Team

Board

Team

Staff

Jarvis Sulcer, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Jarvis joined LPFI in 2007, first as Academic Director and most recently serving as the Director of Education overseeing the SMASH and IDEAL programs. He brings with him a deep passion for our mission and experience in making an impact through education. He will lead LPFI in expanding the impact of its education programs and institutional research. He received his Ph.D. in Nuclear Science and Engineering at Cornell University in 1998. He was the only African-American male in the United States to receive a Ph.D. in his field of study that year.

Alexis Martin, M.A. (PhD candidate)

Research Associate

Alexis Martin joined LPFI in 2011. Alexis is a Ph.D. candidate in Social and Cultural Studies at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Education. She received her B.A. in Interdisciplinary Social Sciences from the University of Redlands and her M.A. in Education from UC Berkeley. Prior to LPFI she taught education courses at UC Berkeley & Sonoma State University, and worked with teachers in professional development inquiry groups examining equity in their classrooms. She has taught high school and done outreach with students who were the first in their families to attend college.

Allison Scott, Ph.D.

Director of Research and Evaluation

Allison conducts and manages empirical research related to hidden bias and barriers in K-12, higher education, and the workplace. This research agenda is centered on expanding the understanding of hidden bias and inequity and providing practical solutions to ensure fairness from the classroom to the boardroom.  Allison comes to LPFI with a research background focused extensively on investigating educational inequality, perceived racial bias and discrimination, and educational outcomes for individuals with diverse backgrounds.

Bianca Escalante

Interim Development Director

Bianca is responsible for developing and managing LPFI's internal fundraising operations and long-term development strategies. Prior to joining LPFI, she spent three years as the Manager of Donor and Member Relations at Zeum (now Children's Creativity Museum) and before that she worked as the Annual Giving Coordinator for the Freemasons of California.

Christina Alva

Development Associate

Christina joins the LPFI team after working at the Children’s Creativity Museum, as the Development Associate.  She is looking forward to continuing her work to bring opportunity of education and change to young students lives. Christina graduated from the Academy of Art University with a BFA in Photography.  

Outside of work, Christina is an active member of a local all-women’s choir and loves to spend time with her young nieces and nephews.

Danielle Rose, M.S.

Regional Program Director

As LPFI's Regional Program Director, Danielle manages the California Site Director Team and works with the Executive Director and the Director of Education Programs to expand LPFI Programming into exciting new markets. Her foray into the education space began two years prior working for a national educational services company as Senior Program Manager and Director of Operations where she was responsible for the launch and operational excellence of numerous academic intervention programs across school districts in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Texas.  

Damali Robertson

Grantwriter

Damali Robertson joined LPFI’s Development Team as a Grantwriter in 2011.  Prior to LPFI, she served as the External Relations Coordinator for the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University since 2007.  In that role, she was responsible for stewarding donors; conducting research on funding opportunities and program outcomes; drafting grant proposals, stewardship and endowment reports.

Jed Sullivan

Academic Technologist

   Jed Sullivan joined LPFI in 2012 as Academic Technologist. His focus is helping to identify and implement technologies to further the pedogogical goals of LPFI. Prior to LPFI, Jed worked as the director of technology for The Chicago School, where he managed student information systems and oversaw instructional design. In his free time, Jed enjoys photgraphy and creating installation art for the Berkeley based group, The Foundry, as part of their artist in residence program.

Jeremiah Sims, M.A. (Ph.D. Candidate)

Program Director, SMASH: Prep & IDEAL Student Services Coordinator

Jeremiah grew up in Richmond, California and is the first in his family to earn a college degree. A former IDEAL scholar, he graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 2008 with a B.A. in Rhetoric with Honors. He also earned in a M.A. in Education in 2010, from U.C. Berkeley. And, he is currently a Ph.D.

Pierre Tchetgen, M.A., M.I.M.S., (Doctoral Student)

Communication Technologies Facilitator, SMASH: Prep

Pierre is the leader of the Internet Community Arts and Media Partnerships (iCAMP) and a PhD candidate at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Education. He holds a Bachelors in Computer Science and Economics Management from Ohio Wesleyan University, a Masters in Humanities from the University of Chicago, a Masters in Information Management and Systems from UC Berkeley's School of Information and has taught Philosophy, Music and Drama at Harold Washington College, one of the City Colleges of Chicago.

Rachel Sims, M.A.

Operations Director

Rachel provides operational leadership to SMASH and IDEAL, focusing on the scaling of SMASH to achieve national impact. Rachel earned a bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Studies Field with a focus in Comparative Studies in Management from U.C. Berkeley. As an experienced tutor and mentor to traditionally marginalized students, Rachel returned to school to obtain a master's degree in Educational Administration from San Francisco State University, in order to be counted amongst the passionate advocates for equity in education. [ rachel AT lpfi DOT org ]

Ronald Fortune, Ph.d. M.B.A.

Chief Operating Officer

Ronald is the Co-Founder and Chairman at Education.com. Previously Dr. Fortune served as CEO from October 18, 2006 to February 29, 2012. Dr. Fortune was the founder and CEO of Edumetrics Learning, a company focused on developing technology-based educational content for students, which eventually formed a partnership with the EPGY program at Stanford University. He also served for 10 years as CEO of Computer Curriculum Corporation (CCC). During his tenure as CEO, CCC became the largest educational software company in the United States.

Ruby Geballe

SMASH: UC Berkeley Site Director

Ruby Geballe joined LPFI in 2011 after several years of teaching hands-on science in Boston Public Schools. She believes strongly that there is an element to STEM that can engage, excite, and empower any and every student and is excited to be part of an organization that is realizing the same belief. Ruby will be on campus at SMASH: UC Berkeley in the Summer of 2012 and is eager to spend more time with our scholars. Ruby holds a B.A.

Sepehr Vakil M.S., (Doctoral Student)

SMASH: Prep: Integrated Science Instructor

My passion for equitable education stems from my family and upbringing. Born in Iran in 1983, my family immigrated to the United States in 1985 due to the political instability and limited educational opportunities of our home country. Since then, though I’ve bounced around the United States I’ve spent most of my time in California. In 2007, I finished my M.S in Electrical Engineering from UCLA before working at a start-up tech company in Berkeley.

Shantina Jackson, M.A. (PhD candidate)

Director of Education Programs

Shantina initially joined LPFI as a SMASH instructor in 2006 and, since that time, has worked toward the achievement of LPFI's mission within numerous roles, including Residential Director at SMASH: Berkeley, Operations Director and the 2012 SMASH: USC Site Director.  Shantina was instrumental in launching SMASH programs at UCLA and USC and in implementing the College Success curriculum across all SMASH sites.  As the Director of Education Programs, she continues to focus on the quality and integrity of LPFI's programs.

Stephania Vielma

SMASH: Prep Program Assistant

Stephania will be providing operational support to SMASH: Prep Academy. She is a graduate of LPFI’s IDEAL Scholars Program. Stephania earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of California Berkeley. This year she will be completing the Finance Associate Program in Wells Fargo Corporate Finance headquarters in San Francisco.

Sumaiya Talukdar, J.D.

Director of Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement

Prior to joining LPFI, Sumaiya served as a law clerk at Coan & Lyons LLP and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta where she worked to create and preserve the housing rights of marginalized members of our society. She owes her faith in the power of education to the Thurgood Marshall Academy, a public charter high school which has truly transformed the lives of its disadvantaged student population, where she served as an Administrative Assistant.

Board

Harry Bims, Ph.D.

Board Chair

Harry Bims is the founder of Bims Laboratories, a technology consulting firm, and is a recognized technology expert on a wide range of broadband wireless technologies.  He is a Senior Member of the IEEE, and the named inventor on 16 US patents.  Prior to Bims Laboratories, Dr. Bims was the founder and CEO of AirFlow Networks, a venture capital-backed startup building innovative enterprise-class WiFi networks.  He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1993.

Duane Valz, J.D.

Board Member

Duane is presently a senior member of the Patent Team at Google Inc., overseeing a variety of matters impacting the company's business and strategic corporate development. He has counseled a wide variety of emerging growth, public and privately held companies on intellectual property and technology matters. Duane received both his Bachelor's and Juris Doctor degrees from U.C. Berkeley. He has advised a number of leading non-profit organizations in a director capacity.

Freada Kapor Klein, Ph.D.

Founder, Board Member

Freada, founder of the Level Playing Field Institute (LPFI) and co-founder of the SMASH Academy, is a nationally recognized authority on issues of bias, harassment, and diversity. She co-founded the first organization in the US to focus on sexual harassment in 1976.  She received her Ph.D. in social policy and research in 1984.

Maria Echaveste, J.D.

Board Member

Maria Echaveste is a co-founder and partner of the Nueva Vista Group (NVG), a government relations firm. Ms. Echaveste is also a Researcher and Lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt School of Law and Goldman Graduate School of Public Policy. Prior to NVC, she served as Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff for President Clinton from May 1998 through January 2001 and as Director of the Office of Public Liaison at the White House from February 1997 to May 1998.

Michael Madison

Board Member

Michael Madison is the founder and Managing Director of Cocoon Ventures, a venture firm with support from Mitsubishi’s Innovation Kitchen in Tokyo. Michael was also recently named as one of the Business Journals' 2009 top 40 executives under the age of 40 in the Silicon Valley. He joined the LPFI Board in 2011.  Michael started writing software in the 2nd grade, and by the time he started junior high, he was a code contributor to NASA Langley’s supercomputer management systems.

Mitchell Kapor

Board Member

Mitch is, to quote the New York Times, an elder statesman of modern computing. As founder of Lotus Development Corporation and the designer of the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet (the "killer application" for the IBM PC), he helped make the personal computer ubiquitous in the business world.

Ross Fubini

Board Member

Ross Fubini is a Vice President of Engineering at SuccessFactors (NASDAQ: SFSF). He arrived at SuccessFactors after his venture backed company, CubeTree, was acquired in June of 2010. Ross was the Co-Founder and Board Member of Cubetree, an enterprise collaboration suite that integrates social networking features like profiles and microblogging with tools like wikis, blogs etc. Prior to CubeTree, Ross was Senior Director of Engineering at Symantec.

Sandra Tripp, M.B.A.

Board Member

Sandra is currently the Executive Director of the Boundless Youth Foundation, which is committed to improving the social and emotional resiliency of underserved youth.  She was most recently the Vice President, At-Risk Populations at Thrive Research, Inc.; a start-up social entrepreneurial company located in the Silicon Valley.  For over 30 years, Sandra has used her expertise and skills as a strategist and futurist to provide counsel and leadership to several Fortune 500 companies and innovative nonprofit organizations. 

Tyler Scriven

Board Member

Tyler Scriven is a member of the leadership team at Palantir Technologies, a leading Silicon Valley high-technology company dedicated to providing next-generation software in support of critical missions throughout the world. There he is responsible for leading all people operations, including the company’s global recruitment effort. Additionally, he is responsible for infrastructure development and planning, along with various other operational areas of the company, both domestically and abroad.

Zoë Diamadi, Ph.D., Ba.Eng.

Board Member

Zoë is an Associate Principal of McKinsey and Company, based in San Francisco. Prior to joining McKinsey, and while attending graduate school, she co-founded and ran an education small business for 3 years, devoted to helping inner-city high-school students with school and college test preparation work. Zoë has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Yale University and a B.Eng. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Patras, Greece.