Board of Directors

Kathy is a longtime nonprofit leader in Silicon Valley with over 30 years of experience in social justice activism. Before coming to Recovery Café in 2020, she was the Executive Director of Santa Maria Urban Ministry, and previously worked for Asians Americans for Community Involvement, West Valley Community Services, Somos Mayfair, Sacred Heart Nativity Schools, and the County of Santa Clara. Her Board experience includes the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley, the Association of Fundraising Professionals Silicon Valley Chapter, and the Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus. She holds a bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University, and a Certificate in Fundraising Management from Indiana University. Kathy enjoys spending time with family and friends, gardening, cooking and is an avid baseball and performing arts fan.

Christa M. Gannon is the Founder of Fresh Lifelines for Youth, Inc. (“FLY”). Christa has received numerous awards for her work at FLY, including the James Irvine Leadership Award, the Human Rights Award for the City of San Jose, Stanford Law School’s Inaugural Alumni Public Service Award, and more. After serving as CEO of FLY for two decades, Christa now serves in a formal Founder role as an advocate and ambassador for FLY, helping with fundraising and investor relations, and working on special projects for FLY’s strategic plan. Christa holds a B.S. in sociology and law and society, graduated with honors from Stanford Law School, and is a member of the California Bar. Christa is also a wife, mother of two teenagers, and basketball coach.

Veronica Goei has more than 25 years’ experience in the nonprofit sector developing programming and curricula in the areas of parenting, early literacy, oral language development and adult education. As Executive Director of Grail Family Services (GFS) for 18 years, she has provided direction and oversight for all GFS programming, including design, development, funding, implementation and evaluation. Over the years, Veronica has served as a consultant to many organizations including Stanford University, Western Illinois University, UCLA, the Children’s Bureau, and many NGOs. Veronica holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Chile. She is a graduate of the Harvard University Strategic Perspective in Nonprofit Management Program, and the HOPE (Hispanas Organized for Political Equality) Leadership Institute.

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Secretary

Poncho is the Executive Director of Sacred Heart Community Service, a grassroots antipoverty organization based in San José, California. A native of Santa Clara County, Guevara’s professional career has been geared toward the advancement of low-income families –from providing direct services and community organizing, to serving in executive management roles in nonprofit housing and human service organizations. By cultivating and creating bridges between diverse constituencies, he has helped develop and lead campaigns addressing critical issues in workers’ rights, children’s health care, homelessness, affordable housing, and immigrant rights. Poncho lives in San José with his two amazing daughters.

Board Chair

Anjee Helstrup-Alvarez is the Executive Director of MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana located in downtown San José, CA. She’s led transformative efforts at MACLA to build organizational capacity, secure a permanent facility, launch a youth digital media lab, and deepen engagement programs while ensuring artistic excellence and community relevance. Anjee’s areas of expertise include: creative placemaking, commissioning art work, program development, capacity building, economic and real estate development, fund development, and participatory evaluation. Anjee earned an MA in Visual Criticism from California College of the Arts and a BFA in pictorial arts from San Jose State University. She lives in downtown San José with her family and is a novice gardener and recovering karaoke performer.

Vice Chair

Susie has served as the VP of Youth Voice Initiatives and Executive Director of Santa Clara County for Fresh Lifelines for Youth (FLY) for 21 years. Upon her transition from FLY at the end of 2022 she launched a consulting and coaching practice grounded in transformative and holistic healing centered practices supporting non profit leaders, community based organizations, system stakeholders, and youth and young adults who have been impacted by the system. Her ultimate passion is centering voices of youth and young adults who have been impacted by systems and creating bodies of advocacy that authentically lift up those voices for impactful system changes. Additionally, Susie is a Lecturer at San Jose State University in the College of Health and Human Sciences/College of Social Sciences, teaching in the departments of Justice Studies and Public Health. 

Edwin Tan, Ph.D. serves as the Director of Advocacy and Community Relations at San José State University. In his role he works with neighborhoods, community-based organizations, business associations, and other non-governmental entities. He has extensive experience working in the local community, previously he served as Director of Advocacy and Development for Asian Americans for Community Involvement (AACI) a community health center and District Director and Senior Chief Advisor to Congressman Mike Honda. In those positions he worked on issues such as health care access, Asian Pacific Islander data disaggregation, educational equity, etc. Prior to moving to the Bay Area he was trained as a developmental psychologist and conducted research and taught at the University of California, Irvine and in Indonesia. Edwin earned his Ph.D. in Psychology and Social Behavior from the University of California, Irvine. He also serves on various community boards and government task forces, including the City of San José's COVID-19 Recovery Task Force and Santa Clara County's 2021 Redistricting Commission.

Mark is the Vice President of Operations for American Leadership Forum –Silicon Valley(ALF-SV). Previously Mark served as Director of IT & Operations for United Way Silicon Valley. Mark grew up in Ohio, received a History degree from Swarthmore College and identifies as an Asian American as the son of an Indian immigrant and husband of a Filipina woman. Mark loves to play (especially volleyball) and follow (especially the NBA and the Warriors) sports and wants to help our world live up to the ideals of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, namely that “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.”

Treasurer