Innovation Council

Innovation Council Members

Marc Liebman (Superintendent Berryessa SD)
Dr. Liebman has over 30 years of experience in education. He has taught at the elementary and high school levels, served as a site principal and district level administrator and has over 10 years experience as superintendent most recently in the Marysville Joint Unified School District. During his six and a half years in Marysville, he helped the district increase student achievement, lower high school drop outs and increase the number of graduates continuing their education at two and four year colleges. He is proudest of significantly increasing the rate of student literacy in a district that members of the State Board of Education characterized as one of the most improved school districts in California. He also worked for the IBM corporation where he was responsible for establishing an educational consulting practice grades K-12 which focused on the effective use of technology in the teaching learning process.

Rhonda Farber
Dr. Rhonda E. Farber has spent her entire 30+ years in education with the Campbell Union High School District. She has been a high school teacher, department chair, dean, vice principal, principal, district office administrator and has served as superintendent since 1999. A dedicated public educator, she has demonstrated leadership by overseeing the reopening of Branham High School and major upgrading of all school facilities including a new alternative high school with the passage of a 95 million dollar bond in 1999. Community participation and volunteerism in the schools has increased since she took over as superintendent. In 2005 the voters passed a parcel tax, and a $90 million bond was passed in 2006.

Dr. Farber has 3 children attending college, all graduated from the Campbell Union High School District. Dr. Farber earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley, MA from San Jose State University and PhD from Walden University.

Sam VanZandt
Sam Van Zandt is a San Jose native whose love of radio led to broadcast studies at San Jose State University, then a trip around the country on as a deejay before he settled into San Francisco to raise his family. In San Francisco, Sam was Public Affairs Director for KCBS-FM, KIOI, KYA and KFRC. Sam also worked at several other radio stations in his 30+ years in San Francisco. Sam appeared on TV as a reviewer on Channel 5's "Evening Magazine", Channel 4's "Saturday Live," and as a movie critic on Channel 7's "AM San Francisco." Sam also hosted the TV 20 Ten O'clock Movie for several years, and was a regular host of Channel 2's MDA Labor Day Telethon for 20 years before moving to San Jose to become Public Affairs Director/Morning Co-host on KBAY 94.5 with longtime South Bay morning star Lissa Kreisler. Sam lives in Walnut Creek with his wife Carol and cats Elvis and Purr-cilla, and loves to support the San Jose public school system, which gave him such a wonderful start on his broadcasting career.

Karen Benitez
Karen Benitez has been a middle school science teacher in the Evergreen Elementary School District for the past 7 years. She loves integrating technology into her curriculum and getting students excited about science. Last year SVEF awarded her a grant for a digital camera to help her students better grasp the concepts in the study of motion. She was named KBAY's teacher of the month for December and later the SVEF Teacher of the Year. Karen is a long- time resident of San Jose who attended middle and high school in San Jose Unified. She went on to earn degrees in both Economics and Biology from UC Santa Cruz and a Master's Degree in Educational Leadership from San Jose State University.

Trish Alberstson

Jenn Holst

Bertha Ward

Carl Ward

Janet Geracie

Darren Deffner
Darren Deffner is a senior government affairs representative at Pacific Gas and Electric Company, one of the largest natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. PG&E serves 15 million people in a service area that stretches from Eureka to Bakersfield and from the Pacific Ocean to the Sierra Nevada.

Mr. Deffner is responsible for developing community partnerships and implementing programs in Silicon Valley that enhance PG&E’s commitment to environmental stewardship, energy assistance, education, economic development, and emergency preparation. Through these partnerships, PG&E is able to work directly with local governments, elected leaders, non-profit organizations, businesses, and residents to address important community needs.

Darren serves on the Board of Directors of the Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network and on the Environmental Advisory Board of the Santa Clara Valley Water District.

Previous to working at PG&E, Darren served as a policy aide in the United States Congress to Representatives Jane Harman, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Gerald Kleczka, and Anna Eshoo as well as Chief of Staff to former San Jose Councilmember Ken Yeager.

Mr. Deffner received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from San Jose State University and Master of Science degree in environmental sciences and policy from The Johns Hopkins University.

John Tang
John Tang is the Manager of Government Relations and Corporate Communications for San Jose Water Company. His career spans 12 plus years in the areas of environmental engineering and public affairs. John is currently responsible for directing and executing the company’s corporate communications, government affairs, and media relations programs. 
Prior to joining San Jose Water Company, John was employed by FMC Corporation as a Remediation Engineer and worked at both the corporate headquarter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the manufacturing facility in San Jose, California,. His responsibilities at FMC included managing a diverse portfolio of contaminated industrial facilities, including State and Federal Superfund sites, in the United States and Canada.
John is a graduate of San Jose State University where he received a BS and MS Civil Engineering, and Columbia University where he received an MBA. He is a California registered civil engineer and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Jan Leeman
Jan has nearly 20 years of business experience as a management consultant, entrepreneur, and investor. He cofounded ImproveNet (NASDAQ: IMPV) in 1996 and held various executive positions through 2000. Jan served on the board of Activeye, Inc. (acquired on Honeywell, Inc.), and currently serves on the board of PreFast Concrete Wall Systems, Inc., a school construction company. Jan has been an active volunteer with Stanford's Alumni Consulting Team (ACT) since 2001 and has worked on projects for Mid-Peninsula YMCA, Habitat for Humanity, and the Stanford BioDesign program. He is currently an ACT Expert in the areas of Strategic Planning and Market Analysis. Jan has a BS in chemical engineering with high honors from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MBA from Stanford University. He lives in Palo Alto with his wife and three children.

Debra McLaughlin
Debra McLaughlin is the Sr. Community Relations Specialist at Symantec Corporation. In this role, Debra manages the global Community Relations site program which includes grant making and employee engagement initiatives.

Debra McLaughlin has worked in Community Relations and Corporate Philanthropy for several years. Prior to that, she worked in the nonprofit sector on corporate engagement and program development. Debra earned a Masters of Science degree in Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Bachelors of Science degree in Finance from Boston College.

Diane Nguyen
Mrs. Nguyen majored in International Development Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where she later pursued her career path in community development and social change. Since college, she has explored positive systemic change from both the political sector and the non-profit world. For 2 ½ years, Mrs. Nguyen served as the Program Manager at Vision New America (VNA), a non-profit organization that promotes civic participation and education through it's Public Policy Internship Program, especially within the Asian Pacific American community. Her work propelled her to a greater understanding of the social needs as well as the inherent political capacity within the APA community.

In January 2007, Diane was invited to become the Executive Director of Viet Heritage Society (VHS) due to her positive influence within the APA community. Possessing great energy and the essential skills for advancing the mission of VHS, Mrs. Nguyen has fully owned her countless responsibilities, including management of a $12 million capital campaign for the construction of the Viet Heritage Gardens. In her short time with VHS, Mrs. Nguyen has secured broader support for the Gardens, assembled a capital campaign committee, and collaborated with the Children's Discovery Museum and Vision New America to put on the 2nd Annual Heritage Day on August 26, 2007, which is expected to welcome thousands of people.

Louansee Moua
Louansee Moua currently serves as Chief of Staff for the office of San Jose City Councilmember Madison Nguyen.  Prior to joining Councilmember Madison Nguyen’s office, she worked for Minnesota State Senator Mee Moua, and was involved in political campaigns for such figures as former Minnesota Senate Majority Leader, Roger Moe, former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, and the late U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone.

Louansee had a brief career in television broadcast journalism working for WTVD and WNCN in Raleigh, CNN-International in Atlanta and Twin Cities Public Television in Saint Paul, Minnesota before emerging into politics.    

She has been a member of local and national organizations such as the Hmong Women’s Action Team, Asian American Journalist Association, National Asian American Television Association, and served on the Board of Directors for the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota.

When she is not out saving the world, she is fascinated by books, cooking, fishing, and new places she has never been.

“There is a future here for all people to be heard.”

Bob Martinez
Bob Martinez is the IBM Outreach Program manager for the IBM sites in the bay area and is responsible for K-12 outreach programs. In his 33 years with IBM he has worked in every aspect of HR and held an HR manager position. As IBM's Equal Opportunity officer he had responsibility for IBM's community programs and received Santa Clara County Human Relations award. He has had a lot of experience in organizational development and worked closely with management to implement corporate programs, improve the site environment and work with managers to enhance their leadership skills and employee relations. One of his main focuses is to be involved with/and understand the local community agencies needs in order to assist them in getting supplies/funding. He enjoys working with/volunteering in community groups. He was the MESA program chairperson for 3 years. Bob is very involved in IBM's diversity programs and works to ensure that IBM stays focused on improving its minority representation through various programs like on site Technical camps for middle school girls and minority males, along with focusing on high-school and college programs that focus on diversity students.

He is married has 3 children and loves traveling.

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