Çigdem Gencer is an Executive Coach and Board leader. She was most recently an Executive Vice President at Wells Fargo & Co. Throughout her tenure at Wells Fargo, she served in strategy, sales management, finance, operations, and human resources leadership roles. Çigdem spent ten years as a management consultant to the financial services industry in New York and Europe, as well as executive roles in several privately-held companies.
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 on the Leadership Council of Futures Without Violence. She lives in San Francisco with her son.
Jonathan Walker is the Managing Director of Secretariat Economists LLC. In addition to his role managing the firm, Dr. Walker is often retained to provide opinion testimony in court and to consult on a variety of economic topics in a non-testifying capacity.
Jonathan’s consulting engagements most often concern antitrust, statistical analysis or commercial damages. His clients have included corporations, government agencies, sports leagues, industry associations, unions and individuals.
Prior to joining Economists Incorporated, Jonathan had been a strategy consultant. Before that, he was a visiting research fellow at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. There, he participated in antitrust enforcement and conducted research concerning the commercial banking industry.
Jonathan earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley and his Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He lives in San Francisco with Suzy LaMarca.
Jessica Berg’s background in campaign politics and media strategy led her from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco where she established the professional consulting firm BergDavis Public Affairs in 1999. The firm is a full-service public affairs agency offering guidance on government relations, media affairs, community engagement, strategic communications and crisis management.
In addition to her work with the Food Bank, Ms. Berg is also on the board of directors of the Housing Action Coalition and is active in a number of political, advocacy and business groups. Ms. Berg holds a degree in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles and is an avid Bruins fan to this day.
Noelle is the CEO of Bonner Communications talented team of communicators and creatives who craft messaging, tell stories and design brands.
Noelle got her start in communications, at the San Francisco office of Sitrick & Company — a leading crisis communications firm. She then became the PR Director for TWELV magazine based in NYC and lead the successful launch of the magazine and its’ digital platform. A strategic thinker with a penchant for creative problem solving; Noelle is well versed in crafting messaging and designing PR campaigns to position a diversity of clients in national, local, and trade media. Leading communications, marketing and digital strategy for client accounts; Noelle is meticulous in executing client work and consistently pushes the envelope to achieve client goals.
Noelle also serves on the boards of the California State Summer for the Arts and The United Democratic Club. Also politically active, she plans fundraisers and GOTV events for politicians in the San Francisco-Bay Area. Noelle graduated from Boston College with a degree in Psychology and International Studies.
Dianna Cavagnaro is a trusted strategist, operational expert and visionary leader. She has a proven track record of managing teams to execute high level events, campaigns and fundraisers.
Currently the Chief Operating Officer at Ideas Events & Rentals, Dianna oversees the marketing, revenue, business strategy development, HR and operations of the company. Prior to her joining Ideas in August 2019, Dianna was the Vice President, Investor Initiatives & Events for the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce where she oversaw over 250 programs & events annually for the city’s largest business advocacy organization. Previously, Dianna was the Director of Special Events at the San Francisco Opera Guild where she launched fundraising balls, galas and fashion shows that raised over $2 million annually.
Her career also involved campaigns with AIDS Walk San Francisco and the Gap Foundation. Dianna graduated from the University of Hawaii- Manoa with a degree in Religious Studies and minors in Spanish & English Literature.
She lives in San Francisco with her 6-year-old daughter. They enjoy discovering tide-pools, volunteering at the SF Marin Food Bank and exploring unique restaurants across the Bay Area.
For nearly two decades, Jennifer has been enabling Product Development teams to work better together and deliver software that delights its users. Throughout her career in technology, Jennifer has chosen employers who share her commitment to their local communities. While at Adobe, she served as the Community Chair for the Social Responsibility Action Team in San Francisco, organizing many volunteer events, promoting charitable giving, and participating in grant-making to local non-profits.
Food security and the impact of food on health have long been an interest for Jennifer; she received a Master’s in Public Health Nutrition from the University of California, Berkeley before being swept up by the dot-com wave. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, walking to the Alemany Farmers’ Market, climbing, and skiing. She lives in San Francisco’s Mission district.
Pepe Gonzalez was born and raised in Point Reyes Station in rural West Marin County. Raised on the Giacomini dairy Gonzalez attended West Marin Elementary from kindergarten through eighth grade then proceeded onto Tomales High School. Upon graduating from Tomales High School Gonzalez accepted a scholarship to Dominican University of California in San Rafael.
At Dominican Pepe Gonzalez excelled receiving his teaching credential and degree in four years. The program allowed him to complete a five-year course of study in four. Gonzalez was honored the Most Outstanding Student award when graduating from Dominican in 2002.
Pepe is the past president of the Dominican University of California Alumni Board, former chair of the board of Ten Thousand Degree, a board member of Marin Kids, an advisory board member to the Marin Latino Leaders, and in 2017 Gonzalez became a trustee at his alma mater, Dominican University. Pepe resides in San Rafael where he enjoys hiking and biking with his wife Danielle and two boys, Nico 5, and Mateo 7, who is also a 1st grader at his school. For the past six summers the Gonzalez family has taken amazing road trips to almost every National Park in the west in their motorhome.
Randy Gottfried is a veteran technology industry executive, consultant and board member. He has extensive experience with venture capital-backed software and hardware start-ups – helping them establish and grow their businesses. In addition to the SF-Marin Food Bank, he is also on the board of directors of Datastax, Freshworks, and Sumo Logic.
Randy was formerly the Chief Financial Officer at AppDynamics (sold to Cisco in 2017). Previously, Randy was Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Riverbed Technology, joining the company pre-revenue and helping grow it to over a billion dollars of sales in more than 40 countries over his nine years there. Riverbed went public on the NASDAQ stock exchange in 2006.
Prior to Riverbed, Randy was Chief Financial Officer at Inktomi, a leading network software and Internet search company, which went public in 1998 and was later acquired by Yahoo. His other experience includes database software developer Sybase, Ernst and Young, and Bank of America.
Randy holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and an undergraduate business degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Ansaf Kareem is a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, a global venture capital firm, where he invests in early stage technology companies.
Ansaf started his career at McKinsey & Company in New York where he led teams and advised clients globally in the financial services and public sectors. After McKinsey & Company, Ansaf worked as a Policy Fellow for Newark Mayor Cory Booker and on his successful US Senate campaign in 2013. Ansaf also worked on the product team at RelateIQ, an enterprise SaaS company which was acquired by Salesforce.
Ansaf has served on the boards of the Interfaith Youth Core and Stanford Alumni Association. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers and is a Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Ansaf Kareem graduated with honors from Stanford University. He also holds a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School where he was a David M. Rubenstein Fellow, and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School where he was a George Leadership Fellow.
Horace L. Montgomery Jr., born and raised in Fresno California, moved to San Francisco to attend SFSU after graduating from Fresno City College, and was the first in his family to attend college.
While attending San Francisco State University and earning his BA in Psychology, he discovered his commitment to public service. While working with the Associated Students Inc as the Senior Director of Production, he has the privilege of working with students to fulfill their basic needs as they navigate a crucial part of their lives. Montgomery Jr. helped the Board of Directors establish an AS Farmers Market, an Online election platform, Rhythms Music Festival a week-long music festival, AS Pop-up Pantry, and most recently Gator Groceries.
Montgomery Jr. lives in San Francisco with his wife and two teenage sons, and all four are long-time San Francisco-Marin Food Bank volunteers.
From 1993-2013, Stephen served as the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Senior Rabbi of Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco. Upon retirement effective June 30, 2013, he was named senior rabbi emeritus. In 2014, he was named visiting professor of Jewish pastoral care at the Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, supported by generous grants of the Taube and Koret Foundations.
Ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, he earned his doctorate in counselor psychology at St. John’s University. He served as a board member of Palo Alto University for 25 years, and is currently an advisory board member of United Religions Initiative, board member and former chairman of the Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good at the University of San Francisco, advisory, and an advisory board member of the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life & Culture. Previously, he served on the board of the Graduate Theological Union and is a past president of the Northern California Board of Rabbis.
Stephen is the former editor of the Journal of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and an author. In 2012, Stephen was awarded The San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association’s Silver Spur Award for interfaith community dialogue and engagement; the national Jefferson Award for inspiring worshipers to fight hunger; The San Francisco Food Bank Community Partner Award for inspiring members of Congregation Emanu-El to donate over 90,000 pounds of food in the last two decades; and the San Francisco Interfaith Council recognition for encouraging green sustainability at the Temple. Stephen has been recognized three successive times by Newsweek as one of the 50 most influential rabbis in the United States. Stephen, in conjunction with clergy and staff, created a collaborative team approach to worship, life-long education, social concerns, and cultural offerings. In 2013, Stephen delivered the commencement address and was awarded an honorary doctorate by USF.
Nadia is a digital communications and strategy expert, activist and organizer. Prior to venturing out on her own, Nadia worked at Edelman, Finn Partners and Ogilvy and was responsible for leading teams skilled in digital research, planning, execution and measurement in addition to content strategy and messaging development. Her in-house marketing experience included companies in media, travel and home services. Nadia has also worked on a number of campaigns and is an activist within the San Francisco political community. She currently serves as the Co-President of San Francisco Women’s Political Committee and is an appointed delegate to the California Democratic Party.
Nadia was raised in Texas and spent eight years in the Washington DC area before moving to San Francisco in 2017 and calls the Bay home. She holds an MBA from The George Washington University and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from The University of Texas at Austin.
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.
Beth graduated with honors from Harvard and Radcliffe College (A.B., Sociology) in 1995. She won a John F. Kennedy Fellowship to Harvard’s JFK School of Government where she earned a Masters of Public Policy in 1999 and was admitted into the Ph.D. program. Prior to graduate school, Beth worked at a variety of child and family service organizations including the Children’s Aid Society (NYC) and the NYC Office of Public Welfare.
After graduate school, Beth joined McKinsey & Company, an international management consultancy, and worked there for five years until she and her husband were blessed with their first child. Beth and Oliver now live in Marin, CA along with daughters Cait (17) and Imogen (16).
Following family tradition, Beth dedicates a significant portion of her free time supporting local social service organizations. She currently sits on the board of Compass Family Services, where she chairs the Strategy & Governance Committee and serves as a member of the Executive Committee. She is co-chairing Compass’ successful $30 million Housing. Support. Hope. Campaign. Beth has also provided pro bono research and analysis for Tipping Point Community’ Chronic Homeless Initiative. As a Randall Museum Board member, she chaired a $8 million revitalization campaign. Beth always makes time to support her daughters’ schools. At Burke’s she chaired the Annual Campaign, served on the 8th grade leadership giving committee and created Burke’s Gives Back, a community service program for Burke’s families. She currently sits on the Advancement Committee at Marin Academy. Beth recently completed a stint on the Board of the Belvedere Tennis Club, where she chaired the search for a new general manager. Beth enjoys problem solving, strategizing, organizing, analyzing and quite simply getting things done.
Joseph Sáenz PhD is a Managing Director at Fremont Group, a prominent family office in the city, where he drives innovation and stepwise improvement, develops much needed tools for pareto optimality across departments, stresses over unmodelled risk, and maybe even smiles a bit, for a minute.
Having been food insecure since early childhood, Joseph started work at 13. And although he studied martial arts since six, it was not until he relocated to Seattle in his late twenties that he met his wife Chau in his first Kung Fu Class. Chau was totally into Joseph the second she saw him. Many, many years later, they have a son Ca$h and dog Bones.
Joseph earned his doctorate in Economics from University of Washington in Seattle, his Master’s Certificate in Music Production from Berklee College of Music, and his Bachelors in Applied Economics from USF. “If you are the first in your family to get a Bachelor’s degree, do not stop there. Make the next one stretch.”
Jeff Schoppert is a retired civil litigator and former managing partner of the San Rafael law firm Keegin Harrison Schoppert Smith & Karner LLP. Jeff has been actively involved in numerous civic endeavors for more than twenty years, including advocacy for affordable and workforce housing, efforts to support the San Rafael Public Library, and working with a local nonprofit to provide emergency disaster relief for small businesses during the pandemic.
He served as chair of the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce, as a San Rafael Planning Commissioner and as a director of the Marin Bar Association, where he helped implement local justice administration programs. Since his retirement, Jeff has especially enjoyed his regular mobile pantry runs to the ranches of West Marin.
Jeff received his B.A. in Sociology and Political Science from the University of California at Santa Barbara and his J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of San Francisco School of Law.
Hilary Seligman, MD, MAS is Professor at the University of California San Francisco with appointments in the Departments of Medicine and of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She directs the National Clinician Scholars Program at UCSF, School of Medicine.
Hilary is an expert in food insecurity and its health implications across the life course. Her policy expertise is in federal nutrition programs (particularly SNAP), food banking and the charitable food network, hunger policy, food affordability and access, and income-related drivers of food choice. Hilary directs the Food Policy, Health, and Hunger Research Program at UCSF’s Center for Vulnerable Populations at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and the CDC’s Nutrition and Obesity Policy, Research and Evaluation Network. She also serves as Senior Medical Advisor for Feeding America.
Hilary founded EatSF, a healthy foods voucher program for low-income residents of San Francisco. EatSF has expanded to other cities as Vouchers for Veggies. She is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.
Tara Seracka is Senior Vice President, Legal & Deputy General Counsel for Cisco Systems, Inc. In this role, Tara leads the Product Legal team responsible for supporting all Cisco Engineering teams across intellectual property, data privacy and security, go to market, product development, and market access matters. Prior to leading the Product Legal team at Cisco, Tara was General Counsel of Meraki (acquired by Cisco) and worked in private practice as a finance and technology attorney at the international law firms of Orrick and Perkins Coie. Tara began her law firm practice as a debt and equity finance lawyer representing buyers and lenders in large scale credit facilities and private equity investments and then moved into representing emerging technology companies and venture investors. Tara also co-founded and currently operates a consulting firm, Persistent Ventures, through which she advises tech startups with a focus on women and minority founded businesses. Tara attended Santa Clara University, studying business and art history, and earned her law degree from Boston College Law School. Tara holds a Certified Information Privacy Professional certification from the International Association of Privacy Professionals.
Chef Linda Shiue, MD is a primary care internist and professionally trained chef who believes that the best medicine is prevention, based upon a healthy lifestyle. As the first Director of Culinary Medicine at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco, in 2017 she founded a teaching kitchen, the Thrive Kitchen, to empower patients and physicians with a new set of skills and knowledge to improve health and wellness—nutrition applied through cooking skills. In her cooking demonstrations and hands-on workshops, Linda teaches the fundamentals of delicious, healthy cooking with an emphasis on preparing seasonal produce lavishly flavored with spices and fresh herbs. Linda serves as a reviewer for the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, is on the speaker’s bureau for the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and has also served as faculty at the University of California, San Francisco, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine and Stanford University. She represents Kaiser Permanente San Francisco as a founding member of the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative and as a member of the Google Food Lab. She is also a Guest Chef at Draeger’s Cooking School and Macy’s and serves on the board of the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank. Her first cookbook, Spicebox Kitchen, will be published by Hachette in March, 2021.
Linda completed her undergraduate and medical training at Brown University, Internal Medicine residency at the University of California, San Francisco, and received a Certificate in Plant Based Nutrition from Cornell University. She graduated from the professional culinary program at San Francisco Cooking School, which included an externship at the Michelin-starred restaurant, Mourad, in San Francisco. She is a member of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the International Association of Culinary Professionals, San Francisco Medical Society and Sigma Xi.
Uma Sinha, PhD is the Chief Scientific Officer of BridgeBio Pharma. She has extensive experience in discovery and development of drugs for hematologic, cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases.
Prior to joining BridgeBio in 2016, Dr. Sinha most recently served as Chief Scientific Officer of Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT). Previously, she was Vice President, Head of Biology at Portola Pharmaceuticals (PTLA) and had held senior research positions at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and COR Therapeutics. Dr Sinha has actively participated in discovery and clinical development of five marketed drugs. At GBT, Dr. Sinha supervised activities related to development of Oxbryta, which is used as treatment of sickle cell disease in adults and pediatric patients. Dr Sinha and her team were responsible for the initiation and progression of programs leading to development of Bevyxxa, an anticoagulant for extended duration prophylaxis in acute medically ill patients. Dr Sinha is a co-inventor of AndexXa, indicated for reversal of anticoagulation in bleeding patients. In addition to her drug development activities, Dr. Sinha serves on the Board of Directors of Eidos Therapeutics (EIDX) and on three Scientific Advisory Boards of privately held biotechnology companies. She is also a member of Hemostasis Thrombosis Study Section in NIH’s Center for Scientific Review.
Judy Young is Executive Director of Southeast Asian Development Center (SEADC). Founded in 1977, SEADC is the leading social services organization dedicated to Southeast Asian communities in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Rooted in the Tenderloin, SEADC provide youth, families, immigrants, and refugee communities with culturally competent services that build independence and strength.
Judy and her family resettled in the Tenderloin in 1981 after fleeing war-torn Laos at the age of seven years old. For over 30 years, Judy Young has dedicated her career focusing on issues of education, jobs, immigration, substance abuse prevention, violence prevention, juvenile justice and delinquency, mental health and wellness impacting communities of color.
Judy holds a Bachelor of Arts from San Francisco State University in History. Judy and her husband own Akira Japanese Restaurant, a local neighborhood restaurant in lower Pacific Heights. She is a long-time resident of San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood.
