Introducing New Board Members

By Mount Tamalpais College | April 7, 2019

Published in the April 2019 newsletter, which you can read in its entirety here.

In 2018, the Prison University Project welcomed six new members to the board of directors.

Theresa Roeder is Professor of Decision Sciences in the College of Business at San Francisco State University. There, she is actively involved in improving student access to education as well as the education itself. She earned her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at UC Berkeley, where she also occasionally teaches. Theresa is a current Prison University Project math tutor and has co-taught Introduction to Business and Communications. She previously served on the Board of Directors for and as webmaster of the Oakland Symphony Chorus.

Jeff Feinman is the West Coast Executive Director of Springboard Collaborative, a nonprofit that supports school districts to close the reading achievement gap through family engagement. Prior to leading Springboard, Jeff was the Vice President of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula where he redesigned all college access programming. A Bay Area native and UC Berkeley and USF alum, Jeff also led Mission Graduates as its Executive Director from 2006-2012 and founded The DJ Project — an urban arts program that leverages hip-hop pedagogy and entrepreneurship to engage young adult populations. The program celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2019.

Patrice Berry is currently a FUSE Corps Executive Advisor in the Office of Mayor Libby Schaaf in Oakland, CA. Previously, she was the Director of College Track, East Palo Alto. Prior to College Track, Patrice served as director of the Student Success Center at the Netter Center for Community Partnerships and co-founded the Leaders of Change program. Patrice earned her B.A. in political science from Swarthmore College and holds an M.Ed. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, where she was a Woodrow Wilson-Rockefeller Brothers Fund fellow. She currently is completing her Ph.D. at Temple University.

Haley Pollack is the Principal of College and Career Pathways at Five Keys Schools and Programs. She has been an educator for over ten years, working in a variety of capacities to help students meet their own educational goals and gain confidence in their own innate abilities. After receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she taught History and Gender Studies to a wide range of students at San Francisco State University, Diablo Valley College, and Santa Clara University. As a volunteer with the Prison University Project, Haley taught a number of classes, including working in study hall as a writing tutor. As an advisor at College Track, she worked with low-income and first-generation college students, helping them to achieve their goals of a college degree.

Kathy Richards, J.D., retired from a solo law practice focused on family and dependency law. She has served as an instructor since 2014 for the Prison University Project and as coach for San Quentin’s Ethics Bowl team. Kathy is currently the Treasurer on the Board of Directors of the Sonoma Speakers Series. Previously, Kathy served as a Board member for the Lawyer Referral and Information Services under the auspices of the SF Bar Association and as a Board member and Secretary of the Willmar Family Grief & Healing Center. She has taught as an Adjunct Professor of Legal Writing and Research at Golden Gate University School of Law and Adjunct Professor of Family Law at SF State Paralegal Program.

Elana D. Leoni is the Founder of Leoni Consulting Group LLC, a boutique consultancy aimed at helping edtech organizations with their online marketing efforts, specifically focusing on social media, influencer, and content marketing, along with authentic community building. Prior to this, Elana spent eight years as the Director of Social Media Strategy & Marketing at Edutopia / The George Lucas Educational Foundation. Elana also spent five years within a marketing capacity at a SaaS corporate philanthropy startup, specializing in CSR and corporate volunteerism. Elana graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelors in Business Administration from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and recently graduated from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley with her M.B.A.

Please note that the Prison University Project became Mount Tamalpais College in September 2020.