Board Members and Management Staff

The Volunteer Center’s board of directors is a distinguished group of professionals in the fields of business, education and civic service who give generously of their time to make this work a success. The Volunteer Center is managed by a group of dedicated and experienced staff, as well as volunteers.
 

Board of Directors

Jonathan Lemberg—President  & Chairman
Partner, Farella Braun + Martel
Jonathan Lemberg is a partner at the law firm of Farella Braun + Martel LLP, specializing in corporate finance, private equity/venture capital investment, and merger and acquisition transactions. The majority of his work is in the technology, real estate, financial services and wine industries. A Mandarin and Japanese speaker, Jonathan spent several years studying and working in Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Pro bono work has always been an important part of Jonathan's legal career. Early in his career, he served as the pro bono coordinator for transactional attorneys at a leading Wall Street law firm. While living in Hong Kong, Jonathan was a member of the Executive Committee of the Asian Youth Orchestra (AYO), a not-for-profit group that brings together young musicians from Asia to study and tour with world-class musicians and conductors from major U.S. orchestras. After returning to the United States, Jonathan continued working with the AYO, and volunteering to help disadvantaged youth deal with legal issues relating to their special education needs.

Jonathan was named by Asia Law magazine as a "Leading Lawyer in Asia," and is a frequent speaker on U.S. securities laws and on doing business in China. He received his bachelor's degree in Far Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago, and his law degree from Columbia University. He is a member of the California, New York and Hong Kong bars.

Joseph Nordlinger—Treasurer
CEO, The Ascent Services Group
Joseph Nordlinger joined the board in 2008 and currently serves on the membership committee and the finance committee. As the President and CEO of The Ascent Services Group, a BACVC member since 2006, Joseph oversees the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the company. Prior to that, he was a business development manager for Cap Gemini-Ernst & Young. Joseph holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Political Economics from the University of California at San Diego.

Joanne Liu—Secretary
Senior Business Development Manager, Exponential Interactive, Inc.
Joanne Liu is a senior manager at LeadGenuity, a business unit of Exponential Interactive, one of the Web's leading online marketing and advertising companies.  She has also worked in direct marketing within the financial services sector, and in internet marketing for companies including Yahoo and NexTag.  In 2004 she founded Jive Charitable Foundation which promotes service and social activities among the San Francisco professional community, and she continues to serve as President of the Board.  She served on the Jr. Board of Directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area for three years, including one year as President until 2007. 

A bay area native, Joanne earned her BS in Business from UC Berkeley and her MBA from Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania where she served as Student Body President. 

Julia Arant
Group Benefits Consultant, Baybenefits, Inc.

Samar Birwadker
Senior Insights Manager, Landor Associates

Barbara Contreras
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Barbara Contreras is a member of Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s Executive Communications Department. She assists the President in managing his employee engagement opportunities and external events. Previous to this position, Barbara worked in the Volunteer Department facilitating the employee volunteerism program for PG&E’s 20,000 employees and other community engagement programs and partnerships with community-based organizations. Other functions include charitable giving, facilitating PG&E’s nonprofit for the Employee Associations’ scholarship programs, the Officers’ board matching process, and the company’s department safety program.

Prior to this position, Barbara managed PG&E’s workplace giving campaign, community service awards program, matching gifts program, and coordinated the company’s signature events. Barbara is on the Junior Achievement of the Bay Area Advisory Board and the Pacific Service Employees Association Employees Community Fund Scholarship Board. Barbara lives in Alameda, California, with her husband and two sons.

Juliana Deans
Juliana is a frequent speaker on emerging corporate CI trends, including developing skills-based volunteerism, creating value-add CI programs, and engaging Gen Y employees. Known for her engaging presentation style, Juliana challenges the corporate and nonprofit sectors to cross-collaborate to develop opportunities to drive meaningful social outcomes that strengthen local communities.

Still unable to believe her good fortune in transferring to the Bay Area from the ever-humid Southeast, Juliana is personally active in the Bay Area. Her current volunteer commitments include; board member for The Volunteer Center, a steering committee member for the CBS5 Jefferson Awards, and member of the Full Circle Fund. Juliana also teaches the “Ethics in Action” curricula for the California Association of Student Councils and the Bay Area Jefferson Award Youth Service Leadership high schools. She was founder/chair (2004, 2005) of the United Way Bay Area's Corporate Leadership Council and served on Atlanta-based Giving Tree’s board of directors.

Juliana has over twenty years of community involvement, marketing, business development and communications experience, primarily for large, global businesses. Prior to joining Deloitte, Juliana was the Director of Communications for Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management and the Director of Marketing for Creditor Resources, Inc., a division of AEGON nv.

Originally from Washington, DC, she has an MBA from Emory University and a BA from George Washington University. 

Cathy Hwang, CPA
Principal, Lindquist, von Husen & Joyce
To Cathy Hwang, a principal in audit and attestation services at Lindquist, von Husen & Joyce, being an auditor isn’t solely about reacting to transactions that have already happened; the corrections she makes can positively impact her clients’ businesses now and in the future. Cathy
joined the firm in October 2000 and became a principal in January 2005. She works with clients in the areas of manufacturing, professional services corporations, real estate developments, research and development enterprises, and various nonprofit organizations including social services providers, large local affordable housing developers, and real estate property management companies.

Cathy is also a frequent trainer on accounting and auditing topics for professional staff. She is involved in LVHJ’s information technology decisions and helps the firm choose tools that make their audit work highly efficient. Before joining the firm, Cathy had experience in healthcare, software development, and document management industries.
 
She appreciates the fast-paced nature of the field and also brings her love to technology into her accounting practice as often as she can.
 
In her spare time, Cathy enjoys traveling with families and friends. She is also a loyal fan of crime stories, and passionate about adventures.

Jillian Misrack
Director, Community Impact, Full Circle Fund
Jillian Misrack currently serves as a Program Consultant for Full Circle Fund. Prior to that, she managed AOL's West Coast philanthropic and volunteer initiatives for more than five years. She has directed partnerships with a diverse group of education-based community organizations including Time Warner's Time To Read National Literacy Program, Salesforce.com Foundation's International Youth Media Festival and AOL Aspires Education Technology Grant Initiative.

In addition, Jillian founded her own consulting business, wesource, in 2003. She was also involved in the National Philanthropy Day Steering Committee, Co-chair of Northern California Grantmakers Corporate Contributions Roundtable, The Northern California Summer Youth Program Steering Committee, the Bay Area Corporate Volunteer Council and the Silicon Valley Corporate Community Relations Consortium.

A board member since April 2006, Jillian currently serves as Board President and Chair of the Board Development Committee. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from San Francisco State University.

Jillian, an organ donor, is actively involved in The California Transplant Network, dedicated to educating the public and saving lives through organ and tissue donation.

Kellie Vitaich
AVP, Volunteer Program Manager, Wells Fargo
A member of the board since 2008, Kellie Vitaich is an Assistant Vice President with the Wells Fargo Foundation. In her role as the Volunteer Wells Fargo Program Manager for California, she is responsible for promoting community involvement and supporting the volunteer activities of Wells Fargo team members. Since joining Wells Fargo in 2001, Kellie has been involved with several housing related non-profit agencies. She was on the Board of Directors for Sacramento Cottage Housing from 2002-2004 and currently volunteers with Project Homeless Connect in San Francisco and Sacramento.

Steven Wakefield
Senior Manager, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Steve Wakefield is a Senior Manager with Deloitte & Touche LLP where he helps clients improve software project management and quality. Prior to Deloitte, Steve was Vice President of Operations at Bravanta, Inc., a Bay Area venture capital funded startup (now part of Workstream, Inc.) Steve also held information technology executive and senior management positions at Pacific Gas & Electric and Procter & Gamble.

During his 16-year career, Steve was active with many corporate volunteer programs including Junior Achievement, the San Mateo County Shelter Network, San Francisco Rebuilding Together, and Deloitte's yearly Impact Day. Steve holds BS and MBA degrees from the University of South Florida and is a certified Project Management Professional.

John Power—Ex Officio Member 
Executive Director, The Volunteer Center


Management Staff

John Power
Executive Director
John Power was appointed Executive Director of The Volunteer Center in 2002, following three years in which he held roles of increasing responsibility as Corporate Services Director, Managing Director of Programs and Deputy Director. Prior to that, John built a distinguished reputation in the public service and political arenas. He was Deputy District Director for San Jose Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren from 1995-98, and served as her legislative aide when she was county supervisor. During his tenure with Lofgren, John provided his expertise in health and human services, immigration, environmental issues and civil justice policies.

John received his bachelor's degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and in 1989 earned his MBA from Santa Clara University.

Jill Blackburn
Director of Programs
After relocating to San Francisco from the East Coast, Jill Blackburn worked in the private sector for five years before moving to the nonprofit world as a consultant to provide nonprofit event coordination assistance. Jill currently serves as the Director of Programs of The Volunteer Center, managing the day-to-day operations of their Consulting and Training Practice. In addition, she delivers their standardized and customized trainings, leads her team in consulting contract efforts for nonprofits and businesses, and also leads the Bay Area Corporate Volunteer Council and its sister council, the Nonprofit Volunteer Leaders Council - a professional association for nonprofit volunteer program leaders.

Angelica Pena
Program Coordinator
Originally from Los Angeles, California, Angelica Peña has been living in San Francisco for nearly two years. Starting as a part-time Program Assistant for The Volunteer Center while she completed her Masters degree in Public Affairs from USF, Angelica has since joined the TVC team as a full-time Program Coordinator. She works directly with the Director of Programs on a variety of programs throughout the year, and contributes to the success of many TVC events/programs in many capacities.

Angelica received her bachelor's degree from UCLA in 2009, and earned her MPA from the University of San Francisco.

Jenn Marks
Accountant
The bookkeeper at The Volunteer Center since 2004, Jenn Marks is also Exponent Partners’ Business Manager. Formerly the Finance Director at a $5 million workforce development nonprofit in San Francisco, Jenn provides accounting and financial consulting services to a plethora of nonprofits and small businesses that are intent on making the world a better place. Jenn earned her Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Delaware.

The Volunteer Center Volunteers

Special thanks to our volunteers!


Damien Chacona
Website and Special Projects Volunteer
with The Volunteer Center since 2007

Jeffery King
Janitorial Volunteer
with The Volunteer Center since 2007

Margaret Southerland
Special Projects Volunteer
with The Volunteer Center since 2001

Mark Woloschuk
Pro-bono Graphic Design and Video Production
with The Volunteer Center since 2005