Marin County. Formerly the Principal of Venetia Valley School. In 2010 Mr. Gonzalez was transferred to become the principal of two schools, Laurel Dell Elementary and the newly opened Short Elementary.
Pepe Gonzalez is the past president of the Dominican University of California Alumni Board, Chair of the Board of Ten Thousand Degrees, chair of the San Rafael City Schools Family Engagement Task Force and an active member of the San Rafael Community.
Jennifer Levy is a retired partner of Rockwood Capital, LLC, a private equity real estate fund manager, with offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York. Jennifer’s primary role at Rockwood before she left in early 2015 was as Chief Financial Officer, in charge of functions ranging from accounting and tax reporting and structuring to insurance, investor reporting, and IT. Before starting at Rockwood in 1999, Jennifer earned her CPA license as an auditor at Kenneth Leventhal & Company (ultimately purchased by Ernst & Young) and was also briefly a controller at both Catellus Development and the Oakland Raiders.
Jennifer is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a Bachelors of Business Administration (Accounting major) and lives in San Francisco.
Michael L. Mauzé co-founded VMG Partners in 2005 and currently focuses on all aspects of the Fund’s investment strategy. Mr. Mauzé serves on the Boards of Kernel Season’s, Spindrift, Nature’s Bakery, Quest, Bare Foods and Stone Brewing. He previously served on the boards of Justin’s, Babyganics, Waggin’ Train, KIND Snacks, Mighty Leaf Tea, Pirate Brands, Timbuk2, Speck Products and Snack Factory. Mr. Mauzé is also the Chairman of SFJazz.
Prior to VMG, Mr. Mauzé was a Managing Director at TSG Consumer Partners. He was involved in all aspects of the investment process and served as a member of the Investment Committee.
Prior to TSG, Mr. Mauzé spent two years at Lehman Brothers Inc. advising consumer product companies in mergers and acquisitions and capital raising activities. Before Lehman Brothers, Mr. Mauzé spent 13 years at PaineWebber in the mergers and acquisitions group with a special focus on the consumer products industry.
Mr. Mauzé received his A.B. in Economics from Davidson College and his M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
Brett serves as General Counsel at Lightspeed Venture Partners, an early stage venture capital firm. Brett joined Lightspeed following 10 years as general counsel at Riverbed Technology. Brett holds a J.D. from UCLA School of Law and a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA.
From November 2006 to February 2017, Hyun Park served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for PG&E Corporation and its businesses, including its principal subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Prior to joining PG&E Corporation in 2006, he was Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Allegheny Energy, Inc., in Pennsylvania. He also previously served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of Sithe Energies, Inc., in New York, and was a partner with the law firm of Latham & Watkins, where he specialized in corporate transactions and finance.
Hyun earned his law degree from Harvard Law School. He earned a master’s degree in economics from Oxford University and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Columbia University. He is a member of the State Bar of California.
Elliot Schrage is the Vice President of Public Policy and Communication at Facebook, where he oversees outreach to governments, policymakers, and global media about the company’s products and services, corporate business and partnerships. He joined Facebook from Google, where he performed a similar role. Previously, Elliot was Bernard L. Schwarz Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and earlier, Senior Vice President of Global Affairs for Gap Inc. and adjunct professor at Columbia University and Columbia Law School. He holds degrees from Harvard College, the Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Law School. Elliot currently serves as a presidential appointee as Trustee of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, on the Visiting Committee to Harvard Law School, and as a board advisor to Dharma, Inc. a data analytics platform.
Lynda Sullivan has spent more than 20 years in the financial services industry. Most recently, Sullivan served as investment director at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation where she had responsibility for investing the foundation’s endowment in the public equity and fixed income sectors. Sullivan began her career in the Corporate Finance department at Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York and prior to joining the Moore Foundation held senior positions at Gap, Inc., and Montgomery Securities in San Francisco. Sullivan earned bachelor’s degrees in both business and engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and her master’s in business administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Sullivan serves on the Board of Directors for Save The Bay in addition to being a long-time Food Bank volunteer and donor.
Barbara is a consultant for non-profits and independent schools. Her work focuses on strategic planning, development, and governance. She has served as a board member and board chair of several different organizations. These experiences have proven invaluable in her role as a consultant. She previously worked as an attorney and as a linguist for the US Government.
Barbara is a graduate of Vassar College and the University of San Francisco School of Law.