Dave Smith is the CEO of California Volunteers Fund (CVF). He previously worked with California Volunteers, Office of the Governor, as the Director of #CaliforniansForAll, the service initiative launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to establish a statewide volunteer corps to help with the state’s response to emergencies and disasters. He also served as a Senior Advisor to California Volunteers, assisting in creating and launching California Climate Action Corps, #CaliforniansForAll College Corps, and Youth Jobs Corps. He also partnered with CVF on creating pathways from service to jobs and built a pilot project supporting the leadership development of College Corps Fellows, while fostering skill sets and mindsets of bridge building and connecting across differences.
Previously, Dave founded X Sector Labs where he facilitated cross sector partnerships, boasting a client list including the World Economic Forum, Accelerator for America, Points of Light, NationSwell, Partnership for Public Service, California Forward, Hilinski’s Hope, and CalOZ on issues including national and community service, executive coaching, inclusive economic development, corporate citizenship, mental health innovation, and leveraging networks for impact. Dave has also advised and served on boards for Bipartisan Policy Center, Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools, The Corps Network, Common Cause, Concord Coalition, Davenport Institute, Independent Sector, Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Reimagining Service, and the United Way of the Bay Area. Dave is a graduate of UC Berkeley, and former chief executive of Mobilize.org, Presidio Institute, and the National Conference on Citizenship. He now lives with his wife Maya and two children in Lafayette, California, where he serves on the School Board.
Irma Gorrocino currently serves as the Director of Business Partnerships for the California Volunteers Fund. Prior to her role with CVF, she served as a community engagement advisor for Southern California Edison (SCE) where she implemented SCE’s strategy on corporate social responsibility including regional workforce development. Prior to her role, she worked as a public affairs specialist for Cerritos College aiding in the development of The Village, California’s first community college housing project exclusively for students experiencing housing insecurity. Recently through the CORO Workforce Leadership Network, Irma gained new insights on how to continue sustaining public, private, and nonprofit sectors to work together and create access to job opportunities in high-demand industries. At the start of COVID-19, Irma earned her master’s degree in public administration at California State University, Los Angeles. She is a recipient of the David Cruz Lizzaraga Fellowship through the TELACU Education Foundation. Irma serves as a board member to the Cerritos College Foundation and Alma Family Services, a mental health based non-profit. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism with an emphasis in Public Relations and a minor in Urban Planning from California State University, Northridge.
David Silver has a history of increasing opportunities for students from cradle to career. After graduating from UCLA, he became a teacher in Compton and Oakland and after earning his Masters from Harvard University, he founded and served as the principal of Think College Now, the first school in the area to receive the California Distinguished School Award. David then served as CEO of College Track, helping to expand to Los Angeles, Sacramento and Colorado. David was later appointed as the Director of Education by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, and together they created the Oakland Promise, raising $50M so every baby and high school senior from a low-income background in Oakland can receive money for college for a generation, and co-wrote a policy that now provides $35M/year for 30 years to support children cradle to career, including access to preschool for all 4-year olds through 2048.
David partnered with Mayor Schaaf to raise $125M for educational equity, including COVID-Relief efforts, the launch of Teachers Rooted in Oakland to increase teacher diversity by addressing housing insecurity and #OaklandUndivided - oaklandundivided.org a citywide effort to close the digital divide that in one year, provided 29,000 computers and increased home tech connectivity for students from low-income backgrounds from 12% to 98%. He co-founded and currently chairs Northern CA College Promise Coalition, a coalition of 50+ mayors, cities, college promises, and college access programs serving over 50,000 students through policy advocacy and partnerships. Currently, he serves as Director of Workforce for the California Volunteers Fund, working in close collaboration with California Volunteers, Office of the Governor, with a goal that CA Volunteer Fellows will have a pathway after their service fellowship to a full-time role in a career of their choice with opportunities for upward mobility, unlocking equitable workforce opportunities for those who are traditionally underserved, while building a potential model that also creates a workforce pipeline that represents CA, and tackles our state's most pressing challenges.
Tina serves as the inaugural Deputy Director of Workforce, committed to providing Fellows with the opportunities that inspire their passions and dreams and honor their experiences and talents.
Prior to joining California Volunteers Fund, Tina worked at College Track, a national college completion program. As Senior Site Director, she founded the first site in Los Angeles, a region that now serves more than 750 students, and also served as the national Director of Quality and Learning and Vice President of Site Support.
Previously, Tina taught Social Studies and English in the Los Angeles Unified School District where she was recognized as Teacher of the Year. Outside the classroom, Tina has worked for the Harvey Mudd College Upward Bound program, Teach For America, and the Office of the Secretary for Education in Sacramento as a California Executive Fellow.
As the first in her family to earn a college degree, Tina graduated from Pomona College and earned her M.Ed. from UCLA. She has served on the LAUSD Pilot School Steering Committee and on the advisory boards of UndocuScholars and Las Fotos Project.
Kaitlin Meyer, MPA, is a public administration and finance professional with experience in both the public and private sector. She serves as the California Volunteers Fund Senior Program Advisor, focusing on supporting the California Climate Action Corps and other national service, volunteerism, and civic engagement strategies and initiatives. Prior to joining the California Volunteers Fund in January 2023, Meyer was with California Volunteers, Office of the Governor, where she served as the Deputy Director of Finance and Compliance. A 2017 graduate of the Capital Fellows Program, Meyer holds an undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of San Diego and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Southern California's Price School of Public Policy. A proponent of life-long learning, Meyer has earned certificates from California State University, Sacramento in Leadership for the Government Manager and Applied Policy and Government. In joining the California Volunteers Fund, Meyer is excited to take what she has learned in her career to help scale and grow innovative and transformative service models in communities and states throughout the country.
Chantell Padilla is the Career Development Manager for the California Volunteers Fund. Inspired by her own AmeriCorps experience, she is motivated to provide holistic support to Fellows as they navigate the transition from Corps to Career.
Prior to joining the team, Chantell worked with the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools to recruit teachers, teacher residents, and families to the 20 LA Unified Schools within the Partnership network. She began her professional journey with the Partnership as an AmeriCorps VISTA College Success Advisor. In this role, she supported the implementation of the Partnership’s college-readiness initiative and provided college application advising to high school seniors.
Chantell received her undergraduate degree in Biology from the University of Southern California.
Sam Pansky is a social impact professional with experience across private, public, and non-profit sectors. Sam is the Development Associate and Grants Coordinator at the California Volunteers Fund. Previously, Sam has worked on numerous social impact campaigns within client services and strategy consulting. She has supported AmeriCorps' strategic rebranding efforts, DoGoodery and Propper Daley's impact campaigns, Center for Nonprofit Management's capacity building, and First 5 California and LA Department of Public Health's behavior change campaigns. Sam is driven by her passions for collective action, equity, and sustainability.
Sam received her undergraduate degree in Managing for Sustainability at Bucknell University as a Posse Foundation scholar.
Zena Amran is the Operations Coordinator for California Volunteers Corps to Career Program as part of her 9-month fellowship with Leadership for Educational Equity. Prior to coming on board, Zena was a Teach For America-DFW Alumna who taught high school social studies for 4 years in Dallas, TX. Coming from a diverse cultural background, Zena has brought a multitude of perspectives to the work in advancing educational equity inside and outside of the classroom. While in the classroom, Zena combined her experiences in understanding the inequities her students faced alongside the work she has done with local advocacy policy organizations, like Dallas CORE. Zena understands the work that is being done to advance educational equity requires students' voices to be meaningful and impactful. Zena received her undergraduate degree in Political Science at UC Berkeley, and her Masters in Education at Southern Methodist University.
Josh Fryday was appointed California’s Chief Service Officer by Governor Newsom. As a member of the Governor’s Cabinet, he leads service, volunteer and civic engagement efforts throughout California.
Fryday is a military veteran and the former Mayor of Novato, his hometown. He also served as President of Golden State Opportunity (GSO), leading on the expansion and implementation of the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) and other programs to provide financial security to millions of low-income working people in California.
Prior to GSO, he served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for NextGen Climate, a leading national organization focused on climate change and clean energy.
Fryday served in the military as an Officer in the United States Navy (‘09-‘13) as a member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps (JAG). He was stationed in the Office of Military Commissions, working on the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba detainee cases, and testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on the closing of Guantanamo. He also served overseas in Yokosuka, Japan, where he augmented the Navy’s 7th Fleet’s Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief efforts during ‘Operation Tomodachi’ following the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster.
Fryday received his law degree from UC Berkeley School of Law, and clerked in the US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California, as well as the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office for then District Attorney Kamala Harris.
He also received his undergraduate degree in Political Science and Philosophy from the University of California, Berkeley, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with highest honors. He later served on the UC Berkeley Alumni Board of Directors (06-09), where he co-founded the Equity Scholarship to increase diversity on the UC Berkeley Campus.
He is a former fellow with the Truman National Security Project, former Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and was a proud volunteer in the Dominican Republic with the Amigos De Las Americas Program. He currently serves as Board Chair for Demos, a national think-tank focused on issues of democracy and economic equality. Josh is married to Mollye Fryday, a public school teacher, and they have three energetic young boys, Shay, Calvin and Tam.
Jeff Hoffman is an accomplished corporate executive who has served on the global stage. Through board and commission leadership roles, he has a distinguished history working with business, non-profit, civic and government agencies on strategic direction and innovative programs. Jeff has a professional portfolio made up of four components: His consulting business, Jeff Hoffman & Associates; Founding Leader of the Institute for Corporate Citizenship & Philanthropy; Corporate Governance; and Pro Bono Volunteering/Service.
The Corporate Citizenship & Philanthropy Institute is part of the ESG Center at The Conference Board. Through convenings and research the Institute globally produces and disseminates timely, relevant, and thought-provoking content as well as actionable and trustworthy insights. As part of his role leading the Institute, Jeff regularly moderates webcasts and podcasts, speaks, and writes on the evolving role of the corporation in society.
Jeff Hoffman & Associates is a global corporate citizenship, philanthropy and civic engagement firm that enables businesses, organizations and individuals re-imagine a world full of purpose, hope, promise and opportunity while strengthening their own enterprise.
Working at The Walt Disney Company for 31 years, Jeff most recently served as Vice President of Disney Worldwide Outreach. In this role, he had global responsibility for Disney’s philanthropy, community relations and cause marketing activities including its award-winning employee volunteer program, Disney VoluntEARS.
Jeff’s board memberships include Points of Light, California Commission on Service (California Volunteers), and the Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy at USC. He is a Leadership Fellow of the National Association of Corporate Directors.
Sophia Garcia is the Executive Director of Community Affairs & Government Relations at Verizon where she leads the community engagement strategy in California. She manages the State Government Affairs (SGA) Foundation budget in eight states in addition to serving as the West SGA liaison with the Corporate Social Responsibility team. Before stepping into her current role, Sophia shared responsibility for state legislative affairs in California.
Prior to joining Verizon, Sophia served as State Director of Government Affairs and Community Development for Advance America and as the Director of Finance & Programs for the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, engaging in advocacy and strategic coalition-building and mobilization.
Sophia serves as a board member of the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce Foundation, CA Volunteers Fund, LA Promise Fund, and Latinas Lead California. She also serves as an at-large board member of Verizon's Hispanic Support Organization (HSO).
Sophia has a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Pepperdine University and a Masters of Public Administration from the University of Phoenix. She resides in Sacramento, CA, with her husband Justin.
David Porges has dedicated his career to corporate responsibility, communications, and social impact. He is currently Director of Corporate Relations with Cal Poly Pomona, his alma mater.
Prior to joining the university, David spent 20 years leading corporate responsibility programs for Deloitte (1998 - 2015) and Grant Thornton (2015 – 2017). Before joining Deloitte, he led public affairs, government relations and communications at Coast Federal Bank in Los Angeles. He started his career in communications with Home Savings of America.
David serves on the California Volunteers Commission in the Office of the Governor and is a founding board member of its new foundation, California Volunteers Fund. He co-founded LA Community Leaders and California Volunteers Business Partners, two CSR networks.
David has served on several nonprofit boards and councils in his 30-year career. In 2013, he received the Outstanding Commissioner of the Year Award from California Volunteers and has also received the agency’s Hoffman Prize for his work in corporate responsibility.
Chelsea Seabron is an accomplished corporate leader with over a decade of leadership in the fields of philanthropy, management and entertainment.She currently is the Director of Social and Community Impact for the Jordan Brand at Nike. Most recently, she served as a Manager on Google.org (Google's Philanthropy) in San Francisco where she led global strategies to engage Google Employees in philanthropic giving and skilled volunteering opportunities that help nonprofits advance their missions within the most marginalized communities. Prior to joining Google, Chelsea was a Strategy Consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton in DC where she worked on Federal grant programs and social impact projects.
Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Chelsea began her collegiate career as a student-athlete (basketball) at Mercer University in Macon, GA and graduated with honors from New York University. Chelsea is the cofounder of BRIDGEGOOD -- a nonprofit focused on design for social good. In her spare time, Chelsea enjoys writing, playing tennis, all things Peloton, and spending time with family and friends (especially outdoors with water views or over good food).
Richard Goldman has an extensive business career most notably as co-founder of Men's Wearhouse which grew to over 700 stores across the US and Canada under his leadership. Mr. Goldman's expertise includes both marketing and merchandising, as well as communications with Wall Street. He has extensive public speaking experience and has served as a featured guest speaker at many universities across the country.
Following his retirement from Men's Wearhouse, Mr. Goldman continues today as a consultant to consumer-direct companies and several startups. He is the author of Luck by Design…Certain Success in an Uncertain World (2009) Winner of “Best General Non-Fiction” at the San Francisco Book Festival and a Finalist in the “Self-Help: Motivational” category at the National Best Books 2009. Mr. Goldman has served on several boards, including Mills College, Rutgers University, the Jewish Community High School and the Graduate School of International Business and Finance at Brandeis University. He is currently on the board of Demos and is the Board Chair at San Domenico School.