Board of Directors
Marthea Alley-Caliz
Marthea Alley-Caliz has over twenty years of experience working with nonprofit, small business, and government groups which provide important community-based services. Currently, she works for Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services as a special projects lead for the Child and Young Adult System of Care, a recent transition as the lead for contract oversight of language and culturally-specific services, and previously worked for the Alameda County Probation Department running their data unit and launching a number of its first grant-based programs to support cross-over youth and adults re-entering our communities. Marthea holds a BA with emphasis in Public Administration from UC Berkeley and earned her Juris Doctorate from Golden Gate University School of Law. She is also an Advisory Member of BlackFemaleProject and Bay Area Youth Arts.
Ally Benas
Ally is a Bay Area native and a fourth-generation Oaklander. Ally’s career has spanned finance, general management, and product management in companies ranging from gaming to productivity tools. Ally is a CPA with a BA in Business Economics from UCLA and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Regan Bradley-Brown
Regan Bradley-Brown is a staff attorney with East Bay Children’s Law Offices (EBCLO), representing children and youth in dependency proceedings in Alameda County. Additionally, she serves as minors’ counsel in Family Drug Court. Before joining EBCLO, Regan served as a Law Program Facilitator for youth impacted by the juvenile justice system through Fresh Lifelines for Youth. Regan graduated from San Francisco State University and holds a law degree from Santa Clara University School of Law. Her passion has always been rooted in community service and bringing meaningful access to the law to underserved communities.
Linda Gardner
Linda Gardner is dedicated to working across sectors to solve social problems. For 25 years Linda served as Director of Alameda County Housing and Community Development Department (HCD). Under her leadership, HCD focused on affordable housing development and ending homelessness, in addition to longstanding community development programs. Her work at HCD was grounded in her belief that affordable housing is a key component both of people’s lives and in creating equitable, sustainable communities. Linda currently volunteers on the teaching team of UnTraining White Liberal Racism and is the Vice President of the Board of East Oakland Community Project. She earned her master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley and her bachelor’s degree in History from Stanford University.
John Gibbon, Chair
John Gibbon has worked with for-profit and non-profit organizations throughout his career. He currently serves as VP of Platforms, Visa Business Solutions and has served as a Peace Corp volunteer, been on six boards of directors, coached in Oakland youth sports, and held SVP, VP, & CTO titles in organizations ranging from start-ups to large public companies such as Salesforce.com and SAP. Dr. Gibbon has a B.S. in electrical engineering, a B.A. in philosophy, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in computer engineering. He has also received executive education from Stanford Graduate School of Business and was an Instructor at Stanford in their Continuing Studies program.
Nella Goncalves, Secretary
Nella Goncalves is Deputy Director of One Treasure Island. She previously served as B:E’s Deputy Director. Nella has worked with homeless and disadvantaged families and their children for over 20 years. Nella studied Human Development at UC Davis and earned a Certification as a Drug and Alcohol Counselor from the UC Berkeley Extension Program. She has worked as a health and services coordinator and a youth program director for Hospitality House, as well as a drug and alcohol assessment counselor and aftercare counselor for Thunder Road Adolescent Treatment Centers. Nella also serves on the Board of EveryOne Home which is leading the effort to end homelessness in Alameda County.
Andrew Kho
Dave Leimsieder
Dave is an alumnus of foster care. After aging out at 18, Dave committed his career to serving disadvantaged communities. For more than 20 years Dave has worked in the youth development and recreation field. He’s also been a local and national advocate for youth in foster care, and LGBTQ youth. Presently Dave serves as Acting Director of Recreation and Parks for the City of Alameda. Dave previously served as Associate Director for Youth Programs with the Recreational Sports Department at UC Berkeley. Dave presently chairs the Family And Children’s Trust Committee (FACT) in Contra Costa County, and was a former member of the Arizona State Foster Care Review board. Dave lives in Walnut Creek with his longtime partner and their long haired dachshund, Luna.
Jennifer Nelson
Jennifer Nelson is a seasoned communications executive with broad experience in the public and private sectors. She serves as Senior Vice President of Global Communications at Prologis. Previously she was vice president of corporate communications at McKesson Corporation. Before that, she ran her own communications consulting firm, providing strategic public relations counsel to a variety of public and private sector clients. She has experience working at the state and local level on social service and homeless issues. Jennifer earned her master’s degree in Public Affairs Reporting from the University of Illinois at Springfield and her bachelor’s degree in Communications from California State University, Sacramento.
Steve Robertson, Treasurer
Steve has over thirty years of experience in finance, operations, and organizational effectiveness for both the non-profit and for profits worlds. He is currently CFO of HDMI Licensing Administrator, Inc. Steve is a Certified Public Accountant and Santa Clara University graduate. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Think Together (formerly Bay Area After School All Stars) and is passionate about soccer and education access.
Kent Schwartz
Kent Schwartz is the CFO at Kearns & West. Previously Kent was the CFO at Allison & Partners. He has 30 years of experience in building meaningful analysis and processes to serve management, employees and clients. Kent graduated from California State University, Chico with a B.S. in Business Administration.