Koshland Committee

The Koshland Committee is the formal oversight body of the Koshland Program. It consists of Koshland family members, a representative of the Foundation's Board of Trustees, representatives of the University of California Berkeley, and other concerned Bay Area residents who, in the tradition and style of service established by Daniel E. Koshland, Sr., have made a commitment to improving the quality of life in the Bay Area.

Following are brief descriptions of the expertise and affiliations of current Committee members:

Kurt C. Organista, Ph.D. (Chair) is associate professor of social welfare at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Trustee of The San Francisco Foundation. He teaches courses on psychopathology, stress and coping, and social work practice with Latino populations. He is interested in Latino health and mental health, conducts research in the areas of HIV/AIDS prevention with Mexican/Latino migrant laborers, and is author of Solving Latino psychosocial and health problems: Theory, practice, and populations published in 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. He currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work, Hispanic Journal of the Behavioral Sciences, and the American Journal of Community Psychology. From 2004-08 he was appointed to the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council at the National Institutes of Health, and he currently serves on the Latino Advisory Board for the California State Office of AIDS. Member since 2006

Teresa Mejía (Vice-Chair) is executive director of The Women’s Building in San Francisco. She has vast experience in social activism, specifically women's issues and the issue of violence against women, both in her native Puerto Rico and in the Bay Area. She was a bilingual counselor and facilitator at La Casa de las Madres and San Mateo Women's Shelter, and in Puerto Rico she coordinated public housing and crime prevention projects with low-income communities. Teresa first came to The Women’s Building as a client looking for job information. Over the past fifteen years, she has held various positions within the organization, including receptionist, information and referral coordinator, community center director, and acting executive director, becoming executive director in 1999. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration. Member since 2003

Hedy Nai-Lin Chang is a consultant specializing in early childhood education, family support, and neighborhood transformation. In her previous job as a senior program officer for Strengthening Families at the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, she oversaw its grantmaking focused on helping families succeed economically and preparing their children for school through investments in low-income neighborhoods combined with local and state policy work. She is also the former co-director of California Tomorrow, a nonprofit that uses research, technical assistance, coalition-building, and advocacy to advance policies and practices that promote equal opportunity and healthy development of children and families in a diverse society. She is also the author of numerous publications. Member since 2007

Robert Friedman is founder, chair of the board, and general counsel of CFED, a nonprofit organization devoted to expanding economic opportunity. Bob’s current focus is on the Savings for Education, Entrepreneurship, and Downpayment (SEED) Policy and Practice Initiative, a multifaceted effort to create an inclusive system of children’s savings accounts. Over the decades of his involvement in economic development innovation, Bob and CFED have helped lead the US development of innovative economic development strategies including microenterprise, flexible business networks, individual development accounts, and economic health. He serves on the boards of CFED’s CDFI subsidiary, the National Fund for Enterprise Development, D2D Fund, EARN, the Friedman Family Foundation, and the Rosenberg Foundation. Member since 2003

Joy Hoffmann is group vice president for Community Development and Public Information for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (FRBSF) overseeing community development, economic and financial education, the Bank’s public website, media relations, community, public, and economic outreach programs throughout the nine western states that comprise the Twelfth District. Before joining the community affairs staff at the FRBSF in 1995, Joy worked for the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, and earlier served as a research associate for Neighborhood Housing Services of America, a national secondary market for affordable housing. She serves on Operation Hope’s Corporate Council of CEOs and chairs their Regional Board of Directors of Northern California. She is also an advisor to BAYCAT, an educational and arts program based in the Bayview Hunter’s Point community. Member since 2007

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 San Francisco Foundation, the Latino Community Foundation, the Mexican Cultural Center, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), and National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). Member since 2006

Santiago “Sam” Ruiz has been the executive director of Mission Neighborhood Centers (MNC), Inc. for the past 27 years. Sam has more than 30 years of professional and volunteer service to the residents of San Francisco’s Mission District in both the public and private sectors. During Sam’s tenure at MNC, it has increased its Head Start slots, as the delegate agency under San Francisco State University, from 120 students to 380 students. MNC also operates 12 different centers in the Mission, Excelsior, Mission Bay, and soon in Bayview Hunter's Point. MNC is also responsible for the fundraising production of the annual two-day Carnaval de San Francisco. In 1990, Sam received the Koshland award for his leadership in the Mission neighborhood. Member since 2009

Rev. Kelvin Sauls was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was senior pastor of Downs Memorial United Methodist Church in Oakland from 1999 until 2006. He serves on the board of directors of the Pacific School of Religion (Berkeley) and Interfaith Coalition of Immigration Rights (San Francisco), and serves on the clergy advisory board of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Rev. Sauls is a founding member and trustee emeritus of the United Religions Initiative (San Francisco). Rev. Sauls currently serves as the national director for congregational development for the general board of discipleship of the United Methodist Church. Member since 2006

Lateefah Simon is the director of the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Previously, Lateefah was the director of re-entry for the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Women's Foundation of California and serves on the San Francisco Juvenile Detention Alternates Executive Committee and the Advocacy Institute. In 2003, Lateefah was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship and the Visions for a Changing World Award. Her work has also been recognized by the California State Assembly, the Ford Foundation, Girls Inc, the National Organization for Women, and Oprah Magazine. Member since 2006

Rhonnel Sotelo is the vice president of program and operations at the Stuart Foundation. Rhonnel’s 17 years of experience includes directing The San Francisco Foundation’s West Oakland Initiative and Multicultural Fellowship Program, and owning and operating Urban Works, a community planning design consulting firm that worked with neighborhoods, nonprofits, and small towns on livable communities issues in Seattle, the Pacific Northwest, and California.
He sits on the advisory board of UC Berkeley’s Center for Cities and Schools and serves as a member of the Coalition for Community Schools’ National Awards Committee. Rhonnel holds a Master's degree in Urban Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles. Member since 2009