Florence Crittenton Services

Alex Armenta
Alex Armenta is the Development Director at WAGES, a San Francisco non-profit dedicated to building worker-owned green businesses that create healthy, dignified jobs for low-income women. She has more than 12 years of nonprofit experience, including evaluation, fund development, grantmaking, and program management experience. Alex received a Bachelor's degree in Latin American and Latino Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Walé Aka Bashorun
Wale' Aka-Bashorun is a branch manager at Chase Bank. He is former Vice President at Citigroup and HSBC North America. He ran extremely successful commercial and retail banks in both New York and San Francisco Markets. He has over 18 years experience in business development, sales strategies and management. He has a strong operational background and holds the series 7, 24 and 63 securities licenses. Wale' has a BS (Mathematics) from Citi College of NY. He is a former world class decathlete and an avid golfer.

Linda Brooks-Burton
Linda Brooks Burton was the manager of the Bayview branch of the San Francisco Public Library for 14 years. She is a project director for the Bayview Hunter’s Point History Project formed to collect oral histories and photographs of Bayview’s seniors.

Frances Doherty, Co-Treasurer
Frances Doherty is the owner of a family business in San Francisco’s Bay View community and has served on the Board of WYCDC for over 20 years. She served on an advisory committee for 10 years to oversee lead safe practices to protect the young children of San Francisco. Frances currently serves as Co-Treasurer.

Wendy Feng, Secretary
Wendy Feng joined the board of Florence Crittenton in fall 2008 and is a Board Co-Secretary. She is an attorney with the law firm Covington & Burling LLP, and in her practice she helps corporate policyholders recover policy benefits from their insurance carriers. Wendy has prosecuted child abuse and neglect cases as a special corporation counsel for the District of Columbia, and she served as a founding board member of the Asian-Pacific American Legal Resources Center in Washington, DC. Wendy received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Rosa Marshall
Rosa Marshall has served on the WYCDC Board for many years and works as a postal clerk at the main Postal Distribution Center on Evans Street. She has worked for the Postal Service for 37 years and is also very active in the San Francisco Local of the American Postal Workers Union.

Howard McCray
Howard McCray is a warehouse manager for Lawson Roofing Company and has served on the WYCDC Board since 1997. He has a long history of community involvement, and received WYCDC’s Humanitarian Award in 1993 for his generous community spirit.

Rakesh Mehta, Co-President
Rakesh Mehta joined the Florence Crittenton board in May 2008, was elected as President of the board in April 2009, and currently serves as Co-President. Rakesh is an Executive Director in the Healthcare Investment Banking group at J.P. Morgan. He has more than 10 years of investment banking experience including financial advisory services, mergers and acquisitions, private and public equity and debt financings and venture capital investments. Prior to joining J.P. Morgan, Rakesh was at Piper Jaffray, DLJ and was a sales representative for Baxter Healthcare. Rakesh received an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

Atabak Mokari
Atabak Mokari joined the FCS-WYCDC Board in 2011. Atabak has served in the financial service industry since 1998 and is currently at UBS Investment Bank. Prior to joining UBS, Atabak was at Credit Suisse, Olympus Partners and First Union/Bowles Hollowell Conner. Atabak received an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and BS from Duke University.

Ritu Nagpal
Ritu Nagpal joined the Florence Crittenton Board of Directors in May of 2010. Ritu is a former hedge fund analyst/portfolio manager from Symmetry Capital Management, where she focused on healthcare investments. Her career includes nearly a decade of experience in the financial services industry. Most recently, Ritu has dedicated her time to various non-profit organizations in San Francisco. Ritu has a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, San Diego and an M.B.A. from the Anderson School at UCLA. Ritu lives in San Francisco with her husband and two young children.

Kurt Scheidt
Kurt Scheidt is a native of San Francisco, and grew up in San Rafael where he currently lives with his wife and three children. Mr. Scheidt is a partner at Kearny Capital Partners in San Francisco, a leading commercial real estate investment banking firm. He has been a member of the board at Florence Crittenton since January of 2007.

Ileah La Vora

Ileah La Vora joined the FCS-WYCDC Board in January 2012. Ileah has served in the affordable housing sector in San Francisco for nearly 7 years. She is currently at U.S. Bank working in Community Lending where she focuses on affordable housing construction loans. Prior to joining U.S. Bank, Ileah was at Mercy Housing California in San Francisco, where she was a part of the real estate development group. Ileah received a B.S. in Community and Regional Development from U.C. Davis.

Ravelle Taylor
Ravelle Taylor is a head start teacher at a school in the Bayview. She served on the parent group at the Bayview site, and brings an objective educational insight as well as a parent’s viewpoint to the board.

Karen Wing, Co-President
Since 1990, Karen Wing has served in various capacities on the WYCDC Board of Directors, serving as Board President for the past 10 years. She currently serves as Co-President. Her passion is ensuring that the arts and creative activities are an integral part of each child’s growth and development.

Dawn Dobras
Dawn Dobras served on the Florence Crittenton Board of Directors for 6 years, serving as Vice President, Secretary, Chair of the Finance Committee and Chair of the Development Committee. Dawn works for Advent International Private Equity and was previously COO of Mommy Track’d. She supports numerous non-profits including the Stocker Foundation, 826 Valencia, Mill Valley Public Schools and GirlVentures. She lives in Mill Valley with her husband Eric, eight-year-old Jacob, seven-year-old Ethan, 3-year-old Macabee, and overfed and sweet dog, Lola.

Alison Engel
Alison Engel left a job in advertising to raise a child and became an advocate for mothers and children as a result. She served as co-director of the Golden Gate Mother’s Group, an organization that assists new mothers meet the demands of motherhood. She has also volunteered at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. She served two terms on Florence Crittenton’s board, and played a key role in raising program quality and in helping to stabilize the agency during a time of transition.

Shirley Harris
Shirley Harris has over 25 years of successful business experience in telecommunications and human resource management. She retired from the telecommunications industry in 2001 where she worked for Pacific Bell, Pacific Telesis, AirTouch Communications and Vodafone. Shirley serves on a number of professional, civic and non-profit boards and organizations. She served 9 years on the Florence Crittenton Board of Directors, including board chair. She is in her eleventh year as a member of the San Mateo County Transit District (SamTrans) Board, serving two terms as Vice Chair, and as Chair.

Sara Byrne
Sara Byrne served as Treasurer on the Board of Directors of Florence Crittenton from 2004 until 2007. Sara graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Finance. For more than 13 years, Sara worked as an Equity Sales Trader in San Francisco. She began her career at Montgomery Securities which was eventually became Banc of America Securities. Currently, she is a stay at home mom. Sara lives in San Francisco with her husband Tom and their three children. In addition to her work at Florence Crittenton, Sara is an active parent volunteer at her children’s elementary school and preschool. She is active in fundraising for the International Rescue Committee. She enjoys running, yoga, skiing, and reading.

Ann Simon
Ann Simon joined the Board of Florence Crittenton Services in 2006 and now serves on the Advisory Board. During her career as a communications professional, Ann has held senior-level positions at leading corporations and agencies in New York and San Francisco, including Charles Schwab, Merrill Lynch, Ketchum Communications and Burson-Marsteller, the international public relations firm. She currently works for ROI Communication, a Bay Area consulting firm specializing in internal communications. Ann received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, and lives in Mill Valley, CA.