The Lafayette Community Foundation Board of Directors is composed of members who represent a broad cross-section of Lafayette. We are members of a range of civic and cultural institutions and come from a variety of professional background. From time to time we add new board members. If you are interested in working to better our community and serve on the board, please contact us.
Executive Board:
| President | Teresa Gerringer |
| Immediate Past President | Don Jenkins |
| Vice Chair, Communications | Matthew Janopaul |
| Vice Chair, Community Giving | Sereta Churchill |
| Vice Chair, Fund Development | Cheryl Noll |
| Vice Chair, Governance | Svend Ryge |
| Treasurer | Elizabeth Whitehouse |
| Asst. Treasurer | Laurie Baker |
| Secretary | Judy Carney |
Board of Directors:
Laurie Baker
Laurie is a lifelong Lafayette resident who attended Lafayette schools K-12. She received a B. A. from UC Berkeley. She was employed for 10 years with Bank of America specializing in commercial real estate developments throughout the U.S. She also earned her Real Estate license and was employed at Prudential California Realty in Orinda for seven years. Laurie served as a founding Board member of the Lafayette Boys Basketball Association from 2008-2010. She was a past Acalanes High School Athletic Booster Representative and has served on several school and sports committees over the years. Laurie is married to Dan Baker with 3 children who all attended Lafayette schools.
Judy Carney
Judy served as a founding member of the Lafayette Community Foundation Board. Judy moved to Lafayette in 1988 with her husband and two children where she quickly involved herself in the local school system as PTA President, Burton Valley Elementary School. She also served for 7 years as a member of the Lafayette Elementary School District Governing Board and for 8 years as member of the Acalanes Union High School District Governing Board. She has held positions in the Contra Costa County School Boards Association as well as a member of the Delegate Assembly for the California School Boards Association. She was 2009 Lafayette Citizen of the Year and also received the Acalanes District Su Stauffer Award.. Currently, Judy is an owner of a rehab company, Network Therapies, LLC which provides rehab services in skilled nursing facilities in the East Bay and an owner of a rehab staffing company, Signature Medical Staffing, Inc. She was elected to be the California representative, alternate, to the American Occupational Therapy Association. Judy graduated from Indiana-Purdue University Medical School, Allied Health and has a Master’s of Public Administration from Cal State Hayward. At this time Judy is a member of the Lafayette Senior Commission where she chairs the sub-committee of the Lafayette Senior Newsletter. She currently chairs the Lafayette Community Liaison meetings.
Phil Chernin
Phil has been an East Bay resident for over 30 years. He is a CPA, and his financial consulting practice in Lafayette specializes in turnarounds of troubled companies and mergers and acquisitions of small companies. Currently he serves on the Board of the California Shakespeare Theatre as well as the Lafayette Community Foundation. He is the scoutmaster of Lafayette Boy Scout Troop 241, and is also an active national ski patrol member. He is a former soccer, basketball and baseball coach for LMYA. Phil, his wife Chris and son Matt live in Lafayette.
Sereta Churchill
Sereta owned her own multi-office brokerage firm based in Lafayette for many years. She sold her firm several years ago and is with J. Rockcliff Realtors in Lafayette. She is an active Broker but in addition was recently appointed Director of Training of Rockcliff Realtors. She has served as President of the Association of Realtors, Executive Committee of CAR, Realtor of the Year and Director for life for the California Association of Realtors. She has also served on the NAR Board of Directors. She is currently on the Board of Directors of ZipForms, a national corporation providing electronic forms.. Sereta has been President of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, Lafayette Business Person of the Year, and was Chair of the City of Lafayette Economic Development Commission from 1995-2001. Sereta is a life-long Contra Costa County resident with two grown children, Randy and Sereta, both of whom attended Lafayette schools.
Dean Coons
Retired in 1988 after 38-year career as a Product Development Chemist with Procter & Gamble and the Clorox Company, Dean has served on the Lafayette Walkways Commission (1970’s) and is currently a member of the Lafayette Improvement Association Board. He served on the Contra Costa County Continuum of Care Advisory Board (Homeless Project) 1993-2001, the last five years as Vice-Chairman. He is active in Contra Costa and Bay Area Interfaith activities, the Social Justice Alliance of the CCC Interfaith Council, and No. Calif. United Methodist Church committees. He has been a Lafayette resident since 1968.
Ann Denny
Ann was the Executive Director of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, 1993-2005. She was Lafayette Business Person of the Year, 2001. She is the former executive director of Contra Costa/Alameda Division of American Diabetes Association, 1991-93, and San Francisco/Marin Division Director for March of Dimes, 1988-91. Ann’s prior experience included educational development positions in the East. She has a B.A. in English from Denison University. Ann is married to Ray Bland, has 4 grown children, 6 grown stepchildren and 20 grandchildren. She has lived in Lafayette since 1988.
Jean Follmer
A native Chicagoan, Jean fled winter weather for San Francisco in 1993. After marrying Chad, they spent 10 years in the South before moving to Lafayette in 2007. Jean has sunk her roots deeply into the Lafayette education community. Jean was elected to the Lafayette School District Governing Board in November, 2012, for a four-year term. She served on the Springhill PFC Board for three years and was President during the 2010-11 school year. She was elected to the School Site Council in 2008 and also served on the Lafayette Partners in Education (formerly LASF) board. Jean is a founding member of Lafayette for Education and worked as an education reporter for the Lamorinda Weekly and the Lamorinda Patch. In 2009, she held an internship as a Grant Writer in the Development department at the East Bay Agency for Children. Prior to becoming a proud mother, Jean worked as a Commercial Insurance Broker for the public sector. She holds a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of South Carolina, an Associate in Risk Management designation and a Certificate of Course Completion from Grant Writing, USA
Ernie Furtado
Ernie has been an active resident of Lafayette since 1989. Ernie has served as a team manager and board member with Lafayette Little League and as a team coach and board member of LYMA Soccer . He has also served as president and treasurer of the Lamorinda Sunrise Rotary Club where he has been a member since 2002. Ernie has also been involved with Campolindo High School serving as a class advisor from 2006-2010 and as president of the Campolindo Sports Booster club from 2010-2012. He also served on the Lafayette School District Revenue Study Committee and the Acalanes School District Measure A Parcel Tax Oversight Committee. Ernie is also an active parent with Lafayette Boy Scout Troop 204 where his son is an Eagle Scout. Ernie was born and raised in Napa and graduated with a BS in business administration from UC Berkeley, has an MBA from Golden Gate University and is a CPA. He is senior vice president and chief accounting officer with Textainer, the world's largest lessor of shipping containers, where he has worked since 1991. Ernie and his wife Barbara have two children.
Teresa Gerringer
Teresa is an education and community volunteer with current involvement including: Lafayette School District Governing Board, Chamber of Commerce Board Advisor, Auditor, Las Trampas Creek Council, CSBA Region 7 Delegate, CCCSBA, Secretary and Lafayette Community Foundation Board. – Past activities include: Co-Chair, Lafayette Library and Learning Center Community Campaign. Founder, Las Trampas Creek Council PTA Legislative Network Email Alert System; Past President Las Trampas Creek Council of PTAs, Past Chair, Las Trampas Creek Council of PTAs Legislation Committee; Past President, Lafayette RAPPORT; and Past President, Springhill PFC. Employment background: Education Consultant, former Vice President, Security Pacific Venture Capital and computer consultant/instructor. Education background: MBA, Pepperdine University and B.S.–Public Administration, Indiana University. Resident of Lafayette since 1995 with husband, Michael and two daughters.
Anne Grodin
Anne is the founder of the Lafayette Community Foundation and is the past chair. She is also the secretary for the new Lafayette Library and Learning Center Foundation. Anne is past Chair of the John Muir Medical Center Foundation, and she is an advisory board member of the California Shakespeare Theater. She is a member of the City of Lafayette Library Building Committee and the Downtown Street Improvement Master Plan Implementation Committee, and the City of Lafayette Public Art Committee. She is also a member of Tuesday Forum, a business networking organization. She is a former eight-year member of the Lafayette City Council and was twice mayor. Anne is a former president of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, a former board member of the Lafayette Arts and Science Foundation, and CFO Valley Disposal Inc., a teacher and staff director for Camp Fire Girls and executive director of the Girls’ Club of Alameda. She earned her BA from U.C. Berkeley, and a JD from John F. Kennedy University. She and her husband of 36 years, Marshall, have lived in Lafayette for 23 years. They have two grown children.
Dick Holt
Dick is a retired naval officer, having served twenty six years active duty. Upon retirement, he moved to Lafayette, where he and his wife, Robin, raised three children, all of whom went through the Lafayette Public school system. Upon retirement from the Navy, Dick was appointed to the Lafayette planning commission and served twenty-five years, five times as its Chair, and just retired in 2009. Dick also currently serves on the City’s Environmental and Sustainability Task Force and the Senior Needs Assessment Task Force and the Seniors Liaison Committee. Dick is an active member of the local Rotary club, and as its President in 1987 created and founded the Concert at the Res which is their annual fundraiser that is held in the Lafayette Reservoir and showcases live the music programs of the local schools; the monies received from the Concert then support the school music programs and other local Rotary projects. Dick holds a BS from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md., and an MA in Human Resource Management from Pepperdine University. He is a broker with Coldwell Banker specializing in local residential real estate.
Kathy Hopkins
Kathy has been a Bay Area resident for 30 years, moving to Lafayette with her husband Allen, in 2000. With a background in finance and investment banking, she retired as Executive Director after nearly 20 years at FSSD, a wastewater agency in Solano County. She holds a B.A. from the University of California at San Diego, and an M.B.A. from CSU San Francisco. She has served on the Executive Board and as Treasurer of California Sanitation Risk Management Authority, an entity that provides insurance and risk management services to the majority of sanitation agencies in California. She has also served on various boards and committees of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, the California Association of Sanitation Agencies, the Government Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada, and the Water/Wastewater Leadership Center.
Matthew Janopaul
Matt is a native of Northern California and has lived throughout the Bay Area over the past twenty years. Matt’s diverse career has ranged from roles as an operator within the consumer product and retail sectors as well as an investment professional in the public and private equity markets. Most recently he was the President and CEO of Pasta Pomodoro, Inc, one of largest privately owned restaurant concepts based in the Bay Area. Prior to that he was involved with Fender Musical Instruments, the worlds leading guitar and amplifier company. He held various roles with Fender that ranged from investor and board member to President and COO. As an investment professional, Matt was a General Partner of Weston Presidio, a leading private equity firm based in Boston and San Francisco. Matt earned his B.A. in Economics from Duke University and his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He was also awarded the Kauffman Fellowship by the Kansas City based Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and is actively involved in Norcal chapter of the Young Presidents’ Organization.
Don Jenkins
Don is a founding partner of the Insurance Brokerage Firm of Lafayette Square, Inc. He specialized in estate planning funding for business owners and employee fringe benefit planning. He has been an active community volunteer for more than 40 years. He was named Lafayette Business Man of the Year in 1993. He served as President of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce in 1989. He was a Founding trustee for the Lafayette Orinda Presbyterian Church’s foundation where he served for 15 years. He is currently serving as a district officer for Rotary District 5160, Planned Giving Development. Don graduated from UC Berkeley in 1963 with a BC in economics. He has a masters degree in financial planning from American College, Bryn Mawr, PA. He and his wife Linda have lived in Lafayette since 1970.
Cheryl Noll
Cheryl has been very active in the Lafayette community and school system for over 15 years. She has served on the Boards of Stanley Middle School PTA, Burton Valley PTA, the Las Trampas Creek Council of PTAs and the Board of Directors for Moraga Educational Foundation. Cheryl is currently the chairperson of the Charter City and Communications Committee for the City of Lafayette and sits on the LLLCF governance committee. She is a parishioner at St. Perpetua Catholic Church and has served on several of its committees. Cheryl graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and University of San Diego School of Law. She has practiced law in San Francisco and San Mateo counties and is currently employed with the general civil litigation firm of Bowles & Verna in Walnut Creek. She and her husband, Chuck, have two children and have lived in Lafayette since 1994.
Jeff Rosenthal
Jeff is a Senior Partner with Korn/Ferry Leadership & Talent Consulting. He runs the Technology sector globally for the organization. Prior to this role, he was an Executive Director for Russell Reynolds Associates, where he led the Human Resources executive search practice for the Western United States. He has a 20 year background in leadership development and human resources consulting. He has taught MBA students at the Haas School of Business at Berkeley, and has spoken and published on the topic of leadership for a variety of national associations. Jeff is currently a board member for Summer Search Foundation, a non-profit organization building leadership in high potential, low income high school students. He has also led the Corporate Fundraising Committee for the Lafayette Library, served as a member of the Temple Isaiah Membership Committee and has coached baseball for several years in Lafayette Little League. Jeff and his wife Linda have been residents of Lafayette for over 20 years, and his three sons have attended Lafayette schools. Jeff earned his MBA degree at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA and his B.A. from Whitman College.
Svend Ryge
Svend is Vice President Finance and Treasurer of Sutter Health, a not-for-profit health care delivery system comprised of 25 hospitals and numerous outpatient care facilities in Northern California. He was previously the CFO of the eight-hospital Bay Area Region of Sutter Health. Svend was previously with Kaiser Permanente for over 25 years in the field of finance and information services. He is currently a board member and treasurer for the Peter Pan Foundation. He previously served on the boards of the Town Hall Theatre, the Happy Valley Improvement Association and the Diablo Valley Montessori School. Svend has been a resident of Lafayette since 1986 and raised a daughter and two sons through the Lafayette school systems. He lives with his wife Karen in the Happy Valley area. He is a double alumnus of UC Berkeley (BA, math; MBA, finance).
Don Tatzin
A member of the Lafayette City Council since 1985, Don has been mayor five times. He serves on several countywide agencies focused on transportation and land use issues and has been involved in several committees regarding developing a new library in Lafayette and was chair of the Library Building Committee. He served as a Grant Director at the Sandler Foundation and previously held general management positions in manufacturing and service firms. Don received his B.S. from MIT in Urban Studies and Economics and a Master of City Planning Degree from MIT. He earned a Masters in Economics Degree from the Australian National University. He is a Rotary Foundation Fellow and a resident of Lafayette for 33 years.
Elizabeth Whitehouse
Elizabeth Whitehouse has been a resident of Lafayette since 1992. She has two college-age daughters. She was active in both the Burton Valley and Stanley PTAs and held the positions of Auditor and Treasurer at both schools. She is currently the principal at Pinnacle Business Services in Walnut Creek and is a mentor for the hike team with Team in Training.