Who We Are

TEAM    |    BOARD    |    SONOMA VALLEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

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Our Team

Sarah Carroll
Executive Director
​[email protected]

Sarah brings 20 years of professional experience in luxury travel, hospitality & wine marketing into her role with the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation.  Her career involves operations, sales, marketing & customer service from her positions with Creative Leisure, Beautiful Places and Don Sebastiani & Sons and volunteer service with Impact100 Sonoma.  Sarah is passionate in building a world where all people can safely reach their fullest potential with dignity and respect. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Women & Gender Studies from Sonoma State University.  Sarah, along with her husband, Zachary and daughter Tallulah, enjoy living in Sonoma, where Tallulah attends Adele Harrison Middle School.

​​Gail Chadwin
​Director of Development
[email protected]

Gail grew up in Sonoma and is a graduate of Prestwood, Altimira, and SVHS. She attended UC Santa Cruz and graduated with degrees in Community Studies and Sociology/Latin American Latino Studies. From 2008-2013, Gail lived in El Salvador, where she was a member of the fundraising team at Habitat for Humanity El Salvador. In early 2014 Gail moved back to Sonoma and worked as the Development Coordinator at local nonprofit Seeds of Learning. In 2018 she joined the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University as the Annual and Foundation Giving Manager. She is excited to join Sonoma Valley Ed Foundation and help support local schools. In her spare time, Gail enjoys singing with the Valley of the Moon Chamber Ensemble, playing tennis, and spending time with her husband and two young children.  

​Catherine Thorpe
Marketing & Operations Manager
[email protected]

Catherine's first job was as a summer intern for the Sonoma Index-Tribune. A seasoned writer and marketer, her experience spans journalism, book publishing, technology, and education. For a decade Catherine wielded her organizational and marketing moxie as managing director for the Napa Valley Writers’ Conference, a summer literary workshop and event series held under the auspices of Napa Valley College. Raised in the North Bay, she has lived in Sonoma for more than 20 years.

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Board of Directors

Sherry Preiss, Chair

Newcomers to Sonoma in 2021, Sherry Preiss and her husband, Rich, relocated from New Jersey to be close to their family living in San Francisco. They quickly became active community members of Sonoma Valley by volunteering with La Luz, Mentoring Alliance and Impact100 Sonoma.

​Sherry’s career has been laser focused on education.  While at LEGO Education, she led an international teacher professional development program.  At KIPP Foundation, she was Chief Teaching and Learning Officer.  At Pearson, she published and edited ESL textbooks which were marketed and sold globally.  She also started and led an international professional development business working with ministries of education around the world to transform teaching and learning in their countries.  Sherry is currently a part-time consultant to Tufts University in Boston on a grant from the LEGO Foundation to support domestic and international organizations in developing and scaling play-based engineering learning programs.  

Although she misses her son and daughter -in-law in Brooklyn, Sherry adores spending time with her SF family—her daughter, daughter-in-law and her very funny 18-month-old grandson, Leon.  She loves reading, listening to podcasts, walking, playing pickleball and most of all, playing the piano.

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​Nancy Atkinson Mulligan, Vice Chair

​Nancy Atkinson Mulligan is a travel industry veteran with a distinguished career that spans four decades.  Before retiring in 2019 as Chief Travel Officer for Navan/TripActions, Nancy was responsible for developing ‘everything travel’. Beginning with the operational fulfillment model, creating the initial stages of the global support team, developing the supplier strategy and creating the Meetings & Events program. Before joining Navan/TripActions in 2016, Nancy was President & COO at S.R. Travel (a corporate travel management company), held executive roles at McCord Travel Management and was CEO at Premier Travel Center, which was later acquired by McCord Travel Management. WINiT by GBTA honored Nancy in 2019 as one of the Top 40 Women in Travel. The San Francisco Business Times recognized Nancy’s accomplishments honoring her with its Women in Leadership Award in 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2017.

​Along with supporting the Ed Foundation, Nancy is a Mentor with the SV Mentoring Alliance, and is passionate about supporting the Walk to End Altzheimers, St. Judes and Family Dong Rescue. She is an avid hiker and loves cooking for her family and friends.​​​

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Martin Cohn, Secretary

​Martin Cohn has always had a great love for the arts and education. Since leaving the field of advertising he has devoted much of his time to non-profit work. He has served on the boards of the French American International School and San Francisco Performances. He has been president of the boards of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, National Center for International Schools, and the Istituto Italiano Scuola.  About 10 years ago, he helped found the Valley of the Moon Music Festival here in Sonoma, the first festival in America devoted to performing classical chamber music on the kind of instruments for which they were originally written. The Festival, now going into its ninth season, has been a gratifying success.

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Giorgio Sorani, Treasurer

In the dynamic world of strategic planning and information technology, Giorgio Sorani stands out as a distinguished senior executive, now retired, with a remarkable career spanning multinational corporations. From the vibrant streets of Los Angeles, to the bustling metropolis of Hong Kong, Giorgio contributed significantly to companies such as Herbalife, Inc., First Pacific Holding, Duty Free Shops, Lubrizol, and Baxter. 

Giorgio's academic journey is equally impressive, earning an M.B.A. from the prestigious Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, an M.S. in Engineering, an M.A. in Mathematics from the University of Illinois, and a Laurea in Mathematics from the University of Rome, Italy. The journey into academia started as a Teaching Assistant at the University of Illinois and later evolved into a role as an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of L’Aquila in Italy.

Beyond the corporate and academic realms, Giorgio is deeply committed to community service. As the Vice Chair of the Board for the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, Giorgio played a pivotal role in ensuring the availability of admission-free concerts that enrich the cultural landscape of San Francisco, Berkeley, and Palo Alto. Additionally, Giorgio is a Member of the Sonoma Valley Early Care and Education (SVECE), channeling efforts towards addressing the educational needs of infants and toddlers in the picturesque Sonoma Valley.

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Daniela Bravo

Daniela Bravo is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and currently Clinical Director of TLC Child and Family Services. Her entire professional career has been in the non-profit sector. She spent time working for Verity, the county’s only rape crisis and trauma center, followed by over 10 years working with foster families and foster youth. Currently her focus is overseeing the mental health/behavioral health services within the wide-range of programs TLC has to serve vulnerable youth and families. She is an alumni of the Sonoma Valley School District. After arriving in Sonoma at age 5 when her parents immigrated to the United States, Daniela started kindergarten at Sassarini Elementary then attended Altamira Middle School and finally graduated from Sonoma Valley High School. Daniela and her partner have chosen to deepen their roots in the Valley and raise their two children here. Their eldest attends Flower Elementary and youngest attends Sassarini Elementary. This is Daniela’s first experience serving on a Board and it comes from a strong desire to serve her beloved community in a meaningful and impactful way.

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Joanne Green

​Joanne Green is proud to be a product of public schools. Raised in Yuba City, she knew from an early age that she was called to serve through teaching. After graduating from Cal Poly with a B.S. in Child Development, she went on to earn her multiple subject teaching credential from Fresno Pacific University, getting to student teach in the agricultural central valley.

After teaching 1st grade and kindergarten for five years, Joanne and her husband, Joel, moved to Sonoma in 2011 to start their family (reminding Joanne of the one-high-school town she was raised in).

​Immediately after making Sonoma their forever home, Joanne continued her passion for public education via SVEF with the Parents Advisory Committee. As a mother of two boys, she now spends her time volunteering in and out of the classroom and on sports fields. Her two years as PTO president for Prestwood Elementary, and most recently as a pod leader for the 2020/2021 distant learning year, will bring much perspective.

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Maria Hamel believes that everyone in our community is a stakeholder in the success of Sonoma’s students and its public schools. She has a strong desire to help create more equity among Sonoma’s children and to ensure they have the resources they need to thrive, both in and out of the classroom. 

Maria’s background encompasses fundraising, advocacy, and organizational strategy with a commitment to the environment, gender equality, and social justice. Maria’s passion for protecting wild places and environmental conservation led her to a career at NRDC, an international environmental non-profit, first in New York and later in San Francisco. In 2013 Maria moved to Sonoma to become further involved in sustainable farming. She developed and led an innovative permacultural farming system at Hamel Family Wines, and helped them achieve both Organic and Biodynamic certifications. In the past several years while raising three young children, Maria has worked to engage kids in humanitarian projects and has been a regular volunteer at Prestwood and Sassarini Schools. In response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, Maria created a fundraising benefit which mobilized a network of over 400 grassroots supporters and raised critical funds to help remove financial and logistical barriers to reproductive healthcare. Maria holds a BA in Modern European History from Brown University.

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Mariah Hanson

​Mariah Hanson is the founder and creator of the legendary “Dinah,” aka The Dinah, reputedly the largest queer women/lesbian event in the world. (www.TheDinah.com).

​More than just an event producer extraordinaire, Hanson is first and foremost an avant-garde business entrepreneur who, in the span of three decades, has created an unsurpassed cultural and social phenomenon. Hanson has built an impressive empire, from a small, one-night event at The Palm Springs Museum with 1,500 participants to booking lavish locations at deluxe hotels over the course of five days and nights, with some 10,000-plus attendees and major corporate sponsors under her belt. The Dinah has become a rite of passage for queer women, where during five event-filled days of music and community, women from all walks of life experience profound connection in a diverse and multi-cultural setting. The Dinah inspires all women to boldly live out loud while openly celebrating both our differences and commonalities, alike.

Hanson served two terms on the Board of Equality California, during the pivotal time when the board had to decide whether or not to pursue the Gay Marriage fight and no longer wait until the time “was right.” Always a pioneer, she voted in favor of moving forward, and helped the board achieve history in successfully championing the right to marry. 

Hanson served on the Aspen Gay and Lesbian Ski Week Board of Directors, and held the dual role of Development Director, raising critical funds to help produce the international event and at the same time to bridge the relationship between corporate donors and the LGBT community. 

Hanson also served on the Board of Directors of The San Francisco Community Center, joining to create the vision and raise the money needed to help the community center dream become reality. The SF Community Center now serves as a model for community centers around the country. Hanson has also served on the Cable Car Awards Board, an organization whose mission was to recognize and celebrate events in The San Francisco LGBT community and in the process helped raise the visibility of LGBT events and contributions to San Francisco culture. 

Mariah continues to utilize the world renowned Dinah as a powerful platform to mobilize the LGBTQIA community around humanitarian projects and social issues.

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Valentina Kimily Jones (Kim)

Kim Jones has a dynamic and international background across nonprofit, education, and fashion industries. She was raised in Sonoma and educated in SVUSD public schools. As an expat living in Sweden from 2008-2016, she first worked as a preschool teacher, gaining an intimate understanding of the benefits of universal access to free, high-quality education. After three years, she began her career in Public Relations at The Swedish Academy of Realist Art, followed by the fashion brand House of Dagmar.

Since returning to Sonoma Valley, she has become a respected community leader invested in mission-driven communication and collaboration. Her work supports Sonoma Ecology Center communications, development, and the cross-sector coalition, Sonoma Valley Collaborative.

She is committed to fostering justice and equity in Sonoma Valley’s nonprofit sector. She holds a BA in Psychology with a minor in The History of Art and Visual Culture from UCSC. She is the Vice President of the board of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival, serving on the Audience Development and Governance committees, and is a board member of the Sebastiani Theatre Foundation. 

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Dr. Geeta Malik

As the daughter of student immigrants who came to California to further their dreams, Dr. Geeta Malik grew up knowing the value of good education. She attended all public schools until medical school at Creighton University. She has practiced Family Medicine in town for over ten years and has a special emphasis on chronic disease management, preventive care and women’s health.  She is an advocate for evidence-based medicine and collaborative care.

Her two daughters are enrolled in Sonoma’s own Spanish dual immersion program and are now at SVHS and Adele Harrison Middle School. As with lack of healthcare, educational inequities deprive students and their families of safety and opportunity.

​Geeta joined SVEF to help our Valley’s students recover and grow out of this global pandemic and assist in developing nimble solutions to the next challenges the District faces.

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Maricarmen Reyes

​Maricarmen Reyes, daughter of Mexican immigrant parents who migrated to Sonoma in the 1970s, was born and grew up in Sonoma Valley. She attended Prestwood School, and Altimira Middle School, and graduated from SVHS in 2000.  In 2005, she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chicano and Latino Studies from Sonoma State University. Thereafter she began her career in the educational field with Migrant Education and SVUSD.  She worked at La Luz Center from 2009 – 2014 as Family Advocate and Education Coordinator. She currently works at Sonoma Valley Community Health Center Outreach and Event Coordinator and also works as a tutor for SRJC High School Equivalency Program for farmworker families.   She believes that education, no matter at what age - whether it be professional, vocational, adult education, or a one-time workshop - is key to the success of a community.  

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Graham Smith

Graham Smith held executive roles at Salesforce, including Chief Financial Officer from 2008 to 2014. Prior to joining Salesforce, Graham served as Chief Financial Officer at Advent Software from 2003 to 2007. Prior to Advent, he was Chief Financial Officer at Vitria and Nuance Communications and held senior finance roles at Oracle.

In addition to the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation, Graham currently serves as a member of the boards of directors of Citrix Systems, Splunk, Xero, MINDBODY and BlackLine. ​Graham holds a B.Sc. from Bristol University in England and qualified as a chartered accountant in England and Wales.

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Sonoma Valley Unified School District

The Future of the Valley Starts Here!

The Sonoma Valley Unified School District is home to four elementary schools: Sassarini, Flowery, El Verano and Prestwood; two middle schools: Altimira and Adele Harrison; one high school: Sonoma Valley High School; one continuation high school: Creekside High School; and two charter schools: Sonoma Charter School and Woodland Star. Find out more about our school district at their website: sonomaschools.org

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Your Support Matters

Thank You!

The Sonoma Valley Education Foundation relies on community members' support for public education to ensure and sustain a vibrant, safe and strong future for Sonoma Valley students. Your support has made a huge difference in students' lives and will continue to do so! We are deeply grateful for your generosity.

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