Rick Aubry joined HomeRise as the CEO November 2019. He has a distinguished career in the leadership of nonprofit and academic organizations known for their innovative work in creating social change. Most recently Rick was the founder/CEO of New Foundry Ventures, a US based NGO that launches and supports social enterprises to create scaled social impact. 

Rick also served as Assistant Provost for Social Entrepreneurship and Community Engagement and Professor of the Practice at Tulane University from 2010-2016. During his tenure he developed academic and community programs in social entrepreneurship through a $15 million gift he secured for the university and created the Tulane Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design. 

Previously, Rick was a member of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business faculty, teaching social entrepreneurship and innovation and launching numerous global programs that allowed students to work with social entrepreneurs around the world.

From 1986-2009 Rick was the CEO of Rubicon Programs, a social enterprise in Richmond, CA.  During his tenure, he launched social programs and ventures that served over 50,000 people confronting homeless, poverty, economic inequality and disabilities. Rubicon became the progenitor of many of the social enterprises now operating in the US. 

Rick has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, a part of the World Economic Forum (WEF). The Schwab Foundation is a network of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs who are exclusively invited to present their work at the WEF meeting in Davos. Rick co-authored “Generating/ Sustaining Nonprofit Earned Income” and “Nonprofit Management 101”, two leading books on effective nonprofit leadership and management as well as numerous Stanford GSB case studies of effective and failed social innovation models throughout the world. 

Rick was featured in the CNN/Time Magazine series “Principal Voices” in 2008 and was a Fast Company Magazine “Social Capitalist of the Year”. He has been a World Economic Forum (WEF) Schwab Social Entrepreneurs since the inaugural year in 2001 and served as chair of the WEF Global Council of Social Entrepreneurs. Rick has been an Ashoka Senior Fellow since 2009.

Iesha Fraser joined HomeRise in 2012. She has over 20 years of experience in business management. As Director of Employment Opportunities, Iesha oversees HomeRise’s Community Volunteer Team (CVT), Training Program, and the Social Enterprise (Solutions SF).

Prior to joining HomeRise, Iesha served as Program Director at Manos Home Care where she oversaw two teams assisting children, seniors, and adults in the East Bay in their daily activities in the home and the community. Iesha graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management.

Ken Harootunian is a seasoned nonprofit professional and passionate advocate for social impact.  His primary focus has been on fundraising, strategy, organizational development, and board development. Besides his work on the grantmaking side at the Commonwealth Fund early in his career, he has spent the last three decades as the VP or Director of Development for Stanford University’s School of Engineering, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the East Bay Community Foundation, and three different Planned Parenthood affiliates.

Jenny Ho brings over 20 years of diverse industry experience in accounting and finance to HomeRise, with a mission-minded skillset in affordable housing. In her previous position, Jenny was Vice President and Controller at MidPen Housing Corporation, where she led a team of 28 professionals and drove all accounting, tax, finance, budgeting and forecasting functions.

Prior to joining MidPen, Jenny held leadership accounting roles at Babcock & Brown managing social infrastructure via public private partnerships and Shorenstein Realty Services focusing on the purchase and sale of commercial real estate. Jenny was also an audit manager at Ernst & Young LLP specializing in the healthcare and technology fields. Jenny is a Certified Public Accountant and has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with double majors in Accounting and International Business from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and a LEAD corporate innovation certificate from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Anat Leonard joined HomeRise in August 2014 as the Clinical Services Director and became the Director of Resident Services in July 2016. She brings over 15 years of experience in the field, having held various positions of increasing responsibility across the homeless services system of care (e.g. shelter, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing and supported employment) serving multiple sub-populations, including survivors of domestic violence, youth, families, seniors, persons living with HIV/AIDS, and persons with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. Prior to joining HomeRise, Anat was the Deputy Executive Director of Bowery Residents’ Committee, Inc. in New York City. She holds a Masters in Social Work from Columbia, and licensure as a Clinical Social Worker in the States of New York and California.

Kevin has over 10 years of experience in the management of affordable housing properties. He has managed family, senior, special needs, homeless, and special program buildings. Recently as a Regional Property Manager with WSH Management where he was tasked to develop the Northern California expansion. Kevin got his start in affordable housing management with Skid Row Housing trust in Los Angeles. At Skid Row Housing Trust Kevin learned all of the aspects of the positions held and was a supervisor of multiple properties.  

In his spare time Kevin rides his bike for multiple charity bike rides. The favorite event is the Aids Lifecycle in June. Kevin can be found on the softball field on the weekends or tinkering with his bicycle.

Bimi oversees all aspects of HomeRise’s Human Resource department including recruitment, orientation, performance management, staff development, compensation, benefits and more. Previously Bimi worked as a Director at Pundir Group in San Francisco in Human Resources. Other experience includes work at Kamlich Group in Napa, and Enovity in San Francisco. Bimi has a BA in Business Management at CA State Hayward and has attained her SPHR and SHRM certificates.

Jocelyn joined HomeRise in 2017 and brings over a decade of experience using data to advocate for displaced and vulnerable communities. Before joining our team, she was Senior Research Associate at Public Profit in Oakland, where she designed and managed evaluation studies for government, nonprofit, and foundation clients throughout the Bay Area, state, and country.

Prior to that, Jocelyn worked for Doctors Without Borders in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Jocelyn holds a Master of Public Administration from NYU, an MA in French Language & Literature from Bowling Green State University, and Bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and French from UC Berkeley. A Bay Area native, Jocelyn enjoys being outdoors in the redwoods, Oakland A’s baseball, and all things baking.

Jacob Nava-Coulter brings a decade of accounting and leadership experience in a variety of industries to HomeRise. His commitment to the mission comes from a drive to serve the community, seen in his volunteering through the BSA as an Eagle Scout and through Tax-Aid as a site manager. He comes to us from his transformative role at the California Academy of Sciences, where he served as the Senior Accounting Manager building and leading a highly respected team that instituted major changes to improve its function.

Prior to finding his way to the nonprofit world, Jacob led a team at a publicly traded company after key accounting roles at three startups. Jacob started out his career as an Auditor at Ernst & Young LLP. Jacob is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) and has a master’s degree in Accountancy from the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business and a bachelor’s degree in Business Management Economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He enjoys board games and dislikes writing in the third person.

Christy has nearly 20 years dedicated to working with disadvantaged populations. She most recently was the Director of Contracts and Partnerships at First Place for Youth in Oakland, CA. While there she helped grow core programming from serving 85 to over 430 youth annually in core programming. She helped First Place expand from working in two counties to five Bay Area counties and in Los Angeles.

She was previously the Program Director at Juma Ventures where she oversaw all employment, educational, case management, and youth financial literacy programming. Christy was an integral component to conceptualizing and delivering a new program to Juma and its youth. Prior to Juma, Christy worked for three years at Larkin Street Youth Services in a variety of positions, beginning as a support counselor and advancing to management of the Lark Inn, a 40-bed youth shelter which remains the largest of its kind in the nation today.  

Christy graduated from San Francisco State University with a Master’s of Science in Rehabilitation Counseling and School Counseling. She is the mother to a spirited seven year old girl and enjoys camping, crafting and spending time with family and friends.

Sara Shortt brings over 25 years of experience in community organizing, policy advocacy, program management and service delivery in the areas of economic justice, anti-poverty organizing, affordable housing, homelessness and tenants’ rights and anti-displacement issues. Sara spent the past three years running an innovative, multi-disciplinary homeless outreach program in LA’s Skid Row, which successfully housed hundreds of chronically homeless residents.

Before that she was the Executive Director of the Housing Rights Committee, where for 11 years she was at the forefront of eviction prevention efforts, rent control preservation, renter anti-displacement measures and renter’s rights public education and legal services. Sara started out in San Francisco 20 years ago organizing residents of SROs in the Tenderloin. She is a passionate and fierce advocate for the rights and dignity of the city’s lowest income renters.

Andrew Stroud brings over 20 years of experience as a classically trained human resource professional who has honed his “human capital” skills at iconic companies like Mobil Oil, Pizza Hut, and Frito Lay. In his previous position as the Vice President of Human Resources at Energy Recovery Inc, he successfully recruited top professionals from blue chip companies and was responsible for creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. As a leader, he believes it is his responsibility to help employees grow by understanding their life goals and creating actionable plans for success.

As owner of the human resource consulting company, i4talent, Andrew had the opportunity to train the entire St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department in anti-harassment/discrimination training and was especially proud to teach a course in “Bias Based Policing” to the entire St. Louis County Police Department.

Andrew is no stranger to the concept of giving back. He has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations including the National Urban League of St. Louis and Greater Kansas City. The leadership skills he learned while obtaining his Bachelor of Science degree at West Point as well as his time as a Captain in the US Army are just part of the life mosaic that makes Andrew uniquely qualified to be part of the HomeRise family.

Gerald Turner has extensive experience in the areas of community, economic and real estate development, having managed and developed over 2,000 units of housing totaling $650 million in value for various public, private and non-profit corporations. Notable accomplishments include the development of Potters Lane, the first Permanent Supportive Housing community constructed with shipping containers targeted for chronically homeless veterans and management of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program for the City of Los Angeles Housing Department, one of the single largest redevelopment and local job creation initiatives undertaken by the City representing $143 million in Federal funding via the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Gerald Turner has focused extensively on real estate development initiatives to spur the creation and retention of jobs and reconnecting neighborhoods to educational, commercial, workplace and health services. Having directed community, economic and real estate development programs, Gerald Turner has gained invaluable experience serving in various positions with the City of Los Angeles, County of Orange, the Metropolitan Housing Alliance, the Downtown Little Rock Community Development Corporation and the City of North Little Rock.