Board of Directors
Glenn Nielsen, Chairman of the Board. Glenn was born and raised in South San Mateo County. He is a graduate of Sequoia High School and Menlo College. Glenn spent 34 years with the Atherton Police Department where he started his career as a police cadet and retired from service as the Chief of Police. He has been a board member of a number of charitable organizations, including the Atherton Police Activities League, the Redwood City Police Activities League and the San Mateo County Chaplaincy. He serves on the Board of Directors and Development Committee of Riley's Place.
Glenn is currently employed by the Sequoia Health Care District where he places life-saving defibrillators in South San Mateo County. He resides in San Carlos and is an avid tennis player.
John Mattes, Secretary was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. He graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School in 1968. John joined the United States Marine Corps and served one tour of duty in Vietnam. For the last 38 years John has been involved in law enforcement. John's law enforcement career has spanned being a Reserve Police Officer to a Deputy Sheriff with San Mateo County. While a Deputy, John was a K-9 Deputy for 10 years. Medically retired he open his own "pre-Starbucks" coffee, latte, mocha store where he also sold customized coffee mugs. After 2 years John missed law enforcement and put himself through the 9-1-1 Dispatch Academy. John has been involved with 9-1-1 Communications and police records for the last 16 years. He is currently the Communications/Records Supervisor for the Atherton Police Department. John holds a B.S. in Public Administration. John lives in Los Altos with his wife of 23 years, 2 sons, 2 cats and a dog.
Cathy Minshall, Chief Financial Officer. Cathy is the Chief Financial Officer of Emergence Capital Partners and is a 15 year veteran of the venture capital industry. In addition to managing all financial functions at Emergence, Cathy works closely with the partners to support Emergence’s portfolio companies. Prior to joining Emergence, Cathy spent over 5 years as the CFO of De Novo Ventures, an early stage healthcare focused fund. Previously, she was the Controller for Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers and the Mayfield Fund. She also has prior financial management experience with Ancora Capital, MGM and Westwood One. She began her career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Los Angeles.
Cathy holds a BS in Accounting from the University of the Pacific, is a Certified Public Accountant, serves of the Board of the West Coast Chapter of the Private Eqity CFO Association (PECFOA) and is an active member of the National Venture Capital Association’s CFO Task Force.
Outside of work Cathy is married and active in animal rescue. She currently has 5 dogs and even more cats. She is an avid runner and has run a marathon in each of the 50 states.
Wendy Mattes, Executive Director. Wendy earned her BS degree in Animal Science from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. She has her Assistant Instructor's Certificate from the British Horse Society, and has earned her Bronze and Silver Medals from the United States Dressage Federation. After graduating from Cal Poly, Wendy worked as Barn Foreman/Assistant Trainer in the Thoroughbred racing industry. She then managed the Training Program for 60 young horses on a farm in Virginia, before moving back to California. Here she founded her own Executive Search consulting firm for the high technology industry, and has been in this role for 21 years. But a natural love for children and passion for horses drew her to her current "side job" as Riding Instructor and Trainer at Webb Ranch in Portola Valley, a role in which she has taught many children to ride over the past 7 years. Wendy was elected to, and currently serves on the Executive Board of the California Dressage Society (CDS). She also served several terms on the San Francisco Peninsula (SFP) Chapter of CDS, in various capacities, including Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary and Horse Show Committee Chair. She also founded the SFP Chapter Junior/Young Rider Committee, and organized fund-raising activities and educational opportunities for the juniors riders in the Bay Area. Wendy lives in Los Altos, with her husband of 23 years, John, and with two of her three sons. She also has three horses, two cats and a dog.
Andrea L. Church has the enormous honor of being Riley's Mom. Born and raised in Livonia, Michigan, Andrea moved to the Bay Area in 1980. For ten years she worked in various administrative capacities in San Francisco and Oakland with the commercial real estate company Cushman & Wakefield, eventually becoming the Branch Administrator for their Oakland branch. In 1990, Andrea left her position to become Mom to her first child, Sam, who currently attends Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. As Riley's Mom, Andrea enjoyed many happy times with Riley at Webb Ranch and witnessed first-hand Riley’s extraordinary courage. Andrea supported Riley's passion for riding horses and shared her love of all animals. Andrea and Marty were married in 1988 and live in San Carlos with their 2 cats. Andrea enjoys tutoring, walking, reading, gardening, volunteering at Riley’s Place and spending time with her friends and family.
Marty Church, Riley's dad, is a native of the San Francisco Peninsula and a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Senior Vice President at Kidder Mathews, where he advises businesses and non-profit organizations on lease and sale transactions involving office and industrial properties throughout the U.S. Marty's commercial real estate experience encompasses 35 years as an advisor, broker, appraiser and asset manager. He has a strong interest in sustainability and is a U.S. Green Building Council LEED Accredited Professional. During Riley's illness Marty was always amazed and moved by the compassionate and giving people he met along that difficult journey, and the institutions that supported them in their efforts. He is thrilled to have an opportunity to become a part of that wonderful community through his support of Riley's Place.
Paul Fisher, MD is Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics, and by courtesy, Neurosurgery and Human Biology; Division Chief of Child Neurology; and the Beirne Family Director of Neuro-Oncology Stanford University and Lucile Salter Packard Children's Hospital. Dr. Fisher received his B.A. at Stanford and M.D. at the University of California, San Francisco, before completing residencies in pediatrics and neurology at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and then a fellowship in neuro-oncology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Johns Hopkins. He also obtained a master's degree in Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University. After starting out on the faculty at Hopkins, Dr. Fisher was recruited back to Palo Alto in 1997, where he started the pediatric neuro-oncology program at Stanford University. His clinical work and research focuses on epidemiology, therapy, and late effects of childhood brain tumors, and he has authored over 80 scholarly articles on these and other neurology topics. At Stanford he directs the popular undergraduate class "Cancer Epidemiology" in Human Biology. Dr. Fisher is an active member of the American Academy of Pediatrics, for which he serves as Chair of the Executive Committee for the Section on Neurology. He is a member of the Editorial Board for both The Journal of Pediatrics and Journal of Clinical Oncology, and a previous question writer for the AAP's PREP Self-Assessment. He is also an active member of the Child Neurology Society, American Academy of Neurology, American Society of Clinical Oncology, Society for Neuro-Oncology, Children's Oncology Group, Brain Tumor Epidemiology Consortium, and other professional associations. In addition to being a Board Member of the National Brain Tumor Society, he has served on the Board of Directors for Greater Bay Area Make A Wish and continues on their Advisory Board. Dr. Fisher's personal interests are his wife Joy and three children Christopher, Graham, and Zoe, along with downhill skiing, lacrosse, bad golf, travel, and anything baseball.
Russ Peterson, DVM went to Claremont for undergraduate work, Michigan State for graduate work getting an MS in Nutrition and finally to UC Davis where horses and vet medicine became his focus. When Russ began practicing in 1978, he knew he wanted to have his own practice. He started Peninsula Equine in the early 80's and realized that the area needed a 24-hr. emergency clinic that also offered "state of the art" diagnostics. At the time, very few practitioners had anything more than a portable x-ray unit and the closest surgery center was UC Davis...a 2.5 hr drive! It took quite a few years to find a location, sift through the red-tape and navigate the permitting processes, but his dream finally came true and in 1992 the Clinic opened its doors for business. “I guess I'd have to say that one of the best things about my job is having a "state of the art" facility to practice in. Keeping our facility technologically current has always been important to me so we can offer our clients the best diagnostic tools available”. The other part of what Russ really enjoys is the client interactions and feels very lucky to have such an enthusiastic & knowledgeable client base to work with and knowing that some of our clients have been using our practice for over 20 years is amazing! Now, on a more personal note, when Russ does have spare time he really enjoys racing cars! He’s had several successful seasons and must add that Bayer Animal Health has been a long-time sponsor of STAR Performance Team. Russ found that his passion for keeping the horses running during the week is balanced by his passion for keeping his car running on the weekends - both require he stay sharp, stay technologically on top of his game and never forget that in order to do either well, he has to have his heart in it at all times!
Scott Delucchi was born and raised in San Mateo County and graduated from Serra High School, then Stanford University with a BA (Communication), where he played on two National Champion baseball teams. Scott’s 20+ years in non-profit management started with his role as Admission Director for Woodside Priory School in Portola Valley. This was followed by similar roles with Serra High School, YMCA of the Mid-Peninsula and Sacred Heart Schools in Atherton. In 1998, Scott joined the senior management team at the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA in San Mateo and has been with the organization since. In his current role of Sr. Vice President, Scott is responsible for the organization’s Customer Service, Behavior and Training, Education, Outreach, Field Services, Cruelty Investigation, Volunteer and Media/PR program areas and staff. Scott and his wife, their daughter, son and adopted shelter dog reside in the East Bay.
Lisa Stalteri is Chair of the Real Estate Department at the Carr, McClellan law firm in Burlingame, where she has practiced law for over 20 years. Her legal practice involves all aspects of buying, selling, leasing and developing real estate, and she specializes in environmental matters and sustainable development. Lisa is a U.S. Green Building Council LEED Accredited Green Associate. Lisa received her undergraduate degree from Claremont McKenna College and her law degree from Hastings College of the Law. Lisa and her Leonberger dog Sabel are a pet therapy team certified through the Delta Society, and do regular therapy visits through the Peninsula Humane Society’s Paws to Tales program. Lisa was raised in San Mateo County and graduated from Notre Dame High School. She lives in San Mateo with her husband, son, two daughters and dog.
Steve Webb
Marlene Bjornsrud’s career over the past 35 years has included leadership roles in both sports management and nonprofit work. Her non-profit experience included director positions in the areas of youth work and transitional housing for homeless families. In the world of sports, she served as the head coach of the women’s tennis team at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix for seven years, and was named NAIA Coach of the Year in 1981. She was then promoted to assistant athletic director and senior women’s administrator at Grand Canyon. Marlene moved to the Bay Area in 1996, where she became the assistant director of athletics at Santa Clara University. As assistant director she supervised eleven sports as well as marketing and media relations. During her three-year tenure at SCU, both the men and women’s soccer teams were ranked number 1 and advanced to the NCAA final four. In 2000, Marlene was chosen by the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) to serve as General Manager of a professional women’s soccer team in San Jose, the CyberRays. In 2001, the team won the WUSA championship. Because of her work with the CyberRays, Marlene won the Woman of Achievement award from the San Jose Mercury News and the Women’s Fund of Silicon Valley in 2002. The team won the WUSA Team Community Service Award for their work with charitable organizations in 2003. Unfortunately, the WUSA disbanded. However, from the demise of the WUSA rose the Bay Area Women’s Sport Initiative (BAWSI, pronounced “bossy”), a charitable organization founded in 2005 by Marlene, and former Olympic and World Cup stars Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy. BAWSI’s mission is to strengthen the women sports community by mobilizing female athletes to inspire and lead through service. BAWSI has created a movement of female athletes of all ages and all sports to empower young girls and women in underserved communities to take charge of their health and their lives. In only 6 years of existence, more than 12,000 young girls have become “BAWSI” through the efforts of more than 700 women athletes from around the Bay Area. As CEO of BAWSI, Marlene has responsibility for management of the organization, including fundraising, strategic planning, programs, communications, and representing BAWSI to government agencies, the community and the public. The organization was founded on the tenement that the full aspirations of women in sports are yet to be realized, and that the full benefits of sports in society cannot be achieved without women. BAWSI is an advocate for all social and policy issues that impact the lives of girls and women in sports. The organization has been active in opposing the dilution of Title IX and in supporting the full implementation of Assembly Bill 2404 in California. Marlene is a senior fellow of the American Leadership Forum (ALF).
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