Horizons at SFFS 2023-2024 board

Andrea Ruiz De Bustamante (she/her) is a Horizons parent who is also very involved at Mission Prep (she is a parent of current 8th and 7th graders).  She currently serves on the parent advisory committee at Mission Prep and is also great at relationship building.  Her family moved from Colima, Mexico to Tijuana then to San Francisco, CA, in the Mission District where they continue to live, to get medical assistance for her aunt. Andrea was born to a single mother who raised her along with her family and grew up in a bilingual home.

Andrea struggled throughout her school years with a learning disability, and made it to San Francisco State to earned a BA in Psychology. While in school she interned at Oakes Children Center for SED kids when it was in the avenues, and a year later, she was hired on as an Afterschool Counselor and worked there for 10 years. In those last 2 years, Andrea earned an MA in Social Work. After earning her MSW in 2007, she dedicated her focus on raising 2 wonderful children, a 14-year-old girl and a 12-year boy with her husband, her childhood friend and their 5-year-old dog, Jack Sparrow. In 2020 in the heart of the pandemic, Andrea was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and is happy to say she is doing well. Andrea loved volunteering during her schooling. Her family loves hanging out with other family, friends, traveling, dancing and being at home. They enjoy movies, playing board games and are huge Disney fans and 49ers fans. Andrea enjoys reading murder mystery novel series and watching paranormal shows.

Benjamin Ibarra (he/him) is a San Francisco native through and through. A child of Mexican immigrants, Benjamin is no stranger to The Mission and its population. A graduate of UC Davis, and the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs, Benjamin has worked diligently as a public servant for almost two decades with UC Admissions, the Office of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, The San Francisco Public Library, and currently San Francisco Public Works where he is a Public Information Officer, working on quality of life related matters within the Mission. A father of three, including a 5th grader at Friends School. When not working or driving his kids around, he likes to watch baseball, play soccer and try to finish the days crossword puzzle.

Charlie L. Morales is an equity-minded counselor who strives to master the tools that identify resources, provide academic support, and offer guidance that are essential in developing each students’ skill base for success in higher education and beyond. He is a diversity, equity, and inclusion strategist that provides innovative solutions to confront the most pressing issues in urban education. In addition, he specializes in working with young men of color, students on probation, student-athletes, STEM, formerly incarcerated, first-generation, and students with disabilities.

Chris Rupright moved to San Francisco from the Midwest in 1986, and had his first apartment at 23rd and Guerrero Streets.  He practiced law in the City for 26 years, specializing in representing investment advisers and private investment funds, until retiring in 2017.  He spends time volunteering, cooking and enjoying the outdoors.  He is a graduate of the College at University of Chicago and Northwestern University Law School.

He has been a longtime supporter of Horizons at SFFS, and his son worked for 2 summers as the swimming pool and lunch helper.  He lives in San Francisco with his wife Pam, a college admissions counselor.  They have 2 children, David (SFFS 2012), a high school history teacher in Chicago, and Emily (SFFS 2014), an Architecture student at Washington University in St. Louis.

Flora Mugambi-Mutunga (she/her) was born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya. She immigrated to the United States after completing secondary school to pursue a college education. During her undergraduate studies in psychology and business management at South Western Oklahoma State University, Flora served as President of the International Students Association, a leadership role which cultivated her interest in diversity, cultural competency and global education. In her last semester of undergraduate studies, Flora enrolled in a Masters of Education program at the same institution and completed her studies while working full time. The early years of her career found her working with underserved children in schools and in clinical milieus.  She went on to become a successful Preschool Director in San Francisco for the largest provider of employer-sponsored child care in the United States. As her responsibilities grew, she was promoted to one of seven Regional Managers in Northern California. The company expanded to include elementary schools which provided Flora with the opportunity to become a founding senior administrator of a Spanish-infusion Jr. K-8th private school in San Francisco and later, its Interim Head of School for one year before relocating to Los Angeles with her husband for his job.

In her 9th year at Town School for Boys as the Director of Community Building and Inclusion and a member of the senior leadership, Flora is passionate about the ongoing collaboration with several stakeholders that leverages diversity in all its forms, inclusion, global education and service learning.  She is married to her husband David and they have one boundlessly energetic and curious preschooler who keeps them laughing and young at heart. Flora and her husband look forward to visiting family members who reside in the States and in different parts of the world. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, hosting guests (drinking chai tea is a staple during visits) and participating in a Zumba class indoors or outdoors.

Guybe Slangen comes from an international family of educators—his dad (from Belgium) was a professor for nearly three decades and his mom (from the Philippines) taught in public schools for many years. He joined SFFS in 2009 from the Head-Royce School where he was the Dean of Students. Prior to that he worked at independent schools in both Colorado and New York. Whether it is leading students on backpacking trips in the Sierras or taking them to serve meals at homeless shelters, Guybe believes strongly that learning has the greatest impact through experience. At Friends, his work centers around building and sustaining strong relationships between the school and the greater community, be it in the Mission or across the country. He also manages all grade-level trips and co-clerks the school’s Quaker Life Committee. Guybe is a graduate of Dickinson College and completed his Master’s in Educational Leadership at Columbia University’s Teachers College. He is on the Advisory Board for the National Network for Schools in Partnership (NNSP), and has presented workshops nationally on the topics of leadership, diversity, and community engagement. An avid surfer, biker, and skier, Guybe lives in Oakland with his partner Susan and their daughter Livi.

Jim Hansen was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.  His father's family settled in the Mission District in the 1870's. He received a BA in Economics from Santa Clara University and has spent most of his career in the financial markets building and running proprietary market-making firms.  Jim currently serves on the board of the Urban School of San Francisco and is a past member of the board at the SF Friends School.  In his free time, Jim enjoys tutoring K-8 students at the Tenderloin Afterschool Program.  Jim and his wife Katie live in San Francisco with their children, Jack (SFFS class of 2016) and Delia (SFFS class of 2019).

Katharine Gin (she/her) is the executive director and co-founder of Immigrants Rising. For almost 25 years, Katharine has worked to enhance arts and education opportunities for low-income and minority youth. She has developed innovative programs in schools, housing projects, and detention facilities. Her artistic and educational work with youth has been highlighted in college textbooks, literary anthologies, magazines, and national newspapers, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Harvard Educational Review, Pod Save America, and Fast Company. 

Outside of her work with Immigrants Rising, Katharine serves as Board President of the California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC), on UC President Janet Napolitano's Advisory Group on Undocumented Students, on the National Advisory Board of TheDream.US, and on the Underground Scholars Initiative at UC Berkeley. She has also served as an advisor to the Nelson Fund at The Silicon Valley Community Foundation, where she oversaw the fund's philanthropic investments in arts and education from 2001 to 2014. 

Katharine was born and raised in San Francisco and received her BA from Yale University and MFA from the University of Oregon. She is the proud descendant of Chinese immigrants, who first came to the U.S. in the 1860s to work in the gold mines of California and later during the restrictive Chinese Exclusion Acts. She is also mother to Anna Dido Nordeson and partner to Kjell Nordeson.

Katie Eller (she/her) has worked as an elementary school educator in San Francisco Unified School District for over 20 years.  Over those years, she has been a teacher, a site-based literacy coach, and is now a program administrator leading all of the site-based literacy coaches in SFUSD.  In her role, she provides professional development and one-on-one support in both literacy and coaching content for the network of literacy coaches.  She also provides guidance on literacy curriculum for Kindgarten through 5th grades and leads District professional development for teachers and Principals on curriculum and instruction.  The majority of her work is focused on schools in the Mission and Bayview, and she has worked closely with both BVHM and Marshall for the past 5 years.  To further her own professional development, she spends two weeks each year attending the Reading and Writing Coaching Institutes through Teachers College at Columbia University.  Prior to working in education, Katie worked for 10 years in merchandise planning with Esprit and the Gap and was on the founding management team for Old Navy.  

Katie is originally from Yakima, Washington and received her B.S in Finance from Santa Clara University and her teaching credential from the intensive MATE program through SF State.  She received her Literacy Specialist Certificate through California Early Literacy Learning (CELL/ExLL). She lives in San Francisco with her husband John who is a community organizer and their two children Lilli (17) and Miles (15).

Katina Papson-Rigby has over 20 years experience in the field of K-12 education, community activism and DEIB (Diversity Equity Inclusion and Belonging) focused efforts in public, charter, non profit and private spaces. She is drawn to opportunities for systems change through creative collaboration across differences. As a practiced communicator, facilitator and co-conspirator with diverse constituencies, her work as an interdisciplinary artist and teacher is an expression of many voices. She has authored and published social justice, ethnic studies, arts integrated, place-based and interdisciplinary curriculum, and has experience as a teacher coach and administrator of distinct educational youth programming. She is a trained professional artist whose artwork has shown in galleries and museums across the country. She identifies as a Queer, ethnically mixed Latina, mother and partner, who has experienced white, citizenship and cisgender privilege. The pronouns she uses are she/her/ella. She strongly identifies as a lifelong learner.

Ken Jones moved with his family to San Francisco from Chicago in 1997, to work as an operations manager at the San Francisco Zoo. Ken then focused financial accounting and worked with several nonprofit organizations in the Bay Area before eventually joining the partnership Metis Partner Solutions in 2013 to provide finance consulting to Bay Area nonprofits. He is a graduate of the College at University of Chicago.

Ken has served on several nonprofit Boards and is currently the Board Chair for the Pomeroy Center in the southwest corner of the City. He lives in San Francisco with his wife Wendy, a business systems analyst for a biotech firm. They have 2 children, Rosa, a nursing assistant in Denver, and Katy, an elementary school teacher in the Mission.

Lynda Sullivan has spent more than 20 years in the financial services industry. Most recently, Sullivan served as investment director at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, where she had responsibility for investing the foundation’s endowment in the public equity and fixed income sectors. Sullivan began her career in the Corporate Finance department at Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York and prior to joining the Moore Foundation held senior positions at Gap, Inc., and Montgomery Securities in San Francisco. Sullivan earned bachelor’s degrees in both business and engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and her master’s in business administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Sullivan serves on the Board of Directors for Save The Bay in addition to being a long-time Food Bank volunteer and donor.

Melissa Forgan (she/her) has 20 years of experience in high-tech sales working for Palo Alto Networks, NetApp Inc., Aruba Networks and Mentor Graphics. Her career has allowed her to work closely with some of the world’s most innovative technology companies including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Uber, Intel, and Microsoft.

Melissa has served as the chairwoman of WIN; a women’s networking group at NetApp, Inc., that helps to advance the careers of women in technology and inspire young girls to pursue degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

She is an English instructor for Refugee Transitions, a non-profit agency that serves high-need, low-income refugees, asylees, and immigrants. As the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants, Melissa is passionate about helping immigrants to be successful in their communities. She also volunteers with Habitat for Humanity and the Second Harvest Food Bank. Melissa resides in San Francisco with her husband, Strachan.

Michele Dilworth (she/her) has over 20 years of experience raising brand profiles, building teams and contributing to the success of both private and nonprofit organizations. Michele began her career in high tech product development and marketing before transitioning to the nonprofit sector where she has worked in the arts, social services, global affairs and philanthropy. She currently serves as the Director of the Foundation Center’s West Coast regional office. Born and raised in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, Michele is a graduate of the University of Virginia. She lives in San Francisco with her husband Ed and their three children – Patrick (Stuart Hall High School Class of 2017), Edmond (SFFS Class of 2015) and Lacey (SFFS Class of 2019).

Monica Zamudio (she/her) immigrated to the United States with her parents at six, lived and raised in the Central Valley, and relocated to San Francisco in the past five years. Monica enjoys supporting the community; she has volunteered in Schools as a PTA leader, PAC vice president, Girl Scout leader, and baseball coach, to name a few. Additionally, she has experience working with children in special education and is passionate about working with and supporting underprivileged communities. Currently, she holds a few volunteer leadership positions at Saint Mary’s College of California, where she is pursuing her degree in counseling with a specialization in School Psychology and Marriage and Family Therapy. When she is not volunteering, organizing events, or completing assignments in her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family, friends, and the outdoors.

Morgen Humes started her career in the organizational psychology department of an international technology company. Later, she became a founding employee for a small management consulting start-up. In keeping with her abiding passion for supporting organizations that make a positive social impact, she left the for-profit world to go back to school to earn her Master’s in Social Welfare, Management and Planning, from UC Berkeley (2000). She then worked as an independent nonprofit consultant and, later, project coordinator for a federal wraparound demonstration project. During the following seven years, Morgen was part of the executive leadership team of Seneca Family of Agencies, which serves vulnerable children and families. As the director of Training and Research and the Co-Director of Strategic Initiatives at Seneca she managed several large training contracts, helped write successful grants and developed collaborative relationships with community, county, and state partners.

In 2015, Morgen started working for herself. Her consulting and grant writing services are grounded in over 20 years of professional experience, which includes for-profit and nonprofit consulting as well as executive leadership of a large nonprofit. In addition to bringing excellent experience to any endeavor, she brings a positive attitude as well as a natural inclination to accomplish goals and solve problems creatively.

She currently writes and submits grants and reports primarily for Safe & Sound and Berkeley Food & Housing Project, with approximately 90% of grants submitted being awarded. Other clients include Chabot-Las Positas Community College District, the San Francisco Unified School District, Seneca Family of Agencies, and other Bay Area organizations. She has authored a number of successful large federal grants for California and Iowa clients. 

Throughout her working life, Morgen always found time to volunteer. In addition to serving on the Horizons at SFFS board, she is currently a member of the President’s Advisory Council Alameda County Crisis Support Services, where she volunteered and served on their board for many years. She is an active volunteer in her children’s schools and her community.

Nelly Sapinski (she/her) is the parent of an SFFS alum and currently serves as Executive Director of the Jamestown Community Center. Nelly has a strong background in education and youth development, extensive experience in the education non-profit world, and is closely connected to the Mission community.

Samara Jaffe (she/her) is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of HR Transform, the leading event in the new work ecosystem bringing together business and people leaders from rapidly growing VC-backed companies, HR executives from the Fortune 1000, investors and entrepreneurs building solutions for the workplace of the future. She is also EVP & Managing Director of Connectiv, a live events studio creating summits for brands and professionals across high growth industries and at scale sectors undergoing rapid change. Prior to finding her way to the world of events, she held various executive roles at both startup and enterprise organizations including as General Manager and President of businesses exceeding $50M in annual revenue. Samara is a bridge builder and a thoughtful connector, moving seamlessly from building strategy to turning vision into business growth. She lives in San Francisco and enjoys spending time with family and friends.

Sangita Forth (she/her) is a seasoned marketer and entrepreneur at heart whose passion is building mission-driven, lifestyle brands.  Her brand experience spans from managing world-class brands at Kraft Foods & General Mills to growing early-stage challenger brands, Method Products, Plum Organics and most recently Revolution Foods.  Sangita has also advised for high growth food brands including Somersault Snacks, Dang Foods, A2 Milk Company and Pique Tea. Sangita is currently the Chief Marketing Officer at Whole Biome, leading the marketing, commercialization and consumer launch of microbiome-focused medical foods.  She is a faculty member of the Food Business School and an active member of National Charity League, and she recently served on non-profit boards, Lava Mae and Pacific Primary School. Sangita received her BS from Carnegie Mellon University and MBA from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania. In her free time, she loves exploring the Bay Area with her husband and three children (Ashna SFFS '21, Kiran '23 & Anjali '27).

Saraí Chicas is a proud San Franciscan born in the heart of the Mission to Salvadorean parents. Growing up, she formed close connections to the Latino Mission community by attending and being involved in her church Templo de La Fe on 24th and Valencia, and has continued to stay involved in local Mission nonprofit organizations throughout her life. She is Bilingual in Spanish and English and volunteers her time with the Immigration Justice Campaign as an Interpreter. Saraí Chicas is a first-generation college graduate, having earned both a Bachelor's degree in Child Development and a Master's degree in Elementary Education from San Francisco State University. Her education has provided her with a strong foundation in child development and teaching methods, which she has utilized throughout her career to make a positive impact in the lives of children and their families.

Her passion for equity and education started when she volunteered for Jumpstart, an Americorp Program, which led her to a career as a Preschool Teacher. She worked as a preschool teacher for 10+ years in the Bayview Hunter’s Point, Mission, and Noe Valley. She has also been a drug and alcohol Counselor at Mission Council working with families dealing with Substance Abuse. In 2018, she switched careers to the legal professional field and currently works as a senior paralegal at a boutique law firm specializing in Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury, and Fertility Cases. Her passion for equity and education has been a driving force throughout her career, and she has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of children and families in her community. In her free time, you can find her trying a new Restaurant during SF Restaurant week, or discovering a new trail with views of San Francisco.

Sofia Ortega has worked in different non-profit organizations and office roles for over a decade (including Mission Prep). Her pronouns are she/her and she is a third generation Mission native. She is also the proud mother of 5 children, soon to be 6, loves living in San Francisco and participating in community events, a fan of the 49ers and Giants! In her free time, she loves lowrider cruises and taking her beloved fathers old schools out with my children.

Sue Yoon is proud to call San Francisco home, moving here from the East Coast almost 20 years ago. She had a varied career from investment banking to education technology to computer science and engineering, staying true to her belief in the power of a growth mindset. Today, her growth mindset has taken her closer to home in pursuit of a productive urban veggie and fruit garden. She enjoys being outside – especially biking Twin Peaks and hiking any hill or mountain.

She is the parent of SFFS students and a BVHM alumni. With deep gratitude and love to the BVHM community from her experience as a parent there, Sue looks forward to continuing her involvement in that community through Horizons.