About

Laurie had a substantial career in the for profit world, working for large corporations like Fireman’s Fund Insurance (3 years) and North American Mortgage Company (7 years), and smaller enterprises from LLCs to entrepreneurial start-ups (10 years). Thematically, she has worked in the space that is between end-product technology and the user of it. She has managed internal and consumer-facing help desks, telecommunications and network functions, as well as training and customer support operations. She negotiated and managed large vendor contracts and managed corporate-wide technology implementation projects. In 2008, she shifted her career to the nonprofit arena working for TechSoup for four years before joining Community Tech Network. In parallel, Laurie has volunteered in homeless shelters and multiple arts organizations. She served on the Boards of AXIS Dance Company and Robert Moses’ Kin for 3 years each. She is in her tenth year serving as a SFMoMA School docent and her fourth year as an Art Docent for the Goldsworthy sculptures in The Presidio.

A native of Oakland with over 5 years of experience in adult education, Heather is driven by her passion to provide access to equitable educational opportunities for underserved communities. With a background in program support, curriculum development, and instruction in nonprofit, university, and community college settings, Heather has focused her career on empowering her students through English language and digital literacy training. She has also volunteered as a tutor for English language learners through the nonprofit Mujeres Unidas y Activas and the SEIU UHW-West & Joint Employer Education Fund. She is fluent in Spanish and holds a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology and Latin American/Latino studies from U.C. Santa Cruz, a master’s degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from San Francisco State University, and a certificate in educational technology from Merritt College.

Born and raised in the Bay Area, Jannell has personal, professional, and volunteer experience working with underserved communities. She is fluent in Spanish and has a variety of experience mentoring, teaching, and leading groups of people. During her time at San Francisco State University, she studied Child and Adolescent Development and grew in her passion to meet the needs of both the youth and adult populations. Even more so, she is excited to share her skills and knowledge to further support San Francisco adult communities through digital literacy.

As a Program Manager with nearly 20 years in the field Jessica has managed projects for clients including Camp Fire USA, Austin Opera, The Thinkery and many others. As Knowbility’s Community Programs Director, Jessica oversaw the fundraising, organization, development, promotion, and marketing of their global outreach efforts. Her work on these programs includes rallying top tech talent to implement, teach, and advocate for accessible web design; organizing communities both locally and abroad to learn and practice accessibility; and working to provide classroom support nationwide for students who use assistive technology. Specializing in nonprofit program management Jessica speaks at conferences, leads training workshops, and brings a whole-team approach to leadership. Jessica has a degree in Nonprofit Administration from St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX.

After teaching high school English for many years, William felt a tremendous accomplishment when he retired several years ago. Still, he was motivated to continue his teaching and learning experiences. He is a volunteer tutor in the San Francisco Library’s Project Read program where he coaches adults to read. In 2015, he started at CTN as a digital literacy tutor through the Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP). He receives much satisfaction supporting the seniors in their various pastimes. After tutoring in the computer lab at several senior centers, he became involved as one of the actors with Castro Senior Center Radio Players. In July 2016, William joined CTN’s staff as a Program Coordinator, He expects to share insights and experience developing adult literacy with our volunteer corps to support seniors in improving both technology and reading literacy.

After studying at City College of San Francisco, Eve transferred to San Francisco State University and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in accounting. She believes that no one is too old to learn and especially appreciates seniors who have the courage to learn new things at their age. She feels thankful that this society provides them chances to learn and is grateful that she can share her own ability with others. The result is a win-win: learners acquiring new knowledge and her finding her value in society.

Calvin is a recent graduate of the University of Texas’ History and French Language Departments, where he began his work in the Austin nonprofit sector as the Development Executive at Liberal Arts Refugee Alliance. While with LARA, Calvin spent much of his time connecting his peers with Austin-area nonprofits focusing on serving the city’s growing refugee population access public transportation, adapt to everyday life in the United States, and set up their own plots in the city’s community gardens. Calvin is returning to Austin after spending the last 5 months in Paris, France, where he served as the Assistant to the Executive Director at Pierre Claver, a school for adult refugees. His work in adult education at the school inspired him to seek out similar organizations as soon as he returned to Texas. He is passionate about the power of giving in the non-profit sector and education that conquers cultural, socio-economic, and age barriers.

Barrington Dyer is a shareholder at Polsinelli LLP. He takes a creative and strategic approach to resolving intellectual property disputes for startups and Fortune 500 companies. He is dedicated to helping clients solve their most complex issues related to the establishment and protection of their intellectual property. Barrington has experience representing clients in a variety of high technology industries, including computer networking devices, semiconductor devices, computer memory, smartphones, mobile apps, computer software and internet-related technologies. He has represented clients in patent, copyright, and trade secret disputes in federal court, and litigated patent validity before the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings. Prior to becoming an attorney, Barrington worked for a media technology company developing a video-on-demand content delivery and management system for content providers. He applies his experience as an engineer when counseling clients on technological issues that intersect with the law.

Steven immerses himself in the fascinating convergence of work, technology, education, community, real estate, and the environment. Recognizing growing needs and opportunities to impact communities through digital literacy, he shares his entrepreneurial attributes to help advance the CTN mission. With over 17 years of experience in HR consulting, training, operations, and leadership, he is currently founder and principal of GravitateTraining geared for micro- to mid-sized enterprises. Whether for major organizations, start-ups, or start-up operations within major organizations such as Kaiser-Permanente, Steven’s direct contributions and strategic guidance have helped diverse businesses nationwide do better business. While holding a degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, he is also recognized by the Society for Human Resource Management as a certified Senior HR Professional (SPHR). Steven has enjoyed greatly volunteering and serving for various non-profit groups, including Habitat for Humanity, the National Association of Asian-American Professionals, the Northern California HR Association, and the National Diversity Council.

Margaret is a Senior Manager at Accenture, focused on high tech and platform clients in San Francisco and across the bay area. Over the last six years at Accenture, she has developed expertise in digital transformation, strategy, and enablement in sales and sales operations. Prior to joining Accenture, Margaret was a Product Manager in Online Strategy for Fidelity Investments, based in Boston. She has called San Francisco home for more than four years now after growing up on the east coast and two stints in Chicago. Margaret holds an MBA from The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, and a BA in Classics from Northwestern University.

Sarah Gerrish brings more than eight years of experience in nonprofit marketing and fundraising to CTN. Having lived in the Bay Area on and off since 2007, Sarah feels a strong connection to the communities in San Francisco. She has worked closely with six nonprofits in the Bay Area in a variety of capacities, from advising their leaders to hands-on volunteering. Sarah graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee with an MA in Communication and a certificate in mediation and negotiation. She currently works for the San Francisco SPCA.

Lauren brings financial and analytical expertise to the CTN Board. She is an Experienced Assurance Manager at BDO in San Francisco and has more than seven years of public accounting with a focus on technology companies. She has worked with a variety of businesses throughout the Bay Area including venture backed startups and large, public companies and has been involved with their transition through the various phases of growth including IPO and merger processes. Lauren holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and is a licensed CPA in the state of California.

Max is a strategy and operations professional in the San Francisco Bay Area passionate about increasing access to the tools needed to thrive in the digital age. He has experience scaling internet and internet infrastructure companies and has led numerous non-profit consulting projects. He currently leads strategy analytics for a high growth ad business at Google. Previous to that, he joined Google Fiber to help figure out how to deploy fiber optic internet infrastructure quickly, cost-effectively nationally. A consultant by training, he started his career at Deloitte Consulting; he produced original research and connected executives to innovators in the SF Bay Area as a fellow at a technology industry think tank, consulted on M&A and commercial real estate location strategies, and served as a team lead on pro-bono projects for Oakland USD, an orphanage in Nicaragua, and a local healthcare nonprofit. Max holds a BA in Economics from Claremont McKenna College.

Joyce has worn a number of hats in her 30+ years of experience – lawyer, entrepreneur, executive director, small business consultant and non-profit founder. Regardless of role, her primary passion is expanding access to information and inclusion in the global marketplace. She is excited about the potential of emerging technologies to level the playing field worldwide. Before relocating to the Bay Area, Joyce’s position in Chicago was leading an industrial council and small business incubator, where she grew the nonprofit from 3 employees to 18 over a 12 year period, eventually earning NBIA’s Incubator of the Year award, among others. After 4 years of travel in developing countries, Joyce was drawn to Silicon Valley by its entrepreneurial spirit, tech scene and ocean (where she swims year-round).