After a successful 30-year advertising career working primarily for Sunset Magazine and the Smithsonian, Charles returned to teaching and coaching young people later in his career. For a number of years, he taught social studies and coached golf at Presentation High School in San Jose. In 2005, he joined with friends and neighbors to assist first-generation, financially needy students successfully navigate and graduate from college by offering scholarships to three deserving young women. Today, the organization they created has accelerated the success of over 400 deserving scholars. Charles graduated from Santa Clara University.
Bob Couch has spent over 30 years in senior marketing roles with big-brand, high-tech, start-up, and non-profit organizations. Most recently he was the Chief Marketing Officer with Selequity, and prior to that he was part of the founding team of Cristo Rey San Jose Jesuit High School and served as its Chief Operating Officer. During his career, he has also been an SVP with Visa, Zilog, a VP with Embarcadero Technologies and Responselogic, and a Sr. Director with Anheuser-Busch Companies. In addition to Cristo Rey, Bob has served with other non-profits as a board member of the San Jose Symphony Orchestra, the World Bird Sanctuary, and the Metro Theatre Circus. He has also participated as the chair of the Bellarmine Parents Development Committee and a member of the International Conservation Committee of The Nature Conservancy. Bob’s professional organization affiliations include the Association of National Advertisers, the National Advertising Review Board, the Public Relations Vice President’s Roundtable, and the Semiconductor Industry Association. Bob and his wife Suzanne have three grown sons who all attended very expensive private colleges, which is why he worked so long and still consults.
Erica currently leads the accounting department of a public company that sells PERS devices as the Corporate Controller. She has worked diligently to build the Company's accounting department to meet SEC/GAAP standards.
She previously worked as a Director of Assurance at PwC, a public accounting firm that provides a variety of tax, audit, and advisory services and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). She provided audit services to clients in the software industry but has provided similar services to clients in the life science and venture capital industry. She also held a co-lead position for the firm's BANW Latino Inclusion Network (LIN) and worked closely with fellow Latinx colleagues to provide an environment that embraces diversity and inclusion through mentorship programs, community service, and volunteer work.
As a leader of LIN, Erica assisted in a number of events including assisting in a Spanish Blockchain presentation to the 2019 RobotiX Experience student winners from Mexico City. Erica has also worked closely with PCF in identifying individuals for the organization’s mentorship program and leading a resume workshop. Erica is originally from Watsonville and moved to the Bay Area when she decided to attend Santa Clara University as a transfer student and graduated with a B.S. in Accounting. As a first-generation student, her accessibility to higher education was through the community college pathway. Her time at Hartnell Community College paved the way to her interest in accounting. While attending Hartnell Community College, Erica worked at a local candy shop as a candy maker.
Throughout her three years working at the candy shop, she worked closely with the owner, a first-time business owner and witnessed the struggles, including finding an accountant that could manage the finances/books. During her time at the candy shop and attending community college, Erica realized her passion for business/accounting and for helping small businesses, which paved her interest in majoring in accounting.
Michael currently is a co-founder of HealthLens, LLC, an online telemedicine platform that allows patients to receive diagnosis and treatment anytime, anywhere. Previously, he was Senior Partner at Olliance Group, a strategic open-source consulting group, held various executive management positions at Intel Corporation, and served as Vice President and General Manager of several business lines at Daisy Systems. Mike holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cornell University. He and his spouse Vicki have a long-standing commitment to community service, with Mike serving on many non-profit boards for the past 20 years.
Alicia Aguirre is a former elected official and educator in the San Francisco
Bay Area. She was an elected member of the City Council in the City of
Redwood City where she served as Mayor, Vice Mayor, and Council member.
She is the first Latina Mayor in the history of Redwood City. She also served
as a Trustee and President of the Redwood City Elementary School Board
prior to joining the City Council.
Professionally, Alicia is a professor at Cañada College. She is the
coordinator and a professor in the ESL Department and teaches in the
Spanish Department. She holds an M.A. from Eastern Michigan University
and has done doctoral studies in Social Anthropology at the Universidad
Iberoamericana in Mexico City. She was a Fulbright Exchange Professor in
Argentina.
Alicia is the daughter of immigrant parents from Mexico, first generation to
graduate from college, proud mother of two young men with four
grandchildren.
Alicia is a regional leader focused on issues of social equity and immigrant
rights, affordable housing, transportation, infrastructure, and economic
empowerment for all socio-economic residents of Redwood City and the
region.
Mark served as a senior executive in marketing, finance, and business operations for 25 years at Apple during the company's hyper-growth phase. He was fortunate to have helped launch many signature products like the iPhone, iTunes, and the App Store. Before Apple, he negotiated contracts and schedules to develop critical defense and aerospace systems at Lockheed Martin. Prior to Lockheed, he gained valuable experience at a tech startup which failed miserably.
In recent years, Mark has focused much of his time and talent on board leadership for nonprofit organizations focused on providing opportunities to young people facing difficult circumstances, such as homelessness, health issues, involvement in juvenile justice or foster care, and lack of access to higher education. To those ends, he served as board chair for HomeFirst Services of Santa Clara County - one of the largest providers of homeless support services in the Bay Area. Mark was also board chair for Fresh Lifelines for Youth, which partners with youth to unlock their potential, disrupt the pipeline to prison, and advance justice in California and beyond. He currently also serves on the board of First Place for Youth which helps foster youth build the skills they need to make a successful transition to self-sufficiency and responsible adulthood. In his spare time, Mark volunteers with Angel Flight West to fly free medical transportation flights for people in need.
Mark and his wife Mari live in San Jose, California and spend a lot of time traveling, camping and hiking in the West, and visiting their three grown children.
Charley has held marketing and sales management positions at Apple, Microsoft, Cisco and other high-tech companies over the past 30 years. He is passionate about the power of education to transform lives and increase access to opportunities. Charley grew up in an Ohio community where only about 50% of high school students went on to college. There he saw firsthand how a college education opened up more career opportunities and earning power for graduates than for those who did not attend college.
He has also served on the Board of the Menlo-Atherton High School Foundation for the Future. In addition to his board roles, Charley teaches financial literacy to Bay Area high school students through the nonprofit AbleWorks, and has coached Alpine Little League Baseball and AYSO soccer. Charley received a B.A. degree in History/Political Science from Colorado College. He and his wife Cheryl have two children and live in Menlo Park.
After nearly four decades in higher education administration at San Francisco State University, Jo Volkert brings to the PCF board of directors a strong commitment to helping students achieve their goal of a college education. As Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management at SF State, she had responsibility for delivery of services that allowed students from schools throughout California to be admitted, receive sufficient financial aid, obtain needed classes, and ultimately complete their undergraduate degrees. She forged partnerships with local school districts, community colleges, and community organizations to assure that first-generation, low-income students saw the university as a welcoming destination and then received the support they needed to persist to graduation. She served as board member and Vice Chair of the SF State Foundation for 30 years. A resident of San Carlos since 1993, Jo has devoted time since her retirement to a community organization that offers tutoring to local elementary students who need academic encouragement. She earned a B.A. in English from Occidental College and holds a Ph.D. in Administration and Policy Analysis from the School of Education at Stanford University.
Anne is a dynamic leader with a robust background in educational advancement. As the Director of Capital Campaign & Alumni Engagement at Hillbrook School, she drives strategies to secure substantial financial support for school expansion and cultivates an impactful alumni program that prominently showcases the school's success. In her prior role as Director of Community & Alumni Engagement at Pinewood School, Anne excelled in fostering a strong sense of community and maintaining positive relationships with diverse stakeholders. With over a decade of experience in entrepreneurship and business, Anne combines CPA and CMA credentials with financial expertise and an unwavering commitment to social services and education.
Anne's passion for helping first-generation college graduates like herself has led her to serve as a board member of The Peninsula College Fund. In this role, Anne is deeply committed to supporting and empowering young people to achieve their educational and professional goals.
Dustan is a Principal in the Los Altos office of Cerity Partners, specializing in the Wealth Management practice. He focuses on providing tailored investment advisory and wealth planning services to high-net-worth individuals, families, and foundations.
Before joining Cerity Partners, Dustan was a Senior Associate at IndexIQ Advisors, LLC in New York where he worked on the portfolio management, trading, and capital markets team for the firm’s passive investment funds. Prior to that role, he served as an Analyst alongside the Chief Investment Officer conducting quantitative research and analysis to support the fund strategies and proprietary indices. Dustan began his career at GE Capital.
Dustan earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Johnson & Wales University. He is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®) and a member of the Financial Planning Association of Silicon Valley.
Dustan lives in Santa Clara, CA with his wife and daughter.
Phil currently works as a Manager for Blended Learning at PowerMyLearning where he leads program implementation to increase student achievement in low-income schools in the Bay Area. Previously, he served as Executive Director of The Peninsula College Fund, and as Executive Director of The Peninsula Bridge Program where he led all aspects of an organization serving over 250 middle school students from East Palo Alto, east Menlo Park, Redwood City, and San Mateo. He also served as Director of Summer Programming at Crystal Springs Uplands School. He started his career teaching at an elementary school in San Mateo that was largely Latino and Pacific Islander. Phil graduated from Bucknell University with degrees in Education and Economics. He holds a multi-subject teaching credential, Montessori teaching credential, and a Masters in Public Administration from Notre Dame de Namur University.
Dr. Hernan Bucheli is the Provost and Senior Vice President of Notre Dame de Namur University. Previously, he served as vice provost at Saint Mary's College of California. He was formerly vice president for external affairs at Notre Dame de Namur University, and he also served as assistant vice chancellor for enrollment and student affairs at Chapman University. His distinguished career as a higher education administrator spans more than 20 years. He has a proven track record of achieving impressive results in administrative leadership, strategic enrollment management, new academic program development, government relations, community relations, new business and partnership development, as well as raising the level of student centeredness and building institutional brand awareness. Additionally, he has led efforts that have earned national recognition for excellence in institutional marketing, branding, and retention. Dr. Bucheli holds a doctorate from Northwestern University with a concentration in communications and organizational leadership, an M.A. in communication from Barry University, and a B.A. in international relations from San Francisco State University.
The Peninsula College Fund is a 501 (c)(3) tax exempt organization, Federal Tax ID: 26-4293269
