April 1, 2009

The San Francisco Foundation Appointments

(SAN FRANCISCO) – Wednesday, April 1, 2009 – The San Francisco Foundation announced today the appointment of Kurt C. Organista, Ph.D., and Peggy Saika to the Board of Trustees, and Edward McDermott to the Foundation’s Investment Committee.

Kurt Organista, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley. 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. He is also the Chair of the Foundation’s Koshland Committee.

Peggy Saika is the president/executive director of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy. She is immediate past chair of the board of directors of The California Wellness Foundation. She was the founding executive director of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) and previously was executive director of the Asian Law Caucus. She is a co-founder of the Asian Women's Shelter, Asians/Pacific Islanders for Choice, the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, and the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum. She has served on the board of numerous organizations and was the first Asian American appointed to the Alameda County Commission on the Status of Women. She served on the Advisory Council of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences and was appointed by President Clinton to the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. She was also a fellow for the Kellogg International Leadership Program.

Edward H. McDermott has been appointed to the Investment Committee at The San Francisco Foundation. Mr. McDermott is a managing director of SPO Partners & Co., a private investment partnership that makes concentrated, long-term investments in public and private companies. He received his B.A. from Williams College and his M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Prior to joining SPO Partners, he was involved in arranging structured and leveraged financings at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. McDermott is involved in a number of community projects, including serving as former board president of San Francisco School Volunteers.

The San Francisco Foundation (TSFF) is the community foundation serving the Bay Area since 1948. Through the generosity and vision of our donors, TSFF awarded grants totaling more than $776 million over the past ten years. Bringing together donors and building on community assets through grantmaking, leveraging, public policy, advocacy, and leadership development, TSFF works in the areas of community health, education, arts and culture, community development, and the environment. The San Francisco Foundation serves San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, and San Mateo Counties. www.sff.org