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Board of Trustees

Executive Board:

Marshall C. Milligan - Chair (click here for bio)
Corporate and Non-Profit Director
Santa Barbara, CA

Grace Voorhis – Secretary (click here for bio)
San Francisco, California

Stu McLaughlin - Treasurer (click here for bio)
Associate, Sansome Partners
San Francisco, California
Committee Assignments: Finance Committee Chair, Development Committee, Program/Growth Committee, Executive Committee

Glenn W. Holsclaw – Member at Large
Executive Director, Making Waves Education Program
Richmond, California
Committee Assignments: Executive Committee, Program/Growth Committee (Co-Chair)

David Winton - Member at Large (click here for bio)
Founding Partner, Winton DuPont Films
San Francisco, CA


Board of Trustees:

Former Breakthrough Trustees gather for lunch in San Francisco.

Mark Atkinson
Chief Executive Officer, Teachscape
San Francisco, CA

Melissa Buckley
Health Care Consultant
San Francisco, CA

John Flickinger
Director, Breakthrough Miami
Miami, FL

Susan Sachs Goldman (click here for bio)
Documentary Filmmaker
Washington, DC
Committee Assignments: Program/Growth Committee Co-Chair, Executive Committee

Betsy A. Hannaford (click here for bio)
Community Volunteer
Wayzata, Minnesota

Anne D. Herrmann (click here for bio)
Board Member, City Year New York
New York, New York
Committee Assignments: Program/Growth Committee

Sheila Larsen
Community Volunteer
San Francisco, CA

Esan Looper
Breakthrough Alumnus
Site Coordinator, San Francisco Community School
San Francisco, California
Committee Assignments: Program/Growth Committee

Robert Macrae (click here for bio)
Head of School, Cincinnati Country Day School
Cincinnati, OH

William Matthes (click here for bio)
Managing Partner, Behrman Capital
San Francisco, California

Kate Mehr (click here for bio)
Executive Director (National Network), Citizen Schools
Annapolis, Maryland

Polly Merrill
Retired Teacher/Community Volunteer
New York, New York
Committee Assignments: Co-Chair, Development Committee, Executive Committee

Hollie Moore (click here for bio)
Director, Silver Lake Partners
San Francisco, CA
Committee Assignments: Finance Committee

Susan Oberndorf
Trustee, Cathedral School for Boys
San Francisco, California
Committee Assignments: Executive Committee, Governance Committee (Chair),
Program/Growth Committee

Scott Pearson (click here for bio)
Board Chair, Leadership Public Schools
Tiburon, California
Committee Assignments: Development Committee

Billy Peebles (click here for bio)
Head of School, The Lovett School
Atlanta, Georgia
Committee Assignments: Program/Growth Committee

Sarah E. Stein (click here for bio)
Vice President, Offit Hall Capital Management LLC
San Francisco, California
Committee Assignments: Co-Chair, Development Committee, Executive Committee

Nadine Terman (click here for bio)
Investment Partner, Blum Capital Partners
San Francisco, California

Carl W. Vogt
Former Senior Partner, Fulbright&Jaworski, LL
San Francisco, California

Trevor Watt (click here for bio)
Director, Hellman and Friedman
San Francisco, CA

Joan Wattles (click here for bio)
Committee Member, Breakthrough Kent Colorado
Denver, CO

Kathe Williamson
Community Volunteer
Washington, DC

Rhea Wong (click here for bio)
Executive Director Breakthrough New York
New York, NY

Mialisa Bonta, Ex Officio
Chief Executive Officer,
Breakthrough Collaborative
San Francisco, CA

Board Bios

Susan Sachs Goldman has been a community volunteer in her native city Washington, D.C. for more than 25 years. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from Wellesley College and an M.A. in American History from Brandeis University. Susan has served on many boards, including Arena Stage, American Jewish Committee, the District of Columbia Jewish Community Center, the City Museum (Washington, D.C.) and the Brennan Center for Justice in New York. From 1997-2000, she chaired the Sidwell Friends School Board. Currently, Susan is developing a documentary on Quakers in America.

Betsy A. Hannaford currently serves on the boards of The Guthrie Theater and Graywolf Press, and is an active volunteer at The Blake School in Minneapolis. She is a former board member of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota and the Ripley Foundation. Betsy graduated from Pomona College and NYU School of Law.

Anne Herrmann has been on Breakthrough's board since 2002. A long-time New Yorker, she has taught a variety of ages and subjects, mainly in independent schools. Anne is now a private tutor for reading and writing, working primarily with elementary school students. She has served on Trevor Day School's board and currently sits on the Mount Sinai Auxiliary board and the board of City Year New York. Anne does volunteer work for these organizations as well as her church, and a local public school for emotionally disturbed children. A graduate of Sweet Briar College, she has two graduate degrees from Bank Street College of Education.

Tom Larsen initially learned about the wonders of Breakthrough while his daughter was a teacher and assistant teacher at the Breakthrough program at the San Francisco Day School for three summers. His interest and concern about education otherwise has been developed through his experiences as a trustee and board chair of the Bay Area Discovery Museum; as a trustee of his daughter's school, Hamlin; as founder of an effort to develop a new high school in the Presidio National Park; and as a trustee of the American Conservatory Theater (ACT). By day, Tom is chair of the real estate group of the law firm of Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin. Tom graduated from Stanford University and Boston College Law School.

William Matthes joined Behrman Capital in April 1996 and has been a Managing Partner of the firm since January 1999. Most recently, he was Chief Operating Officer of Holsted Marketing, Inc., a direct marketing company owned by his family. Previously, Mr. Matthes spent seven years at Brentwood Associates, a leveraged buyout and venture capital firm with more than $500 million under management, where he was a General Partner. Prior to that, he was an Analyst with Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc. In 1986, Mr. Matthes earned an MBA with high distinction from Harvard Business School, where he was both a Baker Scholar and a Loeb Rhoades Fellow. He has an AB in Economics from Stanford University, where he graduated with honors and distinction. Mr. Matthes currently serves on several boards including The Management Network Group, Inc., Tandem Health Care, Inc., Celerity Group, Inc., ILC Industries, Inc., and Hunter Defense Holdings, Inc., where he serves as chairman. At both Stanford and Harvard, he was active as a Teaching Assistant and Tutor in Finance and Engineering. He continues his interest in education both as a Trustee of the University School in Cleveland, Ohio, and as a guest lecturer at Stanford Business School.

Robert Macrae is the Head of School at Cincinnati Country Day School in Cincinnati, Ohio. He previously spent seventeen years at The Pingry School in New Jersey where he was Assistant Headmaster, Head of the Middle School, Head of the Upper School, teacher, advisor, and coach. In addition to being a member of the Board of Trustees for Summerbridge Cincinnati, Inc., he is also currently a member of the Board for The Fund for Independent Schools of Cincinnati, Inc. (FISC) and Queen City Foundation. Rob received his Doctor of Education degree and a M.A. in educational administration from Teachers College, Columbia University. He graduated from Wesleyan University with a B.A. in economics, mathematics and computer science, and holds an additional M.A. in educational administration and policy analysis from Stanford University.

Kate Mehr has been the Executive Director of the National Network for Citizen Schools since 2005 which, like Breakthrough, combines her love of young people, communities, and growing organizations. Joining the Breakthrough Board was like coming home for Kate. In 1995, she served as the Chair of the Board for Summerbridge Cambridge, a Breakthrough Program. Her 20 year career has focused on children and communities in the non-profit and public sectors. After beginning her career as a teacher, Kate helped found the Massachusetts Legislative Children's Caucus. After the passage of President Bill Clinton's National Service Act in the 1990's, Kate launched the Massachusetts State Commission on National Service. In 1998, she was appointed to a White Fellowship for national leadership. Working with social entrepreneurs from around the world, Kate then launched the United States-Canada Program for Ashoka. Kate also served as the Vice President of Community Impact for the United Way. Kate received a BA in political science from Amherst and an MPA from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.


Marshall C. Milligan is a graduate of Stanford Graduate School of Business and Yale University. He is the former President of the Board for the Thacher School and former President and C.E.O. of Bank A Levy. Having chaired many committees and boards, Marshall is known for encouraging relevant discussion, for building consensus, and for helping boards to exceed their own expectations.

Hollie Moore is a Director at Silver Lake Partners, a $3.6 billion private equity fund investing in the technology industry, with offices in Menlo Park and New York. She previously worked at Hellman & Friedman, a private equity fund in San Francisco. Prior to that, she worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions Department at Morgan Stanley & Co. in New York. Hollie received an AB from Harvard College in 1993 and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1999. Hollie grew up in Fairfax, VA, where she attended public schools. Her mother is an elementary school teacher in the Fairfax City Public School system. Her twin brother is a clinical social worker in Baltimore who works with abused and troubled kids.

Scott Pearson is primarily involved in community and philanthropic activities related to children both in the US and Central America. He serves as Board Chair of Leadership Public Schools, an organization opening small college preparatory high schools in underserved communities of California. Scott founded and leads the Fund for Children and Youth, which funds educational and social programs in Costa Rica and he serves on the board of San Francisco's Bay Area Discovery Museum. Scott is also a part-time executive advisor to the senior staff of Time Warner, providing advice on matters of corporate strategy and philanthropy. From January, 1997 to February, 2000, Mr. Pearson was Vice President for Corporate Development at America Online. Previously, he ran AOL's e-commerce business, served as a trade negotiator for the United States Government, and worked as a management consultant with Bain and Company. Mr. Pearson holds a Bachelors degree from Wesleyan University, a Masters degree in Business Administration from Harvard Business School, and a Masters degree in Public Administration from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is married with two children.

Billy Peebles is in his second year as Headmaster at The Lovett School in Atlanta, Georgia. Previously, he was Headmaster at The Asheville School for ten years and at Powhatan School for seven years, and has enjoyed teaching American History for almost 25 years. In addition to being a member of the Board of Trustees for Breakthrough Collaborative, he is also currently a member of the Board of Governors at St. Catherine’s School, the Breakthrough/Atlanta Board of Advisors, and the Board of Directors of the American Association for Gifted Children. Mr. Peebles received an AB in Politics from Princeton University, an MBA from the Colgate Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia, and is currently pursuing a PhD from Virginia Theological Seminary.

Missie Rennie is a strategic media consultant. She has spent 30 years in the television news business, most of it at CBS News as the Executive Producer of CBS News Sunday Morning and CBS Weekend News. Then she was Vice-President of Third Age Media, an Internet company partly owned by CBS, Inc. Missie has won eight Emmys and the George Foster Peabody Award among others. She was also the recipient of a Luce Fellowship and worked as a television correspondent in the Philippines.

Missie does extensive volunteer work. She chairs the Board of Miss Porter's School and just finished a twelve-year term on the Board of Vassar College and presently serves on the President's Advisory Council. She also just finished a ten year term on the Board of Nightingale-Bamford School. She also serves on the Board of the USTA Tennis and Education Foundation, The Asia Foundation and on the Advisory Committee of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Missie attended Miss Porter's and Vassar. She lives in New York with her husband and two daughters.

Sarah E. Stein is currently a Managing Director and the Deputy Director of Research at Offit Hall Capital Management. She was an English teacher in Guangzhou, China in 1998 and spent a summer in college teaching at Peninsula Bridge (which offers a program similar to Breakthrough). She holds an MBA and a Masters in Education from Stanford University and a BA in History from Princeton University. Sarah currently serves as a Board Member for Crystal Springs Uplands School, KIPP Bayview Academy and is a member of the Investment Committee of the San Francisco Foundation.

Nadine Terman and her husband are strong believers in the link between education and lifetime achievement. Although she learned a significant amount through her husband's leadership positions at several Bay Area, education-focused non profits, Nadine wanted a more direct impact on improving educational opportunities for our youth and, thus, joined Breakthrough Collaborative. Nadine is a Partner with Blum Capital, an investment firm focused on both public and private equity markets. She works extensively with portfolio companies' management teams and boards of directors on business, financial, and governance initiatives. Nadine has a BA with Honors and with Distinction from Stanford University, and she has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was an Arjay Miller Scholar.

Grace Voorhis is a former Partner at Morgan Stanley Venture Partners (MSVP), a venture capital firm with $1.2 billion under management. She was responsible for health care and medical device investing and, in that capacity, sat on the Board of several small for-profit companies. Prior to MSVP, Grace was an Analyst with Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc. in New York. Grace left her job in 2002 to spend more time with her husband and two young boys. She currently serves as Treasurer of the St. Francis Homes Association and acts as an advisor to The Zeum, Charley’s Fund, and Crystal Springs Uplands School. Grace has also been active with The California Academy of Sciences and The Randall Museum. Grace received her AB magna cum laude in Social Studies from Harvard and her MBA from Stanford Business School.

Trevor Watt is a Director at Hellman & Friedman, a San Francisco-based private investment firm. Previously, he worked as an Executive Director in the Investment Banking Division at Morgan Stanley. Trevor holds an AB in Politics with high honors from Princeton University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. His mother is a former teacher of romance languages at public schools in Los Angeles and Chicago, as well as in his original hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Joan Wattles has a long-standing dedication to volunteering and has served as board and Committee member to organizations such as the Colorado Ballet, St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH, Kent Denver School, Breakthrough Kent Denver, Rio Grande School and Santa Fe Prep. Joan has been a long-time supporter of the Breakthrough Kent Denver and the Kent School. She has seven kids and holds education as a top priority.