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Members of the Board's Finance Committee at work on the annual budget

Board of Directors

Matt Alexander, Finance Committee Chair
Matt is co-director of the June Jordan School for Equity, a small, innovative public high school in San Francisco. He has over fifteen years of experience as a teacher and administrator in urban schools and also spent two years as educator-in-residence at Linda Darling-Hammond's School Redesign Network at Stanford University. He lives in the Outer Sunset and is the parent of twins in forth grade at CACS.

Dan Bierman
Having failed in his childhood goal of bringing the Dodgers back to Brooklyn, Dan has settled for being a teacher and Master Tutor for The Princeton Review, one of the top test prep companies in the country.  In his "free" time, Dan can often be found helping out in the classrooms at CACS, where he has one son in third grade and another in sixth.  Outside of school, Dan spends time helping to coach his son's teams and watching the Mets.

Ellison Folk, President
Ellison is an environmental attorney who represents environmental groups, community organizations, and public agencies throughout California. She has two boys at CACS. Ellison previously served on the board of directors of Save San Francisco Bay Association. In her free time, she loves to cook — especially dessert.

Ross Hammond, Institutional Advancement (Development, Communications) Co-Chair
Ross works as an independent consultant providing grantmaking, advocacy, strategic planning, policy analysis, communications, and facilitation services to foundations, NGOs, multilateral organizations, and government agencies. Ross is the parent of a CACS third grader and a preschooler. He lives in the Sunnyside neighborhood of San Francisco.

Rahula Janowski, Vice President
Rahula is a trained mediator and an experienced facilitator and consensus/facilitation trainer. She is particularly  interested in collaborative conflict resolution in groups and organizations, which uses both mediation and facilitation skills, and in group dynamics and functional process.  Rahula is the mother of a CACS fourth grader.

Maria Jenerik, Faculty Representative
After 20 years in the radio business, Maria pursued her dream of becoming a teacher, working first as a paraprofessional and later teaching 3rd, 6th, and 7th/8th grades at Creative Arts. Maria serves as coach of five CACS sports teams, and in her classroom, she employs project-based learning that draws on her passion for theater, social and environmental justice, outdoor education, and service learning. Maria is the parent of two CACS alumni.  In her free time, she enjoys gardening, biking, running, eating out, and reading.

Isabelle McDaniel
Isabelle teaches 3rd grade at Creative Arts and is currently working towards a MA in educational leadership from the University of California, Berkeley. Her focus is on curricular and instructional reform. Isabelle received her teaching credential and MA in education from Mills College and has taught in several urban charter schools in the Bay Area. She is interested in building partnerships with higher education institutions and community organizations focused on supporting curricular innovation and arts in education. In her free time, she enjoys playing soccer, cycling, swimming, and watercolor painting.

Mehmet “Sky” Orun, Treasurer
Mehmet (or Sky at CACS) is an IT senior manager at Genentech, where he is responsible for data management and data quality solutions, their associated budget and roadmaps, oversight for projects, contracts and contingent labor force, and managing and developing employees.  He also serves on the board of SF-DAMA, a professional, non-profit organization, and has been active in micro-scale local food growing, eating, building, shopping, and fund-raising activities. He has a second grader at Creative Arts and a younger daughter at home.

Christa Roth, Institutional Advancement (Development, Communications) Co-Chair
Christa is the Managing Director at BUILD, whose mission is to use entrepreneurship to excite and propel disengaged, low-income students through high school to college success. She manages program development and management, growth, finances and operations. Christa brings 25 years of nonprofit management experience to her role on the Board of Directors, having worked in various leadership capacities with youth development and educational reform nonprofits including Breakthrough Collaborative, Partners In School Innovation, and Hands On Atlanta. When Christa is not working, she spends time traveling, cooking and enjoying the Bay Area with her son, a second grader at CACS.

Kathy Scott, Education Committee Chair
Kathy is a studio director at Walker Warner Architects where she manages half of the architectural staff and is involved in design, strategic planning, marketing, financial oversight of projects, and contract negotiations. She spends her time outside of work coaching soccer and inventing unique architectural projects for Creative Arts kids. Her sons are in third and fifth grade at CACS.

Hayden Lilien
Hayden is the Director of Finance and Administration at the National Center for Youth Law, a non profit that serves underprivileged youth nation wide. Prior to this her focus was on Charter School finance both at Edtec and Creative Arts Charter School where she was the Business Manager. She is happy to be a part of the Creative Arts Charter School community in a new capacity. She lives in Bernal Heights and enjoys hiking, dancing, reading, chocolate chip cookies, traveling and creating functional art.