2017 HandsOn Leadership Silicon Valley Team

Vicki Alexander

Vicki Alexander has a BS in Social Work and an MA in Teaching ESL and Spanish. She has a passion for education, but her recent work has been as a manager of a small manufacturing business in Silicon Valley. Prior to her current position, she worked as an educator, volunteered with Metropolitan Adult Education, and held various volunteer leadership positions in local public schools. She has also served as a board member and co-producer of Festival Theater Ensemble, a local theater company, and as a board member of the Cambrian Community Council. When Vicki isn’t working or volunteering, she’s outdoors, where she logs over 1500 hiking miles a year. Vicki is excited about the HandsOn Leadership program and the opportunities it provides for learning about non-profit management. Through the volunteer work she’ll do with HandsOn, she hopes to refine her skills so she can continue making a positive difference with non-profit organizations in our community. 

Cristina Cruz

Cristina Cruz moved to the Peninsula in the Fall of 2015. Prior to that, she lived in Boston where she completed her Master’s of Public Health at Boston University. While working at BU she managed a retention initiative for local undergraduate students that kick-started her interest in volunteering. Currently, she works at UCSF managing a program that supports the families of brain tumor patients. She hopes to use her management experience to connect people and organizations to community service projects that will help them fulfill their personal and professional goals. In her spare time, she likes to hike, practice yoga and bake. She misses the pizza of New England, but doesn’t miss shoveling her car out of the snow.

Rebecca DeHovitz

Rebecca DeHovitz works as a Jewish educator at a local synagogue.  A native Californian Rebecca returned to the Bay Area after receiving her undergraduate degree at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, where she studied Spanish, Judaic Studies and Elementary Education. Rebecca currently volunteers as an ESL teacher at the Mountain View Day Worker Center, and as a reading partner at a local elementary school.  Rebecca is excited to be a part of the HandsOn Leadership team and to learn more about the diversity of non-profits supporting the Bay Area and to strengthen her leadership skills.

Mimi Goh

A recent transplant from Southern California, Mimi is a new member of the Bay Area with a passion for business strategy in sustainable practices and social responsibility. She has a diverse background spanning from art to analytics and brings with her robust skills in team building and project management. During her masters program, Mimi served as President of Net Impact in her campus chapter and has consistently looked for ways to serve in her community. She is interested in the intersection between business and non-profit to solve social challenges in innovative ways, and she also aspires one day to serve on a board of directors for a non-profit. Mimi is extremely excited to participate in the HandsOn Leadership Program and plans to use the acquired skills to meaningfully serve and build her community.

Srinivas Parthasarathy

Srinivas grew up in New Delhi, India where he completed his schooling and undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from the University of Delhi, India. He then moved to Germany where he pursued his masters and PhD in Neuroscience at the International Max Planck Research School. He joined UCSF in January 2016 from where we moved to Stanford in October 2016. His research currently focuses on understanding the neural correlates for monogamy in a small rodent species called Prairie Voles. Srini has been interested in volunteering and community service for a long time and tries to contribute in whatever little way possible. His experience of growing up in India, where food shortage and insecurity is a major problem, has made him commit more towards efforts helping alleviate this global problem. He has been an active member of the Hands-On-Bay Area initiative since March 2016 and hopes to bring that experience into the leadership program.

Richelle Pittella

Richelle Pittella joined the Packard Foundation in 2016 as an Administrative Coordinator. She supports the Evaluation and Learning Department and the Vice President & Director of Programs as well as manages the docket for the Board of Trustees. Richelle comes to the Foundation from the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA in Burlingame, where she served as Designer, Webmaster, and Social Media Coordinator. Previously, she worked at the San Mateo County/Silicon Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau, where she managed the California Welcome Center and acted as Project Coordinator. Richelle holds a Bachelor’s in Business with a concentration in Entrepreneurship from Temple University in Philadelphia. In her spare time, Richelle enjoys volunteering through One Brick (which she serves as Social Media Coordinator) at many local organizations, including Second Harvest Food Bank, San Francisco Food Bank, Art in Action, RAFT, Milpitas Food Bank, Uhuru Pies, Family Giving Tree, and more. She is excited to be part of HandsOn Bay Area’s Silicon Valley Leadership Team for 2017.

Ashley Raggio

Ashley Raggio has a background in service-learning and non-profit that has given her a passion for service as a way to create positive change not only in the community but in one's self. Being a parent to three kids has strengthened that passion in a new way - working to help families raise kids that care and contribute. Ashley is currently serving as the Silicon Valley Coordinator for Doing Good Together™ creating monthly listings of local, family-friendly volunteer opportunities and sharing resources on how to involve children in service and giving. Ashley hopes that this opportunity with HandsOn Bay Area will give her the knowledge and skills in non-profit management and volunteerism to help her achieve her goals of reaching families and children through service.

Joseph Shan

Growing up in Canada, I moved to the Bay Area and graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Chemical Engineering. I am currently working in the semiconductor industry as a process engineer. I developed an interest for community service early on when I volunteered as a swim coach after school for under 10 youth at the local community pool. In college, I volunteered as a robotics mentor to teach Berkeley high school students how to build their own robot for an annual competition and spark their interest in technology. I am excited to work with similar minded individuals at the HandsOn Leadership program to making a positive social impact on my community. I look forward to learning more about what drives non-profit organizations and developing my skillset to best provide service for those in need and inspiring the next generation to do the same.