Board of directors
Sheila Aharoni
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Sheila is a global technology leader who built, grew, and transformed businesses for 40 years. As a Revenue Operator in public and private start-up companies, she was successful in scaling sales and turning around struggling businesses.
Sheila’s career foundation was refined at Fortune 50 market bellwethers– GE, Motorola, and Black & Decker. She leveraged her big company learnings in two software startups, launching sales from scratch, scaling pre and post-sales, customer success, and sales engineering. Sheila is an advisor for SkyDeck, UC Berkeley’s startup incubator.
Derek Barnes
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Derek Barnes has over 15 years of executive leadership transforming organizations through all stages of a business’ lifecycle – startup, rapid growth, business turnarounds, and M&A. Derek’s expertise includes building strategy, global organizations, and new technologies in highly competitive markets. He has worked within high-tech, nonprofit, telecom, financial services, real estate, healthcare, and retail sectors.
Derek is CEO at EBRHA and responsible for developing programs and services to support the organization’s growing membership, who own and operate over 45,000 rental homes accross the counties of Alameda and Contra Costa.
He is also Senior Advisor at Ignition Point Consulting, supporting clients such as Fremont Bank, Homebridge, Microsoft, T-Mobile, and TeleNav.
Previously, he’s held positions as COO/CTO and co-founder at g-dii Enterprises, COO at Executive Networks, Global Operations Director at Openwave, and VP of Technical Services and Operations at PlanetOut/Here! Media.
Neil Sims
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John Fisher
Secretary
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John joined the HomeRise board in 2015 and has served as Secretary since 2018. John is a native San Franciscan and currently lives in the city’s Mission District with his young family. Since 2014, John has worked in real estate development and investment.
Jonathan Wyler
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Heidy Braverman
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Juthaporn Chaloeicheep
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Devra Edelman
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Heidi Haller Groshelle
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Tyler Kyser
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John Avalos
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Donald Graves
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Before becoming an Anesthesiologist and joining Sutter Health, Donald practiced as a board-certified Family Physician and held the role of Assistant Professor in the University of California San Francisco Department of Family and Community Medicine. In this role, he worked with cross section of patients in San Francisco including those living with HIV, drug dependency, lack of housing, undocumented immigration status and poverty.
Donald is from Denver, Colorado. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France. He received a Bachelor of Arts in French Literature. He went to medical school at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He did his first residency in Family and Community Medicine at the University of California San Francisco. After working as a Family Physician for 4 years, he decided to further his training as a physician and completed a residency in Anesthesiology also at the University of California San Francisco.
Donald has always been interested in the health and wellbeing of others. This is what fueled his desire to become a physician. As a Family Physician, he helped to create a free prenatal clinic for families living with HIV. As an Anesthesiologist, he has gone on multiple medical missions in Central America.
Gregg Miller
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Ancel Romero
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As an example, in the Spring of 2021,the Ancel Romero Management & Consulting Group was selected by the State of California’s Department of Aging to create a first project of its kind. This resulted in the completion of a document entitled “California’s Housing Choices for all Ages and Stages: The Housing Continuum for Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities.”
This document, meant for all State of California departments and agencies, details all housing opportunities for seniors provided by the State and “crosswalks” or aligns these to the agencies that provide them since no one document provided such information in the past. In addition, this work which was funded by The SCAN Foundation, presents the challenges, opportunities, recommendations and metrics pertinent to the expansion of housing opportunities for seniors and adults with disabilities in California.
Ancel began his career in the accounting department of G&K Management, one of the largest privately held real estate companies in California where he eventually rose to the position of Director of Property Management. He later joined American Baptist Homes of the West (ABHOW, a HumanGood legacy organization) and eventually became President of its affordable housing division.
He grew ABHOW’s portfolio from 14 to 35 properties through acquisitions, management contracts and the development of new affordable housing properties. Ancel oversaw the development of HUD 202 PRAC, LIHTC and mixed-financed projects throughout California.
In 2011, he received ABHOW’s highest honor —the Presidential Citation Award — in recognition of his role in expanding the company’s mission through significant strategic growth.
ABHOW has since affiliated with two other non-profits and is now known as HumanGood. As President of HumanGood’s Affordable Housing division, Ancel oversaw the operations of one of the largest non-profit affordable housing providers in the United States. HumanGood is now the seventh-largest nonprofit senior living provider in the country with more than 100 affordable housing communities across five states serving over 9,200 residents.
Ancel earned an AB Economics degree from Colegio de San Juan de Letran in Manila, Philippines. He is a Certified Property Manager (CPM) as designated by the Institute of Real Estate Management. His professional certifications include the Specialist in Housing Tax Credit Management (SHCM) and National Affordable Housing Professional- Executive (NAHP-E) designations. He is also a Fair Housing Coordinator accredited by the National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA).
Ancel is a Past President of the Affordable Housing Management Association of Northern California and Hawaii (AHMA-NCH). He has served as board member of Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation. Before leaving HumanGood, he also served on the Leading Age Board of Directors and on the Business Strategy Council of Leading Age National. He is on the Board of Directors of Center for Elders’ Independence, a leading PACE (Program for All Inclusive Care for the Elderly) organization. l. Ancel also serves on the leadership team of Sympara (sympara.org) as its Senior Consultant.
In 2015, Ancel was recognized as a “Top 10 Filipino-American Achiever” by the Philippines Children’s Charities Association that presented the awards to Fil-Am professionals with a track record of caring for the underprivileged.
In 2019, Leading Age California named Ancel their Grassroots Advocate of the Year. The public policy award recognizes advocates who contribute the most to improving the lives of seniors in California.
In 2022, as Letran celebrated its 400th anniversary, Ancel’s alma mater honored him as one of the “400 Grandes Figuras,” recognizing him as one of only 400 distinguished alumni of the prestigious institution, which has been a cornerstone of education for over four centuries.
In 2024, AHMA-NCH honored Ancel as its “Pioneer of the Year”.
Ancel’s life work reflects the values of The Ancel Romero Management & Consulting Group:
Integrity, Proactiveness and a Passion for Service
Patrick Schmalz
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Patrick (Pat) Schmalz, currently the CEO for St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Francisco (SVDP-SF), has more than 30 years of experience in leadership and financial roles. As CEO, he leads SVDP-SF operations and partners with the Board of Directors on strategic planning, fundraising, and policy matters. Previously, he served as the CFO of Meals on Wheels San Francisco (MOWSF) for seven years. During his time at MOWSF, he led financial initiatives that significantly impacted the organization’s growth, including facilitating $8 million in tax credit financing that helped to build the Sangiacomo Flynn Kitchen & Distribution Center. Pat brings residential knowledge of the local community and a passion for service to the HomeRise Board. Pat earned a Bachelor of Science in Operations Research & Industrial Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from Loyola University Maryland, as well as an inactive CPA credential from the state of Maryland. Pat also serves on the Board of Directors of the Bella Primary Care Clinic in San Francisco.