Staff

Kayla Ballard joined NCG in 2014 and serves as the Communications Manager. In this role, she is a highly-skilled communications jack-of-all-trades—designing and maintaining the NCG’s website, handling all of NCG's outreach, overseeing social media strategy, and managing NCG’s brand. She leads the communications outreach for Philanthropy California, an initiative of Northern California Grantmakers, San Diego Grantmakers, and Southern California Grantmakers. She also serves as a committee member for the Bay Area chapter of The Communications Network.

Kayla most recently earned a Certificate in Social Sector Leadership from Berkeley Haas School of Business. She holds a BS in Business Management and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management. In her career, she has supported communications in the social impact arena for four years, working with foundations and nonprofits mobilizing new generations to drive transformational social change using skills and pro bono service.

Kayla moved to the Bay Area in 2013 but is a true Oregon girl. She loves the outdoors almost as much as she loves basketball (Go Warriors!), truffle salt, and her family—not necessarily in that order. Those closest to her know the way to her heart is through good Mexican food, quality cider, and excellent grammar.

“That everyone has an equitable opportunity for a purpose-filled life.”

Steve has a long history with NCG including stints on various committees as well as the NCG and Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers boards. Over the last several years he’s been a consultant on special projects, corporate philanthropy and social responsibility and briefings. As Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, he’s focused on programs, initiatives and projects that address the issues affecting our region from displacement and gentrification to income inequality to the arts, climate change and disaster resiliency. 

In addition to his consulting practice, Steve has been the Director for Foundation and Corporate Giving at Gap Inc., a program officer at the Marin Community Foundation, and served in Mayoral administrations in both San Francisco and Oakland. When he’s not working you can often find him at Amoeba Music, traveling abroad, binge watching an amazing series, exploring the Bay Area or at some wine bar.

“I keep a mental model to remember, that if you give with good intentions, you will never regret anything.”

Alice has spent most of her career in the nonprofit sector and working in the Finance, Operations and Human Resource areas of an organization. Most of her work has been centered in the heart of the organization using her forensic accounting, finance, and operational skills to aid the organization in providing sound financial reporting and support. Alice has joined NCG as its Director of Finance and Operations, and in addition to her current responsibilities will also focus on financial grant management.

Alice has always been passionate about building strong people connections to promote team-building, values and growth. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Alice has a deep interest in community issues and their importance to preserve the many diverse cultures that live in this dynamic region.

Alice loves to spend time with her family and friends, and when time permits watch many of her favorite TV shows, or settle into a good book. She also loves to bowl and has been in bowling leagues and tournaments for over 20 years.

“When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace.” – Dalai Lama

As the Policy Director, Cecilia advances NCG’s mission to build healthy, thriving and just communities through public policy. 

Prior to joining NCG, Cecilia served as a Deputy Attorney General at the California Attorney General’s Office advancing the Attorney General’s policy priorities around criminal justice reform and childhood trauma. Cecilia was previously the Associate Director of Policy at the Center for Youth Wellness where she led statewide efforts to prevent and address childhood adversity and the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on children’s health. She was also the 2011-2013 Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Fellow at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. Cecilia graduated from Tufts University and received her J.D. from Boston College Law School. 

She lives in San Francisco with her husband and fur baby Sherlock. In addition to being an unabashed dessert lover (especially ice cream), Cecilia enjoys exploring the Bay Area and trekking internationally. She just completed a hike through the world’s largest cave and is always looking for her next adventure.

“No one person is an island, we are a community that helps shape the world!”

Jenny is currently the Senior Operations Associate, and has committed over 14 years to administrative and operations support at NCG. While acting as both gate keeper and mother hen to the NCG staff, she is also mother to two young boys who have grown up behind the front desk on their school vacations. Jenny has a love/hate relationship with the candy she buys for the front desk. In her rare spare time she takes trips to IKEA and attempts to grow her green thumb with gardening.

“NCG is building a cross-sectoral community to connect, share, and leverage resources to tackle the region’s most pressing social issues. It is exciting to be a part of bringing mission driven organizations together to learn, support, collaborate, and take action towards building equitable communities.”  

 Krystle has spent her career in the social sector, with a passion for cultivating relationships and resources and leveraging them to make a lasting impact in community. As a coordinator of collaborative philanthropy, Krystle manages the Arts Loan Fund and plans logistical aspects of programming for NCG’s other collaboratives. 

Prior to NCG, she earned her Master’s in Public Service at the Clinton School of Public Service, where she built capacity for mission driven organizations focusing on poverty alleviation, economic development, and combating food insecurity.  Krystle also served as an AmeriCorps Vista with a non-profit that promoted public health in South Eastern Kentucky. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology at University of California Santa Cruz. Personal goals include perfecting her pad thai recipe and one day completing a full map of the US comprised of photos she has taken in each state.

Sarah is passionate about connecting people, exploring new ideas and figuring out how to make things work. She brings these skills, along with a background in program design, network development and learning communities to her work at NCG. As the Manager of Collaborative Philanthropy, Sarah will focus on the work of the Nonprofit Displacement Project and will work with NCG’s collaborative philanthropy groups. Before joining NCG, Sarah provided strategic leadership for an organization that built innovative leadership in the reproductive health, rights and justice sector. Prior to that, Sarah designed and implemented multiple grant programs and learning networks focused on the social determinants of health and safety net healthcare innovation for the Center for Care Innovations.

Sarah received a bachelor’s degree in literary studies with a minor in Latin from the University of Minnesota –Twin Cities. She loves to sew fun clothes and is a bookworm who is very proud to have passed that trait on to her two children.

Nicole started her work with NCG as a Project Consultant in May of 2019, providing support on Philanthropy California’s budding initiative, Better California. She brings with her several years of experience working in the philanthropic field, supporting projects at East Bay Community Foundation and Philanthropic Ventures Foundation, paired with an educational background in both business economics and social policy.

She describes her life as being characterized by an understanding of the ways in which institutions in America work harmoniously to uphold their inequitable foundations. She became acutely aware at a young age of the paradigm of oppression that blocks equitable access to resources and opportunities for marginalized populations. This fueled her determination to join, create and uplift spaces that affect change for the most vulnerable communities that fall victim to this paradigm.

Nicole continues to support the team through her focus on collaboration and coordination and her desire to be conducive to NCG’s innovative and impactful work. She deeply recognizes the responsibility philanthropy has to tackle the root causes of the problems it aims to solve, do more than simply address its past, and go far beyond charitable giving.

Nicole currently serves on the Advisory Committee for the newly revitalized local affinity group for Black folks in philanthropy, Black Funders Network of the Bay Area.  

As an avid lover of literature, food, and music you can find her buried in a Baldwin classic, exploring a new ramen spot, or somewhere vibing to the hip-hop classics she grew up on.    

Jeff brings diverse financial, administrative and business operations experience to his role, which focuses on ensuring our fiscal and operations systems are robust and support scaling up systems for greater impact. Drawing from experience in both the for-profit technology sector and as a non-profit executive financial manager, Jeff’s talent for achieving scalability through forecasting and robust financial systems will help drive NCG’s work to support healthy, thriving and just communities.

As the Chief Financial Officer for TechSoup, Jeff helped create the financial roadmap for international expansion to 35 country partners across a six year period while revenues doubled. Jeff was also the Chief Financial Officer at Satellite Affordable Housing Associates where he successfully completed the merger of two non-profit affordable housing organizations with nearly 50 properties serving over 4,000 low-income residents. Most recently, Jeff worked as Consulting CFO for Armanino LLP, a regional Accountancy and Consulting firm where he assisted Upstream USA, a national non-profit family planning organization spin-out from a fiscal sponsor and become its own 501c3.

When Jeff is not building financial models, he likes to listen and see live jazz from all genres, watch old movies on the small screen and new blockbusters on the big screen, experiment with vegetarian recipes and explore the world.

Audre Lorde reminds us that, “it is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.”

Alice is a community builder invested in bridging diverse and overlapping communities for social change. As the Director of Equity and Social Justice, Alice will focus on racial equity with an intersectional lens that brings multiple issues, communities, and sectors together to build on the common good. Before joining NCG, Alice was a Soros Equality Fellow where she created a podcast and a digital archive on activism by LGBTQ People of Color. Prior to that, Alice worked as the Director of the Queer Justice Fund at Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy.

She serves on the boards of California Humanities and Borealis Philanthropy and on the Advisory Council for the Conscious Style Guide. Alice is a historian with a PhD from Claremont Graduate University, a MA from UCLA, and BA from Yale University. In her spare time, you can find Alice working on her podcast, Historically Queer, or enjoying the culinary delights of restaurants and bakeries with friends and family.

“At NCG we talk about making choices that will shape our community and cultural legacy for generations. We have a chance to bridge the widening divides as the region’s million and billionaires shot up over 12,000 and 2.6 million people were plunged into financial distress.”

In her role as Vice President of Public Affairs, Emily directs communications and supervises policy advocacy and disaster resilience which means she’s one of those people who tries not to let a crisis go to waste. She believes in the power of people to do more together than they can do alone. In her bones, she craves collective action and builds it wherever she can. She’s a sucker for great stories, and isn’t shy about learning from failure.

Emily is energized by bringing people together to tackle tough problems, which makes Northern California Grantmakers’ network of 200 members with $3 billion in grants her happy place.

At NCG, Emily has built a cohort-based communications training program for mid-career professionals weaving emotional intelligence through strategic communications and racial equity. She takes satisfaction supporting the brilliance of others and her team has grown from two to five in her three years at the organization.

Emily landed her first job out of college at a non-profit start-up where she started as a telemarketer and, in six years, became a senior vice president. In her time there, she quintupled the organization’s budget and helped them grow from 20,000 to a half-million square feet of warehousing.

At the Women’s Funding Network, Emily developed and implemented a four-year, multimillion-dollar budget helping members get the right message to the right people on every continent.

Emily is also the lucky mother of overly intelligent twin teens, and enjoys the moments when she takes off her parenting hat and gets to be a real person with them.

Alan Kwok is NCG’s Director, Disaster Resilience. He brings to the role 18 years of experience in building resiliency through community healthcare, youth and workforce development, and disaster management. In this role he is charged with (or serves as the primary cheerleader for) opening opportunity for funders to build community disaster resilience, strengthen philanthropic responses to disasters locally and across California, enhance cross-sector coordination and collaboration between philanthropic organizations and partners, and improve organizational readiness among our three regional associations of grantmakers (Northern California Grantmakers, Southern California Grantmakers, and San Diego Grantmakers) as part of Philanthropy California so they can better serve our members in the event of a disaster.

Prior to joining NCG, Alan was Director of Learning at San Diego Grantmakers, where he oversaw the strategic direction and implementation of programs in areas that included social equity, corporate social responsibility, collective giving, and leadership, and professional development.

And yes, he also has disaster management experiences in practice and research, and he seeks to integrate both to ensure best practices in the field. He was Manager of Ready Neighborhoods, a FEMA-award winning community resilience initiative at the American Red Cross (Bay Area Chapter), which sought to increase community disaster capacities in over 20 targeted neighborhoods across Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Solano counties. His earned hisPhD in emergency management at the Joint Centre for Disaster Research (JCDR) at Massey University in Wellington, New Zealand. His research has been published in World Bank and New Zealand government publications, as well as in peer-reviewed journals such as the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction and Disaster Prevention and Management.

He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology at Washington University in St. Louis and master’s degree in geography at San Francisco State University.

Alan avoids thinking about disasters in his free time (and is usually very successful at it). You can usually find him in the ocean, on the beach, in the mountains, or on the river, sometimes with a surfboard, a margarita, and an ukulele in tow.

“I believe that if we create community with intention, look together in the same direction, bring our best selves to the table, roll up our sleeves together, and BELIEVE, we can accomplish great things.”  

As President and CEO, Ellen makes sure we know where we are going, have mapped a great (and hopefully scenic) route to get there, that our vehicle is working well and has enough gas, that people know our plans and how to join us on our journey, and that we celebrate our progress every time we pass another milestone and let our fellow travelers know when we find new and better ways to go.  She also makes sure we have good snacks.

Before coming to NCG, Ellen worked as VP of Strategic Partnerships at HopeLab, a health and technology-focused operating foundation funded by The Omidyar Group.  Prior to that, she was Executive Director of a national AIDS treatment information and advocacy organization, and practiced law at a large firm in San Francisco.

Ellen earned a BA in Community Health at Brown University and a law degree from UC Berkeley.  When not building community at work she does so with friends and family at home. Her introverted partner and adolescent son tolerate her cruise director tendencies with enormous grace.  

"You cannot change any society unless you take responsibility for it, unless you see yourself as belonging to it and responsible for changing it." - Grace Lee Boggs

Daniel is devoted to the pursuit of making things work better around him. Whether he’s designing programs at NCG to guide philanthropy toward equity or crafting a perfectly executed experience for members, his passion is evident. Daniel serves as NCG's Manager of Programs and Events.

Prior to joining NCG, Daniel was with the Public Health Institute and Build Healthy Places Network, working towards health equity through cross-sector collaboration between the community development and health sectors. He also holds experience in asset building and economic development from his role at Mission Asset Fund and leading the expansion of the Lending Circles social loan program. 

Daniel is on the Board of Directors of HomeownershipSF, promoting pathways to homeownership for low- to moderate-income San Franciscans, and is an alum of Urban Habitat's Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute and the Congressional Hunger Center's Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship. Daniel holds a BS in Human Biology from the University of California, San Diego and an MPH from Boston University. He lives in San Francisco and can be found plotting his next move in a strategy board game, exploring the natural beauty of the Bay Area, or experimenting with new Instant Pot recipes.

“Great things can happen when we are in community where we feel a sense of place and connection to each other.”

Phuong believes in the power of community and networks, which has also shaped her career path.  She was the Membership Director at Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) and a co-founder of AAPIP’s Hella Heart Oakland Giving Circle.  At NCG, she oversees membership, programmatic and collaborative work, and helps to shape and strengthen NCG's strategic focus on addressing inequities, supporting the vibrancy and sustainability of our region, and tending to the dynamic and diverse people in our philanthropic community.

She is a first-generation college graduate that benefited from Head Start and Affirmative Action programs and policies.  She received a double major in Urban Studies and Anthropology from Macalester College and a Master in Public Administration from CUNY as a National Urban Fellow. 

As an extrovert, she is always curious to meet and connect with people. Interesting random facts:  She was born in Vietnam and raised in Minnesota. She has run 5 full marathons. Despite her lack of talent, she sings karaoke regularly.

Zoe recently graduated from Northeastern University in Boston, MA with a degree in Political Science. As a San Francisco native, she is excited to be back in the Bay Area and working with NCG to better the region so near and dear to her heart. As Member Engagement Associate, Zoe looks forward to learning more about the world of philanthropy, and to building relationships both with members and other peers in the field.

Previously, she has worked in the offices of elected officials in both the U.S. and U.K. governments, on several political campaigns, and with nonprofits such as Kiva, where she helped hundreds of small business owners successfully fundraise to obtain 0% interest loans. In her spare time she also serves high tea at a British tea room. Zoe can also be found baking, exploring new restaurants and petting every dog she comes across.

"If the right conditions exist, individuals and teams can do most anything we put our minds to. As Margaret Mead said: 'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.' "

Kate is the Director of Leadership, Culture and Community. In this role, she directs NCG’s professional and leadership development work, and guides our focus on organizational culture as a leverage point for impact. Before working in philanthropy, Kate co-founded the nonprofit Puente a la Salud Comunitaria in Oaxaca, Mexico, a community development organization focused on public health, economic development, and sustainable agriculture. She proudly chairs the board there, and serves on the board of her amazing summer camp, the Bar 717 Ranch, and the nonprofit NewStories. She spent a transformative year completing a Master's in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability, where she deepened her own understanding of the type of leadership and organizational culture that is needed to achieve both environmental and social sustainability. In her life beyond work, she loves farms, farmers, cooking, eating, canning, community, nature, hiking and backpacking, and her two-year old niece, who consistently reminds her to be present in the current moment.

Growing up, Varisa witnessed the power of generosity and spirit before her eyes. Her parents, who have always been kind and quick to help others, developed her innate sense of fairness, which has compelled Varisa to devote her career to elevating communities that have been excluded from the conversation. She proudly comes from the tiny town of Walnut and in a nutshell, her small town values and big dreams for the future have brought her to NCG’s team.

As the newest and youngest member of NCG, Varisa supports the team through her graphic-savvy communications skills and ambition to learn how to equip local communities with the tools they need to thrive. Prior to coming to NCG, Varisa studied Business Administration at the University of Southern California with a minor in Nonprofits, Philanthropy & Volunteerism. Her experiences interning at the International Rescue Committee and the United Nations HQ have convinced her that there is much potential in cross sector communication and collaboration. The nature of NCG’s work has given her an exact platform to explore and expand new forms of innovative philanthropy.

When she’s away from her desk, she could be found wandering the aisles of Costco, eating dim sum, or turning pages of her next favorite book.