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 Mission/Strategies/ValuesHistory/Founders Board of DirectorsStaffAdvisory BoardPressAnnual Report |
Spark's Board of Directors is exemplary group of young women leaders whose steward the organization. The commitment of our board members is
evident in their generosity. Each member pledges 120 volunteer hours annually as well as underwrites all administrative expenses. |
 Jamie Allison-Hope (Board Chair) jamie@sparksf.org  Jamie Allison-Hope is a Program Officer with the S.H. Cowell Foundation in San Francisco; she is primarily responsible for the Youth Development grantmaking area and also works in the Foundation's Affordable Housing and Leadership Development portfolios. She has worked in philanthropy for over ten years and has also worked in the public and private sectors conducting research and coordinating a variety of programs. She has worked as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) consultant, helping companies align their brands with social missions. Jamie considers civic engagement a lifestyle choice and has a deep commitment to supporting vulnerable children and families. Her volunteer activities include serving as a founding board member of the Passport Scholars Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides 10th grade girls with international community service and academic enrichment opportunities. She is a current board member at the Coro Center for Civic Leadership. She has also taught English as a second language in West Africa.
Jamie graduated with Highest Honors from the University of Tennessee where she earned Bachelors degrees in Political Science: International Relations, Spanish, Economics, and Humanities. She also holds a Masters degree in Public Policy from the Goldman School at UC Berkeley. Stephanie Block (Social Media Chair) stephanie@sparksf.org  Stephanie Block is an award-winning writer, editor, blogger, Tweetress and all around social media maven. She can toast and gamble in many languages and makes a career out of traveling and telling. Her global shopping secrets have been featured in Marie Claire magazine, and she's edited and contributed to books on travel and progressive politics. She was also almost eaten by a leopard in Tanzania.
Stephanie's promiscuous passport is like first class on a holiday weekend—totally full! Texan by birth, this global gallivantress found her way out to San Francisco having visited over 50 countries (if you count Texas) and lived in many herself, including France, India, Jamaica, Germany and Japan. Stephanie is also a proud Vassar graduate, a relentless grammarian, and a former high school English teacher with a Masters in Educational Technology. When she isn't sipping champagne on far-flung coasts or fending off big cats, Stephanie is proud to serve on the Board of Directors for Spark, the National Young Leadership Cabinet of the Jewish Federations of North America, and the Advisory Board of Netroots Nation. Her favourite colour (if we are being Euro about it) is pink. Megan Cayler (Fundraising Committee) megan@sparksf.org  Megan Cayler is the Senior Development Officer for Individual Giving at the Exploratorium where she leads a thriving major gifts program that sustains their ongoing program offerings. Previously as the Development Manager for the Women's Funding Network, Megan honed her skills in raising major gifts while working on their successful Women Moving Millions campaign and in helping to build their Individual Giving program. As a seasoned Development professional, she is passionate about uniting committed philanthropists with change-making organizations. In her work with the Exploratorium and Spark, Megan contributes her strong background in working with individual donors, developing marketing and communication strategies, planning events, and enhancing systems management. A fine arts painter herself, Megan is deeply committed to enriching and expanding museum audiences and encouraging creativity and self-discovery through the arts and sciences.
Megan attended Sarah Lawrence College and the University of San Francisco, where she received her B.A. in Art History/Arts Management. Shruti Challa (Social Media Committee) shruti@sparksf.org 
Shruti Challa is the founder and chief executive officer of Tribal Atmosphere, Inc, a social media company focused on creating simple technology that facilitates real-world interaction. Tribal Atmosphere's main product is Pinchd. Shruti Challa graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in economics and a minor in Political Science. While at Stanford she was Vice President of Stanford Finance, involved in her sorority Kappa Alpha Theta and a leader in the Indian community. Prior work experience includes an associate position at top venture capital firm Founders Fund and doing project work for The Khadi Project (social venture focused on empowering impovershed Indian artisans). In addition she has worked for causes such as CASA (court appointed special advocates) and independently raised capital to provide new school supplies to Khanapur Government School in Hyderabad, India. Shurti was also voted Miss Congeniality at the 2005 Miss India USA competition where she represented Kansas. In addition, she is an avid Indian Classical dancer. She first debuted in Hyderabad, India and has since performed for individuals like A.R. Rehman, Shaan and Nageswarao.
Brittany Emal (Grants Committee) brittany@sparksf.org  Brittany is committed to developing women as global leaders and to deepening the human capacity for empathy. Brittany has spent time in the corporate, nonprofit, and public service sectors. Most recently, Brittany worked in executive leadership development, training urban school principals for the nation-wide nonprofit organization, New Leaders for New Schools. Brittany previously served as a Kindergarten and First Grade teacher in a low-income school. She was awarded the California Governor's Teaching Fellowship in 2001 and was named Teacher of the Year in 2005. On the corporate side, Brittany spent years working for The Walt Disney Company, where she produced two national tours, attracting audiences of up to 10,000. Originally from southern California, Brittany has a B.A. from Pepperdine University and an Ed.M. in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. While at Harvard, Brittany's work focused on international migration patterns and women's literacy rates around the globe.
Karen Hennessy (Co-Founder and Events Committee) karen@sparksf.org  Karen Hennessy lives in San Francisco and works at salesforce.com as a
Senior Program Manager within Training & Certification. She has a
passion for philanthropy, and cares deeply about human rights,
education, health and nutrition, and the environment. Five years
ago, Karen co-founded Spark as a means to provide young professionals
in the Bay Area with an outlet to become active in and involved with
the issues that impact women and girls across the globe. Karen
currently serves as the Chair of the Events Committee, a member of the
Strategic Planning Committee, and as a member of the Board of
Directors. Karen is also a fundraiser and volunteer for the Multiple
Sclerosis Society, and volunteers with Girls on the Run, San Francisco
School Volunteers, and the IdeaVillage.
Karen is an enthusiastic traveler, and has traveled across Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and North America. She has lived and worked abroad in Ireland and Northern Ireland. When she isn't traveling, you can find Karen in San Francisco, enjoying art, music, food, and cooking. Fiona Hsu (Co-Founder and Grants Committee) fiona@sparksf.org 
Fiona Hsu is a strong advocate for working families and has worked to promote greater economic opportunities for them through living wages, good jobs, fair taxation, and decent housing. She is currently an affordable housing investor.
Fiona previously served on the board of the DC Chapter of the National Asian Pacific Women's Forum. She has also served as a mentor to two young girls through Asian American Leadership Empowerment and Development (AA LEAD) and the Berkeley YMCA. She loves to volunteer with Girls on the Run Bay Area. Fiona is passionate about building strong communities here at home and abroad. With Habitat for Humanity's Global Village program, she traveled to the village of Hosahalli, Bangalore, India to help build a home for Manju and her family, and to the village of La Union, Veracruz, Mexico to help build a home for Anjelica and her family. She is a founding member of Habitat San Francisco's Young Leadership Circle. Fiona received her undergraduate degree from U.C. Berkeley, where she studied Economics and Sociology. She received her Master's in Public Policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at U.C. Berkeley. Lisa Jacobs (Fundraising Committee) lisa@sparksf.org  Lisa is an attorney with the Litigation Department of San Francisco's Shartsis Friese LLP. Her complex commercial litigation practice focuses on contracts and business torts, unfair competition, and intellectual property litigation. Lisa started her career by serving as a law clerk to the Honorable David W. Hagen (Ret.) of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.
Lisa has been appointed by the California Bar's Board of Governors to its standing committee for the California Young Lawyers' Association. Lisa's pro bono activities have included successfully seeking asylum on behalf of a child persecuted for having been born in violation of China's one child policy and currently include assisting victims of domestic violence to seek restraining orders against their abusers. Lisa was born in Hong Kong, raised in San Francisco, and speaks fluent German. She received her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law, where she was awarded the Order of the Coif. Lisa also received her undergraduate degree, with honors, from the University of California, Berkeley, where she majored in Comparative Literature, minored in German, and was a member of the Varsity Women's Crew Team. Rebecca Lipon (Grants Committee) Rebecca@sparksf.org  Rebecca Lipon is a Senior Applications Engineer with Synopsys, Inc. where her primary focus is helping companies verify the functionality of their integrated chip designs. Rebecca has always had a passion for improving technology education and recently launched GirlsTalkTech.org, a portal providing resources, articles, interviews with female technologists, and a discussion forum on technology for girls. Rebecca also volunteers by performing, mentoring, and teaching with Save the Music, Junior Achievement, Tech Time Science Club for Girls, Oasis for Girls and many other educational enrichment programs around the Bay Area.�She is the lead singer of the Bay Area band Sinister Dexter, and performs and choreographs with local theater groups.�Rebecca graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she earned a Bachelor degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering.�
Mona Motwani (Co-Founder and Grants Committee) mona@sparksf.org  Mona
Motwani is a civil rights attorney at the Fair Housing Law
Project, a program of the Law Foundation of Silicon
Valley. She works in the area of housing discrimination and
predatory lending. She graduated from UC Hastings College
of the Law in San Francisco in 2005, and received her B.A.
in political science from the University of Michigan. She
left her home state of Michigan to live in Breckenridge,
Colorado for three years, and then moved to San Francisco.
At UC Hastings College of the Law, Motwani was a Board
member of the Hastings International and Comparative Law
Review, Public Interest Foundation and Hastings Democratic
Caucus. She was a volunteer and Student Advisory Board
member for General Advocacy Assistance Project (GAAP), a
legal services agency that serves homeless clients in the
Tenderloin. Mona also volunteered as a tutor for middle
school children at the KIPPS Program at Ben Franklin Middle
School. Throughout law school, Mona worked at a variety of
organizations, including the ACLU where she worked on voting
rights, and the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies where
she worked on asylum cases for victims of gender
persecution.
Mona worked on international human rights issues, with a
focus on human trafficking, at the United Nations in
Sarajevo. She also worked on international human rights
litigation under at the Center for Justice and
Accountability, a non-profit that brings civil prosecutions
against human rights abusers living in the United States.
In her free time, she enjoys mountain biking, snowboarding,
traveling, cooking, and hiking.
Mariya Pamnani (Events Committee) mariya@sparksf.org  Mariya Pamnani is currently a marketing analytics manager in the
Client Insight and Loyalty Group at Charles Schwab & Co. �Previously,
Mariya worked in the economic consulting industry for 10 years, most
recently at Advanced Analytical Consulting Group (AACG) and at
Deloitte Financial Advisory Services.
Mariya's strong interest in international economic issues has previously led her to internships at the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, and at an international microfinance institution in Paris, France. Mariya has been an active member of the World Affairs Council in San Francisco, serving for two years as an officer on its Young Professional Steering Committee. At the World Affairs Council, she co-chaired and organized a three-part series on economic development and international entrepreneurship with Muhammad Yunus (founder of the Grameen Bank and Nobel Peace Prize winner) as the keynote speaker. Mariya is very excited to now be a part of Spark and its efforts to support and promote international women's issues. Mariya graduated from Stanford University in 2001 with a B.A. in Economics. She speaks Mandarin Chinese and French. Rana Turk (Grants Committee) rana@sparksf.org  Rana
Turk currently works as Vice President in Technology within
the Investment Banking arm of Bank of America. She serves
as a conduit between the business and technical teams to
identify inefficiencies and new development needs and offer
technical solutions to complex business problems revolving
around Trading. She serves on the iVoice and SF Women
that Lead Committees at Bank of America. She is also a
small business owner of two retail furniture/interior design
stores in California serving as the General Manger were her
primary role is high level guidance, marketing, and
accounting management. She has been involved in volunteer
efforts with Hands on Bay Area, Adopt-a-Family and Food Bank
Collection efforts.Rana graduated from UC Davis with a degree in International Relations and World Trade. She went on to receive her Masters in Business Administration from Santa Clara University emphasizing Information Systems Design and Management as well as Innovation. During her time at UC Davis she spent a summer in three West African countries as an intern with UNICEF working with various programs benefiting women and children such as Safe Motherhood, Immunization Programs, Primary Education, and AIDS prevention. Further college volunteer work included Pediatric Emergency Care, as a certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), as well as Senior Citizen care. Rana takes special interest in raising awareness of conflicts in the Middle East, and is semi-proficient in Arabic and French languages. Jenn Wilcox (Chair SparkNYC) jenn@sparksf.org 
Jenn Wilcox lives in New York City and works as an investment associate at Summit Rock Advisors, where she helps foundations, endowments and high net worth clients invest their assets. Prior to joining Summit Rock,�Jenn worked in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs in San Francisco, where she focused on financing public sector and infrastructure projects.
Jenn earned a B.A. in Economics with departmental honors from Pomona College in Claremont, CA.�Jenn played on the varsity tennis team (Go Sagehens!) and organized a variety of speaker series on current events through the Pomona Student Union. During her time at Pomona, Jenn spent a summer living in Mumbai, India where she worked with a women�s economic empowerment NGO. Jenn grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis and enjoys downhill skiing, tennis, reading about current events and cheering on Minnesota sports teams. Gayle Karen Young (Chair Strategic Planning Committee) gayle@sparksf.org  Gayle Karen Young is a Senior Consultant with Elan Consulting Team.
She is passionate about helping people expand their awareness of their
own choices and behaviors as related to their life situations, both
past and present, in order to facilitate sustained change. She applies
a thoughtful, empathetic, and systemic approach to a variety of focus
areas including leadership development, change management, strategic
communications, building high performance teams, and personal and
organizational transformation.
Gayle's specific areas of expertise include leader development; encompassing coaching, group dynamics, group facilitation and research; and specific applications for helping leaders evolve and adapt to increasingly complex external environments. She is particularly interested in global women's issues and helping women be more effective in their leadership roles. Gayle has worked with and served on non-profit boards, including the Board of Trustees for Alliant International University and the Board of Directors for the Bay Area Organization Development Network. She has spoken to groups such as the National Association of Asian American Professionals about effective influence in the workplace and has been a facilitator for the Stanford Graduate School of Business and their Women in Management Program.� She also writes for the Integral Leadership Review, and is interest in futurist endeavors. Gayle earned her BA Degree in Psychology from the University of San Francisco, where she graduated magna cum laude with Honors, and has her masters in Organizational Psychology. A partial list of clients include: McDonald's Corporation, Carlson Companies, Regent Seven Seas Cruises, Kaiser Permanente, Oakwood Healthcare System, Yale University, Equitable Life Insurance Company and Ernst & Young. Gayle currently calls San Francisco home. A self-confessed learning junkie, she is an avid reader of anything from poetry to science fiction. She is interested in asking challenging questions and discovering the stories people tell about their lives and the world they live in. She loves fine art, music, dancing, science fiction, and enjoys adventuring. |
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