Michaela Woods is an accomplished go-to-market and operations executive with over 15 years of experience leading high-growth organizations. She has held senior leadership roles at Yelp, The RealReal, Flyhomes, and Honey Homes with a strong track record of building scalable systems, driving cross-functional alignment, and delivering measurable business results.

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Throughout her career, Michaela has been recognized for her ability to lead with clarity, foster high-performing teams, and execute strategic initiatives that accelerate growth. She brings a thoughtful, people-centered approach to leadership, grounded in operational excellence and a deep commitment to impact.

In addition to her professional career, Michaela has served on the Board of Directors for Ross Valley Nursery School for the past five years. This role offered her a front-row seat to the dedication, thoughtfulness, and expertise required to provide truly impactful early childhood education and support—insights that have only deepened her commitment to this work.

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As both a parent and community member, Michaela has experienced firsthand the challenges that arise when resources for early intervention and emotional regulation are limited—especially for neurodiverse children who may not meet the threshold for traditional support, yet clearly benefit from targeted, timely guidance. She is committed to advancing its mission to equip children with the social-emotional foundation to grow with confidence, compassion, and resilience.

Bruce Lanyon, the Assistant Vice Chancellor, UCSF Real Estate, is a real estate and development executive with extensive experience in leading multidisciplinary teams. His experience includes global real estate transactions and development, project management, and facilities management for multinational, private, public sector, and mission-based organizations.

 

Bruce is committed to leveraging his professional experience to support nonprofits in the development of real estate solutions that meet their long-term needs. His primary focus will be the development of the new SEEDS facility in Marin County.

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Alison Cleaver has a long track record as a communications professional with experience in both industry and academia advancing practice, policy, and change management through internal communications and consensus-building efforts. Currently the Associate Director of the UCSF Academic Senate, Alison previously worked in communications for the law firm of Morrison Foerster LLP.

 

For much of her life, Alison has been deeply involved in managing the care of her neurodivergent sibling, who was diagnosed as a young adult when he was no longer eligible for some services.  As a result, Alison played a key role for her family in carefully analyzing and selecting the ideal private options available to him.

 

Alison is involved with CA Sibs, a.k.a. the California Sibling Leadership Network, which supports adult caregivers of special-needs siblings. She is part of a team that provides legal, financial, and bureaucratic guidance to empower adults caring for their siblings. 

 

Through her involvement with SEEDS, Alison will leverage her special insights and deep understanding of the sibling experience in SEEDS programming and overall culture.

Joahn Ginsberg is a proud SEEDS parent who is also active in many Marin County parent communities. 

 

Joahn started her career in sales for the medical device company Stryker. She became the first female Sales Director at Intuitive Surgical, where in two years she turned the western region, then the business’ lowest-performing region, into its most successful. Joahn earned an undergraduate degree from Santa Clara University and an MBA from Pepperdine University. 

 

After having children, Joahn continued to consult and build her own successful clothing line. Joahn has raised funds for many local parent organizations and currently sits on the Advisory Committee at Brandeis Marin day school. 

 

Joahn brings to SEEDS her ability to find creative solutions to roadblocks, build high-performing teams, and raise funds for causes that better our world.

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Tamara Spears is a middle school social studies teacher and curriculum writer from Brooklyn, NY. In her ten years of teaching within the New York City Public Schools System, she has served as a new teacher mentor, department and grade team leader, and literacy coach.

 

Highlighted in Learning for Justice Magazine and Teaching Hard History for her lessons on slavery and teaching Black history, Tamara is a curriculum writer for the EEAP Black Studies Curriculum currently being piloted in NYC Public Schools. A champion and advocate for underrepresented children, their education, and the teaching of social studies in general, she empowers her students with the knowledge, communication and historical thinking skills necessary to create a more just society.

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Timothy Clark is a Social Emotional Learning (SEL) certified educator with a Master’s degree in education, specializing in students with disabilities. He has a minor in Spanish, a BA in music, and additional certifications in school building leadership and school district leadership. Timothy has been teaching for more than 20 years, including 16 years as a special education teacher writing and implementing Individualized Education Plans in New York City.

 

In addition to implementing research-based social-emotional practices in his math and social studies classrooms, he has created music programs, coached basketball and football teams, led student governments, built a summer leadership program, and created and led a series of professional developments for school administrators and teachers.

 

Regardless of the subject being taught or the program being implemented, Timothy has always made it a priority to guide his students towards being well-rounded individuals who will develop into positive, knowledgeable, and versatile adults.

Bryan Wiley has over 15 years of experience as a neurobehavioral social and emotional learning specialist in both the K-8 classroom and in-home settings. In addition to his training in child development and students with special needs, Bryan was formally trained in the RULER approach at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. 

 

Working directly with families, occupational therapists, pediatricians, and school teachers, Bryan understands the value of experts in diverse fields working as one to help children reach their full potential. 

 

He also believes in leveraging his many talents to inspire his students. Bryan is a documentary filmmaker with 15 years of experience as a photojournalist. He has taught documentary photography at the graduate level, has coached middle school basketball, and is an 11-time championship athlete who has won titles in everything from college football in the U.S. to an ultimate Frisbee league in Haiti.