Lisa Villarreal | Chair of the Board
Program Officer, Education | The San Francisco Foundation

Lisa Villarreal is an education professional with over 25 years of experience as a teacher, counselor, and administrator, with expertise in collaborative programs, professional development and grantmaking. She has worked with students, teachers, parents, administrators, community partners and funders at the local, regional, state and national levels.

Lisa previously served as executive director for the Center for Cooperative Research and Extension Services for Schools (CRESS Center) at the UC Davis School of Education. Lisa's background includes local work at the San Mateo County Office of Education, and high school, middle school, elementary school and preschool teaching. She also has extensive counseling, intervention, and youth development experience. Lisa's national experience includes serving as vice chair for the National Coalition for Community Schools and consulting for the Annenberg Institute on School Reform at Brown University, as well as for the Council of Chief State School Officers. She has published papers on a range of education, counseling, and youth development subjects.

A California native of Mexican-American descent, Lisa earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Simpson University and a master’s degree in Education from San Francisco State University.

Andrew Jordan | Treasurer
Consultant, Litigation and Insurance

Beverly Butler, APR
Vice President, Treasury Management & CEO Client Delivery Communications | Wells Fargo Bank

Beverly Butler is Vice President, Treasury Management & CEO Client Delivery Communications for Wells Fargo Bank. She heads the department and is primarily responsible for media relations, strategic messaging, crisis communications and issues management.

Prior to joining Wells Fargo in autumn of 2008, Beverly was Vice President and Director of Corporate Communications, at Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, a $660 billion Property and Casualty insurer located north of San Francisco. There she led the communications function, both internal and external.

Beverly spent nine years as Vice President, Marketing and Communications, with the largest Division of the American Cancer Society, and also served as Chief Communications Officer for five years with the American Red Cross. Beverly’s prior experience includes directing all external communications for The Gap, Inc. including national media relations for Old Navy, Banana Republic, Gap, and BabyGap.

Before moving to the west coast, Beverly was Vice President for Marketing at Rockport Shoe Company in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and Director of Advertising with Hush Puppies’. She also was a reporter with WOTV, the NBC television affiliate in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Beverly lives with her contractor husband, Michael, and 16-year old twins, Clara and Billie, in Mill Valley where she serves as Chair of the city’s Art Commission. Beverly is also Past Chair and currently on the Board of the San Francisco Public Relations Roundtable.

Dave Cortese
Santa Clara County Supervisor | Third District

Supervisor Dave Cortese was elected to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors in 2008 and currently serves as the Vice President of the Board. Prior to joining the Board, Cortese served eight years on the San Jose City Council, including two years as Vice Mayor. He grew up in San Jose as part of a family that has been active in civic, cultural and business activities for generations. He is married to Pattie, and has four children. His strong local roots and love for this county fuel his passion for public service.

Dave was educated at Bellarmine College Prep and UC Davis where he earned a Bachelor of Sciences Degree in Political Science. He earned his Juris Doctorate at Lincoln University Law School in San Jose.

With his first hand experience gained as a Trustee for the East Side Union High School District including two years as the President, Dave fully understands the need to give students the opportunity to succeed. Seeing the fast growing student population, particularly in the Evergreen area of San Jose, Dave jump-started dormant plans to build a new high school in Evergreen and co-chaired the $80 million bond campaign that led to Silicon Valley’s first new high school in 25 years.

In addition to providing places to learn, Dave believes that all students have the potential to succeed, even if it takes a helping hand. He was a major architect of a continuation program at Foothill High School, which gathered services from the County of Santa Clara and other local governments onto one campus so that students would not have to leave campus in order to interact with Social Services, Probation, etc. Furthermore, he helped expand and fund the City of San Jose’s “homework center” program at the East Side Union High School District.

With the knowledge that children who are touched by the social service system often face increasing hardships in school and life, Dave, as the Chair of the County’s Children, Seniors and Families Committee, has focused his efforts on reducing the rolls of the child welfare system and on decreasing the overrepresentation of minority youth in juvenile dependency, juvenile delinquency and other safety net services.

He has also had the opportunity to work with his father, former Assemblyman Dominic L. Cortese over a political career that commenced in 1968. Over that time, Dave has seen the rewards and hard work as well as the trials and tribulations of public service.

Patrick Duterte
Director | Solano County Health and Social Services Department

Patrick Duterte was appointed as the Director of Health and Social Services, for Solano County, in September 2001. Patrick directs a department of close to 1,200 staff. He previously worked in Silicon Valley’s Santa Clara County Human Services Agency as Director of Employment and Benefit Services. In addition, he has managed child welfare programs and employment programs in San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

After serving his country in Vietnam, Patrick received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of California at Berkeley, and San Francisco State, respectively. Patrick and his wife, Diane, have been married for 31 years, and have five children ranging from 13 to 29 years old. He is an avid skateboarder, in-line skater, cyclist, skier, unicyclist, and Hot Yoga enthusiast, and is a lifetime 49er and Giants Fan.

Erin Gabel
Director of Legislative Affairs | California Department of Education

Erin Gabel is the Director of the Government Affairs Division for California State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson, and the California Department of Education. Erin is responsible for the Superintendent’s and the Department’s involvement in state and federal budget and legislative processes.

Prior to joining Tom Torlakson at the Department, Erin was then-Assemblymember Torlakson’s Legislative Director, consulting on education and health policy, and general legislation. Before working at the state Capitol, Erin served as a District Representative for then-Senator Torlakson in Contra Costa, and as Deputy Chief of Staff to Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia.

Erin was one of the founding staff members of the Partnership for Children and Youth, as their first Children Nutrition Project Director, and now serves on their Advisory Board. Erin also served as the first coordinator of the California Task Force on Youth and Workplace Wellness, an initiative of the California State Legislature to address the childhood obesity epidemic.

Erin is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and proud mother of one two-year old son, who personalizes the importance of early learning and the future of public education.

Senator Loni Hancock
California State Senator | District Nine

Loni Hancock was elected to the California Senate in November 2008. She represents the 9th Senate District, which includes the cities of Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Castro Valley, Dublin, El Sobrante, Emeryville, Livermore, Oakland, Piedmont, Richmond, and San Pablo.

Senator Hancock previously served three terms as the representative of the 14th Assembly District, where she chaired the Committee on Natural Resources. She led the Committee to pass historic environmental legislation that protects open space, expands recycling programs and promotes healthy city infill strategies in the state. Senator Hancock also chaired the Assembly Select Committee on Bridging the Achievement Gap. Under her guidance, the Committee tackled issues related to high dropout rates, school-to-career programs, and oversight of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. In 2008, the Governor signed legislation authored by Senator Hancock that greatly expands career technical education programs for high school students.

In addition, the Senator sat on the Committee on Rules and chairs the Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment and Violence Prevention. She was a member of the Committee on Education, the Committee on Housing and Community Development, and the Committee on Health. In addition to issues of the environment, education, and health care, Senator Hancock is strongly committed to campaign finance reform. She authored AB 583, the California Clean Money and Fair Elections Act, to provide full public financing for all statewide races in California.

Before being elected to the Assembly, Senator Hancock headed the Western Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Education. Working with schools, communities, state and local governments, she helped launch many of President Clinton's education initiatives. Prior to her position with the Clinton administration, Senator Hancock broke through the glass ceiling, becoming the first woman to serve as Mayor of Berkeley, California. Serving as mayor for two terms, she led an urban renaissance in Berkeley, balanced seven straight city budgets, forged a historic agreement between the city and the University of California, began the revitalization of downtown Berkeley, led efforts to secure additional open space, and launched a Bio-Tech Academy at Berkeley High School in partnership with Bayer. Senator Hancock also served as President Jimmy Carter's Regional Director for ACTION, overseeing a host of domestic volunteer programs including VISTA, Foster Grandparents, Senior Companions and the Retired Senior Volunteer Program.

Senator Hancock has lived in Berkeley since 1964 and is married to Tom Bates. They have four children and seven grandchildren.

Shelly Masur, MPH
Trustee | Redwood City School District

Shelly Masur has almost 20 years of experience in public service and non-profit management, working to balance budgets, improve communication, solve problems and make programs and services more effective and efficient.

Shelly currently serves on the Redwood City School Board, as Immediate past-President of the San Mateo County School Boards Association and as an elected member of the California School Boards Association’s Delegate Assembly.  She was first elected to the Redwood City School Board in 2005 and currently serves on the board policy committee, the District wellness committee and is a board representative to Redwood City 2020, a collaboration among the District, San Mateo County, Redwood City and Sequoia Union High School District.

Despite the most difficult financial times for local government since the Great Depression, Shelly led the district to make necessary cuts, while preserving important academic programs and overseeing an overall increase in student achievement.  She served as president of the board and was on the District budget committee for two years, balancing the District’s budget by making the District more efficient and effective, lessening the impact of budget cuts. As a board member, Shelly improved communication with parents and community member by spearheading an outreach campaign Shelly also worked in committee to develop a wellness policy and led the complete overhaul of all District policies.

Shelly is frequently called upon to provide a local perspective on statewide education and budget issues.  She has testified in Sacramento on a variety of issues that affect local school districts, serves on Assemblymember Rich Gordon’s Education Advisory Committee and as a Key Communicator for the California School Boards Association.

Shelly holds a Master’s Degree on Public Health and has over 15 years of experience in non-profit management, focusing on adolescent health and youth services. She is the Executive Director of Teen Talk, a teen pregnancy prevention organization. Prior to her appointment as Executive Director, Shelly was the Director of Community Youth Development programs at the John W. Gardner Center at Stanford University.  She also served as the Director of School-Based Programs for Girls Inc. of Alameda County and as the Director of the California Adolescent Health Collaborative. Shelly sits on the Peninsula Partnership Leadership Council, the Advisory Board for the Partnership for Children and Youth, CSBA’s School Health Advisory Committee, co-chaired the School Wellness Task Force for San Mateo County’s Prevention of Childhood Obesity Task Force (now called the Get Healthy San Mateo Task Force) and is a member of Sequoia Hospital’s Community Advisory Committee.

Shelly lives in Redwood City and has three children who all attend Redwood City public schools. She is married to Josh Masur, an intellectual property attorney.

Yvette Radford
Vice President, External and Community Affairs | Kaiser Permanente Foundation Health Plan, Inc.

Yvette Radford is Kaiser Permanente’s Vice President of External and Community Affairs in Northern California. In this capacity, she is accountable for Government Relations, Community Benefit Programs, Community Benefit Reporting and Compliance, Educational Theatre Programs, Institutional & Planned Giving, and Community Relations. Additionally, Yvette provides leadership and consultation for some of Kaiser Permanente's strategic projects and national initiatives.

Prior to this role, Yvette served as Community Relations Director for Kaiser Permanente Northern California and Public Affairs Director in the East Bay Service Area. Yvette came to Kaiser Permanente after working 12 years in the California State Legislature for Assemblymember Tom Bates. She currently serves on the governing boards for numerous community organizations; including the National Community Development Institute, The Bay Area Partnership, Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA), the Oakland Workforce Investment Board, Chabot Space and Science Center Corporate Advisory Board, the Oakland African American Chamber Foundation Board and the Legislative Summer and Intersession Enrichment Task Force.

Yvette is married to David Tucker and has two daughters, Christina and Cyrena.

Soo Venkatesan
Senior Program Officer | S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation

Our Advisory Board

Susan Adams
Supervisor, District One | Marin County Board of Supervisors

John Gioia
Supervisor, District One | Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors

Alice Lai-Bitker
Principal | Alice and Associates