Center for Social Innovation

Albert Davis

Al held a variety of marketing and technical support management positions at IBM for more than 24 years. He currently runs his own IT consulting firm for systems development in both the private and nonprofit sectors. Al has been involved with ACT almost since its inception and has participated in 15 ACT projects. He has a BSEE and an MBA from Stanford University.

Anne Marie Burgoyne

Anne Marie currently serves as director of the Draper Richards Foundation, where she runs their program for social entrepreneurs. She has been involved with two ACT teams. Anne Marie received her MBA and Public Management Program certificate from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA and BS from the University of Pennsylvania.

Ernie Leopold

Ernie held a variety of senior management positions with Crown Zellerbach Corp, James River Corporation of Virginia, Curtis U.K. Holdings and Crown Vantage, Corporation. He has served on ten boards, both nonprofit and for-profit, and has participated on eight ACT teams.

Gary Jaffe

Gary received a BA in economics/mathematics from Dartmouth in 1965 and an MBA from Stanford in 1967. Previously a management consultant with Bain and a partner with the MAC Group, he is now semiretired, working half time on a variety of strategic projects for Wells Fargo. Gary has participated on eight ACT teams, five as a project leader.

Jennifer Bruckner

With a background in children’s services and public education, Jennifer is currently executive director of Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education (IISME), an industry-education partnership focused on mathematics and science education. IISME was an ACT client in 2006. Jennifer has an MBA from Santa Clara University and a BA from Humboldt State University.

Jim Dern

Formerly Jim was a Managing Director at Bank of America. Involved with ACT since 1987, Jim has completed 16 projects and led eight. Jim is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Northern California Cancer Center. He has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA from Harvard College.

Karl Matzke

Karl has worked in and consulted with a variety of technology companies, including Sun Microsystems, HP and Apple Computer, as well as investing in venture-funded companies. He has participated in seven ACT teams, three as project leader. He studied applied math, engineering and physics at the University of Wisconsin and completed the Executive Management Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Kathryn Bowsher

Kathryn is the principal of Act One Marketing, which focuses on commercial planning and strategic marketing for development stage drug and medical device companies. Previously she was VP of marketing at Somnus Medical Technologies and director of Global Marketing at Baxter Healthcare.

Lana Guernsey

Lana is a strategic communications consultant for health care and biotech companies as well as nonprofit organizations. Lana has completed five ACT projects, serving as project leader on four. She has an MA in management with a certificate from the Public Management Program from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Lynne Reynolds

Lynne has worked at the Stanford Graduate School of Business since 1977. She is currently the school’s director of alumni relations. Lynne has been involved with ACT since its inception in 1987 and has been active in other nonprofit organizations on the Peninsula.

Marilou Seiff

Marilou joined the Marine Science Institute in 1996 and became executive director in 2003. Since then she has worked with ACT teams on several consulting projects for the institute. She received a BS from Stanford, an MS in biology from UOP, and completed the HP Nonprofit Leadership Initiative and the CEN Leadership Institute.

Martha Kanter

Martha is chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, one of the most prominent community college districts in the nation, serving more than 45,000 students with a total budget of more than $300 million. Previously, she served as president of De Anza College for 10 years.

Paul Salazar

Paul has more than 20 years experience as an engineer, product manager, services director, and marketing executive. He has been an instructor at Menlo College and in the Stanford Continuing Studies Program. He has a BSEE and MSEE from the Stanford University School of Engineering and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Tony Ramsden

Tony is retired from a career in information technology consulting as a partner at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture) and in IT management at Tandem Computers (now part of HP). Currently serving as ACT’s board chair, he has been involved with ACT since 2002.

Tony Seba

Tony Seba is an entrepreneur and executive with 20+ years of operating, business development, and strategy experience. He founded PrintNation.com, where he raised $30+ million venture capital, is the author of The 9 Fundamental Rules of High Tech Strategy, and teaches entrepreneurship at Stanford, Google University and business schools worldwide.

Alison Elliott

Alison Elliott is the Executive Director of the Stanford Alumni Consulting Team which she helped to create in 1987. Formerly she held marketing positions in high tech companies including Apple Computer and co- authored two books about software for children. She has an AB from Vassar College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Cor van der Wal

Formerly a periodonsist in private practice, Cor earned an MS as a Sloan Fellow at Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1994, and joined Mercer Consulting where he served as Director of Strategy for the US and Global Health Care Consulting Practice until he retired. Cor has participated in 10 ACT projects, 6 in a project leadership role.

Judith Steiner

A consultant to nonprofits, Judith was the executive director of Hidden Villa in Los Altos Hills for ten years where she was an ACT client. Currently Judith serves on the East Palo Alto Kids Foundation and Sempervirens boards and is a Palo Alto Parks and Recreation Commissioner. She has a BA from Bucknell University.

Jon Richards

After obtaining an MBA from the Graduate School of Business in ’67, Jon spent his career in accounting and finance: as a public accountant at the SEC, a partner with Deloitte & Touche, and a founder of Venture Law Group where he ran the firm’s business operations. Jon has made ACT a focus of his retirement, having participated in 11 ACT projects since 1998, most in a leadership role.

Bruce Sievers

Bruce Sievers brings to SSIR a wealth of experience in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors. He is a visiting scholar at Stanford University’s Haas Center for Public Service. Sievers was the founding chief executive of the California Council for the Humanities, and from 1983 to 2002 he was the executive director of the Walter and Elise Hass Fund.

Bob Scott

Bob Scott was president and COO of Morgan Stanley, a global financial services firm with leading franchises in institutional and retail securities and credit services, until December 2003, and continues as an advisory director of the company.

Chip Heath

Chip Heath brings to SSIR a great deal of research-based knowledge about how ideas take hold in society. He is the Thrive Foundation for Youth Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Heath is a regular columnist for Fast Company, and is also the co-author of the bestselling book, Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.

David Yarnold

David Yarnold brings to SSIR a wealth of experience in journalism and the environmental movement. He is the executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund, responsible for managing the nonprofit's 300 employees and $75 million annual budget. Yarnold, a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist, had been executive editor of the San Jose Mercury News.

Heather McLeod Grant

Heather McLeod Grant brings to SSIR expertise in nonprofit management, particularly in maximizing a nonprofit’s ability to create social change. She is a consultant at the Monitor Institute. Grant is also the co-author of “Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits,” named by The Economist as one of the top ten books of 2007. Grant is a former consultant at McKinsey & Company.

Jan Masaoka

Jan Masaoka brings to SSIR a wealth of experience in nonprofit management and strategy. She is the former executive director of CompassPoint Nonprofit Services. Masaoka is presently the director and editor-in-chief of Blue Avocado, an online publication for the nonprofit sector. The Nonprofit Times named her “Nonprofit Executive of the Year” in 2002.

Jeffrey Bradach

Jeffrey Bradach brings an extensive background in nonprofit strategy, business planning, and philanthropy. He is the managing partner and cofounder of Bridgespan Group, where he guides development, knowledge strategy, and the Bridgestar Initiative.

Katherine Fulton

Katherine Fulton brings to SSIR a passion for the use of private resources for public purposes and the connection between leadership and learning. She is president of the Monitor Institute and a partner at the Monitor Group. Fulton’s work has earned her both a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University and a Lyndhurst Foundation prize for community service. She has written articles for the New Republic and the Columbia Journalism Review.

Kriss Deiglmeier

Kriss Deiglmeier is the executive director for the Center for Social Innovation. Upon coming to CSI Kriss embarked on a strategic planning process that set forth a new mission and strategy focused on breaking down sector boundaries.

Michael Klausner

Michael Klausner brings to SSIR in-depth knowledge of corporate law and governance. He is the Nancy and Charles Munger Professor of Business and Professor of Law at Stanford Law School. Klausner clerked for Justice William Brennan of the Supreme Court of the United States and Judge David Bazelon of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He has written articles for Harvard Business Review and the Financial Times.

William Meehan

William Meehan brings to SSIR a vast knowledge of nonprofits and philanthropy, ranging from the primacy of mission, governance, and performance measurement to evaluation. He is a senior director of McKinsey & Company, where he has worked extensively with senior executives in technology, retailing, private equity, financial services, and media. He is also a lecturer in strategic management at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Woody Powell

Woody Powell brings to SSIR an extensive background in organizational theory, nonprofit management, and economic sociology. He is professor of education and (by courtesy) professor of sociology, organizational behavior, management science, and communication at Stanford University. He is also the co-director of the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, and co-editor of The Nonprofit Sector, the standard textbook on the nonprofit sector.

Leigh Wasson

Leigh Wasson brings to SSIR extensive knowledge of financial services and philanthropic giving. She is the former regional managing director for Citi Private Bank's Northern California region. Before joining Citi Private Bank, Wasson worked at Bessemer Trust and JP Morgan. She is a member of the Women's Leadership Board at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a youth mentor with the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula.

Catherine Muther
Three Guineas Fund

Catherine Muther brings to SSIR a successful background in marketing, industry positioning, and philanthropy. She is the founder and president of the Three Guineas Fund, a foundation whose mission is to create economical opportunities for women and girls. Before starting the Three Guineas Fund, Muther was senior marketing officer at Cisco Systems.

David Brady
Hoover Institution and Stanford Graduate School of Business

David Brady brings to SSIR a wealth of experience and knowledge about government, the U.S. Congress, and political parties. He is the Bowen H. and Janice Arthur McCoy Professor of Leadership Values at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a professor of political science at Stanford University. He is also deputy director and Davies Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

James Phills Jr.
Stanford Graduate School of Business

James Phills Jr. brings to SSIR wide-ranging knowledge about nonprofit strategy, social innovation, and organizational behavior. He is a professor of organizational behavior (teaching) at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the Claude N. Rosenberg Jr. Director of the school's Center for Social Innovation. He also serves as co-academic editor of SSIR.

Peter deCourcy
Consultant

Peter deCourcy Hero brings to SSIR a wealth of experience in philanthropy, nonprofit management, and community foundations. He is the senior advisor to the CEO of Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Hero served as president of Community Foundation Silicon Valley. Beginning in January 2009, he will be a visiting fellow at the Center for Social Innovation at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Dale T. Miller

A prolific social psychologist, Professor Miller focuses on the psychology of justice, social norms, philanthropy, and group decision making.

Dale T. Miller

David Brady brings a wealth of experience and knowledge about government, the U.S. Congress, and political parties.

David Brady

David Brady brings a wealth of experience and knowledge about government, the U.S. Congress, and political parties.

Erica Plambeck

Erica Plambeck is an expert in manufacturing operations and supply chain management, and her current research focuses on environmental sustainability.

James Patell

James Patell’s research and teaching interests center on business process and product design, operations management, manufacturing, and cost accounting. A popular and demanding teacher, Patell has authored numerous articles in the field of accounting.

William Barnett

William Barnett studies competition among organizations and how organizations and industries evolve over time. He has studied how strategic differences and strategic change among organizations affect their growth, performance, and survival.