Board of Trustees

Our Trustees have a deep, personal commitment to the Bay Area. They lead The San Francisco Foundation through their expertise, their knowledge of our community, and their passionate belief in the power of philanthropy to change lives.

Gay Plair Cobb is chief executive officer of the Oakland Private Industry Council, Inc. A member of the Alameda County Board of Education and Black Elected Officials of the East Bay, she serves on the Oakland Workforce Investment Board where she chairs the Youth Council. She has also served on the boards of the California Workforce Association, the New Oakland Committee, and the Black Adoption Placement and Research Center. She is a member of the advisory board of Oakland Advisors, promoting the competitiveness of inner city businesses. Appointed in 1998.    

Stephanie DiMarco is founder and CEO of Advent Software, Inc., the company she co-founded in 1983. She is a member of the advisory board of the College of Engineering at UC Berkeley. She also has served as a member of the advisory board of the Haas Business School at UC Berkeley and is a former trustee of the UC Berkeley Foundation board. Appointed in 2001.

David Friedman [vice chair] is president of Forell/Elsesser Engineers. He currently serves as chair of the board of directors of the Jewish Home of San Francisco. He is also a trustee of the UC Berkeley Foundation, a trustee and treasurer of the Friedman Family Foundation, and a member of the board of directors of Architectural Foundation of San Francisco. He was formerly on the boards of San Francisco Day School and Asian Neighborhood Design. Appointed in 2004.

Charlene Harvey worked for 16 years with the Management Center of San Francisco as a staff consultant to nonprofit organizations. She currently serves as board chair of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and is involved in the environmental field with Conservation International and Rachel's Network. She is a past chair of KQED, past chair of the advisory committee to Grants for the Arts, and past president of the Junior League of San Francisco. She has served on the boards of the Rosenberg Foundation and the Mental Health Association of San Francisco, among others. She was awarded the SPUR Award in 1997 and the Outstanding Volunteer Fund Raiser Award in 1996 by the National Society of Fund Raising Executives. Appointed in 2003.

Sandra R. Hernández, M.D., [secretary] is chief executive officer of The San Francisco Foundation. She previously served as the director of public health for the City and County of San Francisco. She currently serves on the boards of the Council on Foundations, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, Corporation for Supportive Housing, and the National Alliance for Hispanic Health. She is also a trustee of the Western Asbestos Settlement Trust, and a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Implementation of Antiviral Medication Strategies for an Influenza Pandemic. Her prior affiliations include President Clinton's Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Healthcare Industry, the Pew Commission on Environmental Health, Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government Executive Session on Philanthropy, and American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR). She is an assistant clinical professor at UCSF School of Medicine and maintains an active clinical practice at San Francisco General Hospital in the AIDS clinic.

James Hormel served as United States Ambassador to Luxembourg during the administration of President William J. Clinton. He also served as alternate representative of the U.S. Delegation to the 51^st United Nations General Assembly and as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. He is a member of the board of managers of Swarthmore College, the board of governors of the San Francisco Symphony, the board of directors of People For the American Way, the board of governors of the Commonwealth Club of California, and the board of trustees of Grace Cathedral. He was a founding director of the City Club of San Francisco and is the founder of Equidex, Inc. Appointed in 2002.

Tatwina Lee [chair] is a member of the board of trustees of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and has served as the acting executive director of the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco. Previously, she was the chair of the boards of the Library Foundation of San Francisco and the Chinese Culture Foundation of San Francisco, co-chair of the Friends and Foundation of the San Francisco Public Library, and president of the East Bay Music Foundation. She was also a member of the Chinese American Committee for the Main Campaign of the Library Foundation of San Francisco and the Princeton Parent Fund National Committee. For more than a decade, she was an active volunteer in the Berkeley Public Schools. Appointed in 2003.

Marcela C. Medina is vice president and general manager of Univision 14 KDTV and TeleFutura 66 KFSF. Prior to joining KDTV, she was general manager of KLUZ-TV/Univision 41 in the Albuquerque/Santa Fé area and, prior to that, served as network sales manager for the Telemundo network in Los Angeles and as sales executive for NBC's flagship station, WNBC-TV, in New York City. Currently, she serves on the boards of the Latino Community Foundation and the Commonwealth Club of California. She has also served as a trustee with the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the National Association of Broadcasters, among others. Appointed in 2005.

Hugo Morales is the executive director and a founder of Radio Bilingue, Inc., the National Latino Public Radio Network. He serves on the boards of the California Endowment, the Rosenberg Foundation, the Alliance for California Traditional Arts, and University of California at Merced. He is a member of the California State University at Fresno Advisory Council to the President. He serves as a commissioner for the California Postsecondary Education Commission and for First 5 Fresno County. He founded the Central California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and was a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1994 and the Lannan Foundation Award for Cultural Freedom in 2006. Appointed in 2002.

John Murray is the CEO of Element98, a technology development and consulting firm. He is a member and past president of San Francisco's Recreation and Park Commission and a member of the board of Summer Search, a support organization for at-risk youth. He is a former member of the State Recreation and Park Commission and served on the City's 2001 Elections Redistricting Task Force. Appointed in 2005.

Gladys Thacher has developed a lifetime career in the nonprofit community specializing in youth and education. She founded Enterprise for High School Students, the San Francisco Education Fund, the California Consortium of Education Foundations, Alumnae Resources, and LifePlan Center. She has served on the boards of the California Consortium of Educational Foundations and the San Francisco Zen Center. She is a former board chair of Conard House. Appointed in 1999.