Erika Evearitt is the visionary chief development officer at Silicon Valley Education Foundation. Evearitt brings over a decade of nonprofit expertise and entrepreneurial acumen to her role. Honored as the 2024 Fundraising Professional of the Year by AFP’s Silicon Valley Chapter, Evearitt’s innovative approach has earned widespread recognition. Before her leadership at SVEF, she made significant impacts at organizations such as NFTE and the Ecology Center, driving forward transformative initiatives. With a track record of raising over $70 million for equity-driven causes, Evearitt’s diverse experiences include collaborations with renowned dance companies like AXIS Dance and Alonzo King LINES Ballet. Evearitt holds a prestigious master’s from NYU and contributes her insights as an Advisory Board member at the USF Gellert Family Business Center.

Shobana Gubbi is the Chief Philanthropy Officer of Second Harvest of Silicon Valley. Shobana joined Second Harvest as director of major gifts in 2015. After leading impressive growth in major gifts revenue, she was promoted to director of leadership gifts. She is credited with building a strong team of fundraisers, leveraging data analytics for insights to inform new fundraising strategies, and prioritizing and building deep relationships with donors.

Shobana started her career in the for-profit world, putting her UC Berkeley engineering degree to work as a project manager, software engineer and product manager for several Bay Area tech companies before answering the call to serve her community—first as executive director of the Los Altos Education Foundation, and then as a major gift officer at American Red Cross, and now as the Chief Philanthropy Officer at Second Harvest.

Stani Peycheva is the Senior Director of Corporate Engagement at United Way Bay Area. For the last seven years, she has worked with companies across industry sectors partnering with them on various social impact initiatives and employee engagement strategies, while raising funds to further United Way Bay Area’s programmatic work. Prior to her joining United Way Bay Area, Stani worked in the non-profit and in the public sector in Bulgaria with a focus on corporate social responsibility and community impact. She oversaw communications at BBLF, Bulgaria’s leading corporate social responsibility association, and served as the external affairs officer at Bulgaria’s national agency, Commission for Protection against Discrimination. Stani holds a B.A. in International Relations from UC Berkeley and an M.A in Public Relations from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski.

Josh Selo is a nonprofit executive and fundraiser with more than 25 years of nonprofit experience. He is particularly passionate about issues relating to housing, homelessness, food insecurity, and income inequality, and views his career as a way to advance the causes that matter most to him.

Josh has a diverse educational background - business, theater, and education - which enables him to understand and analyze a nonprofit organization from various perspectives. Josh is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in theater. He also holds an MA from the William Davidson School of Education, an MBA from Washington State University, and he is a Certified Fundraising Executive.

In February 2023, Josh began his role as the Chief Executive Officer of Bill Wilson Center, a nonprofit organization that focuses on ending intergenerational homelessness and poverty though housing, counseling, education, and advocacy, with a specific focus on youth, young adults, and families. Prior to that, he served as the Executive Director of West Valley Community Services, the Associate Executive Director of the Palo Alto Family YMCA, and the Chief Operating Officer at JCC Rockland, in Rockland County, New York.

Josh is a resident of Mountain View, where he lives with his husband and two teenage daughters.

Native of the Peninsula and was raised in East Palo Alto for the first few years of his life. He entered cared at a very early age and has lived most of his life in San José in shelters, group homes and various foster placements. Fortunately for Dontae, he had mentors that invested in him. After graduating from high school, Dontae went on to receive his Associates Degree in Liberal Arts/Social and Behavioral Sciences from DeAnza College. He then went on to receive his Bachelors Degree in Psychology from San José State University. Dontae plans to continue furthering his education by attending a local graduate school to pursue a Masters Degree in Nonprofit Management.

Maritza Maldonado, a proud daughter of Mexican immigrants, is the Founder and Executive Director of Amigos de Guadalupe Center for Justice and Empowerment.

She was named Woman of the Year, 2022 by Senator Dave Cortese, District 15. Maritza was raised in East San José’s Mayfair community. Maritza learned advocacy as a child, where she lived in the same neighborhood as labor leader Cesar Chavez. Her family would conduct house meetings on social justice issues. After graduating from San José State, Maritza worked as a leader and Co-Chair of PACT, where she led the campaign for the Children’s Health Initiative San José becoming the first city in the nation to insure all children regardless of immigration status. She worked as a public educator for 20 years. She has devoted her life to empowering and creating systems change for low-income communities of color.

Sara Reyes is the Executive Director at Shine Together. In her first two years at Shine Mrs. Reyes transformed Shine’s funding model by diversifying funding. She doubled government grants and over tripled corporate funding sources. Under her leadership Shine received $2M from Mackenzie Scott’s Yield Giving Open Call Fund. Before joining Shine, Mrs. Reyes was the Senior Division Director for Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, where she led the department’s growth to $15M+ and managed a portfolio of high-quality programs.

She also held an Interim Executive Director position for the California School Age Consortium, stabilizing the organization during the pandemic. Mrs. Reyes attended the National Hispanic University, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies, San Jose State University, earning a Master of Public Administration, and Harvard’s Business School, earning an Executive Leadership Certificate. Ms. Reyes is an American Leadership Forum, SVCN New E.D. 360, and Silicon Valley Next Fellow.

Veronica Goei has more than 25 years’ experience in the nonprofit sector developing programming and curricula in the areas of parenting, early literacy, oral language development and adult education. As Executive Director of Grail Family Services (GFS) for 18 years, she has provided direction and oversight for all GFS programming, including design, development, funding, implementation and evaluation. Over the years, Veronica has served as a consultant to many organizations including Stanford University, Western Illinois University, UCLA, the Children’s Bureau, and many NGOs. Veronica holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Chile. She is a graduate of the Harvard University Strategic Perspective in Nonprofit Management Program, and the HOPE (Hispanas Organized for Political Equality) Leadership Institute.

Cat Slack helps nonprofit leaders find joy in service of their missions. Cat does that through creating a process of collaborative questioning, storytelling, and laughter.

Cat is a nationally recognized fundraising expert, writer, public speaker, and trainer. Cat has led partnerships with dozens of organizations such as: California State University in Sacramento, Generation Housing, International Rescue Mission, Kidango, Mizell Center, Maui Food Bank, North Texas Food Bank, Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, United Way of Rhode Island, YWCA, and many more. She advises c-suite leaders through transition and culture-change as they grow and leads acclaimed trainings for fundraisers in myriad missions across the United States

Prior to consulting, Cat led fundraising at Second Harvest of Silicon Valley through annual revenue growth from $37 to $112 million and a $150 million campaign. She served as Chief Development Officer for an organization serving former foster youth, leading a $10 million capital campaign and increased revenue by 133% over five years.

Cat holds an MBA from Dominican University and a BS from Baldwin-Wallace University. She served in the United States Peace Corps in Armenia.

Lisa Barr, CAP® is Senior Director, Head of U.S. West at National Philanthropic Trust (NPT). NPT is the largest independent provider of donor-advised funds, and its mission is to provide philanthropic expertise to donors, foundations, and financial institutions, enabling them to realize their philanthropic aspirations. As Senior Director, Lisa cultivates relationships with financial advisors in throughout the West, providing consultative support to help clients achieve their philanthropic goals. She is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prior to joining NPT, Lisa was the Director of Philanthropic Entrepreneurship at Silicon Valley Community Foundation. In her more than ten years of prior philanthropic experience, she also held executive director and fundraising roles at nonprofit arts organizations on the East Coast. Lisa is the Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Northern California Planned Giving Council. She earned a Master of Business Administration from Boston University Questrom School of Business and a Bachelor of Music from Vanderbilt University. Lisa holds the Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® designation and is a certified 21/64 philanthropic advisor.

Anjee Helstrup-Alvarez is the Executive Director of MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana located in downtown San José, CA. She’s led transformative efforts at MACLA to build organizational capacity, secure a permanent facility, launch a youth digital media lab, and deepen engagement programs while ensuring artistic excellence and community relevance. Anjee’s areas of expertise include: creative placemaking, commissioning art work, program development, capacity building, economic and real estate development, fund development, and participatory evaluation. Anjee earned an MA in Visual Criticism from California College of the Arts and a BFA in pictorial arts from San José State University. She lives in downtown San José with her family and is a novice gardener and recovering karaoke performer.

Karen Kwan has more than 20 years of experience in nonprofit fundraising for arts organizations in Silicon Valley, and has raised over $25 millions for exhibitions, world-premiered theatre productions, arts education programs, and more. As the Director of Development for the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation, Karen manages fundraising and advocacy initiatives in support of making art accessible to all, and has successfully doubled the Foundation’s fundraising revenue to nearly $1.4 million since 2018. In collaboration with the Palo Alto Art Center Director, she launched a distinctive travel program in 2019, significantly enhancing donor stewardship and cultivation efforts.

Karen is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE). She currently serves as the immediate past president for the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Silicon Valley Chapter and has held multiple leadership positions on the board since 2009. Karen is a Silicon Valley Business Journal 2014 Women of Influence Honoree; AFP Silicon Valley 2013 Chapter Service Award Recipient; and genARTS Silicon Valley 2013 Movers & Shakers Award Recipient. Karen holds a BA in Communications-Broadcast Journalism and Art History from Santa Clara University.