Leadership & Board of Directors

Beverly L. Young, Ph.D.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

​Dr. Young comes to the Carlston Family Foundation with many years of experience, beginning as an elementary classroom teacher in the Banning and Anaheim Unified School Districts before advancing to the University of California, Riverside as a supervisor for the California New Teacher Project, as well as a supervisor and lecturer in Teacher Education. Dr. Young also taught at UCLA before she started at California State University, Fullerton as an Associate Professor in the College of Education. In 1997, Dr. Young moved to the California State University Chancellor’s Office where she served in statewide administration, eventually as the Systemwide Assistant Vice Chancellor in Academic Affairs.

In addition, Dr. Young has served as the Chair of the WestEd Regional Educational Laboratory Board of Directors, a Commissioner on the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the Chair of the Far West Regional Laboratories Board of Directors, an invited member for the University of Michigan Advisory Board for Teaching Works, and as an Advisory Board Member of edTPA at Stanford University.

Dr. Young received her A.B. in English and Liberal Studies, her M.A. in the Diagnosis and Improvement of Reading, and her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction all from the University of California, Riverside.  She is the author of numerous publications on teachers and educator preparation.

Board of Directors

Kathy Williams

BOARD CHAIR

Kathy J. Williams currently serves as an independent director on two boards of the American Funds. In addition, she chairs the board governance committee of Aspen Public Radio. With over 20 years of management experience covering organizational, regulatory, and governance issues, she has a broad corporate background that includes COO of Vivo Girls Sports, Inc., Director for International and Regulatory Affairs for Flying Tigers and Federal Express in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., and Director of Admissions at Marin Horizon School, a non-profit toddler through 8th grade independent school located in Mill Valley, CA.

Kathy has considerable cross-cultural experience from extended stays in Kenya, Taiwan, Japan, and Mexico, and speaks Mandarin Chinese. She’s blessed with two sons and a daughter. Kathy received her B.A. from Stanford University and M.B.A. from the University of Southern California in international business.

J. Kirk Brown

DIRECTOR

Kirk is the Division Director of STEM Programs at San Joaquin County Office of Education and is co-director of the Delta Sierra Science Project, a six-county region of the California Science Project. In addition, he is the regional science-lead of the Curriculum and Instruction Subcommittee of the California County Superintendent’s Educational Services Association. Kirk was an active member of the NGSS State Review Team and the NGSS Science Expert Panel, helping California adopt the NGSS state standards for science. 

Kirk is one of the writers of the Revised CA Science Framework, which was published in 2015. Before coming to the San Joaquin County Office of Education, Kirk taught International Baccalaureate Biology and Biotechnology at Tracy High School for 25 years where he co-founded the Agricultural/Scientific Academy.

Kirk is a published author, Nationally Board Certified in Adolescent and Young Adult Science, and has won numerous local, state, and national teaching awards, including the Carlston Family Foundation’s Outstanding Teachers of America.

Lise Buyer

DIRECTOR

Lise founded Class V Group, an advisory firm providing strategic guidance to companies preparing for a public listing, to leverage her unique perspective on the equity markets gained from first hand experience as an institutional investor, investment banker, venture capitalist, board member, and internal IPO strategist.  As an early member of Google’s finance department, Ms. Buyer was one of the chief architects of the company’s innovative IPO and a recipient of a Google Founders’ Award.

Ms. Buyer serves as the Lead Independent Director for The Trade Desk (NASDAQ:TTD) and holds the NACD Certified Director credential.  She has a B.A. from Wellesley College and an M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University as an Owen Merit Scholar.  She is a past member of the TED Braintrust, Trustee of the Nichols School of Buffalo, and Fellow of the Davos World Economic Forum.

Don Carlston, Ph.D.

DIRECTOR

Don Carlston received his BA from Harvard University in 1971 and his PhD from the University of Illinois in 1977. He is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Purdue University and Past-President of the Midwestern Psychological Association.  Don served as editor of a leading academic journal for 14 years, was a grant evaluator for the National Institutes of Health for 15 years, and has organized a prestigious, invitation-only conference in his field for around 30 years. He has co-authored or edited four books and over 50 scientific articles and chapters. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and of the Association for Psychological Science and recipient of the lifetime achievement award in the field of social cognition.

Doug Carlston

Director

Doug Carlston was the co-founder, in 1980, of Broderbund Software, a publisher of productivity, game, and educational software, where he served as CEO (1991-96) and Chairman of the Board (1981-98).  Doug serves on the boards of Aspen Public Radio, Dominican University, and the Long Now Foundation and previously served on the board of directors of the Albanian American Enterprise Fund (2001-2019), the American Bank of Albania (2000-2008), the Albanian American Development Foundation (2009-2019), Belo Corp. (2007-8), Internews (2009-2019), Public Radio International (1997- 2009, Chairman 2004-09), Ploughshares Fund (2008-2017), and the Santa Fe Institute (1996-2005). He is also past Chairman and President of the Software Publishers Association.

Doug Carlston received his B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard College in 1970 and his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1975. He is the author of five published books, from Beginning Swahili (Butu, 1970) to Software People (Simon & Schuster, 1985). He has developed and published many software products and written articles, including “Storing Knowledge, in Time & Bits: Managing Digital Continuity” (Getty Conservation Institute, 1998).

Jude Cooks​

SECRETARY/TREASURER OF THE BOARD

Jude C. Cooks is VP, Operations & Credit Servicing for Synchrony. He received his MBA, with a focus on International Strategy and Management, from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. He received his B.A. from Indiana University as well, where he majored in both Computer Science and Philosophy. Jude has previously held a variety of roles in Operations and Operational Risk Management in Cincinnati, Ohio and Atlanta, Georgia for Citigroup and Synchrony. In addition to his work with the CFF, Jude co-leads the Volunteer Network and Community Grant process for Synchrony Charlotte.  He is a father and a foster parent, and presently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with his family and multitude of pets, and spends his free time chasing his kids, enjoying the outdoors, and reading.

Nadya Chinoy Dabby

Board Member

Nadya Chinoy Dabby is an education leader with experience in government, K–12 and nonprofit organizations, including 15 years driving public and private investment to improve learning opportunities for underserved students. From 2011–2017, Dabby was a member of the Obama Administration’s senior education team, leading the U.S. Department of Education’s innovation division.

She currently serves as Pivot Learning’s Chief Growth and Impact Officer, and is on the Board of multiple education nonprofits.

Stan Hitomi

Board Member

Stan Hitomi has worked in education throughout his life. In 2020 he retired after 31 years as a teacher, principal, and district administrator for the San Ramon Valley Unified School District.

Stan is a Carnegie Scholar, served on the Community Advisory Panel for PBS affiliate KQED-San Francisco, and has been co-chair for the Teaching and California’s Future Task Force and founding chair for the California Teacher Advisory Panel.  He has over 20 years of experience (WestEd, SRI, CFTL) working at the state and national level in education policy and research.

Stan continues to work in science education at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where he has been a faculty scholar for 27 years.  He was the full-time Executive Director of the Edward Teller Education Center at LLNL, 2002-2006.

Alec Lee

Board Member

An accomplished educator, Alec Lee co-founded Aim High in 1986 and served as Executive Director until his retirement in 2022. In his role, Alec collaborates with the Aim High staff and Board of Trustees to sustain, strengthen and expand Aim High and reach the organization’s strategic goals. Alec has a master’s degree in education from Harvard University, a B.A. in history from Bowdoin College, and received a Klingenstein Fellowship from Teachers College. In 2016, Alec was honored as a White House Summer Learning Champion of Change. Under his leadership, Aim High won the National Summer Learning Association’s Excellence in Summer Learning Award twice in 2006 and 2018, and in 2020 his team designed and implemented their first virtual summer learning program, which served 1,200 middle schoolers across Northern California. Now retired, Alec and his wife, Susan, are enjoying traveling and spending time with their two adult children.

Ann Mathieson

DIRECTOR

Ann Mathieson is the Founding Director at Marin Promise Partnership and a member of the Leadership Council of New Schools Venture fund. Ann also serves as a Bay Area Board Member for Peer Health Exchange and is a Trustee for Marin Academy. She has been the past Board Chair of the Marin Community Foundation and spent nine years as the Director of Marketing, New Product Development at the Collagen Corporation. Ann earned her MBA in Marketing and Health Care from Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.

Carlston Family Foundation is now Above & Beyond Teaching

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