Executive Director
Susana is the Executive Director for the Sustainable Business Alliance. She has called Oakland home for the great majority of her life. Her background is on community health and community economic development and she marries the two fields in everything she does. She believes that healthy communities are those that have good small businesses thriving, have good local jobs, access to goods and services in the neighborhood, good schools, libraries, and open space we can all play and run around!
She comes from a family of entrepreneurs and business owners and is no surprise that she is a business owner too. She has over 15 years of experience in community work. She is a participatory evaluation believer. A collective impact advocate (if done well). A research geek who loves to think critically about qualitative and quantitative data and finally and most important a proud Oaklander.
She holds bachelors degrees on Anthropology and Psychology from Cal and a masters in Gerontology (yes, gerontology) from San Francisco State.
Board Directors
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Before MIT, Erin spent several years working in technology training, instructional design and graphic design, most recently as a Manager of Web Information Design at Oracle Corporation. There, she managed a team responsible for developing technology training for Oracle’s sales force. She also worked in Oracle’s Media Training Solutions group as a Project Manager. Prior to Oracle, Erin was a Software Trainer with New Horizons Computer Learning Centers and an Instructional and Graphic Designer with Educational Management Group in Scottsdale, AZ
Her roles have spanned from sponsorships and brand marketing for the financial services industry to founding a non-profit for children affected by the AIDS epidemic in Tanzania. She recently published a manuscript entitled, Working Toward Peace: A Holistic Approach to Addressing Youth Violence by Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, that discussed the role of faith based organizations in mitigating risk for youth in Boston, MA.
When she’s not trying to save the world, you can find her playing with her yappy, yet beloved dog, Lila, exploring the latest and greatest eateries and watering holes about town or online at www.linkedin.com/joannl
Leslie has been dedicated to community engagement through service on boards for several nonprofit organizations, charrette facilitation for neighborhood associations and government agencies, and speaking engagements at industry conferences. Her efforts have earned honors from groups such as the Rob and Melani Walton ASU Sustainability Solutions Initiative and the Phoenix Business Journal.
In his spare time Tom likes to try and better his community as well as playing tennis at the Sleepy Hollow Swim and Tennis Club.