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    • Leaders Institute >
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    • Roundtables
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  • Learning Calendar
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Board of Directors

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Dean Morton

Chairman Emeritus, CEN

Prior to retirement on October 31, 1992, Dean O. Morton was executive vice president, chief operating officer and a director of the Hewlett-Packard Company for many years.  He is chairman emeritus of The Center for Excellence in Nonprofits and one of the 1994 co-founders of the organization.
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Anna L. Waring, Ph.D.

Board Chair, CEN

Anna L. Waring, Ph.D. has a long-term and deep commitment to the nonprofit sector.  She was the Executive Director of Foundation for a College Education, an East Palo Alto organization dedicated to increasing the number of local low-income students of color who graduate from four-year college or university from 2007 until 2018.  Before returning to the Bay Area, Anna served as president of Josephinum Academy, a Catholic school that educated low-income Latina and African-American girls in Chicago, IL.  Anna has been a university administrator and a faculty member in the Public Services Graduate Program at DePaul University. Anna has a B.A. in Psychology from Williams College (1978) and received her Ph.D. in Education from Stanford University (1995). During the 2018-19 academic year, she was a Fellow at the Distinguished Careers Institute at Stanford University. Anna currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Mid-Peninsula High School in Menlo Park, CA and the John Gardner Selection Committee for the Haas Center for Public Service at Stanford University and as consultant to executive directors and nonprofit organizations.  In 2006, she received the Bicentennial Medal from Williams College for her work in education.
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Robert Raffo
Board Vice Chair, CEN
Robert Raffo is an audit and assurance partner of Hood & Strong LLP, a regional certified public accounting firm headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. He served as the firm’s managing partner for 10 years and established the firm’s not-for-profit practice niche in 1990.  He provides audit, accounting and advisory services solely to clients in the nonprofit sector.  His clients include private foundations, social service agencies, arts and education related entities, membership organizations, research and development entities, among others.  Bob currently serves as the Board Chair of Center for Excellence in Nonprofits, having served as Finance Committee Chair and Treasurer previously.  He also serves as Co-Chair of the Advisory Board of Oakwood Retirement Community of the Religious of the Sacred Heart.  His past Board experience includes Board member and audit committee chair of Joint Venture Silicon Valley; President of the Board and then Audit Committee Chair of Services for Brain Injury.  Professionally he is a member of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
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James Otieno

Board Treasurer, CEN

Mr. Otieno is a retired Vice President of Executive Compensation and Services at Hewlett-Packard and is currently an independent business consultant. He has over 30 years of experience in executive compensation, board of director compensation, general compensation, sales compensation, benefits and human resources. In his role as the Vice President of Executive Compensation and Services, he managed programs in over 70 countries with a budget of over $1billion (covering approximately 3,500 executives and over 150,000 other employees worldwide). Mr. Otieno’s other company experiences include Henkel Corporation, Control Data Corporation and St. Paul Companies where he was responsible for a variety of human resources activities. He is also currently the Lead Director of PV Technology Inc., - a US based solar energy startup, with primary operations exclusively in Africa.
As an independent business consultant, Mr. Otieno has most recently worked on projects with eBay, Synnex, Silicon Valley Education Foundation and Music for Minors organizations. The projects included advising on matters of human resources, executive compensation, stock equity programs, board governance, organizational alignment, strategy and goal setting, etc. He has formerly served as board chair for both Palo Alto University and Child Advocates of Silicon Valley and is also on the Advisory Board of the Children’s Health Council (CHC). In addition, he is a former Encore Fellow and has also launched his own foundation - Karibu Rafiki Foundation. 
Mr. Otieno holds a bachelor’s degree (1982) in Economics & Psychology, and a master’s degree (1984) in Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota. He has an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Palo Alto University (2016) and was the recipient of the 2014 John Gardner Award for outstanding community service in Santa Clara County from the Los Altos Community Foundation and of the inaugural 2015 Dan L. King Award. Mr. Otieno is originally from Kenya, East Africa and has made California his home for the past 30 years. He is married to Maren Otieno and they have three children (Emmanuell, Nereya, and Alena).
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Lisa Conover
Board Secretary, CEN
Lisa has worked at HP for 16 years in a variety of roles with the majority of her time on the   Social Innovation team where she managed the HPE Foundation, leading its community engagement programs and overseeing the company’s grant making.  Lisa’s passion for nonprofits and social impact work can also be seen in her personal endeavors such as serving on the leadership team for The Changemaker Initiative (a program designed to inspire and equip community members to make social impact), serving on the Caminar for Mental Health Board of Directors since 2016 and serving as a member of Valle Monte League since 2013.  She holds a BA in Political Science and a Specialization in Business from UCLA, and a MBA with a Specialization in Finance from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.
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Dora Beyer

Board Member, CEN
Dora Beyer is a nonprofit professional with 10+ years experience in access and equity and is passionate about creating impact in the community. Most recently she extended her reach into politics, managing a successful school board campaign and advising the transition. Prior to that in her positions at Breakthrough Silicon Valley and other educational outreach programs, she directly guided hundreds of first-generation students in the Bay Area on the path to college. As she too was the first in her family to receive a college degree - majoring in Latin American & Latino Studies and Politics at UC Santa Cruz - she understands firsthand the challenges facing under-represented communities. She has volunteered as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) since 2015 to personally mentor a foster youth, and joined the board of the Center for Excellence in Nonprofits (CEN) in 2020 upon completion of the Latino Board Leadership Academy. She also supports her family's small business, Alladin Nursery, in Watsonville.
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Mary Carbullido

Board Member, CEN

Mary Carbullido is an experienced non-profit professional who drives innovative methods for engaging youth in learning, and builds lasting alliances with partners who support them. 

 CAREER HIGHLIGHTS include… ​​
  • Launching ground-breaking, sustainable programs that have long-term, meaningful impact on our community. 
  • Leveraging network in tech, informal education, and private-sector donor circles to deliver cutting-edge programs that inspire learning among diverse populations. 
  • Mobilizing large teams to provide student-facing program excellence through rigorous staff and volunteer training and mentoring. 
 
Recently, as Director of the San Carlos School District’s SMART-e Program, a pioneering K-8 initiative that serves dual functions as a supplemental learning center and revenue stream for 7 schools in the San Carlos School District. 
In this role, Mary built a framework for out-of-school learning experiences and summer camp programs that incorporate curriculum based on 21st-century learning skills. She also reversed the program’s financial position from a deficit to profitability and established the program as a reliable revenue pipeline that substantially contributes to the district’s general fund. 
Prior to that, Mary helped spearhead the one-of-a-kind Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, where she initiated in-kind donation partnerships with leading-edge technology companies in Silicon Valley and built a highly-skilled team of 600+ volunteers. 
Mary's love of education extends to her community, where she held key leadership and fundraising roles with Save the Music Festival (the leading source of funding for the Belmont-Redwood Shores School District music education program), Lions Club International, Art in Action, and Immaculate Heart of Mary School. 
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Lisa Clark

Board Member, CEN
Lisa Clark leads Human Resources for the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and sees the crux of her role as “creating the conditions for contribution” while helping staff to thrive. She is a big believer in leadership development and its ability to uplift the effectiveness of the entire organization. Prior to joining the Packard Foundation, Lisa worked for Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies. All three organizations share a founder and the same commitment to innovation, continuous improvement, and inclusion -- values that are deeply woven into Lisa’s DNA. Lisa has a long-standing commitment to community service. She has worked with several non-profits focused on children’s issues and served on the Board of InnVision Homeless Shelter. She is a former Court Appointed Special Advocate, volunteering in Arizona and San Mateo, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Child Advocates of Silicon Valley. ​
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Dotty Hayes

Board Member, CEN

Ms. Hayes worked for over 30 years in a variety of executive finance roles in the technology industry, supporting global hardware, software and service providers of computers, scientific instruments, data storage devices, semiconductors, and financial services. Most recently, she retired from Intuit where she held the positions of Chief Audit Executive and Vice President, Corporate Controller. Prior to this role she held the position of Vice President, Corporate Controller at Agilent Technologies during its spin-off from Hewlett-Packard and IPO, where she managed a global staff of 500. Ms. Hayes holds an MS in Business Administration with Accounting Concentration from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and an MS in Finance from Bentley University. In addition to sitting on the CEN board, she also serves the First Tech Federal Credit Union, Computer History Museum, and American Leadership Forum – Silicon Valley, and has was previously involved with Silicon Valley FACES, Range Fuels, Addison Avenue Federal Credit Union, and Woodside Priory School.
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Sharon Navarro, CFRE

Board Member, CEN
Sharon Navarro is currently the Executive Director of Acknowledge Alliance, a mental health agency serving schools, Boys and Girls Clubs, students and teachers in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, reaching over 3,000 individuals a year. Sharon has more than a decade of experience in nonprofit administration, working on behalf of youth, students and education communities. She is passionate and committed to supporting youth and teachers in our community, and is inspired by the opportunity to help every youth reach their own potential and be healthy and strong, no matter what challenges they are facing. She has worked in the nonprofit sector in Sacramento and on the Peninsula for over 15 years, and is invested in organizational development, sustainable communities, and equity through empowerment. Sharon has extensive experience creating collaborative teams, strategizing revenue growth, managing the grants cycle, implementing key data points to display impacts, stewarding major donors, strategic planning and board development. 
Prior to embarking on a career in the nonprofit sector, Sharon oversaw the unemployment insurance appeals department for the state of Massachusetts and the Human Resources Department for a private wealth management company in Boston. She earned a BA in English Literature from the University of Massachusetts at Boston and has studied communications and media relations at Suffolk University. In June 2021, she completed the Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management certificate at Harvard Business School. Since 2018, she has served on the board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Silicon Valley Chapter, as the Vice President of Education, President of the Chapter, and now Immediate Past President. She is also a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE). 
Sharon spent most of her life in East Boston, MA, before relocating to the Bay Area in 2008 with her husband. She quickly fell in love with the natural beauty, rugged coastline and local sports teams, particularly the Giants and Warriors. 
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Mahama Nyankamawu PMP, PE 

Board Member, CEN
Mahama Nyankamawu grew up in Ghana and moved to the United States about 20 years ago for school. He graduated with an MSc from Georgia Tech and an MPA from Columbia University. 
Mahama currently serve as a program manager at Google. In this role, Mahama facilitate the work of leaders and help build inclusive teams so that Googlers from different genders, races and other backgrounds can thrive. 
 
Before joining Google, Mahama worked as a senior program manager for an international engineering firm and served with many non-profits. His non-profit work included his role as the CEO of Volta, LLC, a Solar energy firm that provided clean reliable energy to maternity wards of hospitals and clinics in Ghana. Mahama also served on the board of Y-Labs, an education non-profit that helps high school and college students take entrepreneurial ideas in the social impact arena from concept to prototype.  
 
In the last few years, Mahama has been privileged to work with CEN’s leadership program as an executive leadership coach.  
 
In Mahama's spare time, he loves to swim, listen to audiobooks and teach Salsa dancing. 
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Protima Pandey

Board Member, CEN
Experienced public agency administrator, with operations and management skills; Cross departmental expertise in driving inter- disciplinary projects to successful outcomes; Focused on public service embedding race equity, gender equity, and belonging principles driving teams and clients to equitable resolutions. 

Public Interest Attorney with focus on areas of law affecting low-income populations like housing, family law, domestic violence, consumer law and public benefits.  
  • Extensive experience with researching, drafting and commenting on proposed legislation with a concentration on family and housing related laws. 
  • Speaker at Statewide conference for Legal Aid attorneys on family law and housing law. 
  • Past expertise in licensing, trademarks and business/commercial contracts. 
  • Past expertise in researching and drafting assignment of intellectual property, sexual harassment laws for the workplace and informative memorandums on general legal issues affecting corporations. 
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Specialties: Family Law, Housing Law, Consumer Law, Trademark Law, General Contracts Law, Internet and Free Speech Laws
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Amari Romero Thomas

Board Member, CEN

Amari Romero Thomas is the Principal Consultant and Executive/Soul Coach at Mosaic Consulting and Coaching.  Mosaic assists organizations and individuals “put all the right pieces” together in service to their personal or organizational mission. Amari consults on executive, leadership and organizational development, strategic visioning and planning, executive search and her coaching work specializes in life transitions such as retirement, new role and personal effectiveness. Prior to creating Mosaic, Amari spent over 20 years in the non-profit and corporate sectors as Consultant, Executive Director, Philanthropy executive and numerous other managerial positions.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Arizona State University with a special emphasis in International Relations and is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum. In addition, she is bilingual in Spanish and bicultural having been born in Santiago, Chile.
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Jim Salas

Board Member, CEN
Jim Salas is a Talent Acquisition professional with over 20 years of experience leading and directing highly productive teams. He has extensive experience in management and enjoys leading teams and creating an environment where people can excel and perform at their very best. Jim currently is the Director of Talent Acquisition for Stellar Solutions, an Aerospace Engineering company based in Palo Alto, CA. In his current role, he manages Recruiting, HR and Payroll.  Before Stellar Solutions, he worked at various hi-tech companies to include VMware where he spent 8 years recruiting and managing the University Relations efforts.  He recently retired from the United States Army where he proudly served for 33 years ending his time as a Command Sergeant Major, E-9. His service included Intelligence, IT and Cyber Warfare efforts. Born in San Francisco, Jim was raised in the Mission District and is bilingual in Spanish. He earned his Bachelor of Science, Business Administration Degree from the University of Phoenix. ​
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