Advisory Board

Vanessa Alexander is Director of Development at San Francisco Day School. She has served in a variety of development capacities at Yale University, Town School for Boys, and Barnard College. She has also been a high school Spanish teacher and conducted research in Ayacucho, Peru, on a Richter Fellowship. Vanessa holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies and History of Art from Yale University, and also completed her graduate work there, receiving an M.A. and M. Phil. in History of Art.

K. Samantha Cho has been a chip design engineer at Sun Microsystems, a strategy and management consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, and head of Business Development at various Internet start-ups. She holds a B.S. from Boston University, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.  She is the parent of a second grader at San Francisco Day School and strongly believes in outstanding education for all children.

Cathy Dean has 15 years of experience in financial services, industrial manufacturing, and high technology businesses. She serves on the Board of Gateway High School, which she previously chaired, and has been actively involved with the Brown Club of Northern California and the Junior League of San Francisco. Cathy holds a B.A. from Brown University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. She and her husband, Sandy, have three young children at San Francisco Day School.

Katrina Hahn has 14 years of experience in sales and marketing in the consumer packaged goods industry. She is currently Vice President of Sales at Caldrea, prior to which she worked for Clorox and Campbell Soup. Born and raised in California, Katrina holds a B.A. in marketing from the University of Puget Sound and an M.B.A. from the University of South Carolina. She is also an active member of NEW, the Network for Executive Women, where she holds a sub-committee chair position.

Megan Howard has been a practicing attorney for 6 years. Formerly a business litigator, she is now a staff attorney for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Megan holds a B.A. from Brown University and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall). She is the parent of third and fifth graders at San Francisco Day School.

David E. Jackson is Head of School at San Francisco Day School. He began his career in the classroom, teaching grades one, two, and four, before leading public elementary schools in New York and public school districts in New York and Massachusetts. Most recently, he was Head of School at the K-12 Park School in Baltimore. Dr. Jackson holds a B.A. from Williams College and an Ed.D. from Teachers College at Columbia University. He also serves on the Board of Gateway High School.

Carl Kawaja is a senior vice president of Capital Research Company. Prior to joining Capital Group in 1991, Carl was a security analyst for Gabelli and Co. in New York and an equity analyst for Levesque Beaubien, Inc. in Montreal. Carl received a B.A. in history from Brown University and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. Carl sits on the Boards of KIPP Bay Area and San Francisco Day School, where he has three children.

Ahmed Khaishgi is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of SquareTrade. He has also been an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company in New York, where he led the team that created the company's internal e-commerce implementation capabilities, and a systems analyst at Procter & Gamble. Ahmed holds a B.A. in computer engineering and graduated from Harvard Business School as a Baker Scholar.

Sandra Kim is the Executive Director of Capital Markets Finance for the University of California System. She previously worked as an investment banker specializing in the higher education sector. She holds a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and an M.P.P. from the University of Chicago. Sandra is the parent of a first grader at San Francisco Day School.

June Marcel has 11 years experience in market research and strategy development. She is currently an Associate Director on Moody’s Analytics Product Management team. Before this, June led Moody’s Analytics Corporate Branding & Communications team, served as a senior management consultant at Orion Consultants, and was one of four team members responsible for helping manufacturer Riri penetrate the U.S. market. June holds a B.A. in English literature from Columbia University and an M.B.A. from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Jenny Pearlman is a civil-rights attorney and youth program consultant focusing on educational justice and equity. She currently consults with Glide’s Family, Youth and Childcare Center, and was previously a senior staff attorney with Public Advocates. She serves on several non-profit boards, including Community Initiatives, Hedge Funds Care and The Little School. Ms. Pearlman graduated cum laude from Georgetown Law Center and received a degree in International Politics from Georgetown University. 

Brian Roberts is Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategy at Walmart and focuses on global ecommerce. He was previously a Senior Managing Director of Evercore Partners and a Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, and has served in senior management capacities at Inktomi Corporation and Lazard Frères & Co. LLC, among other firms. Brian holds a B.A. in economics with highest distinction from the University of California at Berkeley, and an M.B.A. with distinction from Harvard Business School. He lives in San Francisco with his wife Ann and their three children.

S. Hassan Zaidi has been an entrepreneur for over 20 years. He has built and sold several companies in diverse sectors. He has a B.A. in Economics from India. He sits on several non-profit boards in the Bay Area and is currently setting up a foundation for early childhood education for underprivileged children in India. He has a son in Kindergarten at San Francisco Day School.