The Board of Directors of A Home Within is composed of individuals with a wide range of interests and expertise. They bring to the Board a commitment to joining the private and public sectors in meeting the mental health needs of foster children.
Ori Brafman is a writer living in San Francisco. His first book, The Starfish and The Spider, was about the power of distributed organizations. His most recent book, Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior, discusses dynamic forces that influence every aspect of our personal and business lives, including loss aversion, the diagnosis bias, and the "chameleon effect." Born in Israel and raised in Texas, Ori as been a lifelong entrepreneur. Ori holds a BA in Peace and Conflict Studies from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. As an alumnus, Ori has facilitated an MBA course on interpersonal dynamics at the Stanford Business School.
Linda Fitzpatrick is a senior advisor to biotechnology companies in the areas of Human Resources and Corporate Communications. Linda was previously Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications with Nuvelo. Prior to Joining Nuvelo, she was Vice President of Human Resources and Corporate Communications at Gilead Sciences where she had responsibility for these functions in addition to information technology, facilities and engineering, purchasing and the information center. She has also served as Director of Investor Relations and Director of Compensation, Benefits and Systems with Genentech, Inc. She received her Bachelor's of Sociology and Psychology, Cum Laude, from San Francisco State University. In addition, Linda is Co-President of the Hillsborough Schools Foundations, Board Member of Coyote Point Museum for Environmental Educations, and Past President of the Hillsborough School District Associated Parents Group. She is the former President of the South School Executive Board, and is a member of the Hillsborough Schools Foundation Executive Committee. She is a past board member of the Hillsborough School Foundation, past Chair of the Biotechnology Industry Association (BIO) Human Resources committee, a past board member of the Northern California Boys and Girls Club, and a former mentor with Mennttium Organization.
Michael Hansen is a senior finance manager with Wells Fargo’s Private Client Services in San Francisco. Over the past 12 years he has helped Wells Fargo significantly grow its investment business and ability to serve high net worth customers acting as a key manager concerning financial planning, strategy, performance analysis, acquisitions, systems, and controls. He is a graduate of Southwestern University and holds a BA in Business. Michael brings these skills and experience to A Home Within inspired by parenthood, his wife’s work in child welfare, and a deep desire to give to his community.
Toni Vaughn Heineman, DMH, is the founder and Executive Director of A Home Within. She is Clinical Professor at the University of California, San Francisco, in Psychiatry and has been in private practice in San Francisco, working with adults, children, and families for over 30 years. Dr. Heineman consults with individuals and organizations. She is the author of several articles focused on psychotherapy with children and has made numerous presentations to lay and professional audiences about the mental health issues facing children and parents. She authored An Abused Child: Psychodynamic Understanding and Treatment and co-edited Building A Home Within: Meeting the Emotional Needs of Children and Youth in Foster Care. She has been awarded a Leadership Fellowship from Zero to Three, a Draper Richards Social Entrepreneur Fellowship, a Social Entrepreneur Award from the Manhattan Institute, the national Jefferson Award for outstanding public service, and the 2008 Civic Ventures Purpose Prize, given to social entrepreneurs over the age of 60.
Kristina Omari is an alumna of the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) where she was active in the Public Management Program. She became involved with A Home Within through the GSB's Alumni Consulting Team (ACT). In addition to non-profit involvement, Kristina enjoys food, wine and travel. Her professional background is in investment banking and corporate development, and she is currently Senior Director of Mergers & Acquisitions at Adobe Systems, Inc.
Prior to moving to San Francisco in 2000, Kira Steifman was the program associate of the New York-based Andrus Family Fund, the philanthropic arm of the fifth generation of the family behind the Surdna Foundation. One of AFF’s main program areas is the transition of youth from foster care to independent living. Earlier she worked at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in New York, representing clients in debt and equity financing, among other corporate transactions. She graduated from Northwestern University School of Law (1998) and Dartmouth College (1993). Currently at home with her children, Kira has served her children’s preschool in a variety of capacities, most recently as president of the Parents’ Association, and chaired the silent auction at her daughter’s school in 2008, raising over $100,000. Kira has served on the board of A Home Within since 2003 and as its president since January 2009.
John Stephenson is a professional consultant to non-profit organizations in the areas of strategy, business planning, and organizational development. He brings a background that includes senior professional positions in both the corporate and non-profit fields, as well as volunteer leadership and board positions in a variety of non-profit organizations. Eight years ago, after a 27 year corporate career with Fortune 100 companies in the paper industry, he fulfilled a life long goal to make the career change from the business world to the non-profit world. His work has included 10 consulting projects with local and national non-profit organizations in the fields of human services, social enterprise, health, youth, and education, 2 years as the Executive Director of the Bay Area unit of a national non-profit organization, and 4 years as the Chair or Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of a local non-profit organization. After being raised in the suburbs of Chicago, he received his Bachelors Degree in Economics from Amherst College in Massachusetts and his Masters Degree in Business Administration from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University in California.
Zehra Vahanvaty currently serves on the Executive Committee for the Nueva Parent's Association at The Nueva School. She is passionate about issues concerning the welfare of underprivileged youth. As a member of the Peninsula Junior League she teaches at the East Palo Alto Charter School. She has worked as an advocate for children in the Los Angeles Dependency Court as well as the Center for Women in Transition in Urbana. At the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta, she served as the Assistant to the Director of African Affairs. Most recently, Zehra enjoyed working on the Stanford GSB Alumni Consulting Team’s project to help A Home Within formulate a new strategic plan. Zehra graduated from the University of Southern California Law School.
Margot completed her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at The California School of Professional Psychology, Alameda, California. She completed her pre/post-doctoral fellowships at the San Francisco Crisis Clinic and at the UCSF/Mount Zion Out-Patient Psychiatry Department where she had the opportunity to work long-term with a wide variety of patients, from the severely disturbed, chronically mentally ill to patients asking for help with overcoming addictions, trauma, and other life situations. Dr. Wohadlo is currently in private practice in San Francisco where she engages in psychoanalytic psychotherapy with adolescents, adults, and couples. Throughout her life, she has worked with, and been a member of Boards of Directors of many different charitable organizations across the country. Her interest lies with children, and their families; as well as young mothers, helping support and teach them to parent their infants and build strong families.
Katherine Gould is a graduate and faculty member of CAPPT, The Child and Adolescent Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program at the Chicago Institute of Psychoanalysis. She has a private practice in Lincoln Park, Chicago, where she sees children, adolescents, and adults. Since 1993 she has been a Child, Adolescent and Family psychotherapist and supervisor at the Therapeutic Day School associated with the Department of Psychiatry at the Rush Medical Center in Chicago. Ms. Gould has published articles on child psychotherapy and has presented her work at the Child-Analytic Institutes in Toronto, Chicago and Los Angeles.
Kristy Su Lamore spent 15 years as a Social Worker in San Mateo County. She has extensive experience working with children and families in all aspects of the child welfare system and is a certified trainer of Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting (MAPP) since 1994. Her education includes a BA in Criminal Justice from the University of Nevada.
Elizabeth March is Executive Director of Children’s HealthWatch in Boston, Massachusetts, a non-partisan, pediatric research center focused on understanding the links between economic conditions, public policy and children’s health. She spent 11 years as Deputy Director of Partnerships for Quality Education at Harvard Medical School and for over seven years she has provided a variety of pro bono services for children. She holds a BA in Art History from the University of Virginia and a MA in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Dr. Njoroge was the Director of Infant/Young Child Clinic at the Behavioral Health Center in the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. She has recently joined the research faculty at the University of Washington, and clinical faculty at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She has embarked on several research efforts predominantly focused on infancy and early childhood, published articles, served on multiple committees and received many awards and honors pertaining to child psychiatry and neurology. Her degrees include a BA in Psychology from Columbia University in New York and an MD from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
Victoria Roberts is currently Vice President of Business Development at 4DK Technologies, Inc. She is an accomplished businesswoman, having built and run a very successful London-based design agency for over 10 years. She was also Artist in Residence and curator at Studio 29, helping drive the location to its current prestigious position as the heart of London’s contemporary arts scene. She holds a BA in European Politics and Economics, and a MA in Psychoanalytic Studies.
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