Our Advisory Councils

Advisory Councils

Our chapter is supported by several generous and active Advisory Councils. For more information on the Advisory Councils, contact to [email protected].

Development Committee

Ben Kochalski (Chair), TMG Partners
Isha Clark, Menlo Medical Clinic
Ethan Davis, King & Spaulding
Shannon Ghia, BlackRock
Shenna Huynh, Redis Labs
Jen Kelly, D8taMine
Ash Kulkarni, Elastic
John Lloyd
Chris Mironov
Larry Nibbi, Nibbi Bros. Construction
Kristin Pace, Donahue Fitzgerald LLP
Beryl Potter, Private Attorney
Patty Robbins, DoorDash
Heidi Silber, Golden State Warriors
George Sammut, Black Bear Diner

East Bay Regional Advisory Council

Leslie Visbal, Chair
Loren Kimura
Jan Kincaid
Rich Link
Delbert Ross
Jillian Kearns
Celine Mactaggart
Tillie Ross
Kit Thompson
Karen Douglas

North Bay Regional Advisory Council

Barbara Pedersen (Chair), PG&E
Jonathan Polkinghorn (Past Chair), Edward Jones

Bobbi K Beehler, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage
Michelle Ausburn, BPM LLP
Serena Lienau, Santa Rosa Violence Prevention Partnership
Katy Moranda, Jason Krist Electric
Lindsey Ehrlicher Styles, Engel & Volkers
Megan Nelson, Studio H Designs
Misty Platt, Mason McDuffie Commercial Real Estate
Becky O’Connell
Heidi Silber, Golden State Warriors
Scott Ormerod, Leap Solutions Group, Inc.
Chris Meadors, Realtor
Kelly Engel, Financial Advisor
Erin Whittle, Senior Portfolio Manager, Foundations

Medical Advisory Council
Amber Borucki, MD, Stanford Children's Health     Lauren Mikula Schneider, Psy.D., Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford
Yen Kim Bui, MD PhD F.A.S.E, Kaiser Permanente Northern California Sonia Partap, MD, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford
Wendy Celaya, MA, CCLS, Kaiser Permanente Northern California Neela Penumarthy, MD, Kaiser Permanente Northern California
Irene Chang, MD, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital David Pincus, MD, Kaiser Permanente Northern California
Karen Chao, MD, Stanford Children Health in SF Leigh Ann Pincus, MSN, PNP
Christine Chung, CHO/John Muir/Summit Ami Shah, MD, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford
Gwynne Church, MD, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Joseph Sullivan, MD UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Mission Bay  
Alexandar Fay, MD, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Denah Taggart, MD, Kaiser Permanente Northern California
Melvin Heyman, MD, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital–Mission Bay  Lena Winestone, MD, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital–Mission Bay
   
 
Marketing Committee

Dana Green (Chair), Compass
Francine Anthony, Pantheon Platform
Catherine Aker, Oakland Athletics
Deborah Delis, Netskrt Systems Inc
Amanda Higgins, Kaiser Permanente Northern California Region 
Margaret Huang, Self-employed
Deborah Kirk, Diablo Publications
Tony Majowicz, KRON-TV to MarComm
Melinda Marks, Enterprise Strategy Group
Katherine Ann Rowlands, Bay City News Service & Foundation
Paulien Ruijssenaars, AWS

Finance Committee

Ash Baraghoush, Board Member
Betsy Biern, CEO
Chris Beasley, Committee Member
David Feinberg, Committee Member
David Lonergan, Committee Member
Eric Takaha, Committee Member
George Madrigal, Board Member/Past Chair/Treasurer
Jason Schlesinger, Committee Member
Joe Hurwich, Committee Member
John Sun, Board Member/FY25 Treasurer/Committee Chair 
Kathleen Backus, 
Chief Development Officer
Phillip Yim, Committee Member
Shaily Sanghvi, Board Member
Shannon O'Shea, Board Member
Sean Barton, VP of Operations & Finance

Audit Committee

Sean Barton, VP of Operations & Finance
Betsy Biern, CEO
Joe Hurwich, Committee Member
David Jensen, Code Advisors

Scott Mandel, Board Member
David Millstein, PwC (Retired)

Young Professional Advisory Council

Our Young Professional Advisory Council (YPAC) members act as ambassadors for our chapter through fundraising and advocacy activities. The council is made up of professionals under 45 years old who are passionate about being active and philanthropic members of their community. 

Membership Levels & Applications

Memberships Guidelines

YPAC Executive Members

Nick Centis, Chair, JP Morgan
Megan O'Meara, Vice Chair, LinkedIn
Alexandra Armando, Secretary, Watchtower Management Group
Justin Battat, Rippling
Brad Green, Auction/Sponsorships, UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland
Danielle Hake, Marketing, Carmel Partners
Taryn Harris, Events, Salesforce
Adam Jakubowitz, Treasurer, JP Morgan
David Jensen, Community Engagement, Cahill Contractors
Reed Semcken, Membership/Social Lead, Doordash

YPAC Council Members
Sam Ashley, BCG    Caley Goldblatt, Adobe 
Sarah Barner, Dolby Gordon Hwee, Millbrae School District
Joy Chopra, Hired (former) Madeline Judge, Simplist
Morgan Davis, Asana Olivia Kope, The Wiseman Group
Dana Diefendorf, Glue Zach Levin, GoodRx
Rishi Dixit, Valiant Capital Elana Levy, UCSF Medical Center
Madison Dutra, CBRE Merrill Lynch, Hanson Hong
Kayla Ebien-Pesa, Airbnb Michael Millstein, PwC
Mario Flaherty, San Francisco Fire Department Pareesa Naghavi, Lyra Health
Ramya Gogineni, Adobe Ryan Park, Fivetran
Taylor Sanders, National Talent Manager Andrew Tiemeier, Finix

 

Youth Board

The Youth Board is a philanthropy and leadership program open to students ages 13 to 18 in the Greater Bay Area who want to support Make-A-Wish by actively fundraising and spreading awareness.  

Children are at the heart of Make-A-Wish and it is our goal to have students as advocates for a mission that supports their peers. The Youth Board creatively fundraises in a kid-friendly way, shares ideas to get kids involved, and gives members the opportunity to learn from a network of mentors and community leaders. 

Apply Today!

Youth Board Officers

Cooper Lee, Chair 
Dana Lakowsky, Secretary
Kylie Chang, Fundraising Chair
Rishika Tellamsetty, Event Chair
Navya Kalahasti, Social Chair

Youth Board Members

Asha Bansal
Aarohi Buddhavarapu
Sophia Cinader
Sadie Cinader
Emerson (Emme) Cannizzo
Liza Corr
Leah Druch
Ana Evans
Alexis Gasner
Dillon Gaber
Grace (GG) Gallagher
Catherine Kaynor
Dana Lakowsky
Cooper Lee
Dylan Lachance
Ryan Magnusson
Ava Madrigal
Maitland Wais
Meila Osborne
Samantha Sherman
Miles Robinson
Meshi Roth
Deetya Rajan
Rishika Tellamsetty
Finley Brown
Tessa Ulvestad
Aashi Vasa
Maya Wade
Ella Wade
Mira Warner
Kylie Chang
Emma Berube
Fiona Mulderrig
Navya Venkatesh Kalahasti
Jingxi (Jessie) Wang
Nikhil Vijay
Rishi Vijay

 

 

Wish It Forward Council

Wish It Forward Greater Bay Area is an alumni group for families who have experienced a wish with our chapter. The Wish It Forward Council is an incredible group of wish parents and alumnae/i who have stepped forward to help build a community that lives on beyond the wish experience and offers families opportunities to stay connected with our mission.

Wish It Forward Parent Council
Nancy Cherry
Melanie Gurunathan
Gwen Harsch
Deborah Huber
Lia Hanson
Stacy Keegan
Mantra Robinson
Erich Rodden
Kristina Stein
Joyce Yee