Joanne Hobbs, M.S. has a Masters of Science in Psychology, a community college teaching credentialin psychology and a K-12 digital media credential. She is a published, award-winning author (The Voice of the Infinite in the Small, Shambhala, 2002) photographer, teacher, environmental educator and international lecturer. She is also the founder and Executive Director of Catalyst for Youth, a public charity and educational California 501 (c) 3 corporation that offers art and garden programs to incarcerated youth in the Santa Clara County Juvenile detention facilities. She currently teaches full time at Burnett Middle School and part-time at the Art Institute Sunnyvale and when she is not teaching or mentoring teenagers and young adults, she is working on a book applying the metaphors of new science to how students grow and thrive entitled Teaching at the Edge of Chaos: Tending Youth on Fire.

Marcy Lauck, M.A. Organizational Development, is Supervisor of Continuous Improvement Programs in San Jose Unified School District and associate of Education for the Future (California State University at Chico), Marcy supports the implementation of strategic institutional change and data-based quality management processes throughout the district. Her responsibilities include the development, administration and expansion of the district's School Recognition Program, the district’s data warehouse initiative, annual School Climate Surveys (45,000 surveys per year) as well as support for the district's Baldrige initiative and the annual districtwide Community Conversations. As the district’s schools focus on student achievement, assess their progress and document their successes, Marcy helps them create coherent processes at every level and prepares them for the California Distinguished School and the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program. Under her leadership in the past five years, 29 SJUSD schools have been named as California Distinguished Schools and 11 as National Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence.

Lisa Bickford – Entrepreneur, Operations Professional, Co-Founder – Take Flight for Kids and People Paddle
Ms. Bickford was most recently with Yahoo in Sunnyvale working on network implementation.  Ms. Bickford was formerly Senior Vice President of Internet Service Provider Operations for USA Data, Inc., Mobilepro Corporation, and President of Nationwide Internet.  Ms. Bickford was President and Chief Operating Officer of InReach Internet from February 1999 thru October 2007.  Prior to joining InReach she held several technology positions with Bay Alarm Company working on technology, administration, and management. Her fields of expertise include telecommunication, data communications, network design and implementation, and managing complex computing environments, including data centers and communication networks. Her past experience includes managing service and support departments, call center operations, and computing professionals in a 24/7 security environment, as well as development and implementation of technology solutions. Ms. Bickford holds a Master's Degree in Business from University of the Pacific and a Bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies from California State University, Hayward. Ms. Bickford currently serves as Treasurer and Board Member for the California Internet Service Providers' Association as well as webmaster for Sunnyvale Rotary. Ms. Bickford is the co-founder of several non-profit events including People Paddle and Take Flight for Kids.  Ms. Bickford believes that there is no limit to what people can accomplish if they believe in themselves and the power they each carry inside.

Marilyn Pitman Waite is an educator, sculptress, and writer. Her community focus is the prevention of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Damage for which she helped create a Task Force in Santa Clara County, California, dedicated to that cause. She has created several series or bodies of work: Mother & Child, Storytellers, Children, and abstracts, one of which was a commission for a biotechnology company in Italy. Her writing has focused on family stories and a memoir, and her poetry touches on her daily observations of the simple and esoteric. “Sculpting and my creative projects nourish my soul and give me energy and vision for my work in the world”. My mission statement is “Creativity Heals the Abused Soul”.

Marilyn also created The Santa Clara County Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Task Force whose mission is to raise the community’s capacity to prevent, identify and address damage from prenatal alcohol and drug exposure. Their goals are to heighten awareness through information dissemination, to educate and train professionals about FASD and to support those whose family members are suffering from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. (See FASD program funded by a March of Dimes grant.)

Glenn Harris has a Master's degree in educational counseling, and credentials in Special Education, Educational Counseling, and multiple subjects. Glenn has worked with at risk children and teens for 25 years and has been a mentor and an advocate for community building. He has helped create a new charter school for at risk high school students– Pathfinder High School– where he was principal and currently teaches at Branham High School.