Leadership
DANIEL WEBSTER ELEMENTARY
Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco
Where all San Franciscans are committed to the success of every public school in the City.
Vanessa Danielle Marrero, M.S.W.
Executive Director
I believe that PPS-SF is the statewide solution to the ever-evolving problems we are experiencing.
PPS-SF Welcomes New Executive Director Vanessa Marrero
Hello PPS-SF community,
As we all launch into the new year, PPS-SF is ecstatic to announce the newest addition to our team, Executive Director Vanessa Marrero. Vanessa joins our PPS-SF team with much knowledge and wisdom, including over a decade of experience working within the K-12 school districts, community colleges across California, and other organizations supporting education and student outcomes. Vanessa has received a multitude of awards, including a Letter of Recommendation by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to work with the Biden-Harris Administration in 2020 and Latina of Influence in 2021 by Hispanic Lifestyle.
Vanessa has extensive experience and expertise, including her involvement as the Senior Director of Outreach and Engagement for the statewide initiative focused on organizational capacity development and technical assistance in continuity planning and intersegmental data linkages across secondary schools, community colleges, and universities. Vanessa also has deep ties to SFUSD where she served as a Community Schools Coordinator, Wellness Director, and Learning Support Professional/School Social Worker early in her career. Vanessa will bring PPS-SF closer to bridging the gap for equitable access with all of the communities across the school districts.
Vanessa is the parent of three children—all of whom attended public schools in California. Of her three children, one is an individual with a disability and another identifies as a part of the trans community.
We sat down with Vanessa for a Q&A and invite you to read it and see for yourself her passion and excitement for her new role and how her lived experience will shape PPS-SF in the future.
Q: What is your vision for the future of PPS-SF?
Vanessa: PPS-SF recognizes the value in social, cultural, and civic approaches in family engagement.
I believe that PPS-SF is the statewide solution to the ever-evolving problems we are experiencing as a community.
Founded on principles of social justice and equity, policy awareness, and the advocacy of strategic equity enrollment, PPS-SF is well-positioned to address systemic inequities. I am passionate about leading PPS-SF because our team and I seek to ensure a promise to elevate outcomes of families and their communities now and in the future.
PPS-SF will accomplish this in a way that promotes the partnership of families and communities within their schools, as well as their larger communities, making for stronger cities.
Q: What makes you most excited about joining PPS-SF as the Executive Director?
Vanessa: As the Executive Director of PPS-SF, I will have the opportunity to facilitate a cutting-edge approach to educating for equity founded on the cornerstones of social justice, awareness of educational policy, and school-family partnerships.
I am energized by the potential of this position because I am driven to focus a team effort on employing a cross-functional model to eliminate the plethora of educational barriers to access within impacted communities.
This approach leads us to effectively build upon the competencies within our community of adult and student learners—while developing new organizational outcomes. More specifically, I use a people-centered approach that focuses on improving local communities’ self-reliance, social justice, and participatory decision-making.
Q: What are some fun facts about you?
Vanessa: I am an antique hot wheels collector. I have collected more than 100 hot wheels and my oldest one is from 1963.
Vanessa officially began her career at PPS-SF earlier this month. Please join us with a warm welcome to Vanessa for joining our PPS-SF team!
Warmly,
The PPS-SF team
Jay Joshi, M.S, B.E
Information Technology Manager
As an Information Technology Manager, Jay Joshi provides direction and leadership for technology services focusing on organizational IT infrastructure, Data integrity, privacy and security. Mr. Joshi earned his Masters in Information Systems from California State University-Los Angeles.
Ariana Afshar
Communications Strategist
Ariana is a seasoned communications professional who received her bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from California Polytechnic University-San Luis Obispo. She currently assists PPS-SF with both external and internal communications, ensuring that the proper information is released to parents in a timely manner. She previously worked as a communications associate PG&E’s Wildfire Safety Operations Center and other various tech companies across the nation. She is also an opinion contributor at various news publications including Newsweek, Truthout and WhoWhatWhy.
Dorothy Clark
Community Development Equity Officer
She previously worked for PPS-SF as a parent ambassador, parent leader, as well as a parent board member. She works with communities, attends family and community centered events to help parents navigate and help bring equity to the system. She is also currently an elementary school paraeducator within SFUSD for the last three years and a student at City College of San Francisco. Dorothy believes that every family’s voice should be heard and respected. Which is vital to her job at PPS-SF
Rosario Gonzalez
Principal Equity Outreach Associate
Taking the needed information to each family and team of parent leaders. I am really happy to be supporting my community helping with everything needed so that families can fill out from enrollment applications to round 2 and IEP.
Marlon Murcia
School Choice Equity Outreach Associate
I chose to join PPS-SF so that I could serve in the role as community outreach associate for the Spanish speaking community.
Board of Directors
Sarah Ballard-Hanson, President, holds significant experience in the fields of teacher preparation and youth and family programming. Sarah is the Principal at Rooftop Elementary School and serves on SFUSD’s Public Education Enrichment Fund Community Advisory Committee (PEEF CAC) by School Board Commissioner Faauuga Moliga.
Ben Wong, Vice President spent the past two decades in the fields of youth development, afterschool programming, and community organizing. From 2001-2009, Ben was the Director of the landmark San Francisco Chinatown Beacon Center, serving thousands of youth and families with out-of-school time programs and services. He also served as the Deputy Director for Community Educational Services (CES). In 2009, Ben formed his own consulting firm, Community Collaborative Consulting.
Loring Pfeiffer, Secretary, believes passionately in the importance of public education and has been actively involved in her children’s preschools and elementary school. She is currently an Adjunct English professor at Santa Clara University and the mother of two children with the oldest attending elementary school in SFUSD.
Alexander Beger, Treasurer, is a certified public accountant who currently works at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He brings ten years of financial experience to our board as treasurer.
Leslie Hu believes deeply in and has devoted her career to the youth and families who attend public schools in SFUSD, particularly for those communities who are oppressed, least-resourced, and under-voiced. She is currently the Community School Coordinator at MLK Middle School.
Debra Solomon Debra spent 13 years as a Budget Analyst, Contract Manager, and Director of Contract Compliance for the City of San Francisco and is currently Director of Client Services at a San Francisco nonprofit organization. Debra has two children who both attend SFUSD schools.
Lorin Yin Lorin is a parent to an SFUSD elementary student, and has enjoyed being actively involved in her child's school. She grew up in a family of educators and believes strongly in the value of public education. She has been an SF resident for over 20 years, currently living in Bernal Heights. She works as a program manager at Amazon.
Dr. Yanina Markova, Staff Attorney, Immigration Center for Women and Children. With her education and background as an attorney with experience in litigation, business and immigration will be of value on the Board. She serves as a Board Member of Izzi Early Education (a non-profit in Marin County that administers Head Start and several other programs for over 600 children) equips her to understand the Board's role and better contribute to PPS. She has been interested in education policy for well over a decade and has been following San Francisco local politics for years, which gives me some context for the environment in which PPS works.
Dr. Carol Hill- Executive Director, San Francisco Beacon Initiative, bringing more than 30 years of progressive leadership in the development, implementation and management of successful educational programs and initiatives. She is a nationally recognized leader and trainer for the Coalition for Community Schools and for the National Beacon Network. Her work at the city policy level has included represent CBO's and OST concerns as the Co-Chair of the Public Education Enrichment Fund (PEEF) CAC, as well as a member of the RISE (Recovery with Inclusive and Successful Enrichment) Workgroup, and the Mayor's Children and Family Recovery Group in San Francisco.