Advisory Board

The Joint East Palo Alto Charter School-East Palo Alto Phoenix Academy Board ("AdBoard" for short) is made up of local educators, volunteers and EPACS supporters. By contributing their passion and insights in support of our mission, they have made great contributions to our school's academic successes. We thank our AdBoard members for their on-going enthusiasm and dedication, and invite you to meet them:

Ambalika Sudan, Turvo Inc.
Ambalika Sudan joined the Advisory Board in 2011. A Palo Alto resident, she was impressed by the school's mission to send every single student to college and is blown away by the impact the school is having on the local community. Proving that EPAPA can be addictive, she is also currently a mentor in the EPAPA college mentorship program. Ambalika has a B.A. from Columbia University and currently works at Salesforce IQ in Palo Alto.

Anjuli Mehrotra, Physician 
Dr. Anjuli Mehrotra is an Allergist/Immunologist in private practice in Mountain View, CA. She completed her undergraduate degree at MIT and medical school at Cornell. She then trained at the University of Washington before entering practice and joining the Stanford faculty. Dr. Mehrotra also serves as Adjunct Clinical Faculty at Stanford University Medical Center, teaching residents and fellows in the Allergy/Immunology department. She also works with the Stanford Alliance for Food Allergy Research (SAFAR), a research organization dedicated to working on a cure for food allergies.  Dr. Mehrotra has a special interest in patient education and preventative medicine and aims to give quality, personalized care.

David Yuan, Technology Crossover Ventures
David Yuan joined TCV in 2005, and is a General Partner focusing on software, internet, and information services. David currently serves on the boards of Act-On, AppNexus, Merkle, Sitecore, and Siteminder.comand his other active investments include Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and OSIsoft. His prior board directorships include ExactTarget (NYSE: ET, acquired by Salesforce.com)  and, Seismic Micro Technology (acquired by IHS). Prior investments include Global360 (acquired by OTEX), RenRen (NYSE: RENN), Splunk (NASDAQ: SPLK) and Tinyprints (acquired by SFLY). David has been recognized by AlwaysOn's VC 100 and multiple times by Forbes Magazine's "Midas List" of the top 100 technology investors. Prior to joining TCV, David was an investment professional with JPMorgan Partners, a global private equity firm. Prior to JPMorgan Partners, David was an early executive at 1stUp (acquired by CMGI), and a management consultant in the San Francisco office of Bain & Company. David received an AB in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. 

Erik Nierenberg, Litmus
As Vice President of User Growth at Salesforce.com, Erik worked on driving user growth across the Salesforce platform and clouds through product management, partnerships, and corporate development. In his 6 years at Salesforce, Erik has worked across sales, marketing, business development, product management, and strategy.  Previously, Erik was a venture capitalist, a consultant for Bain & Company, and an early employee at a nonprofit in Boston called The Bridgespan Group. He holds a MBA from Stanford and degree in Economics from Pomona College.

Jacqueline Garcia, Community Volunteer
Jacqueline brings to the organization a diverse set of experiences that share a common thread of creativity and holistic enrichment of youth. She has been particularly passionate about empowering people of all ages, but in particular young women, as an equitation instructor of over 20 years.  Jacqueline served as a parent leader in development efforts for the Peninsula School, co-chairing the auction fundraiser for three years.  She co-founded and served on the board of The Luna Park Arts Foundation, which promotes the arts in the South Bay and in local schools and youth organizations. Jacqueline developed her creative and organizational skills at Ralph Lauren and at Estee Lauder, where she served as VP of West Coast Operations. 

John Rethans, Head of Digital Transformation Strategy at Google 
John Rethans joined the Advisory Board in 2007 after teaching fourth and fifth grade at EPACS from 2002 - 2005.  John currently works at Apigee where he advises global enterprise customers on their digital transformation strategies. He received his BA in History and European Studies from UCLA and an MBA from Santa Clara University. John loves EPACS/EPAPA because the kids inspire, the teachers are passionate, the parents are involved, and the principals drive innovation and improvement year after year. 

Michael Berman, TenMark Education
Mike Berman joined the EPACS staff in the spring of 2003. He has served as the Director of Development and Community Partnerships since 2009. Mike worked as a middle school Humanities teacher until July 2008, when he joined the staff of East Palo Alto Phoenix Academy as a college counselor/academic advisor, part-time dean of students, after school program director, and "utility infielder." In spring of 2009, he settled in to his two-part role: college counselor at the high school and director of development for K-12. While earning his BA and MA in US History from Stanford University, Mike tutored at several different schools in East Palo Alto. The experience inspired him to learn more about this fascinating and vibrant community, and he wrote his master's thesis about the history of East Palo Alto. Originally from Silver Spring, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC, Mike has remained at EPACS and EPAPA because this school is his family away from his family, and he is dedicated to seeing every student graduate from a four-year college or university.

Nancy Rosenthal, Community Volunteer
Nancy has been a member of the EPACS Advisory Board since 2008, focusing on expanding EPACS' base of financial support. She began her involvement with EPACS mentoring a group of middle school boys and continues to volunteer in the elementary school classrooms. Prior to volunteering with EPACS, Nancy held multiple strategy and marketing roles in the healthcare field. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from Pomona College, and an MBA and Masters of Public Health from University of California, Berkeley.

Peter Gifford, Regis Management, Inc.
Peter Gifford joined the East Palo Alto Charter School Advisory Board in the spring of 2004. He brings a diverse background in finance, strategy, business development, and fundraising. Peter currently works at Regis Management Company, a private investment firm in Palo Alto. Peter received his AB in Political Science from Stanford University and his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Peter loves working with the passionate faculty and staff of EPACS and seeing the tremendous impact the school is having in the community.

Rachel Stewart, Western Digital
Rachel Stewart joined the Advisory Board in 2011. She is the Corporate Records Manager for SanDisk Corporation. Previous to joining SanDisk, Rachel spent 27 years at Intel Corporation, managing the worldwide Corporate Records and Archives Programs. She began her involvement with EPACS during her tenure as president of the Silicon Valley Chapter of ARMA, in 2009, when she co-chaired the annual Pancake breakfast. She tells everyone of her very first tour at EPACS when two young boys proudly and efficiently showed her around their campus. They made her proud to be a Latina. Most of all they made her want to be part of this school, that was making a difference. 

Vicky Evans, Community Volunteer
Vicky Evans joined the EPAPA staff as a College Counselor in 2009. In that capacity she works tirelessly to guide our students and families through the college-going practice. Before joining the EPACS-EPAPA family in 2009, Vicky spent the previous 8 years at Downtown College Prep in San Jose, one of the first charter high schools in the state, where she developed the College Guidance program. Vicky received her BS in Human Development and Elementary and Secondary teaching credentials from UC Davis and earned an MBA from Santa Clara University. Our school's staff, students and families are the beneficiary of Vicky's years of experience and success preparing students to be the first in their families to attend and complete college.

Zachary Bogue, Founders Den, Data Collective
Zack joined the EPACS Advisory Board in 2003. Zack is an entrepreneur and real estate investor, focused on investing in and advising early stage big data companies. He is a Managing Partner of Founders Den, a shared office space and private club for experienced entrepreneurs and their friends. Previously, Zack cofounded Montara Capital Partners, a real estate private equity fund. He was previously an associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and a law partner at Virtual Law Partners. At EPACS, Zack founded and ran our High School Application Workshop for our eighth graders. Later, once we'd expanded to have a high school, he helped develop our College Mentors program. Zack also brings his past experience as a volunteer at two charter schools in Washington DC. Zack earned his AB from Harvard University and his JD from Georgetown Law School. He is most impressed with the school's strong culture of success and high expectations it sets for its students.