We are grateful to the following individuals who volunteer their time to support the mission of Las Trampas.

Meet our 2023-2024 Board of Directors

The Las Trampas Board of Directors is a dedicated group of business professionals and parents who are committed to the individuals we serve at Las Trampas. Each member of the Board is actively involved in the agency’s governance and contributes their own unique strengths, skills, and leadership, ensuring that vital services continue for individuals with developmental disabilities.

 

Each board member serves on a committee. The following represent the Standing Committees: Executive, Nominating, Finance, and Audit. In addition to the Standing Committees, additional committees include Programs, Infrastructure, Development, and Capital Campaign committees.

 

 

Co-President

Michael Collier

Since October 2016, Michael “Mike” Collier has been a member of the Board of Directors of Las Trampas and currently serves as the Board Co-President. Mike served as a volunteer member and Chair of Las Trampas’ Infrastructure Committee of the Board since September of 2015, and was appointed as President to the Board of Directors in June 2019.

 

Mike has a distinguished career as an Architect and Planner and has a Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) degree with honors from the California Polytechnic State University – San Luis Obispo. He has been the sole proprietor and principal to Collier Architecture for over 40 years with previous roles as Lafayette Planning Commissioner (3 years), Lafayette Design Review Board Member (9 years) of Lafayette, and as Editor of ArchNews’ “AIA” East Bay Chapter (7 years).

 

Mike is retired and has fully dedicated himself to philanthropic work by serving on the Board to Las Trampas. He is a long standing Board Member to SGPA Architecture and Planning and served as their V. P. of Corporate Marketing and Director of the San Francisco office. Mike and his wife Connie are pillars of the Lafayette community and were named “Lafayette Citizens of the Year” in 1996 for their volunteer efforts.

 

Mike was drawn to Las Trampas due to having a special needs grandson who recently turned 8 and is the love of his heart. He is non-verbal and needs one-on-one help with his educational activities and may eventually need support as provided by Las Trampas. This personal connection to our community is the drive for Mike and he just loves the local presence of Las Trampas and its mission. Mike witnesses daily the joy and positive energy the Las Trampas programs produce.

 

Mike is energized by people, is a master communicator, and believes in and drives the mission of Las Trampas daily. On his off days, you can find him golfing, fly fishing, or just hanging with his wife, kids, and grandkids.

Co-President

Mark Mahaney

Mark has been a member of the Board of Directors of Las Trampas since 2022, and currently serves as the Board Co-President

 

Mark is a senior managing director and heads Evercore ISI’s Internet research team. He has covered internet stocks for 25 years, and has been consistently recognized by Institutional Investor for his research, including 16 years as a Top-3 ranked analyst and five years as a No. 1-ranked analyst. Previously, Mark worked on both the sell-side and buy-side for American Technology Research, Morgan Stanley, Citibank and Royal Bank of Canada, among others.

 

Mark received his Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in political science and history from Amherst College, his Master of Arts (MA) from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He is also the former lead bassist for Monkey Funk.

 

Mahaney’s experiences as a parent to a Las Trampas participant is a special insight that the Board of Las Trampas deeply values. Also, Mark and his wife Tammy lead a fun and groovy Music & Dance class with Las Trampas participants every Friday!

Treasurer

Diego Guerrero

Diego has been a member of the Board of Directors of Las Trampas since 2018, where he currently serves as the Chair of the Finance Committee.

 

Diego earned an Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Certificate of Business Analytics from the University of California, Berkeley – Haas School of Business. Prior professional roles were in Management, Business Development and Sales for a multinational telecommunications company in Peru for over six years. Recent prior roles were as a Development & Accounts Sr. Associate at Congregation Emanu-El for one year and also as a Head of Finance and Business Development at Desarrollo de Proyectos Inmobiliarios SAC for five years.

 

Diego is a very passionate and analytical person. He is distinguished by having a special eye for financial management, winning the highest award nationwide for exceeding sales goals and extraordinary customer services three years in a row at NII HOLDINGS INC. His background of economics and sales allows him to make a detailed analysis of the client’s needs and find good solutions. He demonstrates leadership through assertive communication, has a concern for the development of people, and the ability to handle challenging situations.

 

The main draw for Guerrero to Las Trampas was the need to be plugged into an organization that cares for its surrounding community. He is extremely excited to be part of a team that supports adults with developmental disabilities to lead full lives in their home, at work, and in the community.

Secretary

Peter Jurichko

Peter has been a member of the Board of Directors of Las Trampas since 2020, where he currently serves as the Board Secretary.

 

Jurichko has a degree in Chemical Engineering from Columbia University. He started his career at Stauffer Chemical Company (Rhone-Poulenc and then Rhodia, Inc.) and held various positions at Plant Manager of chemical manufacturing sites in Houston, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area. He retired in 2015.

 

As a parent to one of Las Trampas’ participants, Jurichko brings a very unique and special insight to the Board of Las Trampas. His goal and focus is in providing an exceptional adult day program. He has such a seasoned volunteer experience as: President of the Martinez Community Foundation, President of the Martinez Area Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of the Chemical Industry Association of California, Board director of the Industrial Association of Contra Costa County, founder and Director of the Community Awareness and Emergency Response (CAER) group, and the Rhone-Poulenc Community Advisory Panel.

Director

Daniel Fujimoto

Daniel is a Senior Vice President and Regional Manager for Community Bank of the Bay’s Diablo Valley Region and is responsible for the bank’s business development and commercial lending efforts throughout Contra Costa County. In this role, Daniel oversees a team of relationship bankers that provide customized financial solutions to small-to-middle market businesses, their owners, non-profit organizations and real estate investors throughout the Bay Area. Established in 1996, Community Bank of the Bay (OTCBB:CBOBA) is an independent, community-focused bank with over 25 years of active financial investment in businesses and individuals in the San Francisco Bay Area. The bank’s mission is to foster and promote economic development in the communities they serve. The Bank is also California’s first FDIC-insured certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), an SBA Preferred Lender, and a CDARS depository institution, headquartered in Oakland, CA with offices in Danville, San Mateo, San Francisco and San Jose.

 

Daniel is also a Board Member for TMC Financing, a non-profit 501c4 with a mission to promote economic development and job creation for small businesses in Arizona, California, Nevada and Oregon. TMC Financing is The No. 1 SBA Lender for commercial real estate in the United States.

 

Daniel received a Master’s Level Certificate in Commercial Banking from the prestigious Pacific Coast Banking School in partnership with the Graduate School of Business at the University of Washington in 2017. Daniel received hi Bachelor of Science (BS) in Financial Services from San Diego State University in 2008.

Director

Claude Garbarino

Claude has been a member of the Board of Directors of Las Trampas since 2004, where she currently serves as Chair on the Nominations Committee.

 

Claude’s current role is an experienced and talented Personal Chef skilled at creating home prepared meals for time starved individuals and families. She has been the sole proprietor of Garbo’s Personal Chef Service in San Francisco, CA for over 15 years. She loves helping people reach optimal health and wellness by preparing them life sustaining meals and telling stories through food photography. Prior to being a chef, she held Account Manager roles at TechTarget, Access Internet Magazine, and Computerworld in Massachusetts. Claude is distinguished by having won a top producer award for sales for a financial planning software company, and starting her personal chef business after the bust of the dotcom bubble in 2002.

 

The main draw for Claude to Las Trampas is that her sister Annie was a direct recipient of all the wonderful life changing programs that Las Trampas offers to those with Developmental Disabilities. Back in the 1960’s, Annie was born with Down’s Syndrome and the “done-thing” was for parents to ship kids like her off to mental institutions in Napa to hide the fact they had a child with such an affliction. Claude’s father served on the Las Trampas Board since its early days and eventually recruited her to succeed him as Chair of the Nominations Committee.

 

Claude considers serving on the board as an important honor and takes great care to recruit the very best talent to help Las Trampas continue with this legacy and to help achieve its strategic vision of being the agency of choice for adults with developmental disabilities. Having a sister with developmental disabilities has heightened her appreciation of agencies like Las Trampas because she knows first-hand that it takes a special person with a huge heart, boundless amounts of patience and passion to serve this community.

Picture of Director Dawn Knight
Director

Dawn Knight

Dawn is a Senior Director of Hospital & Healthcare Consulting at Vizient Inc. She brings over 25 years of senior-level executive experience in community-based hospitals, large academic and non-academic healthcare systems, and ambulatory care settings. She is a consultative leader who develops and inspires high-performing teams with a commitment to quality, service excellence, growth, and physician collaboration. Skilled in project management with the ability to assemble multifunctional clinical, business, and technology teams as well as guide complex, corporate-level projects from conception through successful conclusion.

 

Prior to joining Vizient, Dawn was Group CEO at Surgical Care Affiliates where she improved operational and clinical efficiencies at the Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery, while more than doubling the annual EBITDA to $5 million the first year and $10 million the second year, sustaining improvement for the remainder of her engagement.

 

For more than 20 years of her career, Dawn has served at the Senior Executive level in Quality and Patient Safety at 3 major health systems in California including Community Medical Centers Fresno, Loma Linda University Medical Center, and John Muir Health System. In her roles, she has led the strategic development of quality and operational excellence, yielding improvements in multiple clinical & nonclinical areas including peri-operative medicine, telehealth services, top tier recognition in publicly reported quality metrics, regulatory, licensure, and accreditation, and board and governance level quality reporting.

 

Dawn received her Bachelor’s degree in Health Science and her Graduate degree in Hospital Administration. Additionally, Dawn is a Fellow with the Advisory Board Company and a Certified Professional in Health Care Quality.

Director

Chris Loker

Chris has been a member of our board since December 2023. Chris is the author of children’s books and books about children’s literature. She curated the exhibition and award-winning catalogue One Hundred Books Famous in Children’s Literature in 2014, and has published a companion book on American children’s picture books plus three children’s picture books. Chris has also been a San Francisco antiquarian bookseller specializing in antique children’s books from 1750 to 1950 that offer charm, character, and color for young children and early adolescents.

 

Prior to her career in the world of books, Chris was an executive in corporate Human Resources, working at companies such as Levi Strauss & Co., Bank of America, and Universal Studios. Her last corporate position was Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Charles Schwab in San Francisco. She graduated in English Literature from Stanford University and attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

 

Chris lives outside of San Francisco with her husband, antiquarian bookseller John Windle. She is passionate about the work of Las Trampas as she has a brother born with developmental disabilities.

Picture of Director Terry Murray
Director

Terrance C. Murray

Terrance “Terry” Murray has been a member of the Board of Directors of Las Trampas since 2017, where he currently serves on the Finance and Governance Committees.

 

Terry is currently a Partner and Certified Financial Planner at Ensconce Wealth Partners, located in Walnut Creek, CA. Prior to being a Financial Planner, Terry graduated with a law degree from University of San Francisco School of Law and became a Bay Area-based lawyer for over 20 years. The ability to help clients achieve their financial goals is what energizes and excites Terry.

 

Las Trampas was calling Terry and he felt a real calling to make this commitment since finding out that a close family friend had a grandson with a developmental disability. He has been a Lafayette resident for almost forty years, but was only vaguely aware of what Las Trampas did for the people it served in the surrounding communities. Terry brings to Las Trampas a special ear for listening, finding solutions, providing sound business decisions, while always questioning the status quo.

 

Terry enjoys fly fishing, woodworking, and most of all spending time with his wife, his two daughters, and his four granddaughters.

Director

Ashleigh Norris

Ashleigh has been a member of the Board of Directors of Las Trampas since December 2023. She currently works as a senior manager of corporate communications at Blue Shield of California, where she leads external and executive communications for the company’s growth, marketing, product and digital teams. Prior to Blue Shield, Ashleigh spent 6 years at the Minnesota Department of Education, most recently as the director of communications. She has expertise in media relations, social media, crisis management, executive counsel, public engagement and legislative affairs.

 

Ashleigh holds a Master of Arts in strategic communication and a graduate certificate in nonprofit management from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. She holds a Bachelor of Science in public relations and English from Northern Michigan University.

 

Ashleigh grew up in Fresno, California, before moving to Minnesota with her family when she was in high school. In 2022, her boyfriend’s job brought her to Lafayette, and she is excited to get involved in the community. She was drawn to Las Trampas because of her passion for supporting people with disabilities, something that grew during her time in the field of education.

 

During her free time, Ashleigh enjoys going to concerts, trying new restaurants, and traveling with her boyfriend and their dog Archi.

Director

Elena Ricevuto

Elena is honored to join the Board of Directors of Las Trampas, bringing 30 years of experience in Finance and an empowered belief in the mission of Las Trampas School. Elena holds the Chartered Financial Analyst credential, which augments her already keen skills in Finance. Elena is a Management Analyst with the San Mateo Medical Center and Chief Investment Officer of the San Mateo County Health Foundation. Elena is a natural leader and her analytical and problem-solving abilities, in concert with her sound judgment, provide her ease in establishing priorities and making decisions. She maintains the highest standards of professionalism and, thereby, realizes positive relationships with her colleagues.

 

As a parent, whose daughter participants in the Las Trampas Adult Day Program, Elena brings deep wisdom and compassion of the journey of parenting a developmentally disabled child.  Her daughter lives with Autism Spectrum Disorder and has built a beautiful tribe of peers while at Las Trampas.  Elena’s personal experience inspires her with the ongoing commitment to each adult with developmental disabilities that they may thrive and feel engaged in the community. Her intention as a member of Las Trampas Board of Directors is to promote its financial success, ensuring programs offered to the community of adults with developmental disabilities continue to expand.

Director

Miriam Scholes

Miriam has been a member of the Board of Directors of Las Trampas since 2018.

 

She has a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree from California State University, East Bay, a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification from the HR Certification Institute – HRCI, and Lominger Interview Architect certification from Korn/Ferry Company. Miriam’s current role is at Madison Reed as the Vice President, People and Places. She is an experienced Human Resources executive who leverages her authentic and down-to-earth style to operationalize people strategies. Prior to Madison Reed, she held Human Resources management roles at Caleres, Inc., Ross Stores, Inc., Kool Smiles, and 24 Hour Fitness. Miriam is distinguished by having scaled a small company from 5 to 30 locations within the span of 2 years. Additionally, for cultivating a strong people-centric culture while navigating a pandemic in a social injustice and politically charged landscape.

 

The main draw for Miriam to Las Trampas is her personal story in that her mother was physically disabled from the age of 5, when she was in an accident that caused her to lose part of her right leg. She grew up knowing all too well the challenges disabled people faced and the lack of resources and support broadly available. She saw firsthand how much awareness and education lacked in her surrounding communities around people with any type of disability. From a very young age, she knew she wanted to help and advocate for people.

 

Miriam’s Human Resources savviness and passion for advocating for those who cannot advocate for themselves is a vital talent that the Board draws upon.

Director

Helen Stacey Bernett

Helen Stacey Bernett joined the Las Trampas Board of Directors in December 2023.  As the parent of one of Las Trampas’ newer participants, she has a direct  interest in the mission of Las Trampas.  As the mother of two children with special needs, she has been immersed in the special needs community since the birth of her first child in 2000.  She is passionate about advocating for the special needs community and increasing awareness whenever and wherever possible.  Many of her previous volunteer activities have revolved around special needs support and education at the K-12 level.

 

Helen—aka Dr. Stacey—is a licensed internal medicine specialist. She graduated from Emory University School of Medicine and also received a Masters of Public Health degree from University of Washington.  She has worked in many different medical settings—academic university clinics and hospitals, primary care, prison health care, and HIV Clinics.  For the past 20 years, she has specialized in conducting clinical research at Diablo Clinical Research in Walnut Creek, where she serves as Principal Investigator for multiple research studies.  Her husband, Jorge Bernett, is also a physician specializing in Infectious Diseases and is currently Chief of Staff at John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek.

 

Although parenting two children with special needs is a full time job in addition to working as a doctor, Helen likes to unwind by reading, watching movies, doing yoga, and socializing with friends.  She and Jorge are passionate about travel and traveled the world before having children—something they aspire to do more post-retirement.