2023-24 Board of Directors
MVEF is a non-profit educational foundation run by an unpaid Board of Directors of dedicated parent and community volunteers who are elected annually. Their time, expertise and energy enable the MVEF to maintain a low overhead, so more of every dollar donated goes directly to fund our programs.
Dwight Rodgers
Dwight joined the MVEF board in 2013 and was elected President of the Board in 2020 after serving as Secretary for two years. He has two children, both in the Mountain View public school system. Dwight holds a BS in computer engineering from Princeton University. He is a Director of Engineering at Adobe by day, and can sometimes be found making short films and animations in his nights and weekends.dwight@mvef.org
Sraddha Shukla
Sraddha joined the MVEF Board in 2022 and served as the Spring Gala Chair. She is mom of 2 students at Bubb Elementary: a 4th grader and a 2nd grader. Sraddha earned a B.Comm. from Mcgill University and an MBA from Schulich School of Business at York University. She has worked in Financial Planning and Analysis since 2003 and is currently an independent Senior FP&A Strategy Consultant. sraddha@mvef.org
Rohan Taneja
Rohan joined the MVEF board in 2021. He has a 6th grader at Graham and a 4th grader at Bubb. Rohan earned a bachelors in Business from Massey University, New Zealand and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. After a career as a financial analyst in the medical technology field, in 2020, he decided to pivot towards medicine. Currently, he works as a Research Coordinator at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and has applied to various medical schools in California. In addition to MVEF, Rohan volunteers with AYSO, as an assistant soccer coach, and he loves to bike, garden, and cook. rohan@mvef.org
Tamara Patterson
Tamara joined the MVEF board in 2019 to help the community raise our children to love learning and learn to work hard. Tamara is currently leading the California Equity and Excellence Initiative, focused on growing confident readers by 3rd grade. She is also on the board for Community Services Agency, which provides vital social services to our most needy residents. Prior to these roles, Tamara was a product manager and on the management team of a clean-tech startup. She has a BA from Wesleyan University, a BS from Caltech, and an MBA from UC Berkeley. Tamara has three kids at Gabriela Mistral. She loves making her children smile, family dance parties, and adventures on the road.
tamara@mvef.org
Aisha Rengan
Aisha Rengan, Secretary
Aishwarya grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has been living in the Bay Area for 17 years. She joined the board in 2020 and began serving as secretary a year later in 2021. She worked as medical device quality engineer with a focus in risk management. She is also passionate about education and has taught middle school math and science. Aishwarya fosters her love of education by teaching Math Olympiad at her local elementary school. She served as the VP of memberships and secretary for the local elementary PTA and volunteers in the classroom. Aishwarya’s educational background is in chemical engineering and math. She holds a B.S.E. in ChE from University of Michigan and and M.S. in Industrial Mathematics from Michigan State University.
Tamara Wilson
Tamara grew up in the Bay Area and has been involved in MVWSD schools since before her son was born, volunteering with Reading Partners at Castro Elementary. By the time her son was 3, she was spearheading a campaign for the construction of what is now Jose Antonio Vargas Elementary School. Most recently Tamara retired from the MVWSD Board of Trustees where she served as President and is thrilled to continue to serve our kids as an MVEF Board Member. In her day job, she works as a Research Geographer at the U.S. Geological Survey and is Deputy Director of the National Innovation Center. Her passion for education and reading stems from being a lifelong learner herself. She holds a BA in Environmental Studies from California State University East Bay and an MA in Geography from the University of Arizona. Tamara enjoys adventure travel, backpacking, scuba, cycling, and is trying to become a better runner while keeping up with her soccer player son who entered Crittenden Fall 2021.
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Cindy Chow
Cindy joined the MVEF board in 2022. One of her goals in serving on the MVEF Board is to foster community connections among families in the Mountain View Whisman school district, especially following a time when in-person involvement and volunteerism on campus were limited. It's time for people to come together again in support of our children.
Cindy holds a BBA from Wilfred Laurier University and is currently serving as the Family Engagement Coordinator for the Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto. She and her husband are Canadians who have made MV their home since 2006. Their two children attended Graham Middle School and Mountain View High School.
Alane Kataria
Alane joins the MVEF board in 2023 after serving for many years as a volunteer for MVEF. She especially loves the fact that MVEF provides high quality Art and Music instruction to every student in MVWSD. Alane has two students in the district: a 6th grader at Graham and a 3rd grader at Mistral. She has a B.A. in Anthropology from UC Berkeley and taught first grade in East San Jose with Teach for America. Alane co-leads a Girl Scout brownie troop and dances with her Zumba class as often as possible.
Silja Paymer
Silja joins the MVEF board in Fall 2023 because she believes that the mission of providing an equitable educational experience for all children within MVWSD directly contributes to increasing the diversity in the STEM community. Silja teaches Physics at Los Altos High School, where she finds that all students learn more when offered hands-on experiences that they can relate to their own lives. Silja has two students at Bubb Elementary: a 4th grader, and a 1st grader.. She earned a BS in Physics and History from Boston College and a MSc degree in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London. Silja is excited to bring combined perspectives as a parent, a high school teacher, and an active Mountain View neighborhood resident to her leadership role with MVEF. silja@mvef.org
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Walky Goode
Walky is a new member of the MVEF Board, joining in Fall 2023. She has two students at Bubb Elementary. She previously served on the board for the Global Youth for Education and Change (GYEC) from 2016-2019, where she learned about the impact that fundraising can have on educational programs.
Walky holds a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Maryland. She has worked in the creative, tech, and nonprofit sectors, from startups to FAANG companies. She is literally from the middle of the world—Ecuador—and tries to get back often to visit her large family. She also enjoys teaching her boys (and husband) a little extra Spanish and Latin culture. walky@mvef.org
Valerie Duncker, Lead Executive Director
Valerie joined MVEF as Lead Executive Director in 04/2024. Valerie is a mother of three kids who have attended schools in the LASD and MVLA districts. Her oldest kids are in college and her youngest is a freshman at MVHS.
Valerie serves on the PTSA Exec. Board of MVHS as an auditor. Previously, she served as the Financial Secretary
for the PTA Exec. Board at Blach Junior High. Her passion lies in enhancing children's education and making positive contributions to the community. She volunteered at Loyola, Blach, Egan, MVHS, & LAHS, as well as at Foothill College, where two of her kids participated in the Middle College Program. She has been actively involved in fundraising efforts at Loyola Elementary School and as a Board Member of a local education non-profit, as well as with LAEF and the MVLA Foundation. She is also an active member of NCL, a national non-profit fostering community service and volunteering opportunities for mothers & daughters in grades 7-12. She holds an MBA and brings over 15 years of experience from the corporate and tech startup sectors as Program Manager, primarily focussing on Marketing, Communications, and Operations. valerie@mvef.org
Dena Seki, Executive Director
Dena Seki joined as MVEF Executive Director in summer 2020, during the COVID pandemic. Prior to that she was an active volunteer in Palo Alto public schools starting in 2010. This included serving five years on the Addison Elementary School PTA and Greene Middle School PTA executive board in various roles, including co-president at Addison. She was on the board of Palo Alto Partners in Education as Assistant Treasurer and then worked as Development and Campaign Manager. Prior to moving to Palo Alto, she worked for over twelve years in various finance and banking roles. She was a VP/Account Officer for Wells Fargo Foothill and worked in various positions for GE Capital, the last as a Deal Manager. While working for GE Capital, she served as the Elfun Chapter Treasurer and acting Secretary. Elfun is a global organization of GE volunteers. Dena has a BA in International Politics from Penn State University and a joint MBA/MA from the University of Connecticut. dena@mvef.org