Board of Directors
 
Gail Myers
President
Chair, Programs
Teacher
Hayward Unified School District

Monica Stevens
Vice President
Vice President, Corporate Debt
Wells Fargo Bank

Seth Cloues
Secretary
Head Teacher
BlueSkies for Children
Douglas Park
Treasurer
Chair, Facilities
 Project Manager
Signature Properties

 Liisa Hale and Claire Bainer
BlueSkies Administration
Co-Directors, BlueSkies for Children

Yasuyo Abe
Chair, Personnel
Senior Researcher
Berkeley Policy Associates

John Ifcher
Chair, Development
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Santa Clara University

Anita Addison
 Planning Director
La Clinica de la Raza, Oakland
 
Khadija Fredericks
Director, Admissions, Financial Aid and Marketing
St. Paul’s Episcopal School 

 Alberto Duarte
Officer
San Francisco Police Department

Krishen Laetsch
Senior Program Consultant for Education
San Francisco Foundation

Molly Rosen
Former Vice President
BlessingWhite, Inc.

Lisa Russ
Senior Fellow
Movement Strategy Center

Isavana Samanna
Manager, Human Resources
Deloitte Consulting

Kristi Schutjer-Mance
VP Operations and Research
Children Now

Lisa Ruth Shulman
Executive Director
Action Alliance for Children

Leadership Staff
 
Co-Directors
Claire Copenhagen Bainer and Liisa Hale
Claire Bainer and Liisa Hale have been Co-Directors of BlueSkies since 1995.
 
Claire holds an M.A. in Early Childhood Education (ECE) and has taught in pre-school classrooms and at the college level for 30 years.  Her years of classroom experience strongly influence her adult teaching, as she has a clear understanding of classroom and family dynamics as well as academic theories that pertain to work with young children.  In 2003 Claire was awarded a fellowship with Eureka Communities (now known as LeaderSpring), during which time she focused her study trip on learning and visiting programs where grass roots training programs like ours in ECE were being successfully implemented and influencing the early childhood community.  Claire currently serves as the Vice President of  the Alameda County Child Care Steering Council and is a member of the Early Childhood Mental Health Committee. 
 
Liisa holds a B.A. in Early Childhood Education, served as the Program Director for toddler programs at BlueSkies for several years prior to becoming Co-Director, and has taught in and managed Infant Toddler programs for over 25 years.  She also served as a California State Director Mentor for three years and was a Mentor in the Every Director Counts project of Alameda County First 5, serving as a mentor and coach for directors in other schools through an intensive 18 month training cohort.  Prior to her career in ECE, Liisa administered a college financial aid program, which makes her one of the few people with strong administrative experience leading an early childhood program.
 
Ameena Muhammed
Hedco Infant Toddler Center Program Director
 
Janice Haywood
Ellen Sherwood Nursery School Program Director
 
Ma Leong
Director of Support Services
 
Rhonda Ramiro
Director of Development