Backbone Staff

The Backbone staff serve as network weavers to help cultivate Partner alignment, enable data-informed, peer-to-peer accountability, facilitate collaborative action, and steward advocacy for sustainable, systemic change. Backbone staff work to connect multiple entities into a seamless network of student support. We are process experts trained in results-based accountability, continuous improvement, complex systems change, equity, research, business operations, project management, communications, data strategy, human-centered design and group process facilitation.

Backbone Staff – Process Know How
Cultivate Alignment
Enable Accountablility
Facilitate Action
Steward Advocacy

Ann Mathieson
Chief Executive Officer

Ann Mathieson is the founding Executive Director of the Marin Promise Partnership. Ann is passionate about educational equity, innovation and community. She also serves on the Bay Area Board of Peer Health Exchange and is a Steering Council Member of New Schools Venture Fund. She was formerly a trustee and Board Chair of the Marin Community Foundation and was elected twice to the Kentfield School Board where she served as President. She was a co-founder and President of the Bay Area “I Have a Dream” Foundation, a college access program for underserved students. Ann worked for 15 years as a marketing executive, first at Hallmark Cards and then with Collagen Corporation. Ann has a BS from Indiana University and an MBA from Stanford University.

 

Ann can be reached at ann@marinpromisepartnership.org

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Cameron Hunter
Sr. Director of Strategy and Operations

Driven by a deep commitment to cross-sector collaboration, Cameron’s leadership experience in consulting, data analysis, and project management spans nonprofits, governmental organizations, and social enterprises. Prior to joining Marin Promise Partnership, Cameron worked with Schaffer & Combs, a social-sector management consulting firm based in San Francisco, specializing in strategic planning and impact evaluation. There, following his service as a Coro Fellow in Pittsburgh, PA, Cameron supported clientele in multi-stakeholder environments to develop and apply strategic frameworks within the environmental sustainability and fashion industries. Cameron’s commitment to educational equity spans back to his early days; his first-ever job was serving as the Children’s Librarian in his small town of Bedford, New York. On the weekend, you’ll likely catch him at an outdoor bluegrass concert, watching the latest David Simon series, or playing pub trivia. Cameron holds a B.A. in History from Dartmouth College.

Cameron can be reached at cameron@marinpromisepartnership.org

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Kim Tillman
Manager of Partnership Operations

Kim is a deeply curious person with a passion for hands-on experience, having worked across sectors spanning from nonprofit youth organizations to film & TV production. If you live in Marin, there’s a possibility that Kim has painted your house, bagged your groceries, performed at your favorite local venue or lectured at your university. She believes with her whole heart that we have a responsibility to young people to create safe and enriching environments for them to grow and thrive. If they’re on this planet, they're in our care; and we’ve got a lot of work to do. For that, Kim is glad to be here and happy to help.

 

Kim can be reached at kim@marinpromisepartnership.org

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Michael Looft
Director of Technology

Michael has over 20 years of leadership experience spanning the nonprofit, for-profit, and government sectors. He is passionate about leveraging his substantial background in software and data analysis, capacity building, and partnership development to create educational equity for everyone. Most recently, he spent five years at the crowdfunding organizations Kiva and Lendahand, including serving at the board level. He has also spent time in the classroom teaching computer literacy to adult immigrant populations, at a low-income community center and to residents at a shelter for battered women. Michael holds an A.S. from De Anza Community College, B.S. from San Francisco State University, and graduate degrees from St. John’s College and Harvard. In his spare time he enjoys volunteering as a construction crew leader at Habitat for Humanity and spending time with his son.

 

Michael can be reached at michael@marinpromisepartnership.org

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Shelley Hamilton
Director, Research & Communication

Shelley Hamilton brings 20+ years of both practical nonprofit management and consulting expertise to her work designing and facilitating collaboration and communications at Marin Promise Partnership. She has a proven track record using written and visual communication tools to build bridges across people, institutions and sectors. Prior to working for the Partnership, Shelley was CEO of MarinSpace and a strategic planning consultant in a wide variety of fields from social purpose real estate and information technology, to civic engagement, cross cultural education, and environmental sustainability. Shelley has worked with United Ways, the Marin Community Foundation, Fort Mason Center, The Thoreau Center for Sustainability, Performing Stars of Marin, and the Aging Action Initiative. Shelley has been an Affiliate Researcher with the Institute for the Future, a founding board member of the national Nonprofit Centers Network and a local Planning Commissioner. She has a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California at Santa Cruz, an M.A. in Organizational Design from Fielding Graduate University and, in 2020, was elected to the Ross Valley School Board where she serves as Board President.

In addition to visual facilitation, Shelley’s adaptive leadership approach weaves together her background in complexity science, Results-based Accountability (RBA), and cultural anthropology. She is committed to living her values of compassion, courage, integrity and justice in all aspects of her life. When she’s not inspiring and supporting collective impact, you’ll find her hiking/running the trails behind her house in Fairfax, CA, sailing or paddle boarding the San Francisco Bay or traveling to visit relatives in Mexico.

 

Shelley can be reached at shelley@marinpromisepartnership.org

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Juliet Schiller
Senior Director of Development, Policy, and Research

Dr. Juliet Schiller is the Director of County-wide Antiracism Action at Marin Promise Partnership. Juliet embraces her mixed cultural roots with family history from Fresnillo, Mexico, Wind River Tribal land and Southern Europe. At Marin Promise Partnership, Juliet leads antiracism assessment, goal-setting, and facilitation across the Partnership. She also directs the Early Grade Literacy Team and is co-developing a countywide teachers of color pipeline. Prior to joining Marin Promise, Juliet was a professor of education, Board President for Canal Alliance and Vice-Chair of the Marin Human Rights Commission. Juliet is deeply involved with Survivor’s International for survivors of political torture. She serves as an advisory board member for the African Human Rights Coalition. She earned a doctorate with a double major in International and Multicultural Education/Human Rights Education and Learning & Instruction from the University of San Francisco. Juliet spends her free time with her husband and three kids, writing a novel that takes place during the San Francisco Gold Rush, and painting with oils and acrylics. If there is an artistic or creative pursuit to be found, you can count on Juliet to dive in!

 

Juliet can be reached at juliet@marinpromisepartnership.org

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Elizabeth COOPER
Senior Director of Collective Impact

Elizabeth Cooper is the Director of College & Career for Marin Promise Partnership. She is a graduate of the Tamalpais Union High School District and University of California, Berkeley. She feels a deep commitment to serving her community by working toward educational equity and has been working for Marin Promise Partnership since 2017. She had formerly worked in school administration, athletics and as a college & career specialist and has worked in many Marin County schools including Archie Williams, Tamalpais High School, Marin Academy, and San Domenico. She facilitates the Future Ready Initiative: College, Career & Beyond and oversees the implementation and scaling of Success Networks, site-based collective impact groups, across Marin County. She was a College of Marin and transfer student herself which inspired her to work toward making college and career pathways more accessible to all and holds a B.A. in English Literature from UC Berkeley. She is also a youth volleyball coach, science fiction fan, and loves helping students with college application essays.

 

Elizabeth can be reached at elizabeth@marinpromisepartnership.org

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Ana Bell
Director of Future Ready Initiative

Ana has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, and a Masters of Science in Counseling Psychology. One of Ana’s biggest passions is to provide equality, equity, and support to oppressed and misrepresented populations. As an immigrant who moved to the United States when she was 4 years old, Ana has simultaneously observed and experienced some of the disparities that exist within the systems and institutions she has been a part of. From the individuals she has met, and through her own personal experience, she has become dedicated and motivated to eliminate the barriers and challenges that marginalized populations face.

 

Ana can be reached at ana@marinpromisepartnership.org

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Sarah Seitchik Sebastian
Chief of Staff

Sarah joins Marin Promise Partnership after years of community engagement and collective impact in Sonoma County as a coFounder of TIDE ( Team for Inclusivity, Diversity & Equity in Education). Sarah graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in Community Studies and Education. After her post graduate work organizing groups, events and art education in Habana, Cuba, Sarah returned to California and continued her experience in outdoor education and non profit development. Sarah concurrently began a successful decades long Real Estate career. Sarah is dedicated to co-creating an expansive vision of community cultural wealth models as well as repaying the debt owed to communities who have been marginalized through educational equity. Sarah is a first-generation daughter of an Argentine immigrant and a Jewish father. Sarah is the mother of 3 beautiful children who are biracial & white, nonbinary, neurodiverse and brilliant. Sarah’s privilege gives her access to successfully navigate the white bodied supremacist, capitalist, patriarchal systems and she understands the responsibility of leveraging her privilege to do harm reduction work and make space for reconstruction. Sarah is profoundly humbled daily by the incredible discomfort and joy found in the practice of anti racist equity work and she fills her cup by swimming, climbing and sharing meals with friends, family and community. Sarah is bilingual in Spanish and English.

 

Sarah can be reached at sarah@marinpromisepartnership.org

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Brandon Johnson
Director of Educators of Color Initiative

Brandon Johnson is a Marin County native who comes to Marin Promise Partnership to continue his lifelong pursuit of educational equity in his community. He is a facilitator for multiple initiatives including the San Rafael Success Network, the Marin Educators for Equity Initiative(MEEI), the San Rafael High School CTE Educator Pathway, along with helping to manage Community Schools work involving San Rafael City Schools. His past roles within the community have included being an organizer and activist, student mentor, as well as a former school board candidate and advocate of addressing systemic issues and removing barriers that impact marginalized students. Brandon prioritizes youth voice to guide his work and seeks to embody anti-racism in his everyday life. Brandon spends most of his off time either connecting with nature or coaching local youth basketball.

 

Brandon can be reached at brandon@marinpromisepartnership.org

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Rommel Carrera
Director of Family Engagement Initiative

Rommel Carrera joins the Partnership’s Backbone staff with over 15 years’ experience in nonprofit management focused in program management and operations. Rommel is passionate about climate justice, education, immigrant rights, civic engagement and empowerment, and collective impact.

 

Rommel can be reached at rommel@marinpromisepartnership.org

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Maria Gramajo
Manager of collaborative action

Maria Gramajo is the Manager of Collaborative Action at Marin Promise Partnership. A proud alumna of the San Rafael City School District, Maria's journey reflects her commitment to educational equity and her drive to make a difference in the lives of her community members. Prior to joining Marin Promise Partnership, Maria was a Family Advocate at Venetia Valley TK-8 School and the Director of Family and Community Engagement at Next Generation Scholars. On the weekends, Maria enjoys playing board games with friends, and hiking in Marin. Maria graduated with a B.A. in American Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from American University.

 

Maria can be reached at maria@marinpromisepartnership.org

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Mariangela Morales
Communications Manager

Mariangela is a skilled visual storyteller with the ability to foster inclusive and engaged communities. She joins our team after working with some of our partner organizations such as College of Marin, Aim High, and Next Generation Scholars. She graduated from Tufts University with a B.A in Political Science. As a first-generation Latina, Mariangela embodies a deep commitment to uplifting marginalized voices. As a Marin County native, she has witnessed firsthand the educational inequities prevalent within our school systems. Her professional journey is driven by the belief that education is empowerment and a tool that everyone should have equitable access to. In her free time, you can find Mariangela playing soccer and spending quality time with her dog, Lucky.

 

Mariangela can be reached at mariangela@marinpromisepartnership.org

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