Sustainable Features
Our Staff & Advisors
Diverse, local leaders with a positive vision for Silicon Valley
STAFF
Alex was raised in Silicon Valley and came home after a dozen years away. He’s on San Jose's Housing & Community Development Commission and the Advisory Board of the Silicon Valley chapter of New Leaders Council.
Most recently at the communications and public engagement consulting firm Katz & Associates, Alex worked with the Valley Transportation Authority on the extension of BART into Silicon Valley. He has also been a policy aide for a Santa Clara County Supervisor and a Director of Government Affairs for a Bay Area nonprofit organization.
Alex studied Political Science and African American Studies while earning a BA from Vanderbilt University and holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California. Alex lives off The Alameda in San Jose and is active in his neighborhood, founding efforts to bring a farmer's market back to his community & to name a street after President Obama.
Rocio Molina is a Bay Area native. She grew up in Oakland, CA and attended Stanford University, where she graduated with a B.A. in Political Science. She has extensive experience in nonprofit management and community engagement across the Bay Area.
Most recently, she has fundraised and advocated to establish sustainable fiscal business practices in nonprofit businesses as well as coordinated housing advisory groups for the City of San Francisco.
She has been a long-time advocate in San Jose for increased social services, economic access, and civic engagement through her work with the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits and the San Jose MBDA Center.
Shreya was born and raised in a multi-generational family of creatives in India. She always had a passion for design and a desire to make a positive impact on the built environment, prioritizing the needs and experiences of people. She believes that by working collaboratively with communities and stakeholders, we can create environments that reflect local values and promote social equity.
Shreya pursued her education in architecture and urban planning with a strong foundation in human-centric design approach and real estate development. She has worked on a range of projects, from designing residential and commercial spaces to transit-oriented development projects. She is aspiring to work collaboratively with communities, stakeholders, and policymakers to create sustainable, resilient, and livable cities for all that reflect local values. Being outdoors and catching sunsets is one of her favorite activities. She enjoys painting in her spare time.
Originally from India, Shalini has lived & worked in the Bay Area for more than half of her life. Leveraging her previous career as an engineer, 6 years ago Shalini co-founded AnewVista Community Services, a non-profit creating safe and comfortable ways for senior citizens to adopt new technologies. For helping local seniors interact with technology, she was awarded Volunteer of the Year by the City of Los Altos in 2018.
Shalini grew up in the central part of India in a multi-generational family with 15 uncles and aunts. This has shaped her interest in engagement with the community. In India, she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering. After moving to the United States, she earned a Master’s in Computer Science from the State University of New York, Stonybrook.
In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, anything that touches her creative soul, & planning fun events for friends and family. Shalini hopes to help create comfortable communities for all and especially for the senior population.
ADVISORS
Steve Pimentel
Steve is a A 3rd generation resident of the Bay Area, Steve was raised in Fremont before moving to San Jose in 2004. Spending his early years living on his family’s walnut and apricot orchard, he witnessed firsthand the impact of urban expansion on agricultural land. This experience shaped his view on the importance of approaching development through engagement to enable a better understanding of communities’ needs and aspirations. Steve has a BS degree in Business Administration from the University of the Pacific. He has worked in a wide range of industries from banking and consumer finance to educational and collaboration solutions. Steve currently is the Director for North America for Re Mago Ltd., a meetings and collaboration solutions company headquartered in the UK.
Elizabeth Figueroa
Originally from Fresno County, California, Elizabeth has lived and worked in the San Jose area since 2005. Each academic year, Elizabeth leads two dozen community engaged learning projects in Central San Jose. Elizabeth holds a degree in Liberal Arts from Fresno City College and a degree in Recreation from San Jose State University.
Jamie Chen
Jamie landed in San José in 2010, thrilled to find herself in a city where she can bike and garden year round, after living most of her life on the East Coast. Since then, she has worked as an organizer in many forms: labor organizer with SEIU working to organize a union for security officers in Silicon Valley; electoral organizer with Working Partnerships USA managing field campaigns including raising the minimum wage; and community organizer and garden network manager at Sacred Heart Community Service, where she worked to creatively combat food and housing insecurity. In her work with primarily low income and immigrant communities in San José, she has seen firsthand the importance of ethical, sustainable, and inclusive housing development in the area, and how people from all walks of life working together can build power, shift policy, and influence development for the better. She holds a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.S. from the London School of Economics, and now works on the Organizational Effectiveness team at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
Lisa Gluckstein
Working at the intersection of housing, land use, and environmental policy, Lisa is committed to building a more inclusive and sustainable future for our cities and communities. Lisa currently serves as Housing & Land Use Policy Advisor to San Francisco Mayor London Breed. She previously worked as a land use attorney, helping clients navigate the complex development process in jurisdictions across the Bay Area. Prior to that, she acted as a research fellow for the World Resources Institute in Mexico City, exploring and addressing issues of spatial injustice and urban accessibility. Lisa received a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from Williams College. In her free time, Lisa enjoys being in/around the ocean, biking around the city, and cooking vegan meals for family and friends.
Steve Lynch
Steve Lynch is Director of Planning and Entitlement for Sand Hill Property Company, a Silicon Valley-focused real estate holding & development firm. Sand Hill’s portfolio of stabilized investments and development projects includes retail centers, mixed-use communities, office developments, affordable housing, and hotels. Steve is involved with the management and planning of several large-scale office projects (Redwood City, Mountain View), a new mixed-use town center (Vallco Fashion Mall Cupertino), mixed-use office/residential corporate campus (San Jose), as well as other retail and office properties in the South Bay area. Prior to his time with Sand Hill, Steve worked in the public sector as a city planner for 16 years. This experience includes time with the Town of Los Gatos as Assistant Planner, City of Sunnyvale as Senior Planner, and City of Santa Clara as the Planning Division Manager. He holds a B.A. in Political Science from UC Berkeley (1993) and a Masters in City and Regional Planning from Cal Poly (2000).
Michael Kellagher
Michael has called San Jose home for over 5 years after living across the US: originally in Northern Virginia, and also in Austin, Atlanta (twice), and Los Angeles. He embraced the nuanced cultures and appreciates the unique challenges faced by individuals & groups in each locale. Michael is a strong believer that walking, biking, & public transit enable a healthier community and environment; and that smart, citizen-led development can achieve this reality in an equitable and sustainable manner. Michael is a Manager in PwC Advisory’s ‘Customer Strategy & Operations’ practice, where he advises global technology companies on sales and go-to-market strategy, business case development, pricing structure, new business models, and lead-to-cash transformations. He holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson and undergraduate degrees from the University of Virginia.
Amanda La Roche
Originally from San Diego, Amanda received her undergraduate degree in Linguistics from UC Santa Cruz, and her master’s degree in Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco. She recently moved to Monterey and is enjoying the area’s natural vibrant beauty. Since 2010, Amanda has worked in the nonprofit field serving those in need. She began her career as a housing provider to individuals with disabilities, before eventually finding her areas of expertise in compliance management and program development. Upon finishing her graduate degree, Amanda pivoted from housing to the field of fiscal sponsorship, serving as a client services manager to over 350 charitable start-up organizations (most recently at Social Good Fund, Catalyze SV's fiscal sponsor). Within these roles, Amanda has been responsible for reviewing and approving all agreements with a lens on risk mitigation and 501(c)(3) compliance, including grant agreements, commercial leases, & third-party vendor contracts. Additionally, she has used her creative skills to design and present trainings on a variety of topics for diverse audiences new to fiscal sponsorship. In her free time, she enjoys exploring her new city on foot, cooking, reading, hiking in nature and traveling.