Cristy Johnston Limón

Cristy Johnston Limón joins Berkeley Haas as a serial social sector leader having most recently held executive director roles at national poetry and spoken word organization Youth Speaks, Oakland based performing arts organization Destiny Arts Center, and San Francisco economic development organization in San Francisco, Excelsior Action Group.  Her professional experience includes real estate and community development, public policy as a legislative aide, and nonprofit leadership with a focus on organizational change. Cristy grew up in San Francisco and is passionate about advancing social change through broad cross-sector engagement, investing in leaders and in social impact organizations. On the board of Oakland’s Bandaloop and former co-chair of the Haas Alumni Diversity Council, Cristy mentors and leads rising and established leaders in arts, culture, and business to advance positive social change. Cristy speaks often about distributed leadership models, community engagement, diversity in recruitment, hiring, board engagement, and how to develop arts and cultural facilities centered around connection and place keeping.

Cristy is a UC Berkeley alum with an EMBA (2016) from Berkeley-Haas School of Business and a BA with honors (2002) in Political Science. Cristy has been a guest speaker in Haas classes, including the Center’s Nonprofit Boards class.

Mark Westover

is the Associate Director, managing the team’s back-office initiatives. Prior to joining UC Berkeley – Haas, Mark was CFO of xMatters, where he led a $15M debt financing and rebuilt the back office for a future IPO. Before that, at LiveOps, Mark was responsible for Corporate Development and Finance where he split the company into two entities, raised $30M in debt financing, and acquired two companies in the Call Center Software space. Mark spent ten years at Sybase/SAP in various strategic development roles. He was instrumental in reversing the financial and strategic decline of the company through appropriate market positioning, acquisitions, and finally the acquisition of Sybase by SAP.

Mark holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth and a BS in Mathematics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. When not at work, he enjoys spending time with his family, cooking, cycling, and watching Arsenal.

Stéphanie van Nassau

is the Program Coordinator at the Center for Social Sector Leadership and oversees the administration and logistics of the Center’s events. She manages event planning, accounting, and expense reports. Prior to joining CSSL, Stephanie was a project manager at an Incentive Travel Company in New York City. Before moving to the States she worked in communications at the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. Stéphanie is in the office on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and spends the rest of her time at the playground with her children.

Stephanie can be reached at 510-642-4884 or by email.

Aurora Aparicio Collazo

CONSERVATION AND SCIENCE PROGRAM, OCEANS (2020 - 2022)

Aurora contributes to the Packard Foundation’s Conservation and Science Program as a program research analyst. Her principal roles are to convey the broader significance of traditional marine data through various styles and mediums and to conduct research and provide perspective on environmental justice. She also brings policy experience from her time at Adams Street Advocates, a state-level government consulting firm in Tallahassee. As a graduate student at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), Aurora designed the curriculum for and taught an environmental communications studio course. She is an alumna of the Environmental Grantmakers’ Fellows Program and carried out her fellowship at the Ocean Research and Conservation Association. She holds a master’s degree in Behavior, Education, and Communication from SEAS and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Florida State University.

Jalang Conteh

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROGRAM (2019 - 2021)

Jalang is from The Gambia and she supports the Reproductive Health’s Sub Saharan Africa team as a Program Research Analyst through the Haas School of Business Philanthropy Fellowship. Jalang attended Michigan State University for her undergraduate education where she studied Women and Gender Studies and Public Health and holds an MPH in Maternal and Child Health from UC Berkeley, where she attended as a MasterCard Foundation Scholar. Her background is in community-based research, advocacy, and program implementation with a focus on family planning in Sub-Saharan Africa. Jalang is a huge proponent of the meaningful engagement of communities to advance reproductive health and rights. Prior to joining the Foundation, Jalang worked at the Institute of Health Policy Studies at UCSF, supporting the evaluation of multiple adolescent sexual health education programs.

Elsa Esparza

CHILDREN, FAMILIES, AND COMMUNITIES PROGRAM (2021 - 2022)

A recent graduate, Elsa spent her time in graduate school studying the impact of federal nutrition programs on food insecurity and analyzing potential policy solutions to increase the reach for eligible individuals and families. Elsa was previously a Sarah Samuels Public Health Fellow at the California Food Policy Advocates and Global Food Initiative Fellow at the Nutrition Policy Institute. She is a Registered Dietitian and received her Master of Public Health from UC Berkeley. Since graduating, Elsa has been working at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, managing mixed-methods study that aims to capture awareness, barriers to uptake, and benefits of existing federal and state social programs and explore the economic impact of COVID-19 on low-income families.

Genora Givens

CONSERVATION AND SCIENCE PROGRAM, CLIMATE (2018 - 2021)

Genora joined the Conservation and Science Program at the Packard Foundation as a Climate Program Research Analyst. Genora primarily works with the Bioenergy, Palm Oil, and Agriculture, Livelihoods, and Conservation Strategy teams on monitoring, evaluation, and learning. Prior to joining the Foundation, Genora was an Environmental Grantmakers Association Fellow at Clean Water Action researching the impact of oil and gas production on U.S. water quality and quantity. Her interests include land use law and watershed protection, as well as the development of methods to incorporate understandings of social vulnerability and inequity into analysis of geographic risk and watershed management and planning. Genora graduated from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies with a Master of Environmental Management and holds a B.A. from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon.

Krutika Menon

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROGRAM (2019 - 2021)

Krutika supports the Reproductive Health’s South Asia team as a Program Research Analyst. Krutika’s background is in social work, advocacy and research, with a focus on gender equity, health and humanitarian issues. Prior to joining the Foundation, Krutika worked as a Research Analyst at a research and design startup in New York City, supporting the exploration of various social issues including menstrual equity and mental health diagnosis, while also spearheading the company’s efforts to incorporate program evaluation into future projects. Krutika holds a Master of Science in Social Work, with a specialization in Social Policy and International Social Work from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Social Work from the National University of Singapore. Krutika is originally from India and is currently working from home there as travel has been disrupted by COVID-19.

Maria Tourtchaninova

ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS (2019 - 2021)

Maria supports Organizational Effectiveness as a program analyst through the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. In this role, she works on capacity building initiatives across the Foundation’s core program areas (Population & Reproductive Health; Conservation & Science; Children, Families & Communities). Maria has a background in strategy development, community-based research, and legislative advocacy. Prior to joining the Foundation, Maria worked on international and domestic projects related to gender-based violence, community development, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. She is driven to create social impact by building evidence-based initiatives to address chronic challenges for under-served communities. Maria holds a Master of Social Welfare Management from UC Berkeley and a Master of Public Policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.

Tiffany Tran

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH PROGRAM (2019 - 2021)

Tiffany joined the Reproductive Health Program as a Program Research Analyst. She supports the United States subprogram with a focus in the southern states. Tiffany’s background is in community-based health education and promotion, program planning and implementation, and advocacy with a focus on comprehensive sexuality education and youth engagement. Prior to joining the foundation, Tiffany worked at Brown University supporting campus wide health initiatives to create cultural change around social wellbeing. Tiffany holds a Master of Science in Global Health from The University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor of Science from Tulane University.