The Visionaries Behind the Compass
Meet the architects and navigators who will help you lay the groundwork for your future. At Breakthrough Silicon Valley, our team assembles the tools, charts the courses, and clears the path, but the destination? That's all you.
Staff
Click on a photo to learn more about each member of Breakthrough Silicon Valley’s team.
John Hiester
Executive Director
jhiester@breakthroughsv.org
Winnie Fong
VP of Programs and Instruction
wfong@breakthroughsv.org
Tamaya Garcia
VP of Development
tgarcia@breakthroughsv.org
Tony Alvarez
AmeriCorps Program Director talvarez@breakthroughsv.org
Eduardo Arellanes Loeza
Director of Admissions & Middle School Programs
eloeza@breakthroughsv.org
Rebeca Lopez
Director of College Access and Success
rlopez@breakthroughsv.org
Kalina Chan
Middle School Program Manager
kchan@breakthroughsv.org
Lizbeth Huerta
College Success Manager
lhuerta@breakthroughsv.org
Thao Nguyen
College Access Program Manager
thao.nguyen@breakthroughsv.org
Javier Ortega
Family and Community Engagement Manager jortega@breakthroughsv.org
Marisol Ponce
Development Events Manager mponce@breakthroughsv.org
Sergio Quinones
Middle School Program Manager squinones@breakthroughsv.org
Christa Salazar
Operations Manager
csalazar@breakthroughsv.org
Joshua Salazar
Operations Coordinator
jsalazar@breakthroughsv.org
Vanessa Valdez Cruz
Program and Tutoring Coordinator vvaldezcruz@breakthroughsv.org
AmeriCorps Members
Kristine Crabajales
7th and 8th Grade Academic and
College Planning Advisor
Ly Duong
9th and 10th Grade Academic and
College Planning Advisor
Stacy Garcia
11th and 12th Grade Academic and College Planning Advisor
Carla Gonzalez
7th and 8th Grade Academic and
College Planning Advisor
Emily Greulich
11th and 12th Grade Academic and College Planning Advisor
Jillian Hu
11th and 12th Grade Academic and College Planning Advisor
Roy Shannon
7th and 8th Grade Academic and
College Planning Advisor
Aylin Velazco
9th and 10th Grade Academic and College Planning Advisor
Board of Directors
Ellen Lintz Dempsey (Chair)
Community Volunteer
Suchitra Subrahmanyan (Vice Chair)
Vice President, Business Development, Applied Materials
Courtney Monk (Secretary)
Chief Product Officer, Schoolytics
Bianca Fischli (Governance)
Community Volunteer, Customer Success Advocate
Allison Railo (Development)
Art Historian and Curator
Roneeta Guha
Principal, Education First Consulting
Christina Lai
VP, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Robinhood
Diane Lu
VP, Senior Counsel, SoftBank Group International
Antonio Romero
Director of Medicinal Chemistry, Cytokinetics
Griselda Panozo (Finance & Treasurer)
Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers
Jocelyne Cardona
Senior Research Associate, Education Policy Organization
Rita Chen
Community Volunteer
Neeraj Goel
Senior Engineering Manager, Adobe
Ramón Garcia Gomez
Go to Market Strategy and Operations, Google
Liza Smyth
Customer Experience Executive
Carol Tinsley
Community Volunteer
Minh Virasak
Associate Vice Provost, Santa Clara University
Michele Wyman
Director, Communications, Google Workspace