The 2007-2008 year represented a new step for YCS. This was our first year as an independent 501(c)(3) organization, and thus we have our first Board of Directors. The Board is a cross section of community leaders who bring a broad history of working with youth and reflecting the diversity of the communities in which we work. We are excited to be working together and feel it is a privilege to help the staff move the work of YCS forward. Youth Community Services
Board of Directors 2010 -2011 Kelly Calica
Kelly Calica is a Bay Area native, nineteen year resident of Palo Alto, and graduate of UC Berkeley, with a BA in Physical Education. She lives in Palo Alto with her husband and son. Kelly helped plan the JLS PTA/YCS Veteran's Day of Service last fall and was a YCS Summer of Service parent. In 2004-2005, she was an active parent at Fairmeadow School, serving as room parent coordinator and parent education chair. While serving in these capacities, she introduced the use of simultaneous Spanish translations for PTA programs and coordinated parent education program sharing between multiple schools in the district. In 2004, she was the driving force behind the creation of a panel discussion, "Supporting Our Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Students of PAUSD," as part of a district wide PTA Council parent education program. Kelly also served on the Board of the PTA Council as the Community Outreach chairperson, supporting multiple community conversations on Equity and PTA leadership training on the same topic. Her efforts lead to the formation of the Parent Network for Students of Color. She also participated in the district level conversations that led to the creation of the College Pathways program now at Gunn High School. Kelly currently serves as the Athletic Director for JLS and is a parent volunteer for the College Pathways program. Melissa Baten Caswell
Melissa Baten Caswell lives in Palo Alto with her family. She has a BA from Dartmouth, with a major in psychology and a minor in economics, and an MBA from Dartmouth with a focus on Organizational Behavior and Marketing. In 2007, Melissa was elected to a 4-year term on the governing board of the Palo Alto Unified School District and is currently serving as the President of the Board. Melissa worked for three years in banking on Wall Street, and for 14 years in high-tech marketing, business development, corporate development and strategy in both large and small companies across the Silicon Valley. In three of these companies, her focus was on addressing needs in the education community. Melissa has been active in PTA leadership at Duveneck School and across the entire Palo Alto Unified School District. At Duveneck, she has served as the PTA President, Parliamentarian, Secretary, Chair of Communications and was the PTA eNews Editor and a Room Parent for many years. On the Palo Alto PTA Council, overseeing all the PTAs across Palo Alto, Melissa served for two years as PTA Council President, and served as EVP and VP of Communications. Melissa is trained as a Junior Great Books Leader and an Instructor for the Biz World and the Meet the Master's programs. She is also a member of the Cabinet for the Palo Alto Art Foundation's Capital Campaign, she is on the Community Advisory Board for the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and is on the Board of the 6th District (Santa Clara County) PTA. Diana Ekstrand
Raised in a bilingual Spanish household, Diana spent much of her youth and career traveling abroad. Diana holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Stanford University. She conducted advocacy work for multinationals in Europe and later managed global environmental, health and safety compliance programs for GE operations worldwide. She has conducted audits, delivered training, and handled government relations in over 12 across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. She has also worked closely with the GE Fund to identify grant recipients. More recently, Diana has become an active community fundraiser. In 2005, she co-chaired Stanford's Bing Nursery School auction and raised scholarship funds for young children. Since 2008, she has co-chaired the Covington Elementary School auction in Los Altos and raised funds to support core curriculum, enrichment and technology programs that could not be funded by the state or local school district. Taken together, she has raised over $500,000 for local schools. Diana lives in Los Altos with her husband and three children Patricia Emslie
Pat has lived in Palo Alto for 22 years, and was born and raised in the Chicago area. She has a B.A. from U.C. Berkeley in English, and has worked for the past 8 years for Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development. Before that, she was an administrator at Stanford University for 11 years. Pat is currently President of the Palo Alto Recreation Foundation, Co-Chair of the Palo Alto Black & White Ball, and a member of the Palo Alto Kiwanis Club. She has had many years of volunteer experience with Palo Alto youth, including Walter Hays PTA, room parenting, Co-Chair of the PALY 2004 Grad Night Committee, Cub Scout Den Leader and Pack Committee Chair. Pat and her husband Steve have one son, Alex, who is 24. Leif Erickson
Leif has served as YCS executive director since April 2004. He had been a parent volunteer who began supporting YCS in 1995, partnering with previous YCS executive directors Susie Hodges and Kent Koth. Leif received a BA in Political Science at Stanford University where he met his wife Sharon. They helped to start a multicultural child development program in Sunnyvale and served young people and families for ten years. Leif then worked for over twenty years in corporate marketing in the technology and biotech industries, before returning to community service. Leif is an elder in the Presbyterian Church and served seven years on the governing board of Palo Alto First Presbyterian Church. He serves on the board of Stanford's United Campus Christian Ministry. To strengthen partnerships with youth serving organizations in East Palo Alto, Leif represents YCS on the steering committee of the EPA Youth Consortium. He is an active member of the Palo Alto University Rotary Club and the One East Palo Alto organization. Leif and Sharon have two adult sons and one granddaughter. Darice Koo
Darice is a native Palo Altan. She's a graduate of PAUSD schools, with a brief absence of two years where she attended high school in Japan when her father was temporarily working in Tokyo. She is a graduate of University of Utah, with a BA in Family Consumer Studies. She lives in Palo Alto with her husband; their twins are currently attending college. After graduating from college, Darice worked in several industries including retail, employment, travel and education. More recently she has focused her attention on raising her children and being involved in several organizations supporting children. For 12 years, Darice has been very active in the PTA serving as president at Fairmeadow Elementary, JL Stanford Middle School, and Gunn High School. The years when she wasn't president, she served in other leadership offices. Concurrently, she served on the board of the PTA Council holding various offices. She has received numerous awards from the PTA, both at the unit level and Council level. Outside of the schools, Darice was team manager for eight years for her son's traveling soccer team and 9 years as a Girl Scout leader for her daughter's troop. She is also very active with the Junior League, currently serving in a leadership role. Darice was also involved with the Palo Alto Drug and Alcohol Community Collaborative for 5 years. Rita Lancefield
Rita has a BA in psychology from Pomona College. She worked for several years at a psychiatric hospital for teenage girls. Since moving to Palo Alto 40+ years ago, she has volunteered in many organizations working with youth-local PTA boards, founding parent and volunteer with team teaching/alternative schools at the junior high and high school level, room mother, facilitator of groups focused on parenting skills, values in the family, and environmental issues. She has served on the boards of two for-profit businesses and several non-profits, including Challenge Learning Center, Pacific Islander Outreach (board chair), ACS advisory board. For twenty years she has been a director of Charter Oak Foundation, funding groups working with youth. For Charter Oak, she has served as secretary, grant administrator, and board chair. She also worked extensively with Beyond War and Foundation for Global Community. Rita lives in Palo Alto with Rob, her husband of 50 years. They have two grown children. Linda Lenoir
Linda currently works as the District Nurse for Palo Alto Unified School District, a position she has held for 21 years. In addition, she has been deeply involved with local community non-profits, including PTAs. Linda was PTA President at L.M. Nixon Elementary and has continued to work in collaboration with the PTAs, including her present position as the Health VP for the Sixth District (Santa Clara County) PTA. She first became involved with YCS as a member of the Parent Booster Club for Interact at Gunn High School in the late 1990's. Linda's passion for community service led her to serve on the City of Palo Alto's Human Relations Commission, as well as the City's Red Ribbon Task Force/ Emergency Preparedness Committee. She is on the board of the Santa Clara County Health Commission, YMCA, Palo Alto Community Childcare, Adolescent Counseling Services, Citizen Corps and Palo Alto Family Resources Foundation. She has volunteered for the American Red Cross, responding to hurricane recovery, Flying Doctors and the Haiti Project. As a member of the University Rotary Club, she has successfully advocated for financial and volunteer support of YCS projects. Suzie Lovercheck
Suzie is a native of Palo Alto and got her B.A. from UC Davis with a double major in Psychology and Sociology. She received her Master's in Occupational Therapy from Colorado State University. Suzie served with AmeriCorps *NCCC for two years and experienced a variety of 6 week community service projects while in the roles of Corps member and team leader. From there she went on to be a Project Manager with KaBOOM!, a national non-profit that facilitates community-built playgrounds. She built 41 playgrounds in the Bay Area and has completed a total of 91 builds in the US and Canada. She has volunteered in numerous organizations (beginning while she attended Gunn High School), which focused on the areas of education, community service, services for people with disabilities and human rights. Suzie moved back to the Bay Area after 4 years in Colorado and works as an Occupational Therapist in the Palo Alto Unified School District. Suzie lives in Palo Alto. Dan Nero
Dan has lived in Los Altos for the last 5 years, after growing up in Johnston, RI. He has also lived in Carlsbad, Ca, Old Greenwich, CT, and New York City. He is married to Kim who is an elementary teacher in the Los Altos School District. They have three children who all attend public schools in Los Altos. Dan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Providence College. He has 20+ years of broad-based experience in the alternative investment and commercial banking industries. Within his most recent positions, he has served as a Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer with responsibility for overseeing all operational, financial, regulatory, and investor / prospect relationship matters at several high-growth alternative asset investment management and financial services firms. He has been active as a baseball and basketball coach in the Los Altos Little League and the Foothill Chapter of the National Junior Basketball Association and recently served as the Co-Chair person for Covington Elementary School's participation in the Los Altos School District Junior Olympics. Susan Phinney Silver
Susan lives in Palo Alto with her husband and two kids, now in our neighborhood elementary school and middle school and they enjoy being part of YCS events. Susan joined the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in 2008 as its first Program-Related Investment (PRI) Officer, where she manages a $160 million portfolio which primarily consists of low-interest loans to grantees and other nonprofit organizations. Prior to joining Packard, Susan consulted with private and community foundations on their PRI programs, and on strategic planning and business development issues for a variety of nonprofit and public-purpose clients. She spent the previous 15 years creating innovative community financing vehicles to generate private-sector lending and investments for affordable housing, community economic development, and environmental cleanup in California and nationally. She has served on the boards of the California Economic Development Lending Initiative (CEDLI) and the California Environmental Redevelopment Fund (CERF). Al Russell
Al has been a volunteer on behalf of children and education, as well as a leader and participant in other community support programs, for over 30 years in Palo Alto. He was the founder of the Palo Alto Foundation for Education (PAFE) from its beginning in 1984, chairing the exploration committee that recommended creation of the Foundation to the school district. He served as President for 2.5 years and chair or co-chair of the Educational Grant Allocation Program for many years. Al was the president of PAFE during the year that PAFE combined with the All Schools Fund to create PAPIE (Palo Alto Partners in Education). He has served several terms on the PAPIE Board of Directors and has continued his participation as part of the grant review committee. In addition to current service on the YCS Board of Directors, Al is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Palo Alto Community Child Care, the Board of Directors of the Christmas Bureau of Palo Alto as well as the President and Board Member of the Gold Star Scholarship Fund at Palo Alto High School. In these organizations, Al has participated in fund raising activities at all levels as well as provided thoughtful advice, leadership and counseling on many aspects of non-profit management, finance, governance, tax compliance and investment policy. Al has held a wide variety of PTA positions (including PTA President) and been the school site council chair at two schools. He was President, Vice President and Treasurer of the Palo Alto High Music Boosters Program for four years, and the recipient of the Sally Siegel Award for service to the School District in 1994. Al has also served on and chaired site disposition and re-use committees. For two years, he led the District's Long Range Planning Committee to evaluate the entire district program and make long-term recommendations for the operation and improvement of the district. He spent almost 10 years on the School District's Planning Review Committee for the Building for Excellence Program. Al has also worked with several other local non-profits including service as the treasurer for the Palo Alto Historical Foundation. In addition to assisting in fundraising for school groups, he has also participated in a number of fundraising campaigns for the YMCA. Al has three children, who have attended Pre-School Family, El Carmelo, Ohlone, Jordan, JLS, and Palo Alto High School as well as several major local universities (Stanford and Santa Clara). All three of his grandchildren attend Palo Alto Schools (JLS and Ohlone). He is a practicing tax attorney with almost 40 years of experience, and a graduate of Stanford University and the Law School at the University of San Francisco. Barbara Spreng
Barbara lives in Palo Alto, where her interests include education, issues concerning youth and families, and politics. Her professional skills include nonprofit boardsmanship and organizational development, graphic design and layout, writing/messaging, some Excel expertise, fundraising, and event planning. She has served on many non‐profit boards, including current service with Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco, Palo Altans for Government Effectiveness (PAGE), Palo Alto Family Resources Foundation, Adolescent Counseling Services Board of Advisors, and Facing History and Ourselves (regional board). Barbara has worked extensively with PTAs, from the local to state levels, and is the Immediate Past President of the Sixth District (Santa Clara County) PTA. Linda van Gelder
Linda started out with YCS as a volunteer helping maintain the database and helping with mailings, then was on the Community Board for two years. At the time, her children were in preschool and are now in middle school and active in the YCS club at Jordan. While her youngest was still in preschool, she filled in as a teacher in the two year old class for one year and as a substitute the next year. After the children were both at Duveneck, she became active at their school. She has a degree in Psychology from the University of Michigan, focusing on developmental and behavioral psychology, and has found many ways to use her degree in her volunteer work. Among her PTA positions, Linda chaired two Harvest Carnivals, helped in classrooms, and was the PTA/Site Council Liaison for two years. Now that her children are at Jordan, she continues to be active. She has been the PTA Historian, VP Ways and Means, PTA Site Council Rep, and is currently the Jordan PTA President and a member of the School Climate Committee. Prior to becoming active with schools and YCS, Linda was a revenue/sales analyst in the high tech industry. Holly Ward
Holly is a corporate attorney who "retired" in 1997 to raise her two daughters. Holly and her husband Scott Spector moved to Palo Alto from Manhattan in 1989. In New York, she practiced with Shearman & Sterling & O'Melveny & Myers; in California she practiced with O'Melveny & Myers and Gray Cary Ware and Friedenrich. Holly is a graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School and Tulane University. Holly has served on PTAs and Site Councils at her children's Palo Alto public schools. At Walter Hays Elementary School she worked closely with the principal and staff to conceive and implement new driveway safety procedures, playground rules, and the Junior Great Books program. She also worked as a volunteer teacher's aide for 6 years. She currently serves as the President of Paly's Theatre Boosters and has been very active in the development of the new Performing Arts Center. Holly served on the Board of Directors of Adolescent Counseling Services from 1999-2005 (including two years as secretary and two years as President), and then on the Board of Advisors from 2005-2010. She rejoined the ACS Board of Directors in May 2010. At ACS Holly has worked extensively with the Fund Development Committee, including chairing the agency's signature gala fundraising event, Spring Sounds, implementing a new Annual Campaign, and helping to draft the Annual Fundraising and Marketing Plans. While she was President, she helped create an Executive Transition Plan, worked with other Board members to interview and hire a new Executive Director, and then supervised the transition from one Executive Director to another. Cindy Ziebelman
Cindy Ziebelman has lived in Palo Alto for the past 24 years. She has a BS from Texas Christian University with a focus on Business and Fashion Merchandising. She was a buyer for Pier 1 stores before starting her own wholesale wall décor business, Designer Ideas. Cindy has volunteered in PAUSD with a focus on building community for all students regardless of where they live. Cindy was a co-president of PAFE, the first community wide organization that established an equitable funding mechanism for all schools in Palo Alto. PAFE evolved into today's Partners in Education, where she helped raise over $1 million to provide both Gunn and Paly's high school science labs with equipment & materials. These schools now have the most lab-intensive high school science program in the Bay area. Cindy has helped build community at Gunn Football by leading the multi-year effort to install lights on the football field to create a Friday night activity for all students. "Friday Night Lights" is now a community building event for the Gunn students, families, and alum as they enjoy the football game. For the past seven years, she has also run the Italian Street Painting Fair at the PA Art Festival as a fundraiser for arts at the PA schools. This event showcases professional as well as student artists. Additionally, Cindy has worked as a campaign volunteer for school board elections, for the bond measure and for the parcel tax measures - from walking the precincts to being a campaign co-chair. Cindy and her husband, Peter, have three boys who have attended Briones, JLS, Terman, and Gunn.
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