BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Laurie Edelstein, Board Chair
Partner, Brune & Richard LLP
Laurie is the head of the San Francisco office of a boutique litigation firm that focuses on business litigation and white-collar defense matters. An accomplished trial lawyer in commercial and white-collar cases, Laurie represents clients in securities and other fraud actions, breach of contract and fiduciary duty matters, energy disputes, and other business litigation, often involving complex financial and securities transactions. She also defends clients in Securities and Exchange Commission investigations and enforcement actions, and in criminal investigations and prosecutions. Before opening Brune & Richard’s San Francisco office, Laurie was an attorney in the law department of Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Laurie holds an undergraduate degree from Stanford University, where she graduated with distinction in the Honors Program in the Humanities and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and a law degree from Yale Law School. She also holds a Master of Philosophy degree in comparative literature from Yale University.
Juliet Clothier Rikess, Treasurer
Juliet has worked with individuals and businesses with annual revenues ranging from $500K to $170M. Her 25+ years of experience includes a five and a half year tenure as CFO of United Way of the Bay Area. Prior to that she served as Controller, Business Analyst, and Director of Operations in multiple industries including consulting, family offices, wholesale distribution, and small non-profits. Clients include numerous community organizations, including Jewish Vocational Service, Community Partners International, and Low Income Investment Fund, as well as for-profit clients in the entertainment, sustainable enterprise, property management and family office industries. Ms. Clothier Rikess is a founding member of the Non-Profit Finance Forum, a networking and educational group for non-profit finance leadership. Juliet is a member of the Institute of Management Accountants and the Financial Women’s Association. She holds a BA in Business Management, with honors, from Dominican University, as well as an MBA from Sonoma State University.
Molly Wertz, President
Executive Director, Raising A Reader San Francisco, Alameda & Contra Costa Counties
Molly comes to Raising A Reader from United Way of the Bay Area, where she served from 2004 until 2010, most recently as Vice President of Community Investment, managing grantmaking as well as program development and oversight. During her tenure, Molly served on the leadership team of the Bay Area Early Childhood Funders and the membership and programs committees at Northern California Grantmakers. As Executive Director, Molly is responsible for building program infrastructure and fundraising in order to serve significantly more children in the coming years. Her commitment to children and youth stems from her first career as an educator. She has taught at elementary, middle, and high school levels, and was a founding teacher at Sonoma Mountain High School in Petaluma. She served as a district level administrator in the Petaluma schools from 1995-2000 and as an educational consultant. Molly has a MS in curriculum and instruction from Dominican University of California, and a BA in English literature from Sonoma State University.
Donna Dolislager‐Johnson, Secretary
M.D., Retired
Donna originally hails from Michigan but has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years. She received her medical degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. Her postdoctoral training was done at Kaiser in San Francisco in pediatrics and Stanford Medical Center in pediatric nephrology. Donna practiced pediatrics for 35 years as a Kaiser Permanente physician in South San Francisco and Napa.
Kirsty Traill, Member
VP of Customer Support, Hootsuite
Kirsty is currently the VP of Customer Support at Hoosuite, a social media management platform, where she is responsible for using customer insight to drive strategic initiatives and deliver superior customer experience. Kirsty has over 14 years of international experience gained from senior sales & marketing, operations, and business management roles in the US, Japan, and New Zealand, where she has a track record of effective leadership and business transformation. Kirsty holds bachelor’s degrees in both Arts and Commerce at the University of Auckland, winning senior prizes in Marketing and Japanese, and enjoys running half-marathons, snowboarding, and yoga in her spare time.
Laura Zellerbach, Member
Laura is a native San Franciscan who has just returned to the Bay Area after living and working in New York City and South Africa for the past eight years. She has a BA in Psychology from Barnard College and a Masters of Science in Education from Bank Street College of Education. Her graduate degree is in Infant and Family Development and Early Intervention, and Laura is a certified teacher for children aged newborn through second grade. She has worked extensively with infants through four-year-olds and their families in many different settings. She is currently working at Katherine Michiels School, a school for infants through fifth grade in San Francisco, as their Child Development Specialist.
Allyson Franco Deraps
Associate Counsel, The Burning Man Project
A native New Yorker, Allyson relocated to San Francisco 10 years ago and recently joined the legal team of the Burning Man Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to facilitating and extending the culture of the Burning Man even into the wider world. She is a graduate of Boalt Hall (UC Berkeley School of Law) and began her law career at Farella Braun + Martel LLP, where she was an active participant in the Diversity Pipeline Internship Program, mentoring high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Allyson also volunteers as a literacy tutor with the San Francisco Education Fund.
Maggie Magallon Demkin
Director of Professional Services, Advent Software Inc.
Maggie has over twenty years of experience providing direct support for enterprise clients in a wide variety of financial services and technology companies, including Charles Schwab, Barclays Investors, as well as Advent University. Her community services activities include the San Carlos-Belmont Mother Club, the Inn Vision Shelter Network and Peninsula Volunteers. She received her BA in Psychology from UC Berkeley, and her MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.
Mei Siauw
Senior Manager, Oracle USA Inc.
Mei is a seasoned product manager with experience in implementing strategies for go-to-market and product positioning. Her most recent success has been with Oracle Financials flagship product, General Ledger. She is passionate about giving children a head start to a good life and has been active in a variety of Oracle’s Volunteer program and the Catholic Church Sunday School program. Mei is currently an MBA Candidate at The Wharton School, with an expected degree in August 2013.
Kevin Lee
Product Manager, Kabam
Kevin has worked in Technology Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch with a focus on advising education technology clients, and has consulted alongside McKinsey & Co. and the Haas Center for Nonprofit/Public Leadership for the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education. He is also currently serving on the Board of the SF Creative Arts Charter School. Kevin earned his BS in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business and his Certificate in Management of Engineering and Innovation from UC Berkeley’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology. As a teacher, mentor, and volunteer within the community, Kevin is a strong believer in developing early literacy skills through family involvement.
Joseph Noh
Strategic Business Manager, Tata Consultancy Services
Joseph guides growth initiatives for the Tata Consultancy Services within the tech industry. He has previous product management and software development experience at Samsung Mobile, Microsoft and Panasonic Avionics, where he led the production of Panasonic’s first web-based mobile platform. Joseph comes from a family of educators and deeply appreciates the importance of early literacy. He enjoys the outdoors and is an avid climber and snowboarder. Joseph received his BS in Computer Science from UC Davis and his MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
Chinelo Okonkwo
Strategy Consultant, Chevron Corporation
Chinelo brings over 10 years of international experience in strategy, marketing and finance to the Raising A Reader board. Previously, Okonkwo has served as a board member for Habitat for Humanity San Gabriel Valley and Sponsors for Educational Opportunity Los Angeles Chapter, and currently volunteers as a reader in San Ramon and Dublin area schools. Okonkwo received her BS in Business Administration from the University of Southern California and her MBA in Marketing and International Business from Northwestern University.
Travis Zimbelman
Finance Program Manager at Google, Inc.
Travis joins Raising A Reader with several years’ of marketing, finance, and auditing experience. Travis received his BA in International Business from Northwestern College, and is currently pursuing his MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. In addition to serving as a Board member, Travis has served on the Google Finance Career Development committee and as a “Big Brother” at Benjamin Bubb Elementary School in Mountain View, California.
Read about Raising A Reader staff here.