Early in 2005, Caroline Boitano was named president and CEO of College Access Foundation of California, to which she brings her knowledge of philanthropy, strategic planning and nonprofit development.

From 1981 to 2001, Caroline served as president and executive director of the Bank of America Foundation, where she managed a national grants program that grew to $95 million while building strong outcome strategies for community involvement. Her work included initiatives aimed at broadening private support for public education, building a stronger base for community economic development, and strengthening the early childhood "Success by 6" campaign with a national competitive grants program. From 2001 to 2004, she was a consultant in various areas of nonprofit development.

Caroline currently serves as president and trustee for the Giannini Family Foundation and is a trustee of the California Consortium for Education Foundations, and of Carroll College. She sits on the advisory board for the Puente Project of the University of California.

Prior to her position at Bank of America, Caroline worked with the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Science and with the Babcock Endowment in San Rafael. She began her career teaching middle school students English and French. She received her bachelor of arts degree from Seattle University.

Ellen Cunningham is senior program officer at College Access Foundation of California, where she solicits and reviews grant requests from community-based organizations. She is a financial aid expert and is sought after to address issues in federal, state and private aid. Ellen joined the Foundation upon its founding from the conversion of Chela Education Financing, where she was the director of community relations.

Prior to joining Chela, Ellen was a vice president with Loan Pricing Corporation, a Reuters Company, providing financial consultative services to institutions involved in investment and corporate banking.

Ellen is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award for Financial Aid Outreach from the California Association of Financial Aid Administrators (CASFAA). She holds a bachelor of science degree in social sciences and gerontology from Western Michigan University and conducted extensive graduate studies in corporate finance at the Lubin School of Business at Pace University in New York. She most recently completed certification in corporate community involvement through the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College.

Ellen supports Bay Area charitable organizations and including roles with the annual Sausalito Art Festival, Sausalito Woman’s Club Scholarship Recognition Fund 501(c)3 and Sausalito Woman’s Club.

In May 2006, John Gorsich was named chief financial officer and treasurer of College Access Foundation of California. John brings his expertise in the areas of financial and accounting management, business process redesign and computer technology.

From 1999 to 2006, John served Chela Education Financing in several capacities including CFO, controller, and director of planning and analysis.

Beginning in 1994, John was founder and CEO of i-Enterprises Group, Inc., a consulting company that served large and small clients in various areas, including strategic planning, change management and financial management. Clients included Wells Fargo Bank, Charles Schwab, Lucent Technologies, Chevron, United Healthcare and Kaiser Permanente. Previously, John worked in financial management positions for large corporations including General Foods Corporation, CBS, Inc., and Viacom, Inc.

John holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry and an MBA specializing in finance and economics from Indiana University. He is a member of the Foundation Financial Officers Group.  

Lorraine O’Hara is secretary of College Access Foundation of California. She brings over 23 years experience in corporate governance and compliance management to the Foundation where she coordinates, and is recording secretary for, all board and committee meetings.

Lorraine joined the Foundation upon its founding. She had also been with its predecessor student loan company, where she had been board liaison. Prior to that, Lorraine had been the assistant corporate secretary of Wells Fargo Bank and of ABM Industries, Inc.

Lorraine is a past president of the Northern California chapter of the American Society of Corporate Secretaries. She attended Pomona College and San Francisco State University.

Judi Reed has more than 35 years of administrative office management experience. A native of San Francisco, Judi was employed by Industrial Indemnity Company (at the time the largest private Workers Compensation insurance company in California) for over 25 years. Judi joined Chela Education Financing’s marketing department in 2000, and moved to College Access Foundation of California when it was created in February of 2005.

Aileen Lui has more than 23 years of banking experience in domestic and international departments. Aileen joined Chela Education Financing’s accounting department in 2002, and is now with College Access Foundation of California.

Mark Terrell has more than 15 years of experience in accounting and administration. He has worked for a variety of businesses including architecture firms, hotel & restaurant management, banking and nonprofits. Mark joined Chela Education Financing's accounting department in 2000 and is now with College Access Foundation of California.

David Guzman has over 13 years in consumer lending with institutions in Utah and California. David’s background includes positions with commercial banks as well as credit unions, and in such areas as mortgage lending, credit and fraud detection and defaulted loan collections. David joined Chela Education Financing in 2000 and is now with College Access Foundation of California managing the remaining loan portfolio.

Jill Greenblatt joined the Foundation in March 2008. She brings more than ten years of experience serving low-income youth, teachers, and nonprofit professionals in Bay Area community-based programs, which enables her to approach grantmaking with first-hand knowledge of direct service work.

As a program associate with the Stuart Foundation, Jill was responsible for much of the grants administration for the Child Welfare program, and worked on a college access and success initiative for former foster youth. Prior to that, she was the Program Director for Bay Area Wilderness Training (BAWT) where she managed leadership and experiential education training programs for teachers and nonprofit youth-serving organizations. She now serves on BAWT's Board of Directors, and continues to teach courses as a volunteer.

Jill's previous experience also includes case management and program administration with YouthBuild San Francisco, and work on a wide range of fund development, grant reporting and evaluation projects as a consultant with DJT Consulting Group and Asian Neighborhood Design.

Jill's volunteer work has included Vision Youthz, San Francisco School Volunteers, and San Francisco Women Against Rape. She earned her B.A. in Psychology and Art at Antioch College.

Jay brings to College Access Foundation of California more than 15 years of experience in designing, managing and evaluating grantmaking programs for national, regional and community foundations.

Jay began his career in the office of Congressman Howard Wolpe (D-Mich.), whom he advised in issue areas including education, social services, civil rights and foreign policy. Following that, he was the founding Program Director for the Jewish Fund for Justice, where he managed a national grantmaking program supporting innovative, community-based efforts to combat poverty and promote social justice. After earning a law degree, he represented the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Social Services in child protection cases.

In the 1990’s, Jay was a Program Officer for the Greater Worcester Community Foundation, where he managed a competitive grants program benefiting residents of Central Massachusetts. During that time, he co-founded ProNet, a Council on Foundations affinity group for community foundation program staff members. From 2000 to 2007, he served as a Senior Program Officer at the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, where he directed a multi-year grantmaking initiative to improve academic achievement, increase college access and support college success for low-income and minority students in New England.

Jay received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law. He is a member of the Grantmakers for Education board of directors and serves on that board’s Executive Committee.

Tamara L. Moore joined the College Access Foundation program staff in October, 2007.

Tamara has been promoting financial aid and college success strategies to low-income students since her time as a student at San Diego State University. Since then, she has planned, developed and managed programs addressing priority health, education and social issues of underserved communities in San Diego, Los Angeles and statewide.

As program associate with The California Endowment, Tamara co-managed a $15 million portfolio of grantees addressing education and workforce diversity, language access and cultural competency. She also managed a $2 million docket of community-based organizations for which she facilitated relationships with other foundations to leverage funding opportunities, convened to discuss and address community issues and provided technical support to strengthen organizational capacity.

Tamara is a Ronald E. McNair Scholar, recipient of the California State University Pre-Doctoral Award and an Association of Black Foundation Executives Fellow and member. She is a member of the Council on Foundations, Southern California Blacks in Philanthropy and Southern California Grantmakers.

Katie Tremper joined the College Access Foundation program staff in October, 2007.

Previously, Katie served the Council for International Exchange of Scholars in Washington, D.C. for 16 years, supporting its Eastern European Initiatives, the Junior Faculty Development Program and the Fulbright Scholar Programs worldwide. As senior program officer for the Fulbright Scholar Program, she planned and managed a $1 million annual budget, the annual Fulbright Scholar Conference and cultural performance at the Kennedy Center, and diversity initiatives to increase participation of minority-serving institutions in the Fulbright Program.

From 2005 to 2007, she was project director of Cal-SOAP Southern San Joaquin Valley, a College Access Foundation grantee serving low-income students in Bakersfield and throughout Kern County.

Katie has presented and participated in panels for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), Community Colleges for International Development (CCID), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities (HACU) and many colleges and local organizations. She is a member of the American Association of University Women.

Thomas began his career providing administrative support to the College of Science’s dean’s office at Pennsylvania State University, before moving on to the school’s Department of Meteorology, which – in addition to being one of the top meteorological schools nationally – forecasts the daily weather for The New York Times.

After relocating to San Francisco, Thomas has worked with Pacific Bell Telephone Company as a Project Administrator, managed the front desk for an online travel service and supported office operations for the launch of an internet start-up company. He joined College Access Foundation of California in April of 2007.