Laura A. Alatorre, Board Vice President, Fundraising Committee
Laura is a Senior Vice President in the Card Services division of Washington Mutual (WAMU). She has over 18 years of experience in the Financial Services sector, with particular focus on process engineering, large scale program management, strategic planning, quality control, and information technology.
As a mother of three, Laura is passionate about the FLI mission! She believes that all young people should be inspired to find and develop his/her passions and give back to communities. In her down time, Laura loves going on adventures with her family, photography, painting, gardening, and cooking for friends.
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Eve P. Cowen, Ed.M., Board Member, Founder and Executive Director
Eve is the Founder and Executive Director for The Future Leaders Institute. Eve first envisioned FLI at the age of 16. Since then she has created, implemented and managed three successful service-learning and youth leadership programs, one of which now serves thousands of high school students annually nationwide. Eve’s roles within numerous experiential education organizations have allowed her to work with a wide variety of youth and adult populations. She studied developmental psychology and education reform models as both an undergraduate and in graduate school, and received a Master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Eve’s research and practice focused on educational approaches that inspire young people to take active responsibility for their future and the future of their community and environment. Eve serves on the Board of Directors for Youth Tracks, a nonprofit organization that serves Southern Ute Native Americans through outdoor experiential education. Eve loves bringing people together, creating art and spending time in the outdoors, especially rock climbing.
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Zach Franklin, Board Treasurer and Co-Chair of Strategic Planning Committee
Mr. Franklin currently serves as the Development Director for GRID Alternatives, a nonprofit organization that trains and leads teams of community volunteers to install solar electric systems and perform energy efficiency upgrades for low-income families throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. His responsibilities include expanding support for GRID Alternatives’ programs from government, foundation, corporate and individual donors, developing and conducting fundraising events, helping outreach to affordable housing providers, and expanding public outreach about program activities, particularly via electronic media.
Mr. Franklin has been working in the affordable housing industry for the last ten years. Projects have included starting and operating Community Technology Centers at affordable housing developments; managing technology systems for a local affordable housing provider with 80+ employees spread across several cities; writing funding applications to a wide range of governmental and private funding sources in support of new and existing affordable housing developments, including multifamily, single-family, SRO hotels for the formerly homeless, and emergency/transitional homeless facilities; and helping negotiate site acquisition and financing for proposed new projects. Mr. Franklin also is a development and technology consultant working primarily with homeless service organizations, and is a licensed California Real Estate Broker.
Born in Los Angeles, Mr. Franklin graduated from Brown University in Providence, RI in 1997 with degrees in History and Economics. His passion for FLI’s mission comes in part from his own experiences there with the power of learning through service and community engagement, through his work with the Providence Housing Authority and Big Brothers of Rhode Island. He moved to the Bay Area in 1999 and currently lives with his wife, Sofia, and daughter, Molly, in South Berkeley.
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Bronson Frick, Board Member, Marketing Committee
Bronson Frick is Associate Director of Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights (ANR), a national, non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting smoke-free workplaces in the U.S. through an action-based process of public education and advocacy. ANR also helps build effective youth advocacy programs around the country to counter the tobacco industry's targeting of young people. Before joining ANR in 2001, Frick served in the White House during the Clinton Administration.
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Diana Gordon, Board Member, Co-Chair of Strategic Planning Committee
Diana Gordon brings over 30 years of experience with schools, both public and private, in the areas of development and implementation of programs, financial management, fund raising, media management, organizational systems development, legal and regulatory requirements, facilities management, recruitment and admissions, team building, training and supervision of staff, and one-on-one as well as group coaching of young emerging leaders in the nonprofit sector.
Diana began working with people who have developmental disabilities when she was 12 years old, a passion that has been a part of everything she has done since. In 1976, along with a team of others, she has successfully created a program for dual diagnosed adults; adults with developmental disabilities with an overlay of emotional disabilities. During the 1980's Diana created some of the first vocational programs for adults with developmental disabilities, working with the State Department of Rehabilitation to create a statewide program.
Looking for new and innovative ways to do fund raising, Diana joined forces with Leslie Medine. Together they succesfully raised over
$1.2 million to build and open a high school in less than one year.
In 1993-1994 Diana worked with a group of parents in Napa who wanted
to develop a new kind of school, with an arts integration component.
She guided them through setting up the school, creating the foundation for what would become The River School. In 1994 Diana and Leslie co-founded and co-directed Alternatives in Action, a nonprofit that gave birth to a charter high school (Bay Area School of Enterprise), a preschool (HOME Sweet HOME Preschool), and a youth development program (HOME).
In 1998 Diana was able to realize her dream to create a program for young adults with mild developmental disabilities. She had seen over the years that there were many young adults who, after high school, were never quite able to make it on their own, in a job, in an apartment, etc., and as a result continued to live at home and be taken care of by their parents. Many of these young people don't qualify for public services because they "test" too high, however, they lack some of the basic common sense judgments and skills to be successful in the world. It was her passion to create a full, wrap around, program where these young people would be supported and learn how to be successful in a job, in an apartment, in the world. After much research and recruitment of the first 6 young people and their families, Diana opened Moving Forward in August of 1998. After two successful years, Diana spun Moving Forward off, creating it's own nonprofit.
In 2004 Diana and Leslie both left Alternatives in Action and created On The Move. Research shows that in the next 10 years 80% of nonprofit leaders will be retiring or leaving the field and that there is a void of young leaders stepping up to fill this void. On The Move addresses this leadership vacuum by working with young leaders, helping them to develop personally, interpersonally and professional. By putting young leaders at the center, On The Move hopes that they will effect the organizations they working in, creating more effective organizations and then healthier
communities. To date On The Move houses several different programs:
On The Verge (young leadership development program), V.O.I.C.E.S. - Voice Our Independent Voices for Emancipation Support (an emancipation center for former foster youth), a Teacher College (developing a new approach to teacher credentialling), Arts Integration Program (integrating art into the elementary curriculum at an elementary school in Napa), School Reform coaching (coaching of leaders in small schools to become more effective and to create more engaging curriculum and educational delivery systems), and a Latino Initiative (a grass roots approach to bridging the cultural divide in Napa County).
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Natasha Hoehn, Board President, Executive Committee Chair
Natasha Hoehn, a Berkeley native and graduate of Yale University, currently works as a Program Officer for the Silver Giving Foundation, a philanthropic organization that supports over 100 educational programs serving at-risk youth in the Bay Area. Natasha spent three years in the South Bronx teaching junior high school English with Teach for America, and remains a passionate teacher who is committed to working to close the achievement gap in our public schools, both at the policy level, the programmatic level, and in the microcosm of every classroom. Natasha spent this summer as an 8th grade Humanities and Drama teacher at Aim High’s Urban Campus in San Francisco, and, this fall, is working closely with the SFUSD on a number of special projects. Natasha is also an active musician and performer, and is the founding director of Musae, a women’s vocal ensemble based in San Francisco. In her performing career, Natasha was a regional winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions in 2004, and recently performed an original cabaret show at the Purple Onion in San Francisco. Natasha became interested in FLI after completing 6 months of experiential public-service leadership training through Coro Northern California as a Coro Community Fellow, and is thrilled to bring her experience, expertise, and energies to the FLI Board of Directors.
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Catherine Hutton, Board Member, Fundraising Committee Chair
Catherine Hutton is the CEO and Executive Director of the BizWorld Foundation, an education non-profit that promotes entrepreneurship, business and financial education for youth. Ms. Hutton’s finance career started as financial advisor for PaineWebber then Smith Barney. Before her move to the non-profit section she was an investment banker at Fortrend International in San Francisco.
She has served on the board of Financial Women’s Association of San Francisco (Chair, Financial Woman of the Year event) and chaired various fundraising committees for the Junior League of San Francisco. Currently she is serving as a board director for the Futures Leaders Institute, Oakland, CA. She holds a Director’s Certification from Anderson School of Business. Ms. Hutton has worked with numerous corporate foundations and has been doing philanthropic work since early in her career. She attended University of California at Santa Barbara.
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Bernadine Han, Board Member, Fundraising Committee
Bernadine is a chemistry and mathematics instructor at Mills College in Oakland. Good teachers and resonant educational experiences have played important roles throughout her life, and she is honored to be a part of an organization that integrates life and learning for high school students. Bernadine has spent years thinking about experiential education and group dynamics while leading young people on adventures through the mountains. Having lived for those moments of self-actualization and discovery on course, she believes FLI can provide kids with the same kind of opportunity for growth and leadership as the woods.
As an undergraduate at Harvard College, Bernadine dabbled in anthropology, rugby, and social justice. She recently completed her pre-medical studies and is applying to medical school. Bernadine finds happiness in surprising beauty, fresh produce and dark chocolate, good books and belly laughs. She loves entering new environments and spending time alone in California's deserts and mountains.
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Michele Lee, Board Member and Marketing Committee Chair
Michele currently works at Genentech where she markets a biologic for the treatment of severe asthma. In her product management role, she has served as the commercial lead for the clinical team to guide lifecycle planning, diagnostics development, and health economics outcomes research. She has been involved in setting a vision for the brand, as well as gaining alignment with partners. In addition to strategic planning, she has organized speaker training meetings and medical education programs. Previously, she also supported the product’s launch, which included brand positioning, customer insight mining, promotional material testing, forecasting, and performance tracking.
Prior to Genentech, she worked for several years as a strategy consultant at Arthur D. Little in the chemicals and life sciences arena. She graduated with a Master of Business Administration from Kellogg at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Michele has always enjoyed coaching others, both at work and for her alumni schools. Last year she volunteered for Pathways for Kids which conducts career sessions at San Francisco high schools. She also taught ninth and tenth graders on personal growth topics at a local Korean Catholic Church. Being on the board for The Future Leaders Institute allows her to contribute even more broadly to developing teens into leaders. Her other interests include international travel, food and wine tasting, live music, and public health.
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Noel Sirivansanti, Board Secretary, Executive Committee
Noel grew up in San Francisco, and graduated from Lowell High School in 2003. In high school, she participated in the program most previously started by Eve Cowen, the Conservation Leadership Corps through the Student Conservation Association (SCA). Noel’s expanded sense of purpose inspired her to get more involved with FLI, in order to give other young people the opportunity to develop leadership and to be motivated by the fulfilling feeling of leaving the world a better place. Now a sophomore at UC, Berkeley, Noel’s major is molecular environmental biology. Noel served on FLI's Founding Team for nearly two years, and now serves as the Secretary of the FLI Board. When she's not studying for her Molecular Environmental Biology classes, Noel likes to bike, hike, draw, and teach art at nearby elementary schools.
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Stephen Sommers, Esq., Board Member, Fundraising Committee
Steve Sommers has dedicated his career to fighting for justice. He began his career by spending a decade in the trenches of the labor movement and working for progress within the larger economic justice movement. Steve is the former Director of Citizen Action of Maryland and Western Pennsylvania. Steve waged political campaigns on behalf of consumers to lower utility bills, lower health care costs, stop hazardous dumps and secure resources for environmental clean-ups.
Steve also worked in the trenches of the labor movement as a union organizer in the tough, anti-union and largely poor Southeastern part of the country. Steve spent years in small southern towns, encouraging mill workers to stand-up against the mill owners for respect and dignity. Steve also negotiated several collective bargaining agreements with companies and brought federal charges against corporate rouges.
Steve has taken on some of the most contentious employers in the nation and won. As a result of his unique background, Steve brings uncommon understanding, skill and dedication to his law practice. As an attorney, Steve concentrates on the areas of law he is most passionate, consumer and employee rights. His bankruptcy practice helps many individuals and small businesses with mounting debt, get a fresh start. His employment practice helps employees and former employees who have been wrongfully terminated or otherwise unfairly treated. Steve recognizes that the employer/employee relationship can bring tremendous esteem when it goes well, but can be terribly painful if the work situation becomes aggrieved. Steve is there to help those employees who have been wrongfully treated.
Legal Background: Attorney, McCarthy, Johnson & Miller; Attorney, Beeson, Tayer & Bodine. Law Clerk, John Truesdale, Chairperson of the National Labor Relations Board; Bredhoff & Kaiser; Meehan, Boyle, Black & Fitzgerald; United Mine Workers of America.
Work Background: International Representative, Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE-HERE); United Electrical Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE). Director, Maryland Citizen Action; Director Western Pennsylvania Citizen Action. Volunteer, United States Peace Corps, Chad, Africa.
Admitted: State of California, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Law School: Northeastern University School of Law, J.D., Boston, MA
Member: State Bar of California (Labor and Employment Law Section); American Bar Association; AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee; Hayward Immigrant Organizing Project (Secretary).
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Sophia Tesfaye, Board Member, Fundraising Committee
Sofia is a graduate of the previous program that Eve created and managed through the Student Conservation Association. Sophia grew tremendously from the program, and is committed to providing such an opportunity for growth for as many others as possible. A graduate of Bishop O’ Dowd High School in Oakland, Sofia was President of her senior class, and now studies political science and international relations at San Francisco State University. Sofia is involved in fund development for FLI.
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