Steve Larson is a Principal at California Strategies LLC. He has directed agencies at the center of California energy policy, has an insider’s knowledge of the state’s fiscal and budgetary processes, and has managed the U.S. west coast operations of an international energy company.

Prior to joining California Strategies, Larson served as the Executive Director for the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates all privately owned utilities in the State. This experience capped years of work in utility regulation, beginning when he served as Chief Consultant to the California Senate Public Utilities and Transit Committee. Larson also served as Executive Director of the California Energy Commission during the state energy crises of 2000-2001. As an important contributor to both of these Commissions, Larson helped develop many of the current renewable energy and energy efficiency policies of the state.

Larson’s private sector experience includes serving as President of Woodside Natural Gas of California, a subsidiary of Woodside Energy of Australia, a $40 billion energy firm that is one of the world’s largest producers of Liquefied Natural Gas.

Larson also is an expert of state fiscal processes and policy having served for 17 years as Chief Consultant to the California Senate Budget Committee, and later as Chief Deputy Director of the California Department of Finance.

A Silicon Valley native, Larson now lives with his wife and two sons in San Francisco.

Maritessa Bravo Ares is the Director of Community Engagement for California at Beneficial State Foundation, an organization that aspires to build and advance a socially-responsible financial model that transforms the banking industry. Previously, Maritessa was a Program Associate at Green For All and a Legislative Analyst with the California School Boards Association. In her spare time, Maritessa mentors young people through the East Bay College Fund and LEAD Filipino. She is also the former Chair of the City of Berkeley’s Commission on the Status of Women and is active with the California Democratic Party. Maritessa received her bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley and remains an active alumna, having served on the Board of Directors of the California Alumni Association.

A cofounder of SupplyBank.Org, Sean graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Computer Science in 2007. He began his career at Rapleaf as one of the first members of the engineering team. Sean has been a technical and organizational leader at the company for the past decade, including during Rapleaf’s evolution into LiveRamp in 2011 and LiveRamp’s acquisition by Acxiom in 2014. As VP of Engineering, Sean is responsible for scaling and supporting the engineering organization as LiveRamp continues its growth.

Mary Ellyn Gormley was born and raised in New York, and has been a California resident since 1981. She graduated with honors from U.C. Berkeley with a B.A. degree in English, and received her J.D. from Boalt Hall in 1991. Mary Ellyn’s legal practice has focused on employment and personnel law, and she is currently the General Counsel of the Alameda County Medical Center. A resident of Oakland and a proud graduate of California’s public schools, she is committed to expanding access to California’s exceptional schools to all qualified applicants. Mary Ellyn serves as legal counsel to K to College, and is also proud to be Executive Director Benito Delgado-Olson’s godmother.

Mike is a CPA and fund accountant for Hellman and Friedman LLC, a San Francisco based private equity company. He is a political science graduate of UC Berkeley, and was a prior volunteer for K to College. He brings his experience in auditing, financial analysis, and technical accounting to the board.

Richard G. (“Dick”) Stephenson is the US Chief Compliance Officer at Funding Circle. Previously, Dick was the Chief Compliance Officer of Silicon Valley Bank. Dick is a Bay Area native and he is a product of the public school system, as are his wife and their three grown children. Dick is passionate about the obligation to provide quality educational opportunities to everyone – from early childhood education through adult education and worker retraining programs.

Patrick Johnston is a founding member of our Advisory Board and longtime supporter of SupplyBank.Org. He previously served as a California State Assembly Member for ten years and subsequently a State Senator for ten years, representing San Joaquin County and surrounding areas. Since leaving elected office, he taught at Cal’s Goldman School of Public Policy for nine years. More recently Patrick served as the President and CEO of the California Association of Health Plans for for 5 years. He is a graduate of St. Patrick’s College, has a Masters Degree from CSU Sacramento, and was the first legislator-in-residence at the UC Berkeley Institute of Government. He lives in Stockton with his wife Margaret.

Dean Vogel was an educator and award-winning counselor for 39 years before becoming President of the California Teachers Association. He has taught all elementary grades, including kindergarten, and has trained counselors and student teachers. As CTA President he was a passionate consensus-builder who fought to improve the working conditions of educators and learning conditions of students across the state. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Cal Poly, an elementary teaching credential from UC Davis, and his pupil personnel services credential and master’s degree in education/group dynamics at CSU Sacramento.

Yvette Radford is the Regional VP for External & Community Affairs at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California. In this capacity she is accountable for Community Benefit, Community Relations & Government Relations. In addition - Yvette represents Kaiser Permanente on several external boards and commissions. In 2014, she was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to serve as a Commissioner on the California Volunteers Commission. Additionally, she serves on the Governing Board for National Medical Fellowship, and the SF Museum of African Diaspora (MoAD). Prior to joining Kaiser Permanente, Yvette spent 12 years working for the California State Legislature.

Mark Friedman is the current chair of the East Bay Community Foundation and previously served five years as CEO of the Thomas J. Long Foundation, which funded in the areas of education seniors, disabilities, and safety net services in Contra Costa and Alameda County. He was CEO of First 5 Alameda County, an independent government agency that serves low-income children from birth to age 5 in Alameda County, California with early education, health care, and developmental services. He served on the El Cerrito City Council for 11.5 years including three terms as Mayor. Mark also served as Chief of Staff to Alameda County Supervisors Don Perata and Wilma Chan where he focused on health care and economic development.

Mark has 20 years experience directing non-profit children's, arts, and advocacy organizations. He is the co-founder of Community Bank of the Bay, the first community development bank in California. Mark has chaired the California State Advisory Council on Early Learning and Care for three years after his appointment by then Governor Jerry Brown.

Melissa Schoonmaker earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of California Irvine and a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Southern California. She is currently a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Melissa joined the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) in the Division of School Support Services in 2012 to serve as the Homeless Liaison in order to support the 80 school districts and more than 320 charter schools to meet the educational needs of more than 70,000 youth identified as experiencing homelessness across the county. Currently, she serves as the Project Director for the Child Welfare and Attendance Unit, and oversees support to school districts and charters in regard to attendance, student discipline, homelessness, enrollment and a myriad of other child welfare issues. Prior to the LACOE, Melissa was employed at the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) for 16 years in several positions including Pupil Services and Attendance (PSA) Counselor, School Attendance Review Board Chairperson and as a PSA Coordinator over the Homeless Education, Pregnant Minors, Permits and Student Transfers, Foreign Student Admissions and School Court Liaison Programs. The culmination of her professional experiences has enabled her to facilitate outreach and support additional services as a collaborative partner with various district personnel, community organizations and other stakeholders in an effort to make a positive impact upon for the educational goals of students and their families across Los Angeles County.

Georgia joined SupplyBank.Org in 2014 as an AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America). After graduating from UC Berkeley with a BS in Society and Environment and a minor in City and Regional Planning, she spent a year traveling and volunteering around the world. As a lifelong public school attendee and the daughter of two California public school teachers, Georgia has an incredible appreciation for SupplyBank.Org’s mission and achievements.

Prior to working with SupplyBank.Org and AmeriCorps VISTA, Georgia worked with several nonprofits including International Accountability Project, Sierra Club, Berkeley Student Food Collective and Berkeley Student Cooperative Housing.

Christina “Chris” Emmons joined the SupplyBank.Org team in May of 2017. Chris has more than 30 years of experience as a Controller and Chief Financial Officer for nonprofit, manufacturing, wholesale distribution and e-commerce organizations. Having an excellent track record as the top financial officer for a number of organizations, Chris has overseen the development of infrastructure including an office building and modern distribution center.

Rahil graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in political science with an emphasis on international relations and joined the SupplyBank.Org team full-time as the Policy & Programs Associate after interning for a year. Rahil’s involvement with education began working as an ambassador for Envision Schools where he promoted the expansion and further investment in its project based learning model. Rahil has also interned as a finance clerk at San Mateo Credit Union, where his primary duties mainly consisted of assisting the finance department in balancing and tracking all major credit cards and completing regular office tasks.

Rahil moved to the Bay Area from the Fiji Islands in 2007. His experience with public and charter education in the Bay Area and Fiji motivated him to get involved in education and led to his interest in K to College. Rahil hopes to help change the challenges many underprivileged children face, like access to adequate school supplies, in pursuing their academic dreams. In his free time, Rahil likes to read and play poker with his friends.

Daesha Jordan joined SupplyBank.Org in May of 2017 as an AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) Fellow, and now serves as the Administrative Coordinator.

Daesha’s former position was as an Academic Counselor for a program called Metro Student Success, which was dedicated to helping low-income underrepresented students stay at a 4-year university and graduate within 4 to 5 years. She attended San Francisco State University and is committed to addressing the needs of underserved communities all over California.

Arika Sweeting joined SupplyBank.Org as an AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) in May of 2018. After spending the majority of her youth traveling around the country as a military dependent, she settled down in the Bay Area in 2010. She recently graduated with a degree in Graphic Design and Illustration and is furthering her studies at San Francisco State University. Passionate about improving the quality of life in the Bay Area, Arika hopes to utilize her creative mind through nonprofit work.

When not at work, Arika enjoys drawing and frequenting museums.

18 years old, Freshman at Seton Hall University

Justin joined the SupplyBank.org team in September 2018. After graduating from Western Michigan University with a BS in Bio-Medical Sciences, he joined the Peace Corps and spent over three years working on development projects in rural Tanzania. Justin reinforced his passion to improve services for young people and moved back to the states to make a larger impact in his own backyard.

Justin moved to the Oakland in 2014 and primarily focused his efforts on developing workforce programs to support previously incarcerated young people. Justin began his pursuit of a Master of Business Administration degree at California State University East Bay and will graduate in October 2018. He was drawn to the mission of SupplyBank.org because of the strong mission to strengthen the distribution of school supplies and other necessary products to those in need and is excited to use his skillset to support the growth of this sustainable model.