CuriOdyssey, a children’s science and wildlife center, is pleased to announce the appointment of eight new members and one new volunteer representative to our board of directors. Each individual appointment brings a diverse set of skills, experience and background collectively creating a board that truly reflects our community and constituents.

The board’s goal is to help accomplish CuriOdyssey’s mission to help children inspire love for science and curiosity about the world to create a brighter future. During their three-year tenure, the new directors will drive the continued support for the annual fund and the CuriOdyssey Capital Campaign.

Anne Campbell devoted her forty-year career to public education. She spent many years as a middle school teacher, counselor and principal. Anne also was a district-level superintendent in Portola Valley and Redwood Shores as well as serving two terms as San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools between 2010-2018. Environmental Education and Early Childhood Education are areas of interest.

Anne is active in the Rotary Club of San Mateo, serves on the Board of Reading Partners, and is currently Moderator of the First Congregational Church of Palo Alto. An avid travel buff (when a pandemic isn’t raging), Anne always makes it to Book Group and is a long-time Stanford Women’s Basketball fan.  She is married, has four children, three grandchildren, and a rescue dog, Taches, who makes sure two walks are part of every day’s routine.

Danielle Chamberlin, Principal at Chamberlin Consulting, holds a PhD and MS in Materials Science from UC Berkeley and an S.B. Degree in Materials Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is an expert in optics and optoelectronics ranging from far-infrared to the UV. Danielle has deep knowledge in the fields of LEDs and nanotechnology, having led down-converter research at Lumileds from 2009-2019. She is the recipient of numerous technical awards ranging from Best Senior Thesis at MIT to Illumineer of the Year in 2019. She is holds 15 patents awarded and pending on topics ranging from biosensors to microLED fabrication. ​

​Danielle is an active volunteer in several scientific and youth-focused organizations in the Peninsula. She is Vice-Moderator and Chair of the Board of Children’s Education at the Congregational Church of Belmont, Treasurer of Girl Scout Troop 62077, and sits on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Arctic Ice Project. Danielle has been a volunteer in the exhibits team of CuriOdyssey since the summer of 2019 and especially loves supporting IlluminOdyssey in the winter months. She is also looking forward to joining the new STEMCorps program in Fall 2021. Danielle lives in Belmont with her husband and two daughters along with two cats, three fish, and three chickens.​

David Pauling is General Counsel at Sutro Biopharma, Inc. As an experienced, knowledgeable attorney who specializes in solving complex problems in the biotech industry, David has particular focus on governance, intellectual property, and agreements. He enjoys working with management and scientific stakeholders to find creative solutions to achieve Sutro’s goals. In addition to his law degree from Santa Clara University, David has a Master’s in Molecular Biology and undergraduate degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from UC Santa Cruz. David is passionate about ensuring that children of all backgrounds having access to high quality science education. David lives in San Mateo and has two children, ages 12 & 14, who were frequent visitors to CuriOdyssey.

Linda Fitzpatrick grew up in Southern California and settled in the Bay Area following graduation from San Francisco State University where she received a B.A. in Sociology and Psychology, with honors. Linda, and her late husband Michael, moved to Hillsborough in 1987. Linda began her 30-year career with biotechnology pioneer Genentech where she headed Investor Relations and the Compensation, Benefits and Systems Functions within Human Resources. She is the former vice president of Human Resources, Corporate Communications and Operations for Gilead Sciences and is the current Chief People and Human Resources Officer for Sutro Biopharma where she has worked for the past year. Linda has been an active community member; she is a former president of the San Mateo Public Library Foundation, a former president and current board member of a Home Within, a national organization focused on foster youth, and past president of the Hillsborough Schools Foundation. Linda is a founding member of Leadership Council San Mateo County, and a deacon and member of the Personnel Committee for Burlingame First Presbyterian Church. Linda is also on the Peninsula Golf and Country Club Board of Directors. Linda and her late husband Mike were named Hillsborough Citizens of the Year in 2011.

Sherry Wang is Director of Real Estate Strategy at Genentech, a biotech company based in South San Francisco. In her role, she manages campus planning for over 200 acres and 5 million square feet of space (including office, laboratories, manufacturing, childcare, cafeterias, meeting space, fitness center, health center and parking). At Genentech, she mentors’ students from underperforming South San Francisco public schools to get them excited about learning through homework help and interactive science activities. Sherry received her bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University and her MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She was born in Toronto, Canada but now lives in Burlingame with her husband, Maciek (very hard to pronounce because it’s Polish!), and their 2 young daughters. As a parent, she is passionate about creating opportunities for young children to enjoy science and nature.

Ashish Motivala is a passionate builder of technology products and has been building databases and data processing systems for the last 15 years. In his day job, he is a founding engineer and engineering leader at Snowflake, a cloud data company based in San Mateo. Prior to that he spent time fabricating databases at Oracle. Ashish hails from Mumbai, India and now lives in Foster City with his wife Nilu and two daughters aged 8 and 6. They’ve been regular visitors to CuriOdyssey over the last 8 years. He has many fond memories in and around CuriOdyssey. CuriOdyssey is smack in the center of his science path, running path, biking path, even open water swim path. These serendipitous events have connected him to the mission and people at CuriOdyssey. Ashish and his family have been active volunteers in the community in areas like sustainability and supporters of child education projects globally.

Jim Hekkers‘ extensive leadership experience in nonprofit management includes serving as the managing director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium from 2001 to 2015. Overseeing the aquarium’s overall operations and visitor programs, Jim managed the visitor experience, exhibits, education, research, communications, marketing, animal husbandry, human resources, operational and facilities divisions. As the Aquarium’s chief strategic planner, he developed five institution-wide strategic plans during his tenure. He simultaneously served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and became a featured presenter at regional, national and international conferences.

Jim also served in executive leadership positions at the Tennessee Aquarium and Ocean Journey in Denver. His previous experience in board leadership includes the National Steinbeck Center, the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, and the Geology Museum at the Colorado School of Mines. To inspire future non-profit leaders, he taught evening classes on collaboration and leadership at California State University, Monterey Bay for five years. He was also a founder of The Ocean Project. Jim currently consults with IMPACTS Experience as chief strategy officer and in that capacity has developed strategic plans for the Tennessee Aquarium, the Virginia Aquarium, Avenidas (a senior service provider in California), the Monterey Jazz Festival, and CuriOdyssey.

A graduate of Colorado State University, Jim received his Masters of Nonprofit Management degree from Regis University. He currently resides in Broomfield, Colorado. He will be retiring from his consulting positions at year-end 2021 and plans to spend most of his time traveling with his wife Nora, enjoying his five grandchildren, volunteering, and completing several personal writing projects.

Pablo B. Quintanilla is a founding member of Facebook’s Responsible Innovation team, which helps product teams identify and mitigate potential unintended harm in products. Before joining Facebook in May 2020, Pablo served as Salesforce’s first fellow to the World Economic Forum, working with government, civil society, academia and industry to create resources for companies to integrate ethics- and human rights-based approaches into technology development. Before that, Pablo was head of Salesforce’s public policy in Asia and Latin America. He served as a U.S. diplomat in Hong Kong, Beijing and in D.C. from 2007-2011. Outside of work, Pablo is active with the Council on Foreign Relations, the Asia Society, and with his local public elementary school. He lives in San Mateo with his spouse, Silvana, and two children — Matías and Amaya — in San Mateo, California.

Bruce Wright (Treasurer) is a CPA and partner with SingerLewak LLP, a regional accounting firm. His former firm, Good & Fowler, LLP, merged into SingerLewak in 2017. He has over 43 years’ experience including extensive experience with nonprofit organizations. Bruce will be retiring at the end of this year.

Both Bruce and his wife, Frances, are former CuriOdyssey board members. Bruce’s term ran from 2006 to 2010 and he served as treasurer for 3 years. He has been a board member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of North San Mateo County since 2013, including 5 years as board chair. Bruce is very involved with Rotary in South San Francisco, leading their efforts in low-income senior housing. Bruce and his family reside in Pacifica and enjoy their vacation home in Groveland.

About CuriOdyssey

CuriOdyssey is a serious science playground where more than 100,000 kids each year observe wild animals and experiment with real scientific phenomena. As a science and wildlife center, CuriOdyssey helps children acquire the tools to deeply understand the changing world. We are dedicated to giving more kids the superpower of science and believe that kids learn about science and animals best out in the world and not behind a desk or a screen. CuriOdyssey is located at Coyote Point Recreation Area in San Mateo. For more information, visit www.CuriOdyssey.org.