Board of Directors
Chairwoman
Claudia Koochek
Claudia Koochek is the head of school at Westmark School in Encino, California, and a well-known educator in the LD community. She serves on the board of directors at Parent Education Network (PEN) and at Dyslexic Advantage, and on the advisory board of the Dyslexia Center at University of California, San Francisco.
Born and raised in El Salvador, Koochek taught vision-impaired students as well as students with multiple disabilities before relocating to the United States at the age of 21. She spent the next 20 years as a teacher and administrator at Charles Armstrong School, in Belmont, California, before being appointed head of school. Koochek holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology, a master of arts degree, and a credential in special education
Legislative Chairman
Senator Henry Stern
Senator Henry Stern is a sixth-generation Californian and native of the greater Los Angeles area who has represented the nearly one million residents of the 27th Senate District since first being elected to serve the 27th Senate District in November 2016.
Stern has chaired the Senate Natural Resources & Water Committee since 2018, where he has worked tirelessly to bolster the state’s wildfire preparedness, push to have the state address the climate change emergency, improve our democracy and fight to help some of California’s most vulnerable members. He also sits on the Senate’s Budget, Judiciary, Environmental Quality, Elections & Constitutional Amendments, and Energy, Utilities & Communications committees.
A former educator and environmental attorney, Stern received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University and earned his law degree at UC Berkeley. Born in 1982, Stern lives in Los Angeles County with his wife, Alexandra Stern, whom he married in 2019.
Dr. Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini, MD, PhD
Dr. Maria Luisa Gorno Tempini is a behavioral neurologist and holds the Charles Schwab Endowed Professorship in Dyslexia and Neurodevelopment. She currently directs the Language Neurobiology Laboratory at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center and co-directs the UCSF Dyslexia Center. She obtained her medical degree and clinical neurology specialty training in Italy and has a doctorate in the neuroimaging of language from University College London.
In 2014, Dr. Gorno Tempini co-founded the UCSF Dyslexia Center, which aims to classify dyslexia into behavioral phenotypes defined by patterns of neuropsychological strengths and weaknesses. These efforts will lead to more targeted assessments and treatments amongst clinical and educational systems. The UCSF Dyslexia Center brings together neurologists, psychiatrists, biomedical engineers, radiologists, neuropsychologists, speech-language pathologists and research coordinators to discover structural and functional differences in the brains of children and older adults with dyslexia.
Dr. Gorno Tempini leads many projects at UCSF and is funded by the NIH and various philanthropic sources. She is particularly dedicated to mentoring and was awarded an NIH K24 grant to mentor interdisciplinary researchers in the field of clinical cognitive neuroscience.
Elizabeth Estes
Governor Newsom Appointed Elizabeth Estes to Advisory Commission on Special Education. She is a founder of Breaking-Barriers-by-8, a new Public-Private partnership coalition with corporations, philanthropy and government working together toward literacy for all in California by 2035.
Elizabeth Estes represents school districts and county offices of education throughout California. For the past twenty years she has focused her practice in the areas of special education and student matters. Based on a harrowing experience in college and a fundamental passion for education and children, Ms. Estes has dedicated her legal career to supporting schools and the children they serve. She is committed to championing education for the whole child and uniting the multiple agencies and parties that serve children to do the same. In these efforts, Ms. Estes has developed alternative dispute resolution processes and systems for families and agencies.
Steve Carnavale
Mr. Carnevale is the Founder and Chairman of the UCSF Dyslexia Center which is translating cutting edge neuroscience to enable precision education. This is foundational to addressing issues of literacy, poverty, incarceration, work force development and restorative justice. The Center has partners with many schools including the Charles Armstrong School, where he served as President and is Special Trustee.
He is a Founder and Chairs Breaking-Barriers-by-8, a new Public-Private partnership coalition with corporations, philanthropy and government working together toward literacy for all in California by 2035.
Mr. Carnevale serves on the Boards of many other education non-profits, including Learning Ally, the SERP Institute, Boon Philanthropy, Life Learning Academy, Diverse Learners Coalition, Potentia Institute 21 and Eye-to-Eye. He is an advisor to ESO Ventures, a social venture fund being piloted in Oakland CA for community workforce development.
He has been a venture capitalist most recently with his own boutique investment firm Point Cypress Ventures. He is currently Chairman of Sawgrass, a developer of digital industrial inkjet technologies and cloud-based mass customization software.
He is a graduate of the University of Michigan College of Engineering. As a Founder of the UM Center for Entrepreneurship he is the recipient of the 2015 Distinguished Alumni Service Award. He also supports several Michigan student leadership organizations.
For local community work, he is the former President and Emeritus Trustee of The Olympic Club Foundation, whose mission is to support disadvantaged youth sports programs that develop future community leaders.
He and his wife are the owners of a boutique Napa Valley wine Blue Oak https://www.blueoakvineyard.com/ and have twin son’s who are seniors at Washington University in St Louis and University of Chicago.
Mary Jac Brennan
Mary Jac is an urban farmer whow works in low-income communities to build and maintain urban farms. with N.C. Cooperative Extension, Forsyth County Center. She has been instrumental in establishing many community gardens, the Urban Farm School, and the Forsyth Community Food Consortium. Through these programs and many others, Brennan has gained the admiration of community members, farmers, health care providers, and policy makers that have made positive change in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.
Read more at: https://forsyth.ces.ncsu.edu/2017/05/mary-jac-brennan-wins-prestigious-echo-award/
Gail Gurewitz
Gail Rosenheim Gurewitz fell in love with movement as a young child when she began studying gymnastics and ballet. Becoming a professional dancer at 15, she performed as a soloist throughout the United States and internationally with world-renowned ballet companies, including San Francisco Ballet. During her career, while recovering from injuries, she discovered the benefits of yoga, embarking on a practice which she has cultivated for nearly 20 years. Gurewitz has a B.A. degree in Exercise Physiology, Sports Medicine / the Performing Arts, is a certified Pilates instructor, and has immersed herself throughout her lifetime in numerous forms of dance, meditation, and yoga. She has taught dance, yoga and movement in Chicago, San Francisco, and at retreats and workshops at the Russian River and at Esalen.
Kristin Wright
Kristin Wright is the Executive Director in Sacramento County Office of Education, division of Equity, Diversity, Early Intervention, and Support Services. Kristin brings a wealth of professional and personal experience to this important position as a policy expert, a former special education student teacher, and a mother of a child with disabilities. Her public service career took a turn with the birth of her middle daughter, Shelby, who has significant intellectual and physical disabilities. A Sacramento native, Wright and her husband, Charles, have three children: Ace, Shelby, and Violet.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in sociology from California State University, Sacramento, she returned to the university to earn a special education teaching credential and a master’s degree in special education. She has spent more than a decade working in education with a focus on special education and advocating for students with disabilities.