CONTACT:
Meghan Kinoshita, Media Relations Officer
650.450.5525 or makinoshita@siliconvalleycf.org

SILICON VALLEY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION NAMES
PATRICIA BRESEE AS BOARD CHAIR

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION ALSO APPOINTS TWO NEW BOARD MEMBERS

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a $1.9 billion grantmaking organization that is the leading voice for innovative solutions to community challenges, today announced Patricia Bresee as its newly appointed board chair. Additionally, Thomas J. Friel and Ivonne Montes de Oca have been appointed to the board of directors as new members.

Patricia Bresee, former vice-chair, assumes the role of chair effective Jan. 1, 2008, replacing Gregory Avis, founding managing partner of Summit Partners and the first board chair of the newly formed Silicon Valley Community Foundation. This leadership transition is in agreement with the terms of the memorandum of understanding.

“Patricia played an integral part in the historic merger of Community Foundation Silicon Valley and Peninsula Community Foundation as our vice-chair," said Emmett D. Carson, Ph.D., CEO and president of the community foundation. “Her proven dedication and the considerable professional qualities that characterize Patricia will continue to make the community foundation a catalyst for change in Silicon Valley."

Bresee, an attorney, is a recognized expert in juvenile law and has devoted most of her professional life to children's issues. As a Superior Court Commissioner in San Mateo County for 15 years she was assigned to sit as a juvenile court judge and handled dependency and delinquency matters as well as adoptions and guardianships.

Current board member Nancy Handel moves into role of vice-chair. Handel served as chief financial officer for Applied Materials from 2004 to 2007, earned a spot among the highest-ranking women in the Fortune 500 and was named one of the “Best CFOs in America" by Institutional Investor magazine in 2006.

The community foundation also announced the appointment of two new board members.

Friel retired as chairman of Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. in 2007. He joined Heidrick & Struggles in 1979 and played an important role in developing the firm's leadership position in key markets. In 1998, the partners of Heidrick & Struggles named him the recipient of the John E. Struggles Partnership Award, the firm's most significant honor.

He was also chosen by the Association of Executive Search Consultants to receive its 2007 annual award for outstanding leadership. Friel is a graduate of Purdue University, where he majored in industrial engineering. He also holds a master’s degree in business from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and currently serves on the Business School Advisory Council.

Montes de Oca is president and founder of The Pinnacle Company, a marketing communications group. She has twenty years of professional experience in communications and journalism. During her journalism career, she wrote under the byline Ivonne Lopez for the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. Her incisive articles about high-tech, financial and global markets were noted for their insight and thoroughness.

Starting in 1999, she led the effort to join together the Hispanic Charity Ball’s committee members - who until then had been an independent group of volunteers - with the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley. The transition and integration into one entity took over two-and-a-half years and resulted in a successful fusion of the group’s vision and mission.

Her community involvement includes serving as a senior fellow of the American Leadership Forum (Class IX), past president and founding member of the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley, a member of the Global Studies Initiative of San José State University. Montes de Oca was recently elected to serve on the board of The Health Trust and is an active member of the Rotary Club of San Jose, International Service Committee.

“We are excited to welcome Tom and Ivonne to the community foundation," said Carson. “These outstanding executives are talented, dedicated professionals who bring extensive financial and operational experience and will be important resources as we move into our second year as a unified community foundation."