Meet Our Staff - Bios
Management Team
Judy Patrick Judy Patrick is President and CEO of the Women’s Foundation of California. Prior to her appointment in 2008, Judy held the post of Executive Vice President of Programs for nine years. In that role, Judy led the Foundation’s advocacy and policy change work, including the development of the groundbreaking Women’s Policy Institute. She also worked to develop programs to strengthen grant partners’ organizational capacity and to evaluate the impact of their work. Prior to coming to the Foundation, Judy directed the work of several nonprofits. She was executive director of the San Francisco-based Women’s Philharmonic and director of Girls Count, a Colorado initiative to change systems that impact girls’ educational achievement and career planning. She also led Mi Casa Resource Center for Women, a Denver organization that advances self-sufficiency primarily for low-income Latinas and youth. She has served on the faculty of the University of Colorado at Denver and Regis University, where she taught program development and evaluation. Judy has worked as a researcher and program evaluator in both the public and private sectors. She serves on numerous boards of directors. Surina Khan Vice President of Programs Surina Khan leads the programmatic work of the Foundation which is focused on investing in innovative organizations, strengthening the effectiveness of social justice organizations, leading in policy advocacy efforts and building broad-based social justice movements. Prior to joining the Foundation, Surina worked as executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and as a research analyst with Political Research Associates, a think tank and research center that studies, analyzes and publishes on the political Right. Among her many community involvements, Surina is currently on the board of directors of the Funders Network for Population, Reproductive Health and Rights, the Astraea Foundation, and Political Research Associates. She is also a member of the steering committee of the Los Angeles chapter of Asian American Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy; a member of the advisory council of the National Center for Lesbian Rights and on the National Advisory Council of the Lesbian Health & Research Center, University of California, San Francisco. Ellen Monroe, Director of Finance, has more than twenty years of financial and administrative experience in the non-profit arena, most recently as director of finance and administration with the Public Conversations Project, located in Massachusetts. She has also worked at independent schools and other non-profit organizations both in Massachusetts and California. Originally from the northeast, Ellen lived in California for seven years before returning to New England in 2006. After enduring three winters, she realized the error of her ways and is now back in California where she belongs! Ellen holds a Master’s degree in Business Management from Simmons College. She is an avid hiker, and loves yoga and a good mystery. Cathy Schreiber Vice President of Development and Finance Cathy Schreiber has been a member of the Foundation's development and communications team since 2002. Originally from Stockton, California and a graduate of UCLA, Cathy has worked in nonprofit resource development and communications for 16 years, previously at Pets Are Wonderful Support Los Angeles and the Telegraph Hill Neighborhood Center in San Francisco. Cathy serves on the board of directors of Donaldina Cameron House, a multi-service agency in San Francisco's Chinatown. Cathy is an avid blood donor, movie-goer and armchair traveler and lives in San Francisco with her husband. Sande Smith Sande Smith, Director of Communications, has more than ten years experience in communications and public relations. Prior to WFC, she worked with the Global Fund for Women, where she designed and led an integrated social media and online communications function. She produced the Global Fund’s publications, such as the award-winning Annual Report and newsletters. As a media relations professional, Sande has gained coverage for her organizations and clients in local and national publications such as the Financial Times, Contra Costa Times, Forbes and USA Today. She has worked as a writer with organizations such as Marin Abused Women’s Services, the Nationwide Women’s Program of American Friends Service Committee and the Free Library of Philadelphia. Sande has authored books about Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X, and co-authored a book profiling women of the 20th century.She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Portuguese and Brazilian studies from Brown University. A member of the board of the San Francisco chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, she serves as the VP of Communications and is President-Elect. Senior Program Officer Maya Thornell-Sandifor has been with the Foundation since 2002, having previously served as senior communications officer on the development and communications side of the organization. Maya has over 10 years of experience in the nonprofit sector with skills including fundraising, media and communications work and program operation. At the Women's Foundation of California, she is responsible for managing the grantmaking program, the capacity building fund and program, and staffs the Women of Color Donor Circle. Maya has a master's degree in organizational development from the University of San Francisco. She serves on the board of directors for Bay Area Blacks in Philanthropy and Next Step Learning Center in Oakland and is a member of the Alameda Contra Costa Links. In her spare time, Maya belongs to a multi-generational book club and is an avid reader. She lives in the East Bay with her husband and two-year-old son.
StaffAnnabel Alvarez Annabel Alvarez joined the Foundation in February 2008 and works as program associate for grantmaking and scholarships. For the past five years Annabel has worked within the nonprofit sector in direct services and leadership development for low-income, Bay Area high school youth of color as a program director and later as a counselor. Her youth work was rooted in organizing with Youth Together and later she went on to work with College Track and the East Bay Asian Youth Center in Oakland. She spent her time at UC Berkeley working on various social justice campaigns and holds a BA degree in ethnic studies and Chicano studies. Annabel lives in the Outer Mission and enjoys anything with dark humor, writing, doodling, reading postmodern fiction and works by women of color, and listening to rock and ska from other countries. Michelle Chandra Communications Associate Michelle Chandra joined the Foundation in October 2009. She works primarily on email communications, website management and social networking. After graduating from UCSB with a BA in Literaure, Michelle worked as an intern at several different nonprofits located across the country including New York-based Human Rights Watch and The Nation magazine, San Francisco's Stern Grove Festival Association and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Perfoming Arts in Washington, DC. When not managing the Foundation website, Michelle enjoys exploring San Francisco on her bike, meeting new people, travelling and creating mixed media artwork. Tina Eshaghpour Senior Program Adviser Tina Eshaghpour has led the Women's Foundation of California environmental health and justice program since 2002. She is the author of Confronting Toxic Contamination in Our Communities: Women's Health and California's Future, a seminal report on women's environmental health in California. She has since presented on the subject to various organizations and at conferences around the country. Tina has a background in public health, social marketing, immigrant and refugee health and environmental justice. Prior to joining the Foundation, Tina consulted with several foundations in providing technical assistance to community-based organizations and developing public education campaigns for teen pregnancy prevention, HIV/AIDS and out-of-school education. Tina is a graduate of the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs and SCEWL (Symposium for California's Emerging Women Leaders) and has a master's degree in public health from UCLA. She is currently a member of the steering committee for the Health and Environmental Funders Network and co-chairs the Women's Environmental Health subcommittee. Tina's passion about the intersection of environment and reproductive health is fueled by her two children. When she's not working, she dreams of traveling overseas. Mavis Gruver Mavis Gruver is Grants Associate. Before joining the Foundation in 2006, she worked for various nonprofits around the US and, at the age of 11, was a founding editor of New Moon: The Magazine for Girls and their Dreams, an international feminist magazine by and for girls ages eight to 14. She graduated from Antioch College in 2003 with a BA in women's studies and communications. Mavis currently lives in San Francisco and spends her free time reading fiction, practicing tae kwon do and exploring the Bay Area. Hannah Hill Hannah Hill works as a program associate on the Foundation’s capacity building program and Elder Women’s Initiative. In addition, she coordinates the Foundation’s policy programs, including the Women’s Policy Institute and Institute Graduate Network. Before coming to the Foundation, Hannah volunteered and worked for a number of social justice organizations including the International Museum of Women and Kiva Microfunds. Hannah graduated from Kenyon College in Ohio with a BA in sociology and women’s studies. Hannah currently resides in San Francisco where she practices yoga, enjoys a good puzzle and loves exploring the great outdoors. Kim Kenny Kim Kenny joined the Women's Foundation of California as a consultant on various major donor projects in the Southern California office and is now a development and communications officer working with individual donors and staffing the Los Angeles Donor Circle and the Marlborough School Charitable Fund. Kim has over 10 years experience working with nonprofit organizations. She began her career as a political consultant with Tramutola Company, managing public education campaigns and helping to raise over $500 million for California public schools through grassroots efforts throughout the state. She worked as a development consultant at the Low Income Housing Fund in San Francisco before moving to New York. In New York, Kim worked with the Environmental Grantmakers Association for five years as a program coordinator. In addition, she was a program coordinator for A Women's Lens on Global Issues, a project of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and a forerunner to Women Without Borders. Kim is a graduate of UC Berkeley, and she enjoys writing and performing comedy in Los Angeles. Nicole Decouzon McMorrow Development and Communications Associate Nicole Decouzon McMorrow joined the Women's Foundation of California in November 2005, where she maintains the Foundation's donor database and performs donor research and analysis. Prior to joining the Foundation, Nicole worked as database and network administrator for the Koret Foundation and has worked in the human resources field for several nonprofit organizations. Hailing from New York City area, Nicole received a bachelor of science degree in cinema and photography from Ithaca College and a master's of science degree from the Milano School for Management and Urban Policy at the New School. She is on the board of the Bike Hut Foundation and has served as secretary of the board of the San Francisco Bike Messenger Association. She bikes to work every day from her home in the Tenderloin of San Francisco.
Shailushi Ritchie joined the Foundation in January 2010 as a Development and Communications Officer. Shailushi has more than decade of experience in public health issues that disproportionately affect women, including intimate partner violence and reproductive justice. Prior to joining the Foundation, she served as Development Director at a community health clinic and founded a nonprofit communications consulting practice. Shailushi lives in the Karla Rodriguez Program Officer Karla Rodriguez leads the Elder Women's Initiative statewide work and national replication of the Women's Policy Institute on elder issues. In addition, she oversees the reproductive justice and sexual rights grantmaking portfolio. Karla joined the Foundation in early 2008 with a rich history developing innovative programming focused on leveraging community assets to eradicate health disparities for women and girls in California and internationally in El Salvador, Mexico and Cuba. Her experience includes launching and directing Planned Parenthood Golden Gate’s Promotoras Program, a reproductive health program led by Latina immigrant women from 1998 to 2002. Karla is a first generation native San Franciscan with parents who emigrated from El Salvador. She earned her bachelors of science in human development with a minor in physiology from the University of California, Davis, an MPH from San Francisco State University, post-graduate fellowship in the Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequities from Harvard University and is a graduate of the Women’s Health Leadership Program, 2007, National Community Development Institute, 2008, and Women's Policy Institute Elder Issues Team, 2008-2009. Gregg Solimine Gregg Solimine joined the Foundation in October 2009 as Executive Assistant to the CEO and President. He has over 10 years of assistant experience at a wide variety of organizations including Wells Fargo Bank and the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry at the University of the Pacific. Gregg graduated from the State University of New York at Geneseo with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and minors in music and dance. In his spare time he enjoys reading science fiction and mysteries, running, theater and travelling. He lives in the Mission district of San Francisco with his partner.
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