Leadership Palo Alto Fellows 2016 Biographies

MANDY ANDREI

Mandy Andrei joined Edward Jones in January 2012 as a financial advisor in Burlingame, CA. She relocated to the Palo Alto office in 2013. A native of Romania, Mandy Andrei obtained her undergraduate degree from the Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest and she holds the

AAMS® professional designation. Active in the community, Mandy is the president of the Palo Alto Business Referrals Network and a former board member of the San Francisco Auxiliary helping Lucile Packard Hospital at Stanford. Mandy and her teenage son, Radu, love to travel together. They are looking forward to planning their trip to Antarctica, the only continent that they have not yet visited.

AMY ANDONIAN Amy Andonian is the President and CEO of Avenidas, a private, nonprofit agency that has helped older adults and their families in the community to live well, learn and maintain their independence over the past 40 years. Prior to joining Avenidas, Amy served as the Vice President of Home Care

& Support Services for Institute on Aging, providing leadership for the agency’s fee-for-service home care, care management, fiduciary, and social day services in San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Marin Counties. Before that, she worked for 6 years as the Program Director of Caregiver Services for Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County in San Jose, California. Amy has extensive knowledge and expertise in the areas of adult day care, home care, family caregiving, dementia care, nonprofit program development and management, grant writing, and social enterprise. She is also an active member of the Aging Services Collaborative of Santa Clara County (ASC) and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the California Association of Adult Day Services (CAADS).

Amy received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Biology with concentrations in Public Health and Gerontology from Stanford University. In addition, she is a graduate of the Santa Clara University Leavey School of Business California Program for Entrepreneurship.

LEE BUTTRILL Lee Buttrill is a former Marine Corps Arabic Translator/Interrogator turned warfighting consultant turned executive at a small pharma consulting company with a side order of real estate (10 years residential and commercial) and some years of restaurant management. Lee currently works with the Internal Development Division at Palantir in downtown Palo

Alto, developing a scalable business infrastructure to support the growing company. His business strengths are strategic program management, vendor relationship management, and general problem solving. On the personal side, he has been interested and involved in local government ever since returning from Iraq in 2003. Although Lee was born and raised in Palo Alto, he moved to Boulder, CO for college in the 90s and stayed until 2014. During his time there, Lee was involved in several community movements to limit the growth and overdevelopment of the city. However, his most cherished project was leading the effort to rebuild a nonprofit child development center that was destroyed in the 2013 Colorado Floods. Finally, Lee loves to brew beer, hike with his family, play guitar and sing (both poorly).

MICHAEL COHEN Michael Cohen is a transplant to the Bay Area. Born in Israel and growing up in New Zealand, he came to the US to complete a PhD in Physics from Caltech. At Caltech he spent much of his limited spare time on ballroom dancing, and was active as President and Treasurer of the campus club for several years. For the past 5 years he has been an engineer at Palantir

Technologies, where he specializes in software performance and scale problems. Michael has a passion for diving deep into thorny problems, and looks forward to the opportunity to bring his problem-solving skills to bear on the important issues faced by Palo Alto today. He is married and lives in San Mateo with his wife and his 1 year old daughter, who routinely runs him ragged. In his spare time he enjoys reading, board games and tinkering with computers.

CHRISSY COOLIDGE As a product-focused business leader, Chrissy Coolidge has developed her talent in the established advertising industry of New York and the emerging advertising industry of the Silicon Valley. After building a career helping top tier companies like Intel, Microsoft, Amazon and Sony implement new

strategies and workflow, she is striking out on a new path to help small and medium sized businesses adopt and scale growth-oriented solutions.

REBECCA FOX Rebecca lived and worked in the Boston area before moving to Palo Alto with her husband and three children in 1998. As her children progressed through Walter Hays, Jordan and Palo Alto High, she volunteered in the schools as well as for Boy Scout Troop 57. Most recently she was VP of Advocacy for Palo Alto PTA Council (2014-15), and PTA President at Palo

Alto High School (2012-14). Rebecca has a BA in History from Swarthmore College and a BS in Electrical Engineering from MIT. She worked for 19 years in microprocessor design and management at Digital Equipment Corporation and Compaq Computer Corporation. Rebecca enjoys hiking, bicycling, and tennis, as well as reading, cooking and travel.

JOHN (JACK) GOODE Goode’s journey to serving on the Board of Managers at the Palo Alto Family YMCA began in December 2014 when his family moved to Palo Alto to support his wife’s job with Facebook. Prior to relocating Jack spent 11 years in Norfolk, Virginia leading teams managing large ship repair projects for the U.S. Navy with increasing levels of responsibility. As a Port Engineer Program Manager for Camber Corporation Jack led a team of 56

professional engineers in 4 locations responsible for planning & executing annual projects totaling over $250M. Goode received his BS in Marine Engineering from the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1999, completed Old Dominion University’s Executive Development Certificate Program in 2012, and graduated from the Vann H. Lefcoe Leadership Development Program in 2013. Jack holds 2 U.S. Coast Guard Licenses and spent 4 years sailing as a Marine Engineer on oil tankers prior to joining the Navy Port Engineer Program in 2004. When Jack is not wrangling his 3 sons, he enjoys running, golf, sprint triathlons, and baseball.

DAVID ARTHUR HARVEY David Harvey studied English and communications at Roanoke College and international law and taxation at American University, Washington College of Law. He became admitted to the State Bar of California in July of 2006. His professional career spans the legal, public relations and real

estate industries. He presently serves as a Broker Associate with Paragon Real Estate Group and Principal of the Law Office of David Arthur Harvey. He enjoys playing the piano, hiking Bay Area trails and cooking Mediterranean cuisine.

MICAELA HELLMAN-TINCHER Micaela Hellman-Tincher is a policy aide for County Supervisor Joe Simitian. Born in Palo Alto, she went to Washington, DC for college, and stayed in DC to do advocacy on economic issues and human rights. After spending a year working in Rwanda, Micaela returned to Palo Alto to earn a master’s degree in international policy at Stanford. Before coming to

Supervisor Simitian’s office, Micaela worked on 2 initiatives designing new programs – one for refugees and one for moms who work nights.

JAMES SCOTT HENRIKSON James Henrikson is a husband, father of 3 amazing boys, dog owner (Oscar) and resident of Pleasure Point, CA (Santa Cruz). By day he works for the City of Palo Alto as its Fire Marshal. James came to Palo Alto 8 years ago as a Firefighter-Paramedic, and has also served the City as a Hazardous Materials Inspector. Prior to his employment with PAFD, James had careers in the dot-com world, Bio-research (UCSF), stock & options

trading (PAX, SF), retail management (A&F), and even a brief foray as a waiter (Lahaina Fish Co., Maui). James studied Biology at UC Berkeley and has a Fire Technology degree (Cabrillo). His favorite pastimes are spending time with his family (preferably on the beach), meeting new and interesting people, repurposing amazing bits of junk and history, making beer, drinking beer (preferably at the beach), travel, sushi, and bonfires (preferably at the beach).

DENISE HERRMANN Herrmann began her career in 1991 teaching science at St. Charles High School in St. Charles, Illinois. She became assistant principal of curriculum and instruction at St. Charles North High School in 2000 and continued there until 2006 when she was named principal at Middleton High School in Middleton, WI. In May 2014, Herrmann was named principal at Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto, CA. The school serves nearly 2,000

students and is implementing a new block schedule to decrease student stress and increase student engagement in learning. She earned bachelor's and master's degrees in chemistry from Northern Illinois University and in 2002 completed a doctorate in education from the same university, with an emphasis on administration and curriculum leadership.

HAMILTON HITCHINGS Hamilton Hitchings has worked for over 25 years in the technology industry, including holding the roles of Senior Software Developer, Founder, Senior Engineering Director, VP and CTO. He is currently the founder of a startup that makes an iPhone App, ImagicTextTM, which automatically adds harmonious color text to your photos. He has been a resident of Palo Alto

for 23 years, homeowner for 19 years and a landlord for 6 years. He owns his home in the Duveneck neighborhood. He is married and has a child in Palo Alto High School. He is currently serving on the Comprehensive Plan Update Community Advisory Committee. He is president of Palo Alto Toastmasters, half of its members of whom are City of Palo Alto employees. He was an early member of Palo Alto Green and supports Palo Alto’s environmental leadership. As a founder of the Creek Action Committee after the flood of 2008, he organized his neighborhood to request increased flood protection by upgrading the Newell and Chaucer Street bridges and continues to attend meetings and advocate for improved flood control. He is a very active Emergency Services Volunteer. This includes being both a Block Preparedness Coordinator and a Community Emergency Response Team member for the City of Palo Alto. As a community service he built a website so residents can create an Earthquake Kit for their homes in less than 30 minutes by ordering 3 items online at earthquakeprep.net. He looks forward to continuing to actively engage and serve the Palo Alto community.

ALKA JARVIS Alka Jarvis is the only Distinguished Quality Engineer at Cisco Systems. She has been a frequently invited speaker on quality assurance topics at international domestic events. She is an adjunct professor at Santa Clara University, an instructor at U.C. Santa Cruz – extension and U.C. Berkeley. Alka has authored five books and won Silicon Valley’s “Corporate Woman

Advocate of The Year” award. American Society of Quality (ASQ) recognized her by publishing her accomplishments in their “Who is who is Quality” article. She is the Chair of US mirror committee for ISO 9001 Standards and has been instrumental in the development of ISO 2000, 2004 and 2008 versions and was in the drafting committee of 9001:2015 version. She is an ISO Lead Auditor, certified by Exemplar Global/ASQ of United States. Alka is currently a member of ASQ’s Learning Institute Advisory Board and on the Board of International Quality Council, served as the President of the Bay Area Quality Assurance Association (BAQAA), has been an Applied Total Quality Advisory Board member for University of California-Berkeley-Extension, an Advisory Board member to the Certificate Program in Continuous Improvement & Quality Management - U.C. Santa Cruz Extension, Board member for Quality Assurance Institute and Vice President of Indian Business and Professional Women.

JULISSA JOHNSON Julissa Johnson brings 10 years of Property Management experience with conventional and affordable properties. She is currently with Eden Housing Management Inc. In this role, she assures the project's sound fiscal management, occupancy level, manages onsite staff, and works with Board of Directors.

Julissa Johnson has been with Eden Housing since December 2012. She began as the Manager at Nugent Square Apartments in East Palo Alto. Soon after, she played a lead role in the lease-up of two buildings: 801 Alma, 50 family and individual units located in Palo Alto and Studio 819, 48 Studios for family and individuals located in Mountain View. Nugent Square, 801 Alma and Studio 819 provide affordable housing for lower income families and individuals. Her passion is working with the youth of low income families. This led to her coordinating a successful after school tutoring program and summer camp at no cost for families in need.

ALAN COPE JOHNSTON A.C. Johnston is the Managing Partner of the Palo Alto office of Morrison & Foerster LLP. His law practice is focused on complex commercial litigation, particularly patent infringement and trade secret litigation. During his more than 40 years with Morrison & Foerster, in addition to helping start the Palo

Alto office, A.C. has been resident in and had management roles in the firm’s offices in San Francisco, Washington DC, Tokyo and London. A.C. has served on the board of the Silicon Valley Campaign for Legal Services, was a candidate for Palo Alto City Council in 2014 and currently serves as a volunteer mediator. A.C. has a BA from Yale and a JD from Harvard. Between college and law school, he served as an officer in the U.S. Navy aboard a diesel-electric submarine. He and his wife, Kathryn, moved to Palo Alto in 1990 with their daughter, Eliza. A.C. and Kathryn now live in University South and love to entertain their grandchildren in Heritage Park.

ARTHUR KELLER Arthur Keller came to Palo Alto from Brooklyn, NY to be a graduate student at Stanford in Computer Science in 1977. Following 2 years teaching at the University of Texas at Austin after earning his Ph.D., he returned to be a researcher and lecturer at Stanford for 12 years. He served on the Planning and Transportation Commission for 8 years and is now Co-chair of the

Comprehensive Plan Update Citizens Advisory Committee and is a member of the Environmental and Water Resources Committee of the Santa Clara Valley Water District. He currently advises startups and serves as expert witness in patent infringement cases in electronic commerce, databases, Internet and web technologies and has an affiliation with the Baskin School of Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He has 22-year old twin daughters.

GABRIEL KRALIK Gabe Kralik is the Founder, President and Principal Shareholder of Thuja Global, a California Law Corporation. Gabe worked early in his career as an arc welding engineer for Lincoln Electric in Cleveland, Ohio, his hometown. After graduating from Notre

Dame Law School in 1989, Gabe trained as a patent litigator in New York City. His case credits record major trial wins for Richardson-Vicks and Adobe. First Amendment pro-bono work included successful civil and criminal matters, arguments in the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (New York), and petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court. As an in-house lawyer, Gabe managed the global legal representation of both public and private companies, serving as General Counsel and Chief Patent Counsel. His patent portfolio development work at Finisar led to a #1 Ranking in the IEEE Spectrum Patent Power Survey for telecommunications equipment in 2006. In 2010, Gabe's work in the International Trade Commission secured 2 General Exclusion Orders which presently protect the domestic cable connector industry from infringing imports. Gabe expanded his law practice to include mediation. Gabe presently serves as Case Manager and Program Mediator with the Santa Clara County Office of Human Relations, regularly mediating cases pending in the California Superior Court. Gabe and his wife Betty, have two children, 8 and 4. Gabe volunteers as a YMCA basketball coach and teaches catechism at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Palo Alto.

ZIA WHEELER MACWILLIAMS Originally from rural West Virginia, Zia obtained a B.A in Political Science and a B.S. in Psychology from Louisiana State University with a concentration in International Law & Human Rights from Linnaeus University, Sweden. In 2011, she obtained a M.A. in International Policy Studies & Development from the Middlebury Institute of International

Studies, where she focused on forced migration and human rights studies. After graduation, Zia worked with the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees along the Thailand-Myanmar border with a protracted refugee population from Myanmar, assisting sexual and gender-based violence survivors. More recently, as a Project Manager of Downtown Streets Team, a Silicon Valley- based nonprofit that ends homelessness through a Work-First Model, Zia leads a team of approximately 45 homeless and low-income men and women in Palo Alto, California. In addition, Zia manages the Downtown Food Closet in Palo Alto, a free pantry for the low-income population that serves over 1200 meals per month with over 75 community volunteers. In her free time, Zia interns at The Cheese School of San Francisco, where she enjoys learning more about cheese making and women owned/operated small businesses.

DAWN MAHER Dawn Maher is the Director of Member Engagement for the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce. Formerly an accomplished Senior Relationship Manager for large public and private companies, Dawn has found that her experience in building long-term strategic partnerships, marketing, business development, project management, customer retention and her enthusiasm for technology and social media, the perfect segue into life in

Silicon Valley. Community service has always been an integral part of Dawn’s life and her passion is weaving connections between people and possibilities. She has served on several boards and helped manage a number of community and fundraising efforts, including serving on the Board of CASA, Delaware County for 8 years with complete oversight and management of their fundraising efforts. As a career long chamber member, supporter and volunteer, she has found her “happy place” at the Palo Alto Chamber managing membership, helping develop programming and working with their small but powerful team. Relatively new to Silicon Valley, Dawn and her husband Chris enjoy exploring, adventuring and enjoying all the fabulous outdoor festivals in the area.

SUZANNE MASON Suzanne Mason has a deep background and operational experience in city and county government. For over 30 years, Mason has worked in all operations of local government and currently serves as Assistant City Manager for the City of Palo Alto, focusing on internal service support functions including human resources, administrative services, finance and budget, and technology services.

From 1984 to 2009, Mason held increasingly responsible positions with the City of Long Beach. From 2007 to 2009, Mason served as the city’s Director of Human Resources where she directed operations for the city’s 6000 employees with responsibilities including labor relations, personnel operations and was lead negotiator with nine employee unions. From 2002 to 2007, Mason served as Long Beach’s Deputy City Manager where she directed internal city services including the departments of Finance, Human Resources, Technology and Library Services, and was responsible for the development and oversight of a $2.7 billion budget. She was also Manager of Business Operations for both the Energy and Parks and Recreation Departments. From 2009 to 2015, Mason served as the Director of Human Resources for Napa County’s 1,400 employees including labor relations, personnel, recruitment and hiring, benefits management, as well as leading negotiations for eight successful labor agreements with employee unions. Mason holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of California, Santa Barbara, a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Southern California, and is a graduate of the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

NANCY MANALO-SMITH Nancy Manalo-Smith is the Senior Manager of Marketing, Communications and Public Affairs at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF). She is responsible for advertising, media plans and community partnerships. Earlier in her career, Nancy was the Director of Marketing and Communications at Alexian Brothers Hospital in San Jose. She has 25+

years of experience as a leader in health care with a proven ability to develop and implement marketing strategy and branding campaigns. Nancy resides in Palo Alto with her husband Dan and her two sons.

SHIRA MOWLEM Shira Mowlem works in Ethics and Compliance Services at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and has over 11 years’ experience in private practice, enterprise risk management and compliance serving healthcare providers in the Bay Area. Shira has been an active member of the Palo Alto community

since childhood and attended Duveneck and Castilleja schools prior to receiving her BA in Bio-Medical Ethics from Brown University and her law degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law. She has a life-long passion for leveraging innovative technologies and devices to assist individuals with disabilities gain access and maximize opportunities, as well as ensure safety in all aspects of life. She resides in Palo Alto with her husband and two sons.

SHERADEN NICHOLAU Sheraden Nicholau is the Associate Director of Abilities United, an award-winning, Palo Alto-based nonprofit that supports children and adults with disabilities, their families and the community. She oversees all programs and services, including Children’s Development Services, Family Support Services, Adult Services and Aquatics Services. She is also responsible for

development and implementation of initiatives within areas of quality assurance, outcomes & impact, technology, facilities and accessibility. Sheraden develops and implements community partnerships with corporations, small business, universities, schools and nonprofits, and promotes cross-sector collaborations that create meaningful opportunities that benefit people with disabilities and the larger community. Sheraden is active in several committees and task forces across the Bay Area that support the rights, service system and achievements of people of all abilities. Her passion for social justice, social capital and service extends beyond her work.

She received her M.A. in Sociology from San Jose State University and a B.A in Sociology from San Francisco State University. When Sheraden isn't absorbed in her work, she enjoys horseback riding, camping and celebrating with friends and family.

KYLE SHERWOOD Kyle works as a program associate on the Conservation and Science team at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in Los Altos, CA. Prior to joining the Packard Foundation in 2014, he worked at the Heising-Simons Foundation in Los Altos, CA, and the George Kaiser Family Foundation in

Tulsa, OK. Kyle graduated from Kansas State University with a master’s degree in Architecture and Design. After graduation, he served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Albania where he focused on community and organizational development. Kyle currently lives in Palo Alto. He serves on the steering committees of Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy, Queer Leaders in Philanthropy, and Horizons Young Professionals for Equality.

JOSHUA SIMES Joshua Simes is the Director of Field Operation for Comcast Cable in the SouthWest Bay overseeing field operational activity for the tech-savvy city of San Francisco down the Peninsula to the Silicon Valley, one of Comcast’s highest profile territories. This includes residential, commercial and security installation and service to enhance the customer experience. He is responsible for a team of approximately 300 employees and an estimated 800,000+ video, high speed Internet and digital voice customers.

Josh serves on the NAMIC (National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications) Board as Treasurer for the NAMIC San Francisco Bay Area Chapter and the Comcast California Diversity & Inclusion Council. In telecommunications Joshua has a track record in leading consistent successful technical operations teams; empowering team members to problem solve and make decisions close to the customer and deliver on big picture visions with great results in challenging environments. Joshua specializes in recognition of all employees, achieving budget targets; and energizing a true team atmosphere, pulling experiences of a four year, all conference NCAA football player and team captain. Josh has 16 years of experience in the telecommunications industry.

KENNY SPADE Kenny Spade wrote his first computer program when he was nine years old and he has focused on technology ever since. After 7 years with Microsoft, he is currently a Technical Evangelist focusing on Silicon Valley as part of the Technology and Civic Engagement Team. Kenny loves to share knowledge and build new things, so you’ll often find him at hackathons,

both as an attendee and presenter of whatever new technology he is tinkering with. In his free time, he dabbles in game development and hardware hacking.

ALEXANDER TSYPLIKHIN Alexander Tsyplikhin graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Master in Computer Science, PhD in Speech and Data Science. He is fluent in 3 languages, English, Italian and Russian. Tsyplikhin co-founded Flexis, custom software design and development company and secured contracts with clients such as Cisco and Leap Frog. Most recently, Alexander launched TeamHunt.co, a search engine to

discover talented, mobile, development teams that are necessary for your project’s completion.

ELAINE UANG Elaine Uang grew up in the South Bay and has spent 12 of the last 15 years living along the Peninsula, finally resettling in PA in 2011. An architect and design thinker, she leads an architecture practice, Architarian Design, dedicated to creating human scaled architecture and urban design

and helped co-found Palo Alto Forward, a community group focused on improving transportation and housing options in Palo Alto. After work hours, she likes to bike, hike, and spend time with her two young daughters & husband at home (an 1891 house that was the first Post Office of PA/Stanford) and in their edible garden. She has a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and an M.Arch. from the University of Virginia.