Candidate for
Board Member; Palo Alto Unified School District

Catherine and her husband, Jon, moved to Palo Alto for its excellent public schools when they started their family 16 years ago. Like many of us, they were seeking a community in which to raise their children that valued education, community engagement, and a diversity of cultures and ideas. They found it here.

Career

A graduate of public schools, Catherine has devoted her entire professional career to working on behalf of children, youth, and families. Beginning as an attorney protecting battered immigrant women and their children, she later took the helm of a child advocacy policy program at a national nonprofit.

In Palo Alto, her achievements in both direct service and policy built the foundation for a successful consulting practice helping nonprofit organizations and charitable foundations increase their impact and measure their results. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, and the Children's Defense Fund are among the organizations that trusted Catherine to help guide their strategy. Through this work, she has developed deep expertise in education policy and in using data and evaluation to drive improvement.

Catherine recently served as Executive Director of the Peninsula College Fund -- a local nonprofit that helps low-income, first-generation college students complete college -- before returning to her consulting practice. As a leader who values collaboration, she initiated and led the Peninsula College Success Network, a forum for sharing best practices among nonprofits serving low-income college students.

Community

Service to the community is one of Catherine's core values. An active PAUSD parent, she was elected to the school Site Council at her sons' elementary school, served as a PTA Council liaison, served on the first Palo Alto Partners in Education (PiE) board (then called the All Schools Council), and became her neighborhood school's lead for the Measure I parcel tax in 2004. She has worked on every school parcel tax and school bond campaign ever since.

Catherine has held leadership roles on the board of the Palo Alto Community Fund, where she has served for seven years and was previously a board member of a foster care and adoption agency. She and her children regularly volunteer with InnVision Shelter Network's Breaking Bread program.

Family

Catherine is the parent of two boys. Her oldest attended Duveneck Elementary School, Jordan Middle School, and now attends Palo Alto High School. Her younger son graduated from Duveneck and now attends an independent middle school.

Education

Catherine has an undergraduate degree from Yale University and earned her JD at Harvard Law School.

She would be honored to leverage her decades of experience in education policy, evaluation methods, and local leadership by serving as a member of the PAUSD school board.