Luz A. Vega-Marquis,
President and CEO
Luz Vega-Marquis is president and CEO of Marguerite Casey Foundation, where she oversees the foundation’s $600 million endowment and $30 million grantmaking budget. Before joining Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2001, Ms. Vega-Marquis served as executive director of the Community Technology Foundation of California (CTFC), where she was instrumental in developing the strategic framework of CTFC’s grants program as well as energizing the CTFC vision of bringing information technology to underserved communities throughout California. Her nonprofit career also includes four years as vice president and chief operating officer at the National Economic Development and Law Center, an organization committed to providing technical, law and business expertise to low-income communities nationwide, and 17 years at The James Irvine Foundation, where she served as director of the grants programs and senior program officer in charge of the northern California office.
As president and CEO of Marguerite Casey Foundation, Ms. Vega-Marquis has positioned the foundation as a leader in movement building by shaping its grantmaking strategies to support a nationwide movement of low-income families. The foundation provides long-term general-support grants to organizations engaged in activism, advocacy and issue education in the 14 states with the highest concentration of family poverty in the United States. In 2009, foundation-supported grantees educated more than 1.5 million families about the policy issues that most affect their lives; mobilized almost three-quarters of a million people to participate in public actions, events and meetings; led more than 300 policy campaigns, with wins in areas such as education, juvenile justice, housing and immigration reform; and developed more than 27,000 core leaders in communities across the country.
In 2008, the foundation in partnership with its grantees launched Equal Voice for America’s Families. The yearlong campaign brought together more than 30,000 families and approximately 250 community organizations to lay the foundation for a multi-issue national family platform that addressed the needs of families across the country. Equal Voice is now a series of networks across the country working to effect policy change that will ensure the economic well-being of families.
Ms. Vega-Marquis focuses much of her efforts on changing public perception of and attitudes toward poor families. In 2010, the foundation released Raising Hope: The Equal Voice Story, a documentary that chronicles the lives of low-income working families and their participation in the Equal Voice campaign. The documentary was shown on PBS stations across the country. In 2010, Marguerite Casey also launched the Equal Voice online newspaper, dedicated to covering the stories of low-income families and the impact of policies and attitudes on their lives.
Ms. Vega-Marquis is the founder of Hispanics in Philanthropy and has served on numerous boards, including those of The California Wellness Foundation, Council on Foundations, Katalysis Foundation, Northern California Grantmakers and the Women’s Foundation of California. She currently serves on the board of directors of Independent Sector and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. Ms. Vega-Marquis received a Bachelor of Arts degree in modern languages from the University of San Francisco and earned a Master of Arts degree in Latin American studies from Stanford University.
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Kathleen Baca, Director of Communications
Kathleen Baca joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in February of 2006 as Director of Communications. Ms. Baca is responsible for the strategic development and management of communications with the press, grantees and other key stakeholders. She oversees the implementation and development of the Foundation’s communication strategy and Equal Voice Newspaper. Ms. Baca has more than 20 years experience in media, public affairs and public relations. For over ten years, she was a reporter in the San Francisco Bay Area where she covered local communities. Ms. Baca was the head of her own Public Relations firm in San Francisco, held the position of Public Information Officer for the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department under Governor Bill Richardson, and has worked extensively with community groups to develop and execute effective media strategies and campaigns. A native of New Mexico, Ms. Baca holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism and English from the University of New Mexico.
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Peter Bloch Garcia, Program Officer
Peter Bloch Garcia joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2006. His responsibilities include identifying, developing and soliciting grant proposals, conducting site visits and preparing grant recommendations. Before joining the foundation, Mr. Bloch Garcia served as an associate program officer in the research and evaluation department of the education division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Before entering the philanthropic field, he worked as a secondary-level teacher.
Mr. Bloch Garcia helped create and serves on the board of two nonprofit organizations: Latino Community Fund of Washington State, where he is president of the board. He is also involved locally with People of Color in Philanthropy Network and Social Justice Fund Northwest. Mr. Bloch Garcia holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a Master of Public Administration degree from the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington.
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Rich Boswell, Grants Administrator
Rich Boswell joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2010. He is responsible for facilitating grant processing by working with internal and external stakeholders, and for managing the accuracy of the grant database and records. Mr. Boswell previously served in the U.S. Air Force and has more than 10 years of administrative experience, including six years at Raynier Institute & Foundation. s
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Ericka Cox , Program Officer
Ericka Cox joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2010. Ms. Cox identifies, develops and solicits grant proposals, conducts site visits and prepares grant recommendations. Before joining the foundation, Ms. Cox served as executive director of SCOPE, a nonprofit organization in South Los Angeles that applies innovative workforce development strategies toward eradicating the root causes of poverty. Ms. Cox has 15 years of experience in community organizing, movement building, program management, and policy and organizational development that includes her work as director of community outreach for Service Employees International Union, as a member of Liberty Hill Foundation’s Environmental Justice Community Funding Board, and as co-founder of Workplace Hollywood, a nonprofit organization she created in partnership with DreamWorks entertainment corporation to award grants to community-based training providers that connect low-income communities with jobs in the entertainment industry.
Ms. Cox directed major policy campaigns as legislative deputy to Los Angeles Council member Ruth Galanter and has managed political campaigns for candidates seeking local, state and federal office. She has provided training and consulting for nonprofits, organizational alliances and foundations. Ms. Cox holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from the University of California, San Diego.
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Jennifer Gianni-Haubry, Finance Manager
Jennifer Gianni-Haubry joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2007. She is responsible for financial management, reporting and accounting activities including the preparation of financial and management reports, analysis and interpretation of data, and presentation of findings. She serves as treasurer on the board of the Latino Community Fund of Washington State. Mrs. Gianni-Haubry holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in accounting and a Master of Business Administration degree from Saint Martin’s University.
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Natalie Holmes,
Researcher
Natalie Holmes joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2010. As the foundation’s researcher, Ms. Holmes analyzes issues at the intersection of poverty and policy as they apply to the foundation’s work and to the field of philanthropy as a whole. As an undergraduate, she worked as an intern for the foundation, assisting with the Equal Voice for America’s Families campaign in 2008. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in the history of medicine from Yale University.
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Sunny Hong, Administrative Assistant
Sunny Hong joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2009. Ms. Hong supports the program officers for the Midwest and Southwest regions and the Home State Fund. She has 12 years of administrative and project coordination experience with Vulcan Inc., Walt Disney Imagineering, and Showorks Entertainment Group. A graduate of Full Sail University, she holds a degree in recording engineering.
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Alice Ito, Program Officer
Alice Ito joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2004. Ms. Ito identifies, develops and solicits grant proposals, conducts site visits and prepares grant recommendations. Before joining the foundation, she conducted education, research and oral history interviews at Densho, a nonprofit organization that educates about the principles of democracy and documents the experiences of Japanese-Americans incarcerated without due process of law during World War II. Ms. Ito directed the grant programs at the Social Justice Fund Northwest (formerly known as ATR, A Territory Resource), a foundation that supports organizations working for social, economic and environmental justice in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. Ms. Ito has more than 20 years of experience consulting to and staffing nonprofits and co-founded organizations including the Asian Women’s Shelter in San Francisco and People of Color Against AIDS Network in Seattle. She has served as a board member for numerous organizations including the Family Leadership Fund and Women’s Foundation of California. She serves on the board of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy and on the board of Grantmakers Concerned With Immigrants and Refugees. She is a graduate of Stanford University and attended the program in public policy at Claremont Graduate School in California.
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Suphatra Laviolette, Administrative Specialist, Communication
Suphatra Laviolette joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2010. As administrative specialist to the director of communications, she oversees the foundation’s social media strategy, develops collateral materials, assists in special projects, and writes news features, fact sheets and media statements. Suphatra comes to the foundation by way of public broadcasting, getting her start in production and later moving into fundraising and underwriting. At the University of New Hampshire, she was a student leader for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Summit, a leadership retreat focused on social justice. Ms. Laviolette has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English language and literature from the University of New Hampshire.
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Cheryl Milloy, Evaluation & Research Officer
Cheryl Milloy joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2008. She helps assess the effectiveness of the foundation’s work so that the foundation can continuously improve. Previously, Dr. Milloy conducted applied research and evaluated programs with Urban Policy Research and the Washington State Institute for Public Policy. She also managed programs with a nonprofit statewide coalition of youth organizations in Chicago.
She has a doctorate in human development and social policy from Northwestern University and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and public policy and secondary-level teaching certification from Swarthmore College.
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Kathy Mulady, Reporter, Equal Voice newspaper
Kathy Mulady joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2011. She has more than 20 years of journalism experience and was an award-winning daily newspaper reporter in California, Idaho and Washington state. She covered government, politics, communities and business for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer for more than a decade. Ms. Mulady graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in journalism.
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Piilani Pang, Office Manager
Piilani Pang joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2007. Ms. Pang is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day administrative functions of the foundation, including human resources, information technology, and office services and facilities. Before joining the foundation, Ms. Pang served as the program director for the Family Independence Initiative in Hawaii, a pilot site of a national project designed to reduce poverty by investing directly in families. She also staffed a collaborative project to develop a plan and the political will to provide health care for everyone in Hawaii. Her philanthropic experience stems from positions with Hawaii Medical Service Association Foundation and Aloha United Way. Ms. Pang was an active mediator with Mediation Center of the Pacific and a board member of College Connections Hawaii. She is a former co-chair of the Puget Sound chapter of Asian American/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy. Ms. Pang is a certified human resources professional and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and a Master of Business Administration degree, from the University of Hawaii.
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Cynthia Renfro, Director of Programs & Evaluation
Cynthia Renfro joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2003. Ms. Renfro oversees the foundation’s core grantmaking activities and evaluation strategy. Before joining Marguerite Casey Foundation, Ms. Renfro served as a program officer at the Beldon Fund and as a consultant to the Tides Foundation’s Iraq Peace Fund. Before joining the Beldon Fund, she staffed the Turner Foundation, first as a program officer and then as program director. Ms. Renfro started her nonprofit career working for Ralph Nader’s Essential Information/Multinational Monitor, advocating for corporate accountability, human rights and the environment domestically and internationally.
Ms. Renfro is on the board of directors of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Neighborhood Funders Group, and Public Citizen. She is also a participant in several affinity groups, including Social Justice Infrastructure Funders and Gulf Coast Funders for Equity. A graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, Ms. Renfro received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and spent a year in the graduate program at the University of Michigan.
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Stephen Sage, Chief Financial Officer
Stephen Sage joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2008. He is responsible for oversight of investment management, internal control, financial planning and compliance, and overall financial guidance for the foundation.
Mr. Sage has 30 years of experience in business management and accounting. Before joining the foundation, he was chief financial officer for KickStart, a social enterprise that helps people in east Africa move out of poverty. He began his career with a Big 4 accountancy firm and has held executive positions with a Fortune 500 company, state government and privately held business. In 2001, he moved to the nonprofit sector and has served as CFO for ICDDR,B, an international health research institute in Bangladesh; Buckhorn Children and Family Services in eastern Kentucky; and KickStart.
He has held officer positions and advised the board of directors of several nonprofit organizations: the first health maintenance organization in Louisville that focused on serving lower-income populations, a multidenominational private school, a Big Brothers Big Sisters affiliate, and Hearth to Hearth Ministries, which operates orphanages in east Africa. Mr. Sage is a certified public accountant with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting from the University of Southern Indiana.
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Nathan Sorseth, Human Resources Assistant
Nathan Sorseth joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2007. As assistant to Mr. Williams and Ms. Pang, Mr. Sorseth performs a broad range of administrative duties and is often the first point of contact for callers and visitors. Mr. Sorseth is an active member of the Seattle nonprofit arts community. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Southern Oregon University, a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Delaware, and a master’s degree in nonprofit management from Marylhurst University.
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Karen Urlie, Administrative Specialist, Program and Evaluation
Karen Urlie joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2010. She has 15 years of executive administrative support and office management experience in the corporate, nonprofit, health care, and higher education sectors. Ms. Urlie, a professional classical soprano, is a member of the Seattle Opera Chorus and a soloist with local and regional opera companies, orchestras and baroque ensembles. Her volunteerism has included work with Special Olympics, ElderFriends, and the Seattle Ladies Musical Club Communications Committee. She attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.
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Vanessa Ushio, Graphic Designer and Web Manager
Vanessa Ushio joined Marguerite Casey Foundation in 2007. She is responsible for managing the foundation’s website and designing the foundation’s collateral materials. She previously worked for a web-advertising agency in São Paulo, Brazil. Ms. Ushio received a Bachelor of Science degree from Boise State University in computer information systems and network and telecommunications, with minors in marketing and international business.
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Herb Williams, Executive Assistant to the President & CEO/Liaison to the Board of Directors
Herb Williams was executive assistant to Ruth Massinga, president and CEO of Casey Family Programs for 16 years. Mr. Williams was involved in the initial setup of Marguerite Casey Foundation and has assisted the board of directors since the foundation’s inception. In January 2006, he jointly served Luz Vega-Marquis, president and CEO of Marguerite Casey Foundation, and Ms. Massinga, who was founding chair of the Marguerite Casey Foundation board of directors. In May 2006, he formally joined the foundation as executive assistant to Ms. Vega-Marquis and as liaison to the board of directors. Mr. Williams serves as chapel organist for Saint Mark’s Cathedral. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Central Washington University.
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