Staff

Community

Executive Office

Tessie Guillermo, President and CEO [bio]

Millie Guillermo-Trovão, Executive Assistant to the President and CEO [bio]

Community Investments

Laura L. Efurd, Vice President and Chief Community Investment Officer [bio]

Jessica Eting, Program Associate [bio]

Brian Gallagher, Senior Program Associate [bio]

Ruth E. Williams, Community Investment Officer [bio]

Robin Wu, Community Investment Officer [bio]

Fund Development and Communications

Timothy C. Wu, Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer [bio]

John Hoffman, Director of Business Development and External Affairs [bio]

Margaret Stangl, Communications Manager [bio]

Jacinda Wong, Development Associate [bio]

Finance and Operations

Phillippe Paniagua Wallace, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial and Operating Officer [bio]

Vonnie Chan, HR and Operations Manager [bio]

John M. Hayes, Accounting and Finance Manager [bio]

Amro Radwan, Manager of Technology [bio]

Beth Sachnoff, Receptionist/Administrative Assistant [bio]

Staff Biographies

Vonnie Chan is HR and Operations Manager with primary responsibility for ensuring that the human resources, benefits administration, and facilities management maximizes the ability of the Foundation to function smoothly and effectively.

Vonnie has a broad range of operations experience in the non-profit and corporate sectors, having most recently served as operations coordinator for Wild Planet Toys, a leading company in innovating and designing toys that encourage creativity and learning without resorting to violence or gender stereotypes. Her non-profit work experience includes positions at Eth-Noh-Tec, Asian Law Caucus, and Asian Women’s Shelter.

Her community work also includes launching a multi-lingual legal clinic for Asian survivors of domestic violence, and researching her family genealogy for the In Search of Roots program which promotes exploration of the Chinese immigrant history and experience in America.

Laura L. Efurd is Vice President and Chief Community Investment Officer. She is responsible for all of the foundation’s programmatic work including grants, initiatives and policy development and implementation. Ms. Efurd has over 15 years of legislative and public policy experience. She served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison in the Clinton Administration. She coordinated the Administration's legislative activities around employment and training issues as Associate Director of Legislative Affairs for the U.S. Department of Labor. Laura was Legislative Director to the late Congresswoman Patsy T. Mink of Hawaii, working on policy issues related to education, labor, welfare, civil rights and health care. She is a recipient of the Women's Information Network Young Women of Achievement Awards and a 2002 Asian Pacific American Women's Leadership Institute Fellow. She serves on the Federal Communications Commission Consumer Advisory Committee and the Board of Trustees for the Patsy Takemoto Mink Foundation for Low-Income Women & Children.

Jessica Eting is a Program Associate for the foundation, providing support to the Community Investment Team. Previously, she worked as an Administrative Assistant to the Director and Human Resources Director of the Associated Students of the University of California Auxiliary. She has spent time as a volunteer at the East Bay Sanctuary, an immigrant and refugee rights non-profit, and was an adult literacy tutor for the Berkeley Reads program. A graduate of UC Berkeley, Jessica has a B.A. in Political Economy of Industrial Societies and a B.A. in Ethnic Studies.

Brian Gallagher is a Senior Program Associate, providing support for the Digital
Storytelling and Leadership & Policy initiatives. Prior to ZeroDivide, he
worked in Programs at the University of California, San Francisco, Comprehensive
Cancer Center. Previously, he worked as an intern for U.S. Congressman, Mike
Thompson in Washington, D.C. Brian received a B.A. in Religious Studies from UC
Berkeley.

Tessie Guillermo is President and CEO of ZeroDivide. Prior to ZeroDivide, Ms. Guillermo served for 15 years as CEO of the Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, a leading national health policy/advocacy organization with offices in San Francisco and Washington, D.C. In 2000, Ms. Guillermo was appointed by former President Bill Clinton to serve as an inaugural member of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. She currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Board for The California Endowment, and for Catholic Healthcare West. Ms. Guillermo is also a member of the Board of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, the Nonprofit Finance Fund in New York and Northern California Grantmakers (NCG). Ms. Guillermo is an alumna of the University of California, Berkeley and California State University, East Bay, with a BA in Economics. She is a graduate of the Gallup Leadership Institute and was a 1997 Fellow of the Asian Pacific American Women's Leadership Institute.

Millie Guillermo-Trovão is the Executive Assistant to the President and CEO. Her background encompasses over 25 years of practical administrative experience that includes providing executive level support for top management teams in corporate environments such as oil and gas exploration, accounting and construction management firms, and a high-tech Silicon Valley company.

Prior to ZeroDivide, Millie worked as a part-time Technical Analyst at a nonprofit health policy and advocacy group. In that capacity she developed and implemented a survey form designed for the CDC to use for collecting demographic, health and economic data on underserved populations for their nationwide database. She also took this time out from her full-time professional career in order to provide 24-hour home health care for her mother who is debilitated by several strokes and her elderly father. Millie has five children, four of whom are now adults and has raised them mostly as a single parent. Although she is a true native San Franciscan at heart, she now lives in South Bay with her husband and two of her children.

John M. Hayes is the Accounting and Finance Manager. John brings over ten years of non-profit financial management and accounting experience with such groups as the Institute for Community Health Outreach and the STOP AIDS Project. He is also a former Treasurer on the Board of Directors for Bay Area Young Positives. He has a BA in Economics from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH.

John Hoffman is Director of Business Development. He is responsible for developing strategic partnerships leading to growth capital for the foundation’s investment portfolio. He brings over ten years of experience in creating and implementing successful strategies in business development and marketing. His past community affiliations involved work with Pacific Chamber Symphony, Taproot Foundation and New Leaf Services for Community. Prior to ZeroDivide, Mr. Hoffman worked for Groove Eleven, Sun Microsystems, IBM and US Bancorp. He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and has an MBA from the University of Washington.

Amro Radwan is Manager of Technology. At ZeroDivide, he is responsible for the foundation’s internal information technology infrastructure, including day-to-day issues and future growth. Prior to ZeroDivide, Amro was a technology consultant for companies such as Visa, SBC, Schlumberger and Food.Com. He is a technologist, social entrepreneur and youth mentor. Amro also heads a growing, technology consulting firm that focuses on bringing quality technology services to community based organizations and small businesses. As an active volunteer, Amro engages at-risk youth around the San Francisco Bay Area as a grassroots activist by helping them tell their stories through digital storytelling (film), music and other forms of media.

Beth Sachnoff is the Receptionist/Administrative Assistant for ZeroDivide and provides support for the Operations Staff. Beth is committed to using media as a tool for social justice and works with the Hip-Hop Association to provide resources for educators interested in using Hip-Hop in the classroom. Previously, she worked as a Research Assistant at Education, Training, Research Associates, where she worked on youth health studies for clients such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Beth graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a B.A. in Community Studies and is a proud San Francisco native.

Margaret Stangl is the Communications Manager and works closely with the Chief Strategy Officer in developing and implementing the Foundation's efforts in fostering strategic communications for social change. Prior to joining ZeroDivide, Margaret was the Corporate Web Manager for NightFire Software, Inc. Previously, she worked as Marketing Manager for GATX Capital Corporation. She brings a wealth of experience in project management, marketing, web and event management. She has a B.S. in Marketing from Golden Gate University.

Phillippe Paniagua Wallace is the Senior Vice President and ZeroDivide’s Chief Financial and Operating Officer. Mr. Wallace is responsible for financial and administrative operations, investment management, and has oversight of the Foundation's information technology department. In addition, he is integrally involved with ZeroDivide’s community investment activities. He also currently serves as treasurer on the board of Hispanics in Philanthropy. Mr. Wallace has twenty years of experience, spanning foundation and asset management, social entrepreneurship and technology corporate finance advisory.

Prior to joining ZeroDivide, he served as a vice president and corporate finance calling officer at SoundView Technology Group where he advised public and private technology companies on strategy, mergers and acquisitions and capital raising. He has an MBA in Strategy and Finance from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a Consortium for Graduate Studies in Management Fellow. Mr. Wallace received his BA from Harvard College and has a Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the CFA Institute.

Ruth E. Williams is a Community Investment Officer for ZeroDivide. Ms. Williams is responsible for a portfolio of media-related social justice grants and initiatives that strengthen families and empower young people through the use of information and communications technologies. A Bay Area resident since 1997, she has nonprofit, business and government experience including Deputy Director of Young Community Developers in San Francisco, a variety of San Francisco City and County positions, including Director of Operations for the Mayor's office and Senior Project Manager at the Department of Elections. She serves on the Citizen Advisory Committee of Grants for the Arts, San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund. Ms. Williams holds a Masters of Arts degree from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago.

Jacinda Wong is the Development Associate. She provides support to the Fund Development and Communications department. Prior to joining ZeroDivide, Jacinda was the Education and Workforce Development Coordinator at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, where she coordinated programs to bring together Chamber members, educators, and local officials. Previously, Jacinda worked in advertising and media buying. She has a BA in Communication from the University of Southern California.

Robin Wu is a Community Investment Officer primarily responsible for implementation of the ZeroDivide Fellowship. Robin joins ZeroDivide after having worked as a Projects Director in Program Services at CompassPoint Nonprofit Services for eight years. At CompassPoint, she oversaw the management of a three-year statewide initiative designed to build capacity in HIV prevention organizations throughout California serving people of color. She also managed various aspects of the consulting practice comprised of thirty-plus consultants who worked with over 300 Bay Area nonprofit organizations each year out of offices in San Francisco and San Jose.

Prior to working at CompassPoint, Robin oversaw minority access programs at the State Bar of California and provided staff direction to the Ethnic Minority Relations Committee, Committee on Women in the Law, Committee on Sexual Orientation Discrimination, and Committee on Legal Professionals with Disabilities. Previous to that, she carried out civil rights advocacy work at Chinese for Affirmative Action in San Francisco. Robin received her BA in East Asian Studies from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA with a concentration in arts management and marketing. She serves on several nonprofit boards and is an experienced carpool driver for her two kids’ various sports activities.

Timothy C. Wu, Esq., is Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer. He oversees external relations, partnership development, and communications. Prior to joining ZeroDivide in July 2003, he served as the Deputy Director and Program Director of the September 11 Fund in New York City, managing the distribution of over $500 million in disaster relief assistance. Mr. Wu served as a White House Fellow to US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala; as a journalist for CBS News, Inc.; an on-air reporter for HK-TVB News in Hong Kong; and Director of Development at CompassPoint Nonprofit Services in San Francisco. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Princeton University, a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, and is admitted to practice law in California. An active volunteer, Mr. Wu is the Immediate Past Chair of the board of KQED/NCPB, the nation's largest public broadcasting station; a former board member of Asian Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy; a former trustee of Princeton University; and Commissioner of the San Francisco Asian Art Commission. Mr. Wu also serves on the boards of San Francisco Ballet, College Track, Sequoia Hospital, and Tectonic Theater Project, creator of "The Laramie Project."