NCCPC’s Advisory Council

Explore the CA Child Savings Account (CSA) Toolkit!

A go-to resource for NCCPC staff, members, partners, and allies to understand how to leverage 1) locally managed Children Savings Account (CSA) programs and 2) the state’s CSA program CalKIDS. Learn more about the CA CSA Toolkit on the new CA CSA Coalition webpage!

CA CSA Coalition

President Dr. Michael V. Drake

MD, University of California

Member since December 11, 2020

In August 2020, Michael V. Drake, M.D., became the 21st president of the University of California’s system of 10 campuses, six academic health centers, three nationally affiliated labs, more than 290,000 students and 230,000 faculty and staff. President Drake also holds faculty appointments at the UCSF School of Medicine as a professor of ophthalmology and at the UC Riverside School of Medicine as a professor of medicine.

President Drake served as the 15th president of The Ohio State University (OSU) from 2014 through June 2020. Prior to his six years at OSU, his entire academic career had been at the University of California, including nine years as chancellor of UC Irvine (2005–2014) and five years as UC system wide vice president for health affairs (2000–2005).

Sandra Williams-Hamp

Executive Director, GUEA

Sandra Williams Hamp is an incredible leader with over 25 years of experience in education. A native of Berkeley, California, she has spent her career strategically advocating and expanding access and equity in California and across the nation.

Currently, Sandra is the Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships and Community Engagement at the University of California Office of the President. She oversees UC’s systemwide outreach efforts and strategic partnerships that support the university’s mission of inclusiveness excellence. She works passionately to ensure that more students and have access to the University of California and thrive. She leads UCs SAPEP portfolio which serve more than 200,000 students and California and key strategic partnerships that support equity, inclusion, and diversity with various stakeholders, including Starbucks, College Advising Corps, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Major League Baseball (MLB), Black Girls Code and many others.

Before joining the University of California Office of the President, Sandra’s 18 year tenure at the College Board included serving as the Executive Director of K-12, for the College Board Western Regional Office where she was responsible for K-12 strategy and leadership in the 12 western states. She developed extensive partnerships with K-12 school districts, state departments of educations, business leaders, foundations and community-based organizations to close the achievement gap and improve student performance.

April Grommo

Dr. April Grommo currently serves as the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management Services at the California State University (CSU) Office of the Chancellor. She is responsible for systemwide admissions, enrollment management, financial aid, outreach and recruitment, transfer programs, and registration and records policy and practices.

Before joining the CSU Chancellor’s Office, Dr. Grommo served in leadership positions in information technology and student services in higher education– including Sierra-Cedar – Higher Education Practice, California State University San Marcos, National University, and Palomar Community College.

Dr. Grommo was first in her family to graduate from college and received her Educational Leadership Doctorate from UCSD in 2014, where she focused on social networks of underrepresented community college transfer students.

Delegate: David O’Brien

Vice Chancellor of Governmental Relations

David O’Brien has served as Vice Chancellor for Government Relations for the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office since April 2020. In this role, he oversees a division responsible for formulating and advancing the legislative agenda of the California Community Colleges and represents the Chancellor’s Office before the Legislature and executive branch of the state and federal governments.

Prior to joining the Chancellor’s Office in April 2020, O’Brien served as director of government affairs for the California Student Aid Commission since October 2016, a role that placed him as the commission’s primary liaison to the state Legislature, the Governor’s Office, the California Department of Finance and other agencies on matters related to financial aid and college affordability. That made him a critical figure in the commission’s efforts to reform and expand California’s financial aid programs.

Prior to joining the Student Aid Commission, O’Brien worked for nearly five years as a legislative manager for the California Department of State Hospitals, a legislative analyst for the state Department of Mental Health and as a legislative assistant for the California Environmental Protection Agency. He has a bachelor’s degree in political science and government from California State University, Sacramento, and lives in West Sacramento with his wife, a public school teacher.

Michael Tubbs

Founder and Board Chair, Reinvent Stockton Foundation

Member since April 9, 2021

At the age of 26, Michael D. Tubbs became the youngest Mayor of any major city in American history. As Mayor, Tubbs was lauded for his leadership and innovation. Under his stewardship, Stockton was named an “All-America City” in 2017 and 2018, saw a 40% drop in homicides in 2018 and 2019, led the state of California in the decline of officer involved shootings in 2019, was named the second most fiscally healthy city in California and one of the top most fiscally healthy cities in the nation and was featured in an HBO documentary film, Stockton on My Mind.

Catalina Ruiz-Healy

Senior Advisor, Hirsch Philanthropy Partners

Member since July 26, 2022

Ruiz-Healy is a Senior Advisor at Hirsch Philanthropy Partners, one of the nation’s oldest philanthropic advising firms. She has over two decades of leadership experience in philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, management consulting, and politics. Before joining Hirsch, she was Founder and CEO of GradGuru, a nonprofit educational technology company that accelerated completion rates for 100,000+ community college students through personalized, right-timed nudges, which was acquired in 2020. Ruiz-Healy also served as Vice President of the Rappaport Family Foundation, and has also held senior philanthropic roles at technology startups, Tides Foundation, and was an independent consultant to foundations and nonprofits. Ruiz-Healy holds an M.A. in International Affairs from Columbia University and a B.A from Pomona College. She has served as a Public Policy Lecturer at Mills College and on numerous nonprofit Boards, including the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement, IGNITE: Building Political Ambition in Young Girls, and Youth Speaks. Ruiz-Healy was born and raised in Mexico.

Ruiz-Healy is especially passionate about entrepreneurship and how philanthropic resources, technology, and innovative collaboration with extraordinary leaders can unleash long-lasting social change.

Dr. April Grommo

Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management Services, California State University (CSU) Office of the Chancellor

Member since September 9, 2022

Dr. April Grommo currently serves as the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management Services at the California State University (CSU) Office of the Chancellor. She is responsible for systemwide admissions, enrollment management, financial aid, outreach and recruitment, transfer programs, and registration and records policy and practices.

Before joining the CSU Chancellor’s Office, Dr. Grommo served in leadership positions in information technology and student services in higher education– including Sierra-Cedar – Higher Education Practice, California State University San Marcos, National University, and Palomar Community College.

Dr. Grommo was the first in her family to graduate from college and received her Educational Leadership Doctorate from UCSD in 2014, where she focused on social networks of underrepresented community college transfer students.

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Dr. Martha Kanter

CEO, College Promise

Member since November 12, 2022

Dr. Martha Kanter leads College Promise, a national, non-partisan, non-profit initiative to increase college access, affordability, quality, and completion in American higher education.

She is also a Senior Fellow at New York University’s Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy. She specializes in policy efforts to identify and apply innovative, evidence-based education interventions, financing models, and behavioral incentives to raise America’s high school and college graduation rates.

From 2009-2013, Dr. Kanter served as the U.S. Under Secretary of Education, overseeing all federal postsecondary statutory, regulatory, and administrative policies and programs, including the $175B annual federal student aid programs, higher education, adult education, career-technical education, international education, and 6 White House Initiatives. From 1993-2009, she was president of De Anza College and then chancellor of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District in Silicon Valley, California. She began her career as an alternative high school teacher in Lexington, MA.

Dr. Kanter holds a B.A. degree in Sociology from Brandeis University, an M.Ed. from Harvard University, and an Ed.D. from the University of San Francisco.

Libby Schaaf

Former Mayor of Oakland (Nov 2022)

Former Mayor Libby Schaaf was born and raised in Oakland, which she proudly describes as, “The most unapologetic Sanctuary City in America.” During her tenure, Oakland underwent an economic revitalization and building boom, as well as cut gun violence in half.

Her “17K/17K Housing Plan” helped increase Oakland’s affordable housing production, stabilize rents, and decrease evictions. Her innovative public-private partnerships Keep Oakland Housed and Cabin Communities are credited with preventing 1,800 families a year from losing their housing while resolving some of Oakland’s most unsafe street encampments. In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Mayor Schaaf to California’s first Council of Regional Homeless Advisors.

She created Oakland’s first Department of Transportation, whose equity-based paving plan is the first of its kind in the nation and will make previously underserved neighborhoods safer while addressing the city’s decades-old infrastructure backlog.

Mayor Schaaf is most proud of launching the Oakland Promise, a bold cradle-to-career initiative to send more low-income Oakland kids to college. The Oakland Promise gives every baby born into poverty a $500 savings account at birth. The Oakland Promise has sent more than 1,400 Oakland students (and counting) to college with scholarships and mentors.

Meet the Advisory Council

You are invited to join a community of Northern California colleges, as well as organizations and leaders dedicated to college access, support, and success.

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