The Jamestown Council: Fundraising for Our Mission
Annual Spring Council Events - 2019
Jamestown was lucky enough to have two events hosted by our generous Council this year. Council member Sara Witt and her husband Andy Charmatz opened up their lovely Mission District home on February 28th to a warm group of Jamestown supporters. District Supervisor Rafael Mandelman served as keynote speaker for the evening; he shared an inspiring story about overcoming a difficult childhood and the importance of having adults in his corner who believed in him and his potential.
Guests were also able to hear from Jeanine “Nini” Villela, a current member of our Youth Apprenticeship Program who grew up in the Jamestown community. She is a shining example of the Jamestown youth development pathway, moving from youth participant to her current role as a YAPster supporting the skateboard program at James Lick Middle School.
Nini shared her inspiring story again, a few weeks later at the home of Council member Amy Carr and her husband Brian in Pacific Heights on March 21st. She was joined by current Jamestown staff members, who spent the evening sharing their experiences and discussing their roles with the group of supportive guests. Mele Lau Smith, the SF School District’s Executive Director for Community Schools and Family Partnerships gave the keynote speech for the evening. Mele is an inspiring and true believer in the work Jamestown does. She is a powerful and passionate ally we are grateful to have on our side.
Jamestown is lucky to have such a strong network of individuals who believe and support us in our mission of cultivating a San Francisco where all youth and families have access to the opportunities they need to grow and thrive. Thanks to our dedicated Council members we were able to raise $143,000 from these council events.
Lisa bransten
Lisa has been a volunteer with Jamestown since 1997 when she started tutoring a third grader. Since then, she has assisted with overall governance as a Board member since 2005.
Lisa is a 5th generation San Franciscan deeply interested in giving back to the diverse city that nurtured her interest in global cultures, particularly in Latin America. She earned her Masters Degree in Latin American politics and International Economics from the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. In 2010, Lisa went to work for the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department where she now works as the Director of Partnerships helping to foster public-private partnerships to support parks and recreational programming in SF. She lives in SF with her husband and two children.
AMY CARR
Amy is currently leading CRM and Consumer Insights for Sephora. She enjoys working for consumer companies that are passionate about bringing together data and insights to create a unique experience for customers. Prior to Sephora, she spent 10 years at Gap Inc. where she built brands, built their retail credit card programs and was involved with digital experiences.
Originally, Amy is a native of West Marin. Her great grandfather was one of the early settlers of the county. However, she spent almost 20 years outside California living in the Washington DC area, Chicago and New York before returning home in 2004. She holds an MBA in marketing and finance from the University of Chicago and a BS in Accounting form the University of Maryland.
Amy lives in San Francisco with her husband, Brian and their 3 children.
shannon cogen
A nonprofit development consultant whose clients have included Jamestown and the San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center, Shannon Cogen chairs the board of trustees of the San Francisco Friends School and is a trustee of Urban High School. She earned her B.A. from Brown University and her J.D. from Columbia Law School. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and her two children.
Carolyn Frey
Carolyn currently leads People and Marketing for Philz Coffee. Prior to Philz, she spent 15 years at Corporate Executive Board, a professional services firm that advises C level executives at Fortune 500 companies. Carolyn grew up in Chicago, and has lived in San Francisco since 2004 in the Mission/Noe area. Over the years, she has been an active volunteer and board member at Spark, and has worked with Animal Assisted Therapy program. She and her husband, Bruce, have two children and a dog, Buddy. When not working, Carolyn loves exploring the outdoors and taking advantage of all the Bay Area has to offer.
R.D. Kern
R.D. Kern is an equity investment analyst at Capital Group with research responsibility for U.S. gaming, hotel, airline, cruise line and household products and personal care industries. Prior to joining Capital in 2003, he was a research analyst for Silver Lake Partners and an investment banking analyst with Robertson Stephens. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University. He lives in San Francisco with his wife Kendra and their two daughters.
Kendra KLang
Formerly a radiologist, Kendra now works as a radio producer for KALW 91.7, a Bay Area NPR-affiliate. Kendra earned a B.A. in Biology at Johns Hopkins University and an M.D. at Yale University School of Medicine. She completed her medical training at Stanford University School of Medicine. Kendra volunteers at the Richmond Neighborhood Center and a few other non-profits in San Francisco. She also actively serves on several parent committees at her kids' schools. Kendra lives in San Francisco with her husband RD and two daughters.
MARTIN ROMO
Martin is an equity portfolio manager at Capital Group. He is president of Capital Research Company, Inc. and serves on the Capital Group Companies Management Committee. He has 23 years of investment experience and has been with Capital Group for 22 years. Earlier in his career, as an equity investment analyst at Capital, he covered the global chemicals industry, mortgage and consumer financials, and select conglomerate companies. He holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley.
ERIC SPALY
Eric spent several years as a consultant and manager at Bain & Company in SF advising private equity and corporate clients. He currently does similar work independently, while teaching and tutoring with Breakthrough San Francisco and First Graduate and volunteering with other area non-profits. Eric earned a BS in engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from MIT's Sloan School. He and his wife Jessica have three daughters.
Jeff Spaulding
After 18 years working in e-commerce for companies like PayPal and StubHub, Jeff Spaulding served a two-year term on the Marin Country Day School (MCDS) Parent Board. He remains active in fundraising efforts at MCDS and participating on other charitable boards (SF Board of Camp Kesem). As a native of San Francisco, Jeff is excited to help expand the reach of the Jamestown Council. Jeff earned a B.S. from Stanford University and lives in San Francisco with his wife and their two children.
Matthew Walsh
Matt is a managing director at Credit Suisse where he currently leads the technology equity capital markets business. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Matt spent 15 years at Merrill Lynch in San Francisco and New York where he advised companies in the technology and healthcare sectors. He graduated from Georgetown University with a BS in Finance. Matt and his wife Emily live in San Francisco with their two sons and one daughter.