Leadership Team
Learn more about joining the Board of Directors by clicking HERE
Barbra Silver
Executive Director
Barbra Silver
Executive Director
Barbra Silver is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a proud Oakland resident. She has been with the agency since 1998 when she began as a clinician with the Families in Transition program and helped to develop the early documentation training for our then new EPSDT funded services. Barbra was then a Program Manager for the Oakland FIT team between 2000-2007. In 2008, Barbra was promoted to become Family Paths’ Clinical Director, during which time she grew the clinical training program to have a strong focus on the Strengthening Families Framework™ and Diversity-Informed and Trauma-Informed best practices. She has co-lead the organization’s Multicultural Organizational Development committee since 2013. In October 2015, Barbra became Family Paths’ interim Executive Director and then was hired by the Board in February 2016 to lead the organization. Barbra is also Vice President of the Alameda Council of Community Mental Health Agencies.
Wilson Ho Yin Cheh
Senior Clinical Director
Wilson Ho Yin Cheh
Senior Clinical Director
Wilson is a multi-licensed mental health professional, an adjunct professor, a consultant, and an advocate for mental health. His active clinical licenses include Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), Licensed Advanced Alcohol and Drug Counselor (LAADC), Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC), and Master Addiction Counselor (MAC). Being born and raised in Hong Kong and having spent most of his adult years in the States, Wilson is fluent in English, Cantonese and speaks some Mandarin as a bi-cultural Asian American. As a Chemical Engineer, Wilson had a decade of tech and corporate experience in the Bay Area before another decade+ career in behavioral and mental health agencies in both clinical services and leadership roles. Using his combined skill sets, he enjoys promoting innovative, compassionate, and integrated approaches to wellness and health for individuals, families, teams, and organizations. In his free time, he will be on the lookout for new restaurants, coffee, tea, and dessert places to try out, and enjoy learning different cultures and sub-cultures and their stories through food and cooking.
Erica Hilton
Family Services Director
Erica Hilton
Family Services Director
Erica Hilton is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and has been a part of Family Paths since 2020. Erica is the Family Services Program Director, where she provides managerial and clinical support for the Family Services management team. Prior to her employment at Family Paths, Erica’s previous experience included over twenty years of Family Preservation work in Alameda County; primarily overseeing home visiting programs for at- risk and court involved families. Erica loves to travel and is a proud dual citizen with Canada.
Christopher Palmer
Management Information Services Director
Christopher Palmer
Management Information Services Director
Christopher Palmer has worked in technology services for more than 20 years. Formerly he was the Director of Technology for the Global Business Network, The Idea Factory, and the East Bay Conservation Corps. He is also a practicing artist and arts educator in the San Francisco Bay Area, runs a consultancy for tech arts, and is a member of the faculty at San Francisco Art Institute, where he teaches students how to combine technology with their art.
Shay Black
Administration/Facilities Manager
Shay Black
Administration/Facilities Manager
Shay Black comes from Dublin, Ireland and has been with the agency since 1995. His first career was as a Psychiatric Nurse, which developed into Public Health Nursing (Health Visiting) in the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) and lectured in Child Health and Development in Liverpool, England, before migrating to California in 1994. His first connection with the agency was as a hotline volunteer, progressing to after-hours staff, then worked temporarily as CMS (Case Management Specialist), Hotline Recruitment Specialist, and eventually moved into Admin. He is currently Family Path’s Administrative Support Manager and also has responsibility for the Facilities team. He has lived in Dublin, London, Canterbury and Liverpool, and currently resides in Berkeley. Shay’s passion is music, and performs regularly with his brothers and sisters in Europe and the United States.
Alison Czopp
Clinical Operations Manager
Alison Czopp
Clinical Operations Manager
Alison is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with almost a decade of social work experience in research, direct service, and management. Alison has a background in building and sustaining trauma-informed systems with an emphasis on social justice. In her free time, Alison enjoys spending time with her cats, Alfie and Queenie.
Kathy Davis
Controller
Kathy Davis
Controller
Kathy Davis has been with Family Paths since 2020. She has served in finance and accounting leadership roles for over 25 years in healthcare, education, and corporate law. Nonprofit finance is far and away her favorite type of accounting due to the complexities of program and fund accounting, and most of all because nonprofit organizations provide essential social services that make a kinder and better world. Family Paths is a perfect fit as Kathy has had a lifelong interest in mental health, social services and personal growth practices. When not working, Kathy enjoys singing in chorus, hiking in the East Bay Parks and beyond, playing Sudoku, travelling the US and the world and searching for the best Mexican restaurant.
Nancy Morosohk
Treatment, Intervention and Prevention Services (TIPS) Manager
Nancy Morosohk
Treatment, Intervention and Prevention Services (TIPS) Manager
Nancy Morosohk is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has lived in the Bay area since 1978. She is the TIPS (Treatment, Intervention & Prevention Services) Program Manager and has been with the organization since 2001 when she began working for Family Paths as a Treatment Specialist in the TIPS Program. Prior to her work at Family Paths, Nancy worked as a child and family therapist at Jewish Family & Children’s Services on the Peninsula as well as at the Edgewood Children’s Center Day Treatment Program in San Francisco. When she isn’t working, Nancy is an avid hiker and amateur photographer.
Bobbie Peyton
Development Manager
Bobbie Peyton
Development Manager
Bobbie Peyton joined Family Paths as the Development Manager in January 2021, bringing more than eight years of grant writing and nonprofit administration to the position. At her previous organizations, she created fundraising and marketing initiatives that significantly strengthened operational capacity. Prior to her development role, Bobbie worked as a program manager with farmers markets to connect locally grown, healthy produce with customers utilizing federal nutrition assistance benefits. In her free time, Bobbie can be found walking her two little (but ferocious) dogs, Tillman and Wonton. She also enjoys birding and writing books for young readers.
Angela Powell-Bulutoglu
Families in Transition (FIT) Program Manager
Angela Powell-Bulutoglu
Families in Transition (FIT) Program Manager
Angela Powell-Bulutoglu (she/her) is an EMDR-trained LMFT and LPCC specializing in PTSD and LGBTQQIA-2 populations. Angela’s primary focuses are fostering cultural humility and trauma-informed work environments, believing that positive change happens when we challenge cultural scripts and lean into the discomfort that inevitably follows. In her free time, she can be found hiking on one of the many Alameda County trails that allow dogs to go off-leash with her boisterous maltipoo, Astro.
Zainna Reed
Human Resources Manager
Zainna Reed
Human Resources Manager
Zainna Reed’s roots are right here in Oakland where she was born and raised. Zainna first joined the Family Paths family as a Biller/Admin Assistant in 1999. She moved on in 2006 to pursue her career path in Human Resources. With 11 years’ experience in Human Resources, Zainna has joined Family Paths once again as HR Manager and is excited to be at an agency where she can do the work she loves and provide support to the people who give strength and hope to the community where she grew up. In Zainna’s free time she enjoys spending time with family, traveling, exercising and loves finding new places to eat!
Julianne Rositas
Family Support Manager-Parent Education
Julianne Rositas
Family Support Manager-Parent Education
Julianne Rositas is the Program Manager for Parent Education and Foster Parent Community Advocate Programs. She has a Masters of Public Administration and a Master of Science in Education. Julianne is a certified Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) Practitioner and a certified Nurturing Parent Facilitator. She also has training as a Fatherhood Group facilitator as well. Prior to her work with Family Paths, Julianne worked for the Kinship Support Services Program in East Contra Costa County, where she was the Program Coordinator for 5 years and the Program Manager for 7 years. Julianne also has experience as a Community College Educator/Trainer, Program consultant, and Grant writer. When she is not working, Julianne enjoys learning new things and exploring new places with her grandchildren, listening to Latin Jazz, playing her congas, and writing.
Kim San Gabriel
Helpline Program Manager
Kim San Gabriel
Helpline Program Manager
Kim San Gabriel is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and has been a part of Family Paths since 2001. Kim is the Program Manager of the Parenting Stress Helpline, where she provides managerial and clinical support to the Helpline team. Kim held a number of positions in the Family Support Program leading up to her recent promotion to Program Manager. In addition, Kim obtained her clinical hours interning in the TIPS program gaining valuable clinical experience. Kim’s previous experience was at a domestic violence agency where she provided direct services to women and children fleeing abuse and managing one of the residential programs. Kim loves to cook, bake and dance.
Valentina Torres
Families in Transition (FIT) Program Manager
Valentina Torres
Families in Transition (FIT) Program Manager
Valentina Torres MA is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California. Valentina is bilingual and speaks Spanish fluently. Valentina has 10 years of clinical experience providing family & child psychotherapy, individual psychotherapy, developmental playgroups and parenting groups. Additionally, she provides reflective supervision to early childhood clinicians. She has worked with various populations providing Early Childhood Mental Health consultation in preschools throughout the Bay Area. She is a trainer in trauma responsive care for educators and administrators. She is certified as a Circle of Security Educator, a Fussy Baby Specialist with Fussy Baby Network from the Erikson Institute and an authorized trainer and coach of the CA CSEFEL Teaching Pyramid. Valentina received her BA in Theater Arts from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 2005. She received her master’s in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Drama Therapy from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2009. Valentina is deeply passionate about providing high quality services to our most marginalized communities to heal trauma and create change by uplifting the voices of our children, their families and the people and systems that support them.
Otis Ward
Outreach Program Manager
Otis Ward
Outreach Program Manager
Otis D. Ward Jr., CPDPE brings over 30 years of experience in Community Base Management, Case Management, and Program Development supporting families through his work with organizations in Alameda and San Francisco counties. As a Certified Facilitator and strong motivational speaker, Otis has directed individuals to seek personal goals and achievements, while building their self confidence. A few of the many organizations Otis has either managed or supported over the years include Operation HOPE, Inc., Alameda County Associated Community Action Program, Alameda County Social Services Agency One Stop Career Centers, Employment Workforce, CalWORKs programs, San Francisco County of The Treasurer Office, and Alameda Alliance for Health.
Lyman Hollins, President
Adjunct Instructor/Facilitator, The Wright Institute
Lyman Hollins, President
Adjunct Instructor/Facilitator, The Wright Institute
Lyman Hollins, M.A., received a B.A. in History and a Minor in Women’s Studies from California State University at Hayward. He earned his M.A. in Counseling Psychology from the Wright Institute in Berkeley in 2009. He has been a treatment specialist at Family Paths in Oakland, CA, where he provided services to multi-stressed, children, families and adults of diverse backgrounds. He has also been a member of the Alameda County Fathers Corps, a county-wide team of male service providers trained to help strengthen families by fostering constructive engagement of fathers in the care and upbringing of their children. Their mission is to promote and support fathers and father figures to be meaningfully engaged with their children and families, and to advocate for family service providers to provide father friendly services and to assist fathers in strengthening their parenting skills.
He has held a position as an Adjunct Faculty member, since 2011, in the Wright Institute’s Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology program, instructing the Multicultural Clinical Awareness Course. He has been a program manager and therapist at Brothers on the Rise in Oakland, CA, where he coordinated the Brothers Helping Brothers Counseling Program providing gender-responsive individual, group and family counseling, crisis intervention to male youth experiencing social-emotional and behavioral issues with a focus on boys who have witnessed or experienced violence, as well as facilitating groups for African American fathers. He currently offers services in facilitation and training, engaging in issues of difference, inclusivity, and cultural humility.
Deborah Sack, Secretary
Retired HR Manager
Deborah Sack, Secretary
Retired HR Manager
Deborah Sack worked for Family Paths from 2001 to 2017, and was Family Paths’ Human Resources Manager when she retired. She graduated from the University of Oregon receiving a BS in Community and Public Health Administration. Debbi came to the agency with over 20 years of management experience including working as the Clinic Manager at Over 60 Health Center in Berkeley. She began her management experience in Hawaii in 1977, and feels her many varied experiences managing people and systems from retail to restaurant to nonprofit gave her a broad view at how to provide fair and balanced HR support to every employee at Family Paths during her tenure. Outside of work, Debbi’s passion is gardening and does much of her mental health therapy there.
Katy Brown, Treasurer
CPA and Tax Partner at Armanino LLP
Katy Brown, Treasurer
CPA and Tax Partner at Armanino LLP
Katy Brown, CPA is a Tax Partner at Armanino LLP, where she leads the firm’s West Coast Nonprofit Tax Practice, working exclusively with nonprofit organizations. She works with hundreds of nonprofits each year, helping them make smart business decisions that protect their tax-exempt status and perfecting their public reporting. She earned a BA in French from George Mason University, an MA in French Literature from the University of Arizona, and an MS in Taxation from Golden Gate University. She also serves on the board of the Armanino Foundation and the Clifford Brown Jazz Foundation. Katy and her family have lived in Alameda County for over a decade. In her family life, she enjoys music, learning languages (currently working on Spanish and Japanese), movies, and travel, but she’s always game to talk about nonprofit tax law.
Divya Agarwal, Director
Chief of Staff, Because Market
Divya Agarwal, Director
Chief of Staff, Because Market
Divya Agarwal first learned of Family Paths while doing a consulting project through her graduate school. She immediately connected with the organization’s mission and people. She currently works as Chief of Staff at Because Market, and previously worked in marketing at Google and in management consulting and other consumer-tech startups. She is excited to bring her marketing and business skills to an organization that already does so many things well. She is a graduate from the University of Michigan and Harvard Business School. Her hobbies include hiking and trying all the slices of pizza the Bay Area has to offer.
Evangeline Brown, Director
Attorney
Evangeline Brown, Director
Attorney
Evangeline Brown is an attorney. She studied law at University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall). She worked as a criminal defense lawyer in the Contra Costa County Public Defenders office for 26 years. Prior to joining that office she worked in Legal Aid and in Children’s Rights advocacy. During her years as a criminal defense lawyer she spent a number of years working on cases in Juvenile Court. She spent substantial time children and parents in cases involving abused and neglected children where she had the opportunity to advocate for both parents and children, as well as representing children in delinquency cases. She also had some experience representing clients who were in conservatorship or were seeking release from residential mental health supervision.When Evangeline was a young lawyer, she and a colleague dreamed of a law practice which in many ways followed the pattern that Family Paths models: a service that addresses the needs of people as whole beings with a variety of needs and strengths that can be addressed.
Christine Cueto, Director
PR & Social Media Manager, Prosper Marketplace
Christine Cueto, Director
PR & Social Media Manager, Prosper Marketplace
Christine Cueto is an all-around creative who does art, photography, and writing. She’s been working in the advertising industry for over five years – creating, managing, executing and optimizing digital marketing campaigns for various organizations and clients. Aside from advertising, Christine has worked as a freelance photographer for over 8 years and also has experience in events & PR, and as a photography mentor for a design school in the Philippines. She loves building communities through visual storytelling and has a soft spot for non-profits. Christine currently works as the PR & Social Media Manager at Prosper Marketplace. Aside from her day job, she actively volunteers for TEDx events and serves on the board of AD2SF. She’s excited to continue contributing to the Oakland community by joining the Family Paths board.
Lucy Sheftel, Director
Managing Director, Deputy Controller - Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco
Lucy Sheftel, Director
Managing Director, Deputy Controller - Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco
CPA and member of the AICPA, Lucy earned a degree in Finance from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, followed by an MBA in Financial Management and Capital Markets and an International Management Diploma from the University of Nancy, France. After completing her studies, Lucy started her career in public accounting at PricewaterhouseCoopers and KPMG in their banking assurance practices where she stayed for a total of 9 years. In 2009, Lucy joined the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco and is currently serving as the Managing Director, Deputy Controller, leading the technical accounting, derivative accounting and analysis and financial reporting functions at the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco.
Alice Shumba, Director
Supervising Senior Auditor, SOAProjects
Alice Shumba, Director
Supervising Senior Auditor, SOAProjects
Alice Shumba was born and raised in Zimbabwe. She relocated to United States soon after graduating high school to attend the University. She studied Accounting at Utah Valley University, got married, relocated to San Jose California and completed her bachelors degree at John F. Kennedy University. She is a Financial Auditor and worked for KPMG and PwC prior to joining other firms. Currently she is a Supervising Senior SOX Auditor at SOAProjects Inc. Alice is also a member of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) of the San Francisco Chapter.
Dawn Sung, Director
Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychiatrist, Kaiser Permanente Oakland
Dawn Sung, Director
Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychiatrist, Kaiser Permanente Oakland
Dawn Sung grew up in the East Bay, and currently work as a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist at Kaiser Permanente Oakland. My background is in community mental health, medical education, and working with diverse and underserved populations. I used to work at Children’s Hospital Oakland with many children and families who greatly benefited from the counseling, case management, and helpline services at Family Paths. Thus I am so excited to be a board member for Family Paths to help support the amazing work of this organization!
Martha Winnacker, Director
Retired Executive Director, Academic Senate, University of California, and Former Public Defender for Contra Costa County in child welfare cases
Martha Winnacker, Director
Retired Executive Director, Academic Senate, University of California, and Former Public Defender for Contra Costa County in child welfare cases
Martha Winnacker is an attorney and retired University of California administrator. Her interest in serving on Family Paths’ board grew directly out of her time as a public defender, when she represented parents and children in cases alleging child abuse and neglect. In that role, she encountered parents and children whose lives were profoundly constricted by poverty. The substance abuse and mental health issues that were frequently involved in bringing these families under court supervision were made intractable by the parents’ poverty and the lack of support and empathy available to them. Walking beside her clients and their families as they struggled to stay together made Martha passionate about the need for mental health services offered with respect and compassion. She is privileged to support the work of Family Paths’ gifted clinicians.
Melissa Zucker, Director
Head of People, OhmConnect
Melissa Zucker, Director
Head of People, OhmConnect
Melissa Zucker, SPHR, has over 20 years of experience developing, implementing, and leading successful domestic and global staffing, training, and strategic human resources programs for Bay Area companies representing a variety of industries. Now, semi-retired, she provides consulting and coaching services to local non-profits and socially responsible start-ups. She is currently Head of People at OhmConnect. Melissa was born and raised in the Oakland area and is passionate about this community. She is highly appreciative of the vital services Family Paths provides and is honored to serve on its Board.