2025 NCG Annual Conference: Becoming Our Vision

Dimple Abichandani is a nationally recognized philanthropic leader, lawyer, and author of A New Era of Philanthropy: Ten Practices to Transform Wealth Into a More Just and Sustainable Future, a book that reimagines how philanthropy can meet this moment.

For two decades, she has worked to reshape philanthropy’s purpose and practice while leading innovative funding institutions. As Executive Director of the General Service Foundation (2015–2022), she aligned the foundation’s grantmaking, investments, and governance with justice values. She was the founding director of the Rise Together Fund, a donor collaborative at the Proteus Fund, and previously led the Center for Social Justice at UC Berkeley School of Law.

A National Center for Family Philanthropy Fellow, Dimple’s leadership has been recognized with a Scrivener Award for Creative Grantmaking. She serves on the Board of Directors of Solidaire Network and has served on the boards/steering committees of the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, Northern California Grantmakers, and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees.Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, she advises donors and foundations on transforming wealth into a just and sustainable future.

Nwamaka Agbo is the CEO of the Kataly Foundation and Managing Director of Kataly’s Restorative Economies Fund (REF). REF is grounded and guided by Nwamaka’s framework on Restorative Economics.

Prior to Kataly, Nwamaka provided technical assistance and strategic guidance to community-owned and -governed community wealth building initiatives as a consultant. With a background in community organizing, electoral campaigns, policy and advocacy work on racial, social and environmental justice issues, Nwamaka is deeply committed to supporting projects that build resilient, healthy and self-determined communities rooted in shared prosperity. She graduated from UC Davis with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and African American Studies and holds a Master’s of Public Administration specializing in Financial Management from San Francisco State University.

Kathryn is the Director of the Purpose of Education Fund at the Stuart Foundation. She was drawn to the Foundation’s commitment to supporting equitable school systems, where young people are heard and valued. 

Prior to joining the Foundation, Kathryn was an Education Program Fellow at the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, where her work focused on elevating the voices of youth, family, and communities. Previously, Kathryn served as a research and policy associate at the Learning Policy Institute (LPI). At LPI, Kathryn’s research focused on the spread of deeper learning competencies and equity in schools, as well as principal turnover. While in graduate school, she conducted research examining college and career readiness efforts of a national nonprofit organization. Kathryn began her career in education as a fourth-grade teacher in her hometown of New Haven, Connecticut, where she also designed and taught a social justice issues course for high school students. 

Kathryn received her undergraduate degrees in history and Africana studies, and a Master’s degree in public policy from George Washington University. She also holds a Master’s degree in teaching from Sacred Heart University. Kathryn serves on the Board of BlackFemaleProject. In her spare time, Kathryn finds joy in mentoring high school and college-aged students, and spending time with her nephews and dog.

Donna Bransford is the Senior Program Officer for the Mindfulness and Healing Justice Program at the Kataly Foundation, where she leads grantmaking to build and strengthen the infrastructure for mindfulness and healing justice movements, rooted in community and in service to racial justice, power building and collective liberation. 

Donna brings over 25 years of experience in community organizations and social justice philanthropy to her work at Kataly. Prior to Kataly, Donna led a consulting practice partnering with progressive foundations and donors and served in several leadership positions in the field, including Executive Director of Changemakers, a public foundation and donor education provider; Director of ACORN International, the international program of the former national membership organization of low-income families and Director of Outreach at Tides Foundation, managing donor engagement for a national community of progressive donors. 

Donna is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Black Organizing Project. She received her B.A. from Wesleyan University. Donna is a proud Oakland resident and can often be found watching her kiddo skateboard at one of the Bay Area’s skateparks, at an Oakland farmers market or chatting with her neighbors on walks around her neighborhood

Lukas Brekke-Miesner (he/him/his) is a youth advocate, writer, and the Executive Director of Oakland Kids First, where he has spent the past fifteen years centering the leadership of youth of color in fights for educational justice. 

A fourth-generation Oaklander, Lukas is a proud product of Oakland public schools, local youth organizations, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He brings a collaborative approach to organizational leadership, a commitment to intergenerational power-building, and almost two decades of experience in youth development and organizing. Most recently, he helped lead the Oakland Youth Vote coalition through a successful five year organizing campaign to win and implement voting rights in local school board elections for 16 and 17 year-old Oaklanders.

His writing about the Oakland Youth Vote campaign was published in the international organizing journal The Forge, and he is also featured in the documentary First Friday and season 5 of Netflix’s Last Chance U. Lukas is a winner of the Oakland Indie Awards’ Oakland Soul award and received a Pillar of Oakland award in 2022.

Cecilia Chen is the Chief Strategy Officer and Vice President of Programs at Akonadi Foundation, where she oversees strategy development across Akonadi’s program areas and implementation of Akonadi’s five-year initiative, All in For Oakland. 

Before joining Akonadi, Cecilia was the Public Policy Director at Northern California Grantmakers. She built the association’s policy advocacy infrastructure and led advocacy to protect immigrant rights, ensure an accurate census, and fight for equitable tax reform. Cecilia also served as a Deputy Attorney General at the California Attorney General’s Office, advancing the Attorney General’s policy priorities around criminal justice reform and childhood trauma. Cecilia was previously the Associate Director of Policy at the Center for Youth Wellness, where she led statewide efforts to prevent and address childhood adversity and the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on children’s health. She was also the 2011-2013 Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Fellow at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Cecilia graduated from Tufts University and received her J.D. from Boston College Law School. 

A Bay Area native, Cecilia lives in San Francisco with her husband, daughter and fur baby Sherlock. In addition to being an unabashed dessert lover (especially ice cream), Cecilia enjoys exploring the Bay Area and trekking internationally. 

Cecilia can be reached at Cecilia [at] akonadi.org

Raymond Colmenar joined Akonadi Foundation as President in October, 2022. He comes to Akonadi Foundation from The California Endowment, where he spent 16 years playing various leadership roles that gave him hands-on experience in strategic planning, program design and implementation. Most recently, he served as The Endowment's Managing Director of the Northern California regional team and the statewide Inclusive Community Development team, managing nearly $20 million in grantmaking annually. Previously, he led The Endowment's Bay Area regional office, which made significant investments in Oakland and Alameda County; helped plan and implement the recently completed 10-year Building Healthy Communities strategy, which evolved to prioritize power building as a core component; and co-led the strategy development and implementation of the Sons & Brothers program aimed at addressing structural racism and improving the well-being of boys and young men of color. Ray also worked collaboratively with other foundation leaders to create and launch California Funders for Boys and Men of Color, a network of foundation leaders dedicated to removing barriers and advancing opportunities for youth of color, their families, and communities. Prior to joining The Endowment, Ray was one of the founding staff members who helped launch PolicyLink, now a leading national research and action institute advancing racial and economic equity. In addition, Ray was a senior research associate at The Rockefeller Foundation, executive director of South of Market Problem Solving Council (now South of Market Community Action Network), and a policy analyst for the San Francisco Department of Human Services. He received a bachelor's degree in Management Science from the University of California, San Diego, and a master's degree in Public Policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. Ray was born in Manila, Philippines, grew up in San Diego, and now lives in Albany with his wife, Fatima Angeles. They have two young adult children, Isabela and Alessandro.

Vanessa Daniel has worked in social justice movements for 25 years as a labor and community organizer, writer, researcher, and funder. She is the founder of Groundswell Fund (a 501c3), and Groundswell Action Fund (a 501c4), two leading funders of women of color-led organizations in the U.S. Under her leadership, Groundswell moved over $100M to the field, centering intersectional grassroots organizing led by women of color and using a breakthrough philanthropic model that featured supermajorities of women of color movement leaders and former grassroots organizers on its staff and boards of directors. During her tenure, more than 40 foundations and over 2,000 individual donors relied on Groundswell to help them move resources to 200+ organizations at the grassroots.

Groundswell received the National Committee of Responsible Philanthropy’s “Impact Award” for smashing issue silos and Vanessa was featured in the Chronicle of Philanthropy as one of 15 “Influencers” who are changing the non-profit world and named by Inside Philanthropy as one of their “Top 100 Most Powerful Players in Philanthropy”. She is the recipient of the 2022 Smith Medal from her alma mater Smith College, the 2017 National Network of Abortion Funds’ Abortion Action Vanguard Award, and the 2012 Gerbode Foundation Fellowship.

Her writing has appeared in The New York Times and The San Francisco Bay Guardian, among other publications and her first book, Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Know About How We All Win was published by Random House on March 4, 2025. Prior to founding Groundswell, Vanessa organized homecare workers with SEIU; helped win a landmark living wage law with the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy; and conducted research to support the organizing efforts of welfare mothers with the Applied Research Center (now Race Forward). Currently, through her firm, Vanessa Daniel Consulting, LLC, she offers strategic advising and coaching support to donors, foundations, grassroots organizations and organizational leaders. She serves as board co-chair of the National LGBTQ Task Force, and on the Advisory Board/Brain Trust of the Kataly Foundation’s Environmental Justice Resource Collective, and the Democracy Frontline Fund. She is currently a fellow with the Decolonizing Wealth Project. Vanessa and her co-parent Tricia, are mothers to two daughters, ages six and thirteen.

 Anamitra Deb currently serves as Managing Director of Responsible Tech at Omidyar Network, a philanthropic organization whose mission is to bend the arc of the digital revolution toward shared power, prosperity, and possibility. He oversees teams working on tech platform accountability and regulation; privacy, data governance and online trust and safety; better tech cultures and products; responsible and open source tech; and guardrails for emergent tech such as generative AI.

He has authored several reports in responsible tech, market-based solutions, impact investing and strategic philanthropy, and lectured on these topics at the University of California (Berkeley) and Georgetown University, among others. His writings and perspectives have been featured in major publications, including The Economist, The Washington Post, Wired, Barron’s, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and The Times of India.

Anamitra is a Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. He sits on several advisory boards including Consumer Reports’ Innovation Council and the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas.

As a Rhodes Scholar, Anamitra received two master’s degrees from the University of Oxford, and is a proud graduate of Mount Allison University and the Lester B Pearson UWC in Canada. Originally from India, he lives in California with his wife and two energetic sons.

Holly Delany Cole is a former Program Director and current Advisor consultant with The LeadersTrust which, born out of the Flexible Leadership Awards at the Haas Jr. Fund, designs responsive, high-touch, long-term capacity strengthening collaborations with philanthropy that are based in trust to accelerate change. With her colleague Paula Morris, Holly helps lead the LeadersTrust’s Thrive Advisory Service – a consultancy focused on supporting foundations in design of capacity-strengthening. 

Until June 2014, Holly was co-director of Community Resource Exchange (CRE), having been part of CRE’s team for 18 years including as staff consultant, director of consulting and deputy director for programs. Immediately before CRE, she was a freelance consultant for human services and grant-making organizations in Chicago and NYC and helped to formalize the National Funding Collaborative for Violence Prevention. Her work included program evaluation, program development, coalition-building, and proposal writing. Early in her career, Holly served as a program associate and program officer at the New York Community Trust, managing grant programs in youth services, human justice, employment, and aging. 

Now a citizen of Oakland, California since 2016, Holly has increased her engagement with local decarceration efforts in recent years both as a community member and trustee of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. Currently, Holly serves on the national board of Equity in the Center. She has also served as a long-term trustee of both the NY Foundation and PowerMyLearning. Holly has a BSW from Adelphi University and earned her masters at the School of Social Service Administration/University of Chicago. She is a social worker with a life-long interest in how practice in community informs social policy and is co-author of Working with Teen Parents – a Survey of Promising Approaches with Phyllis Smith Nickel (1985).

Alexandra Desautels is Director of Strategy, Alignment, and Learning for The California Endowment (TCE). Over her decade at TCE, Alex led grantmaking in diverse areas such as inclusive community development, strengthening democracy, and narrative -- with the through line focusing on justice and organizing for the future we all deserve.  In her current role, she leads TCE’s largest grantmaking department’s learning and strategy setting, keeping her passion for the work lit through organizing with other funders to liberate philanthropy’s vast resources for justice. Before joining TCE, Alex led the Alameda County Public Health Department’s work, partnering with local organizers to advance policy and systems change solutions to racialized health inequities. The daughter of public servants, Alex, grew up in Maryland and currently resides, gardens, and drives her kids around in Oakland, CA.

Immigrated to the United States in the late 2000s, Hawi Desta got her start in youth organizing through California’s for Justice. Currently, she has just finished up her second year in college as a political science major while simultaneously working as a youth grantmaker. Hawi has served on both sessions of the grantmaking as a youth representative as well as partaking in the design sessions. She is now a Youth Power Fund fellow working to support YO! Cali’s Capacity Building and Power Building strategies and efforts in northern California. 

Masih Fouladi is CIPC’s Executive Director. Masih has over 15 years of advocacy experience, working to protect the civil rights of immigrant communities, focusing on defeating systemic injustices that harass, harm and criminalize communities of color and immigrants through legal, media and grassroots advocacy. 

Before joining CIPC, Masih was the Deputy Executive Director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA). In his role, Masih served as the Founding Director of CAIR-CA’s Center for the Prevention of Hate and Bullying; directed CAIR-LA’s legal, programs and policy response to support Afghan arrivals in the Greater Los Angeles area. He co-authored CAIR-CA’s nationally recognized school bullying report in 2017 and served as the Greater Los Angeles regional anchor for the No Muslim Ban Ever campaign. Masih catalyzed the expansion of immigration services during his time at CAIR-LA that led to an increase of 1,000 clients being served per year and a staff expansion of over 15 immigration practitioners. 

Previously, Masih served as the Executive Director of CAIR Washington for three years, where he was appointed by the Washington State Attorney General’s office to serve on a statewide Multidisciplinary Hate Crime Advisory Working Group responsible for updating the state’s hate crimes laws. He also served as a consultant to the City of Seattle on the intersection of technology and civil rights as a part of the city’s surveillance and technology committee. 

Masih was appointed by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to serve on the state’s Census Complete Count Committee. While in Washington, Masih led a successful statewide campaign to pass a religious accommodations bill. 

Masih has a Bachelor of Arts in both Economic and Cognitive Psychology from the University of California, Irvine, and a Juris Doctor Degree from the University of California, Davis. As a Muslim Iranian-American, Masih is passionate about establishing organizational infrastructure that will allow his community to thrive. He is a fan of chai, chocolate and the NBA. He enjoys spending time in nature with his family.

Glen Galaich, Ph.D. (he/him) joined Stupski Foundation as CEO in 2015.

His professional mission is to support equity, justice, and dignity in solidarity with communities that have been denied these essential values throughout history. He is committed to combating systemic racism, sexism, and discrimination in all its forms; reducing practices of donor control at institutional foundations that restrict resources to organizations led by and working with people of color; and supporting a multiracial democracy.

As CEO of Stupski Foundation, he is invested in advancing food justice, economic empowerment, postsecondary success, and health equity in the San Francisco Bay Area and Hawaiʻi. Learn more about the mission and vision of the Stupski Foundation.

Glen previously served as CEO of The Philanthropy Workshop (now Forward Global), whose mission is to educate, inspire, and activate a peer network of philanthropists. His career in strategic philanthropy started with the founding team of the Global Philanthropy Forum. He also served at Human Rights Watch as the deputy director of development for North America.

Glen has written and published on the role of ethnicity in the formation of political parties and human rights and in the use of political violence and repression in sub-Saharan Africa. Glen holds a doctorate and master’s in political science from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of California at San Diego. He currently serves on the boards of Article3.org, Next River, Northern California Grantmakers, and Forward Global.

Gina Garibo is a feminist committed to decolonization who is constantly learning. Born in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, Gina is the daughter of Angelina and Enrique and the youngest of three siblings. She has been involved in the migrant justice movement for more than 10 years, first as a researcher, then as an advocate, and now as an organizer and migrant woman herself. Between 2017 and 2018, she accompanied migrants in Mexico. She helped coordinate a campaign against municipal police abuse in Tijuana and the deadly pact between police and Mexico’s National Migration Institute, among other campaigns. She loves to co-create spaces for building collective power where people are able to assert themselves in their dignity and struggle. Now, she is placing her commitment, heart, and experiences in dialogue with and in service of the migrant struggle in Sonoma County. Gina Garibo holds degrees in International Affairs, Political Science, and Sociology -AbD. 

Dr. Timnit Gebru is DAIR’s founder and executive director. Prior to that she was fired by Google in December 2020 for raising issues of discrimination in the workplace, where she was serving as co-lead of the Ethical AI research team. Timnit also co-founded Black in AI, a nonprofit that works to increase the presence, inclusion, visibility and health of Black people in the field of AI, and is on the board of AddisCoder, a nonprofit dedicated to teaching algorithms and computer programming to Ethiopian and Jamaican highschool students. She has received a number of accolades including being named one of Nature’s Ten people who helped shape science and one of TIME 100’s most influential people. She is currently writing The View from Somewhere, a memoir + manifesto arguing for a technological future that serves our communities instead of one that is used for surveillance, warfare, and the centralization of power by Silicon Valley

Kat is a sweets and daughter, with a beloved queer and trans family, a love of insects; the prairie, lakes and forests of the Midwest; and the power of the rolling ocean. Kat grew up in the Midwest, was shaped by the land, her family, and the forces of whiteness and colonial settlement alongside Indigenous and Black-led resistance. She has lived on unceded Ohlone Territory in Oakland, California, for twenty years, joining family with roots in Oakland. She was transformed by multiracial struggles for justice, land stewardship, and union and populist organizing. She is committed to reparationist action as ancestral healing, and redistribution of wealth toward shared prosperity. She turned to community organizing after witnessing the decimation of economies, communities, and ecology by corporate, industrial agriculture. Her diagnosis with lifelong chronic illness without health insurance, while attempting to farm and build local, healthy, and just food systems, politicized her further. 

Kat has thirty years experience in movements for social, economic, and land justice. Kat’s organizing training comes through Voices for Racial Justice/Organizing Apprenticeship Project, Gamaliel, and the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, and she studied plant and soil sciences with her grandmother, and at the University of Minnesota College of Agriculture. She was co– director of Centro Campesino, senior associate at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and co–director of Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network, which led her west and into global movements for land and liberation in the face of chemical industry power. 

Over the past 15 years, Kat has focused on financial resourcing and infrastructure for social movements and land–based economies. She served as Executive Director of Ceres Trust, a private foundation redistributing all assets to grassroots movements, farmers, and Indigenous and Native land stewards. She is an organizer, integrated capital strategist, and somatic practitioner. Kat is Managing Director at Just Futures Impact and consultant with Justice Funders. She holds the Series 65 Investment Advisor license. Kat is active in her faith community, and serves on the board of directors of Community Water Center, and the Advisory Circles for the Radical Resource and Land Fund, Feed Black Futures, and re:Wild Your Campus. She loves to dance, play music, create spreadsheets, and to be outdoors, muttering about with the plants.

Angela Glover Blackwell is Founder in Residence at PolicyLink, the organization she started in 1999 to advance racial and economic equity for all. Under Angela’s leadership, PolicyLink gained national prominence in the movement to use public policy to improve access and opportunity for all low-income people and communities of color, particularly in the areas of health, housing, transportation, and infrastructure. Angela is also the host of the Reimagining Democracy for a Good Life podcast and the Radical Imagination podcast and Professor of Practice at the Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley.

Prior to founding PolicyLink, Angela served as Senior Vice President at The Rockefeller Foundation. A lawyer by training, she gained national recognition as founder of the Urban Strategies Council. From 1977 to 1987, Angela was a partner at Public Advocates. Angela is also the co-author of Uncommon Common Ground: Race and America’s Future, and the author of The Curb Cut Effect (2017) and How We Achieve a Multiracial Democracy (2023) published in the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Corrina Gould (Lisjan Ohlone) was born and raised in the village of Huichin, now known as Oakland CA. As a mother of three and grandmother of five, Corrina has dedicated her life to the Native community, working with a multitude of Native led organizations, and is the current Co-Founder and Lead Organizer for Indian People Organizing for Change, a small Native led organization that protects the cultural survival of sacred places in the greater Bay Area. As the Tribal Chair for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan Nation, she has continued to fight for the protection of Shellmounds, her nation's inherent right to sovereignty, and stands in solidarity with her Indigenous relatives to protect sacred waters, mountains, and lands all over the world. Her life’s work led to the creation of Sogorea Te’ Land Trust, a women-led organization within the urban setting of her ancestral territory of the Bay Area. 

Sogorea Te' Land Trust works to return Indigenous land to Indigenous people. Based on an understanding that the Bay Area is home to many peoples that have been oppressed and marginalized, Sogorea Te’ works to create a thriving community that lives in relation to the land. Through the practices of rematriation, cultural revitalization, and land restoration, the Land Trust calls on Native and non-Native peoples to heal and transform legacies of colonization, genocide, and to do the work our ancestors and future generations are calling us to do. She has received numerous awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from News from Native California, the Chicana/Latina Legacy Award and was inducted into the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame in 2023. Her hope comes from the belief in her ancestors, prayer and the next seven generations.

Prentis Hemphill is a dynamic and influential activist, embodiment teacher, group facilitator, and author who has made significant contributions to various fields, including social justice, community organizing, and mindfulness. They are the Founder and Director of The Embodiment Institute and The Black Embodiment Initiative, and the host of the acclaimed podcast, Finding Our Way. 

For over 10 years, Hemphill has been working with individuals and organizations during their most challenging moments of change. They do this by unearthing the connections between healing, community accountability, and our most inspired visions for social transformation.

Hemphill is an engaging, authentic, and captivating speaker with a natural ability to connect with audiences and create safe spaces for meaningful conversations and dialogue. During their events, they explore the societal tendency to suppress emotions (to the detriment of individual and collective well-being) and examine how existing power structures can hinder the formation of communities while promoting marginalization and exclusion. Their talks are filled with personal anecdotes, humor, and powerful storytelling that leave a lasting impact on listeners and encourage participants to embrace their emotions and build deeper connections.

Before founding The Embodiment Institute, Hemphill was the Healing Justice Director at Black Lives Matter Global Network and a lead somatics teacher with generativesomatics, an organization committed to bringing politicized somatics to movement building, and Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD), a group dedicated to rebuilding Black movement infrastructure. In 2016, Hemphill was awarded the Buddhist Peace Fellowship Soma Award for community work inspired by Buddhist thought.

Hemphill’s work has been featured in The New York Times, Huffington Post, and Shondaland. Prentis is a contributor to The Politics of Trauma by Staci K. Haines as well as the upcoming You are Your Best Thing edited by Brene Brown and Tarana Burke and Holding Change by adrienne maree brown. Hemphill currently lives on a small farm in Durham, NC with their family.

As the Kataly Foundation’s Chief Investment Officer, Lynne leads the Foundation’s community investment strategy under the Restorative Economics framework. Lynne also incorporates her deep experience in the integrated capital approach to work with Kataly’s grantee and investee partners to ensure the needs of their organization are at the center of the work. Lynne brings more than fifteen years of experience working in the fields of accounting, banking and impact investing. In her previous role as the Managing Director of the Olamina Fund and Head of Lending at Candide Group, she launched, with community feedback, the Olamina Fund, which focuses on funding organizations that have faced systemic racism and intentional extraction of resources. Olamina is also a place to train BIPOC fund managers to lead impact investing.

Prior to her work at Olamina, Lynne was the Senior Director of Credit at RSF Social Finance, one of the oldest impact funds in the country. In her role at RSF Social Finance, she helped launch the Women’s Capital Collaborative, a $2M integrated capital fund committed to funding women of color-led enterprises. She doubled the size of the loan portfolio and co-managed a team of 13 people. She was part of the DEI committee and made specific recommendations on how to address internalized white supremacist structures to match its external funding commitments.

Lynne is a Chartered Accountant and has an MBA in Corporate Finance. She lives in San Francisco with her cat Penny, who is regularly mortified by Lynne’s attempts to shuffle dance and speak Italian. When she isn’t dancing to house music, she is off on an adventure, whether it’s backpacking, a road trip, or an international flight to bring the work to Europe.

Brandi Howard is a dynamic and results-driven leader with extensive experience in philanthropy, public health, and community development. As the President and Chief Executive Officer of East Bay Community Foundation, she provides strategic vision and operational leadership for a nearly 100-year- old philanthropic institution with more than $500 million in assets under management. Under Brandi’s leadership, EBCF is leveraging its resources to promote economic freedom and sustainable development in underserved East Bay communities. Since joining EBCF in 2022, Brandi has mobilized $4-5 million in annual strategic grantmaking, enhanced capacity building for organizations in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, and advanced local advocacy efforts that influenced critical public safety policies. 

Brandi has demonstrated a deep commitment to equity and social impact throughout her career. Her tenure as Chief of Staff to the CEO and Interim Vice President of Programs at The San Francisco Foundation (SFF) highlighted her ability to lead organizational strategy and foster cross-sector collaboration. She was pivotal in designing SFF’s first multi-year strategic plan, developing success metrics, and overseeing a $5 million annual grantmaking budget. 

An expert in health equity, Brandi held leadership positions at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where she spearheaded citywide initiatives to address racial inequities in chronic disease and maternal health. Her efforts resulted in policy interventions and place-based strategies that improved health outcomes for marginalized communities. She has also contributed to improving maternal and child health in Alameda County, California, through program development and policy consulting with First 5 Alameda County and her work as a doula. 

A respected thought leader in social determinants of health, economic inclusion, and organizational development, Brandi has served in numerous advisory and consultancy roles. She is passionate about fostering sustainable social change through collaborative philanthropy, data-driven evaluation, and inclusive community engagement. 

Brandi has a Master of Social Welfare with a focus on Management and Planning and a Bachelor of Arts in African American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She is also pursuing executive education at Harvard Business School, focusing on Leading Business Transitions. 

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Brandi is committed to mentoring future leaders, especially in Oakland where her family has lived for four generations.

Alicia Jay (she/her) is the Executive Director of All Due Respect, a national project working to improve sectoral labor standards for community organizers. As a certified coach and organizational leadership expert, Alicia has spent the last two decades driving change on behalf of social justice activists and organizations, with a focus on gender justice. She previously served as a co-founder and the Managing Director of Make It Work, a three-year national advocacy campaign advancing economic security issues for women and families. Alicia has helped mobilize millions of women through intersectional campaigns and events like the We Won't Wait coalition, the United State of Women Summit, and the Survivors’ Agenda; built the capacity of grassroots organizations through grantmaking at the Atlantic Philanthropies and as an organizational development consultant; and trained the current and next generation of social change leaders through Young People For, the Civil Liberties and Public Policy Program, and as a coach working with hundreds of emerging leaders

Arron is NCG’s Director for Member Engagement where he oversees emergent partnerships and key programming to engage NCG’s diverse membership.  Before joining NCG, Arron was a social entrepreneur and strategic advisor who worked with labor, philanthropy, education, and nonprofit leaders to build the capacity of, and sometimes transform, public systems to better serve and support low-income communities.  He previously served as the associate director of education at the now sunset S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, where he worked on policy and system improvement in California public schools, with a focus on STEM education, whole child development strategies, and educator preparation. 

Arron started his career in anti-poverty work with low-income communities in Nebraska before moving to the Bay Area in 2001.  In California, he continued working on family issues including preschool, child care and youth development programs first at a state intermediary and then at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Arron proudly serves as a Trustee of the National Equity Project and as a board member of Oakland-based, Partnership for Children & Youth, and San Francisco-based, Safe & Sound. 

Born and raised in Oakland, Joshua Lee has been leading grassroots organizations in the Bay Area for over ten years. A focal point of Josh’s work has been with youth organizing groups in the east bay such as Youth Together and AYPAL: Building Asian Pacific Islander Community Power, centering the voices and leadership of some of the most powerful yet vulnerable populations in the region in BIPOC young people. Josh recently completed his role as a Multicultural Fellow at the San Francisco Foundation (SFF), where he led their Rapid Response Fund for Movement Building and COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund grantmaking. Prior to his role at SFF, he was the Director of AYPAL: Building API Community Power for 5 years. He has a MA from the University of Michigan in Higher Education with a focus on Social Justice, and a BA from UC Santa Cruz in American Studies. After being in the field for many years, harnessing his perspective as both grantee and funder, he is driven by a commitment to building collective strategies towards racial equity, led by those most impacted, towards a Just East Bay. 

Ammarah Maqsood is the Senior Director of Development at Huckleberry Youth Programs, mobilizing resources and advocating for youth development justice. At the intersection of advocacy and action, Ammarah works to dismantle systemic barriers through the power of authentic storytelling and strategic philanthropy. Her trust-based approach centers a particular focus on gender justice, human rights, and creating equitable opportunities for historically marginalized communities.

With over ten transformative years in the social change ecosystem, Ammarah brings cross-sector expertise in development and philanthropy spanning grassroots and global movements from organizations like Global Fund for Women, Equimundo: Center for Healthy Masculinities, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay, Save the Children, and The Nature Conservancy. She holds a BA in Political Science and Economics and a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) specializing in Public Policy and Management, which informs her approach to organizational leadership and resources. mobilization.

She's currently the co-chair of the Bay Area chapter of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy and serves as the Secretary on the Board of Directors at Hively. She has previously served as an advisor at Picture Motion and Regional Ambassador for Girl Rising. Her commitment to collective liberation extends through volunteer initiatives across multiple justice movements—from political organizing to educational equity work with organizations like Room to Read, South Asians for Black Lives, and state and local political offices.

Dwayne S. Marsh assumed the position of President and CEO of Northern California Grantmakers on September 9, 2020. He brings more than 35 years of experience in the public, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors with a career commitment to advancing racial and economic equity.

Dwayne recently completed a four-year turn as co-Director of the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) and Vice President of Institutional and Sectoral Change at Race Forward Race Forward. During his tenure, the membership network of local, regional, and state entities committed to advancing racial equity through the policies, practices, and public investments grew from just over 20 to nearly 200 participating jurisdictions.

Prior to GARE, Marsh spent six years as a senior advisor in the Office of Economic Resilience (OER) at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. There, he helped advance sustainable planning and development through interagency partnerships, departmental transformation, and funding initiatives managed through OER. He was OER’s principal coordinator for a $250 million grant program and led the development of capacity building resources that reinforced the work of pioneering grantees in 48 states and the District of Columbia. Under his leadership, OER prioritized equity as a foundational principal for its planning and investment initiatives.

Marsh brings to the movement his expertise and considerable experience in coalition building for regional equity and leadership development for policy change. He provides technical assistance and capacity building knowledge to equitable development initiatives that address continuing disparities in affordable housing, transportation investment, and environmental justice. Before HUD, Marsh spent a decade at PolicyLink, the national organization committed to economic and social equity. Before PolicyLink, he directed the FAITHS Initiative for eight years at The San Francisco Foundation, building a nationally renowned community development and capacity building program that continues to this day. His career has been defined by supporting communities traditionally marginalized from full participation in our economy and society to build power and leverage lasting systems transformation.

Jesus Martinez is Executive Director of the Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative (CVIIC), a Fresno-County based nonprofit organization created in 2014 to empower immigrant families and immigrant serving organizations in the region. As a coordinator of regional efforts, CVIIC and its partner organizations serve immigrants in the region extending from Kern County in the south and San Joaquin County in the north. Before heading CVIIC, he was Coordinator of the Central Valley DACA Project for the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (2012-2015) and, previously, worked as a consultant (2008-2013) in a variety of projects commissioned by nonprofit and federal government agencies. Martinez served in the Michoacán (Mexico) State Congress from 2005-2007 before being appointed Director General at the Institute for Michoacanos Abroad, the state immigration affairs agency. In the academic world he taught Political Science at Santa Clara University (1991-1998), completed a postdoctoral stay at the Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. José María Luis Mora in Mexico City (1999-2000) and taught Latin American and Chicano Studies at CSU Fresno (2000-2004), before joining the Michoacan State legislature. He obtained a B.S. in Political Science at Santa Clara University, as well as an M.A. in Latin American Studies and a Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkley. His areas of expertise include international migration, U.S.-Mexican relations and public policy. 

As Executive Director of CVIIC, he has developed projects dealing with immigration legal services and community education, health access, the 2020 census, immigrant entrepreneurship, among others. An objective of CVIIC has been to promote regional coordination and collaboration in immigration and related topics. He has served as a member of the State of California Complete Count Committee and the state’s Entrepreneurship and Economic Mobility Task Force.

Luna Moreta Avila (she/her/hers), is a philanthropic organizer, resource mobilizer, space-holder and advocate based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has fought for personal and collective transformation for nearly 20 years in a variety of contexts, from movement-building to leadership development and beyond. She is currently the Grantmakers United for Trans Communities (GUTC) Director at Funders for LGBTQ Issues, where she leads work to create lasting systems change within the philanthropic sector to better support trans communities and leaders.

Vanessa Moses co-directs the Healing, Sustainability and Culture Strategy at California’s Movement Innovation Center, a new organizer-led effort to amplify and accelerate the field of power building to catalyze lasting, long-term transformation in California. Vanessa also works to strengthen powerbuilding organizations as a member of the Center for Empowered Politics Education Fund team. Formerly the Executive Director at the grassroots membership organization Causa Justa :: Just Cause, she brings the lessons learned from two decades of building and leading racial and economic justice organizing efforts throughout the Bay Are

Diana A. Otero is a dedicated and visionary leader serving as the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships & Innovation at the Latino Community Foundation. 

With over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector and immigration advocacy, she is deeply committed to supporting leaders and organizations through initiatives like the Latino Nonprofit Accelerator, The Capital Campaign, and Rest is Power, which provides executive leaders with sabbaticals to rest and recharge. Diana is also an exceptional event organizer, creating spaces that are not only beautifully curated but where every participant feels truly seen, valued, and embraced. 

Originally from Bogotá, Colombia, Diana moved to the Bay Area and, like so many immigrants, had to rebuild her sense of home. Finding support and connection within the Latino community gave her a deep understanding of the power of belonging; an experience that continues to fuel her passion for helping leaders and organizations thrive. Her work is centered on ensuring that those who dedicate their lives to serving others feel care for, supported, and encouraged to dream big. 

Beyond her role at LCF, Diana serves on the board of the St. Francis Center in Redwood City and will be joining the board of Northern California Grantmakers this June. She finds joy in singing, dancing salsa, and spending quality time with her husband, son, mom, close friends, and Luna, her beloved chocolate labradoodle.

Lauren Padilla-Valverde is the daughter of Indigenous Guatemalan parents who organized for justice in their homeland. She has maintained her parents’ commitment to justice throughout her career in academic medicine, patient care, and health justice philanthropy. Lauren is Managing Director of Racial Equity, Culture, and Practice at The California Endowment. In this role, she oversees the foundation’s efforts to become an embodied, anti-racist health foundation. Under her leadership, The California Endowment engages in deep communal work to align its values with its practices and to be a trusted partner to its grantees. Before this appointment, Lauren was Senior Program Manager in the Salinas Valley, where she developed a grantmaking strategy to build organized power and promote meaningful community-led change as part of the Endowment’s $1 billion, 10-year Building Healthy Communities initiative (2010-2020). 

Before joining The Endowment, Lauren was an assistant professor and director of the Joint Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies and Master of Public Health Program at Touro University-California. She oversaw the development of a joint Master’s degree program designed to prepare a healthcare workforce that reflects and serves California’s racially and culturally diverse population. The program has become a national model for physician assistant and public health education, training healthcare practitioners who go on to work in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs). She practiced family medicine for 10 years, serving farmworkers and the unhoused as a physician assistant. 

Earlier in her career, Lauren served as senior analyst for the Division of Health Affairs at the University of California, Office of the President, where she developed growth and enrollment recommendations to increase the number of underrepresented students in medicine and public health. Lauren has been recognized by the National Compadres Network and Health Career Connection for her dedication to establishing and sustaining pathways for the next generation of leaders in health and justice. 

Lauren is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego, Stanford University, and Pace University. She lives in Richmond with her partner Jeremy Valverde, and they are proud parents of Stella Magdalena.

Esperanza Pallana is an executive leader with over 20 years of experience in nonprofit management, specializing in philanthropy, communications, and policy advocacy. As Executive Director of Wildseeds Fund, she provides strategic leadership to expand grantmaking capacity, strengthen community-led decision-making, and advance movement-led philanthropy. 

Esperanza has pioneered innovative community investment strategies such as community-controlled capital processes, liberatory frameworks for impact investing, reparative fee programs, and collaborative fundraising. In a previous role, Esperanza leveraged over $79.6 million to direct measurable impact in equitable food systems. 

She has served on nonprofit and government boards, where she successfully navigated startup growth, scale-up phases, legacy transitions, and strategic overhauls. Esperanza has also consulted on equity initiatives, organizational development, and civic engagement for foundations, policy organizations, and cultural institutions. She is a creative and dedicated driver of movement-led investments and strategic partnerships to advance community self-determination, economic empowerment, and leadership development

Elizabeth (Liz) joined the Irvine Foundation as a Senior Program Officer in July of 2021. She has substantive professional experience at the intersections of public health, organizing and policy, and philanthropy. 

Prior to Irvine, she served as a Program Officer with the Marguerite Casey Foundation, where she led the Foundation’s strategy development and grantmaking efforts in California and with national intermediaries. Liz has a strong track record of successfully bringing funders together to increase resources for racial and economic justice work in California and nationally. She co-created a partnership with Right to the City Alliance, Neighborhood Funders Group, and other national funders to align strategy and increase funding for housing justice organizing. 

Before that, Liz served as a Senior Policy Analyst for USAID Global Health Bureau, a consultant with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in Monrovia, Liberia, and served as the director of a statewide multi-racial integrated youth voter engagement initiative in Alaska. 

Liz holds an MPH from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a bachelor’s degree from Lewis and Clark College. She is based in our San Francisco office

Dr. Allison Scott is the CEO of the Kapor Foundation, which focuses at the intersection of racial justice and technology and works to remove barriers in access and opportunity, such that the promise and potential of technology can be harnessed to create a more equitable future. Under her leadership, the Kapor Foundation publishes research on disparities in the technology pipeline, deploys strategic grants to nonprofit organizations and initiatives, supports policy advocacy, and invests in tech entrepreneurs and venture funds aiming to utilize technology to close equity gaps across sectors. 

Dr. Scott brings a research lens to advancing equity in technology. In her previous role as the Chief Research Officer, Dr. Scott authored foundational research on inequity in CS education, disparities in the tech sector, the landscape of women of color in computing, and effective interventions for increasing participation of marginalized groups in computing disciplines. She has been a Principal Investigator on multiple national grants to expand access to computer science education, implement frameworks for culturally responsive-sustaining computing, and build a field of scholarship on women of color in computing. Dr. Scott has also been a member of advisory boards and committees, including the FCC Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment, the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Mathematics Committee for Transforming Trajectories for Women of Color in Tech, the SNAP Catalyze Tech Working Group and on the Boards of the Federation of American Scientists, CSforAll, SMASH and MissionBit. 

Previous positions included: Chief Research Officer at the Kapor Center; Program Leader for the National Institutes of Health’s Enhancing the Diversity of the Biomedical Workforce Initiative; Director of Research and Evaluation for the Level Playing Field Institute, and Data Analyst for the Education Trust-West. Dr. Scott holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Hampton University.

Raquel Jacquez Sharp (she/her) is a senior program manager for Blue Shield of California Foundation, where she leads special projects under the direction of the chief program director. She is responsible for programmatic support that cuts across approach areas, including: economic security and mobility, breaking the cycle of domestic violence and aligning systems with community priorities. Raquel is deeply committed to supporting the health and safety of all Californians, and particularly those most in need.

Raquel has spent the majority of her career focused on health promotion in schools, libraries, and other community organizations. Prior to working in philanthropy, Raquel was the deputy director of The Charlie Cart Project, a national food and nutrition education nonprofit.  Raquel led the national program strategy, including the training of a national network of health educators, scaling operations, and bringing essential resources to community health efforts. In this role, Raquel led program development with an emphasis on community collaboration and peer-to-peer learning. Raquel brings her expertise in building community partnerships, designing and executing programs, and leading operations to the Foundation. 

Raquel holds a double bachelor’s degree in philosophy and ethnic studies from the University of California, Berkeley and a master’s in health education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She lives in Berkeley with her husband and two kids.

Janet Y. Spears is Chief Executive Officer of Metta Fund, a private foundation dedicated to advancing the health and wellness of San Francisco’s aging population. Established in 1998, the foundation has a current endowment of more than $80 million and grants out approximately $2.4 million per year. Under Janet’s leadership, Metta Fund has pursued an audacious vision of an inclusive, connected, multi-generational, healthy and thriving San Francisco. She has established new organizational priorities and spearheaded innovative opportunities for collaboration in service of the health and wellness of the community.

Before joining Metta Fund, Janet was Chief Operating Officer at the East Bay Community Foundation (EBCF), a community foundation located in Oakland, California with approximately $400 million in assets. During her tenure, she oversaw development, grantmaking, communications, and donor services, and guided EBCF to a programmatically strong and financially healthy position. Prior to EBCF, Janet enjoyed a 23-year career at AT&T, where she led complex sales solutions as Sales Vice President.

Janet was appointed to the San Francisco Disability and Aging Services Commission in 2019 and also serves on the boards of Northern California Grantmakers, the Giants Community Fund, and the University of the Pacific (UOP), her alma mater. There, she is Chair of the Academics and Student Affairs Committee, and previously served as Board Secretary. She was also formerly on the Board of UOP’s Pacific School Alumni Association.

Janet holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Pacific, where she was named distinguished alumna in 2012. She also holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University, and an Advanced Management Certificate from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Janet is a California native and longtime San Francisco resident.

Born and raised in the Bay Area, Casey Tran (she/her) has dedicated her career to resourcing social justice movements. She was a 2023-2025 Multicultural Fellow at the San Francisco Foundation (SFF), focusing on learning and evaluation. As part of her fellowship, she conducted a retrospective evaluation of SFF’s Koshland Young Leaders Award, a scholarship program that supports underserved high school students to attend college. Previously, Casey worked at the Chinese Progressive Association and Asian Law Caucus where she led resource mobilization and grassroots fundraising efforts. Casey holds a Master of Public Administration from San Francisco State University.

Elica is the Program Director for Immigrant Rights at the Haas, Jr. Fund. She joined with extensive experience building and managing programs focused on advancing justice, equality, and opportunity for immigrants. Most recently, she served as interim executive director with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, San Francisco Bay Area, helping lead the organization’s movement lawyering focused on the intersection of immigrant, racial, and economic justice alongside a network of 1,000+ pro bono volunteers. Elica also served as a Staff Attorney and Program Manager of the National Security & Civil Rights Program at the Asian Law Caucus (ALC). During her tenure at ALC, she led rapid response efforts focused on civil rights, immigrant rights, and racial justice with a particular emphasis on the Muslim Ban. Earlier, Elica worked as the supervising attorney to establish the University of California Immigrant Legal Services Center serving the legal needs of undocumented UC students and their family members. She has experience in philanthropy as well, having served as the Project Director of the One Nation Initiative at the California Community Foundation in Los Angeles where she managed the first philanthropic program in Southern California for Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian nonprofit organizations. Elica grew up in the Bay Area and is the proud daughter of immigrants from Iran.

Lydia Walker, a celebrated San Francisco-based singer, performer, and DJ, will provide the soundtrack to transformation. Through a curated set that reflects the vibrancy and resilience of San Francisco, Lydia’s music will carry us into the post-conference reception, infusing the space with rhythm, connection, and energy. Whether drawing inspiration from the Fillmore’s jazz legacy, disco sounds that accompanied 1970s queer activism or from new artists currently performing on the city’s stages, Lydia’s selections will evoke the journey of becoming and will set the tone for the conversations and collaborations ahead. In addition to DJing the reception, Lydia will curate a playlist for the conference, offering a backdrop to our reflections, breaks, and moments of connection throughout the day.

Bria is a Young Black Soulaan Womxn from Oakland California. Ms. Bria is an artist, social justice activist, community organizer and leader. “Her black womxn is versatile, Her blackness is not a monolith.” Connected to the sublime and divine feminine energy always repping her roots. Art is her tool to express & uplift her radical dreams & actions. Committed to being a lifelong learner, authentic in her expression. From writing poems to hosting workshops and programs, Ms.Bria is a leading light.