President
Robert Spencer, Willdan Financial Services; William H. Donner Foundation.
Robert Spencer is Principal Consultant at Willdan Financial Services (formerly MuniFinancial) in Oakland and has more than 15 years of financing and consulting experience with local agencies throughout California. He is an economist with extensive experience assisting public agencies with the development of sound financial and economic policies. Much of his work is related to public services funding to serve a community's growth or revitalization. Mr. Spencer was a member and President of the Oakland Board of Education in the late 1990's and remains actively involved in Oakland education reform. He is a member and past President of the Board of Trustees of the William H. Donner Foundation and is the foundation liaison to Oakland's Expect Success redesign. Mr. Spencer holds a Masters of Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Colorado College.

Vice President
Lynda Tredway, Director, Principal Leadership Institute, University of California, Berkeley.
Lynda Tredway is the coordinator of the Principal Leadership Institute at UC Berkeley. Her interests are in urban education, particularly in analyzing discourse patterns in classrooms to promote equity, and in ensuring that educational institutions are more responsive to students of color. Before coming to Berkeley she spent almost 30 years working with urban schools in Washington, D.C. Dr. Tredway was formerly on the faculty of George Washington University, where she was project director for the Urban Initiative, a school-university partnership for preparing preservice teachers for urban schools. She has also served as a program director, lead teacher, and teacher in the Washington, D.C., public schools. Her publications include A Primer for Social Justice Educators(in press); Community Mapping: A Curricular Guide for Teacher Educators, from the Contextual Teaching and Learning Project of USDOE (with M. Freund, 2002); "The Teacher as Moral and Intellectual Guide," in Creating a Community of Learners: Using the Teacher as Facilitator Model,edited by K. G. Elam et al. (2000); and "The Art of Juggling: Preparing Preservice Teachers for Urban Teaching," in the Journal of Negro Education(1999).

Secretary
Gregory Hodge
Gregory Hodge is a youth development policy advocate and member of the Oakland Unified School District Board of Education from 2000-2008. He was previously the Chief Executive Officer for California Tomorrow, an Oakland-based organization dedicated to building a strong multiracial and multicultural society. He also previously served as the Executive Director of Safe Passages, the Oakland Child Health and Safety Initiative. Prior to Safe Passages, Hodge was the Executive Director of the Urban Strategies Council, where he served as the director of the youth development initiative, managed the Freedom Schools program, and worked as the regional representative of the Black Community Crusade for Children, an effort coordinated nationally by the Children's Defense Fund.

Mr. Hodge has also worked as an attorney in private practice handling a variety of civil litigation matters. His involvements include work with African American youth as a teacher and mentor; board member and minister at Wo'se Community Church; drummer with Bantaba Dance Ensemble; board member of The Marin Institute; and member of the national Annenberg School District Reform Task Force. He holds a bachelor of arts degree from Northwestern University and a law degree from Golden Gate University, San Francisco, California. He is married and is the father of four children.

Treasurer
Andy Fremder, Farallon Capital; President, East Bay College Fund
Andy Fremder is a co-founder of East Bay College Fund, and is currently a member of and consultant to Farallon Capital Management, LLC, a San Francisco based investment adviser. From 1994 until 2003, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Farallon. Mr. Fremder also sits on the board of CapitalSource Inc., a commercial finance company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He is a director of One California Bank, a community development bank headquartered in Oakland. Mr. Fremder received his BBA and MPA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Anakarita Allen, Deputy Superintendent, Emery Unified School District.
Ms. Allen was the principal of Anna Yates Elementary School from 2005-2008 and continues to provide leadership to that school as she has taken on greater responsibilities in the district's central office. At Anna Yates, she led the school to significant achievement gains and improvements in the educational experience of students through community partnerships, parent outreach, and smaller learning communities.

Eva Camp, Director, Full Circle Fund
A mother of three young children, Eva dedicates her time to improving public education, whether through the Piedmont School District or as a volunteer with Full Circle Fund's Education Circle, where she has worked extensively with Oakland Unified School District. Eva worked for more than 10 years at Microsoft, marketing some of the company's most successful products, including Word, Office and other consumer titles. Her last role there was Director of Market Planning and Analysis for Microsoft's line of home products. Prior to Microsoft, she worked in product management at Proctor & Gamble. Eva has a B.A. from Harvard University, where she was co-president of the Asian American Association.

John Gooding, Quadric Group; President, Emery Ed Fund.
As head of the Emery Ed Fund (EEF), Mr. Gooding has helped to raise over $1 million for education programs in the city of Emeryville, and has built a strong partnership between schools, business, and city government that has gained notice across the country. He is also the Chair of One Voice, a Political Action Committee committed to electing progressive candidates to Congress and to changing the way that our political system works by engaging communities and individuals who have traditionally been excluded from the political process.

Surlene Grant, Envirocom Communications Strategies; City of San Leandro Vice-Mayor & City Council Member.
Ms. Grant broke ground in San Leandro as the first African American woman to serve in the San Leandro City Council. Ms. Grant currently owns her own public relations firm, and in the past has worked as an Adjunct Instructor in Crisis Communication for FEMA and a Senior Project Manager with Public Affairs Management. She has a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University and an M.A. in Management from JFK University. She is a member of Black Women Organized for Political Action.

Lillian Lopez, Wells Fargo; Oakland Community Organizations (OCO).
Ms. Lopez is an activist with the OCO, BayCES' partner in the New Small Autonomous Schools reform, where she was formerly a board member. She is the OCO organizer for MetWest High School. She was a member of Mayor Jerry Brown's Commission on Education. Her work as an education activist parent is featured in the book Hard Lessons: The Promise of an Inner-City Charter School by Jonathan Schorr (Ballentine, 2002).

Cleo Protopapas, Administrator on Special Assignment, Secondary Algebra Initiatives, Oakland Unified School District.
Ms. Protopapas is responsible for the design and implementation of Algebra Initiatives for two middle and high school networks in the OUSD. She coaches principals on instructional leadership and supports the development of Algebra professional learning communities. Ms. Protopapas is also Director of the OUSD-UC Summer Algebra Academies which prepare academically at-risk students for success in algebra and serve as a project-based professional development institute for its algebra instructors. Previously leader of the district's CAHSEE Initiative, her work contributed to significantly improved CAHSEE passage and proficiency rates and to OUSD becoming the most improved urban district in California in 2004 through 2007.

Norman Rosenblatt, Founding Board Member
Norm Rosenblatt has been a director and senior executive at several real estate corporations including The Rim Corporation and Innkeeper Associates, where he supervised the financing and construction of numerous hotels in the Bay Area. Norm is a graduate of Yale University and lives in San Francisco. He was one of the founding board members of University High School in San Francisco.