Melieni has served on the Board from the beginning and made major contributions in guiding the first years of our development.  This is her second term as Board Chair. In April 2010 she received the Nonprofit Board Leader Award given annually by the Volunteer Center in recognition of the achieve-ments of outstanding nonprofit board members in the Bay Area. Her background in public health gives her a breadth of understanding about community health. Her Tongan heritage has made her an invaluable resource in developing culturally appropriate methods for addressing chronic disease issues in the Tongan population.  Melieni is the co-founder of Taulama for Tongans, a volunteer nonprofit that provides health education to the Pacific Islander community.

Julio has been a board member since 2000 and served as board President from 2005-2008. With over 20 years in community grassroots organizing, he is attuned to the needs of the community, particularly regarding immigrant issues and community education. For three years he worked with the International Institute of San Francisco’s San Mateo County Citizenship and Community Education Program. Currently, he is the Program Director of LEARN, a One East Palo Alto initiative that emphasizes the involvement of parents in their children’s education. Out of this effort, the nonprofit Nuestra Casa was created to help youth succeed by developing their families’ language, communication and leadership skills. He now works part-time with Nuestra Casa as the Leadership Program Coordinator.

After graduating from the University of California, Santa Cruz with a BA in psychology, Manuel was an elementary school teacher in Redwood City. In 1998 he moved to Barcelona where he taught English and worked with the Centre Integral de Serveis, coordinating group therapy and managing a caseload of patients in a mental health clinic. He now works with San Mateo County Child Support Services as a social worker. He has well developed cross-cultural skills and is an adept and thoughtful communicator.

A resident of East Palo Alto since 1955, Marcelline has raised her family in this community and knows firsthand how important it is to provide access to health care. She is very aware of the importance of providing culturally sensitive services. She attended Foothill and Canada Colleges and worked at Sequoia Union High School District for many years before retiring.

Vern is well known in the community of East Palo Alto where he grew up. He uses his communication and organizing skills to promote events for community groups including a popular local car club and now for RFHC. He worked with FEMA in 1994 where he was sworn in as a reservist. He now owns a handyman and landscaping business and, on the side, moonlights as a limo driver. Vern is active in the recovery community and is a member of All of Us or None, a nonprofit that supports the families of prisoners. He also plays the bass for churches in the community.

As a patient of the clinic, Senseria represents the patient’s perspective. She was invited to serve on the Board because she is forthright and effective in communicating the needs of her community. She is raising two teens, her daughter and a nephew. She knows the issues and challenges of parenting. Her compassion helps keep the clinic in balance.

Karen, one of our newest members, grew up in East Palo Alto. She worked at Hewlett-Packard for nearly 30 years in a variety of positions, gaining experience in such areas as Fabrication, HR, Marketing, Customer Service, IT, Support Management, Order Fulfillment and Relocation.  After leaving H-P, Karen taught grades K-12 as a substitute teacher for the Dekalb County School District in Decatur, GA. Karen then served as Central Records Supervisor for the DeKalb County Police Department. She retired and returned to East Palo Alto. Karen earned a B.S degree in Business Management and a Masters of Education in Instructional Technology.

Carlota graduated from Mills College with a BA degree in psychology in May 2010.  She received the Mills College Dean’s Scholarship, the Bay Area Gardner’s Foundation Scholarship and Humanities & Social Sciences Division Scholarship among others. Prior to Mills, she received two Associate degrees with honors from Cañada College where she was recognized for outstanding academic achievement.  Carlota formerly worked with One East Palo Alto’s after school program. where she created a multimedia arts curriculum for the students and organized parent involvement.  A resourceful and dedicated young woman, Carlota says, “My final destination is law school.”

Jonathan Lindeke, formerly a partner at Foley & Lardner LLP, specializes in health care law, corporate and antitrust law. At Foley & Lardner he was a member of the firm’s health care industry team and its antitrust practice group. He has over 32 years of experience in the practice of law. For 22 years, Jonathan specialized in the health care industry, providing advice and counsel to clients including hospitals and hospital systems, physicians and medical groups, academic medical centers, long-term care providers, HMOs, and public entities such as health care districts and county governments. He has extensive experience with managed health care, including capitated and “global risk” payment arrangements, as well as health care joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions. He has authored articles published in Inside Health Law. He received his law degree at Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California Berkeley.

Born and raised in Fiji, our newest board member worked in broadcasting as a producer and journalist for Fiji Television before coming to the States. She founded Ultimate Homecare Services in 2001. She is also a board member of the East Palo Alto YMCA and a member of Pacific Island Community Center.

Gordon was a General Partner at Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm, for over 20 years. He held management positions in the biomedical and healthcare industries and has been a director of several private and public companies. Gordon has extensive experience in nonprofit governance, board leadership and philanthropy. A trustee of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation from 1986 through 2000, he served as Chairman of the Board from 1990 to 1995.  From 1992 through 2002, he was on the Board of Peninsula Community Foundation and was the Chairman from 1998 to 2001. A Dartmouth College graduate, he was Chairman of the Board of Overseers at Dartmouth Medical School.  Currently he serves on the Board of Woods Hole Research Center and was formerly a trustee of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He is the founder of the Sun Valley Writers Conference.  In May 2010 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Avenidas, recognizing his outstanding achievements.

Raymond is a resident of the East Palo Alto who brings valuable experience to the board in the field of recovery. He serves as the Coordinator of Voices of Recovery, an organization sponsored by San Mateo County’s Behavioral Health and Recovery Services.

Sherri Sager has represented Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital since the very foundation of our community health center and acted as Board Liaison since its first Board meeting in 2000. As the Chief Government Relations Officer, she is responsible for developing and advocating positions on legislation and public policies that impact Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and the children it serves. An advocate and leader in the public arena for over 30 years, she is widely recognized for her political acumen and understanding of public healthcare policy.