Trustees
Toni Rembe – President
Toni has served as Trustee since 1971 and as President since 1994. She is a retired partner in the law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP; a co-founder and member of the Advisory Board of the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University; a member of the National Council for the American Theater; and a member of the advisory board (and former co-chair) of Corporate Women Directors International and a member of the board of Magic Theatre. She is past chair of the board of Presidio Graduate School, past President of the Commonwealth Club of California and past President and Chair of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. In addition to her other not for profit affiliations, Toni has served on the board of directors of several public companies.
Julie Divola – Secretary
Julie has been a van Löben Sels/RembeRock Foundation trustee since 2009 and currently serves as Board Secretary and member of the Audit Committee. She is a partner in the law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP, where she leads the firm’s San Francisco Tax practice and specializes in federal income tax planning for business and financial transactions. In addition, Julie serves on the board of the BASIC Fund and as a Council Director for the American Bar Association Section of Taxation. Julie regularly teaches Corporate Tax as a Visiting Professor at the UC Davis School of Law.
Brian M. Wong – Treasurer
Brian joined the Foundation as a trustee in 2014. Brian is Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of PG&E Corporation. Until May 2018, he was a partner with the law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, where he led the Corporate and Securities practice in the San Francisco office and served as the firm’s Executive Partner for Diversity and Inclusion, overseeing the firm’s networks for women, LGBT attorneys and attorneys of color. Brian’s pro bono practice includes advising nonprofit corporations serving Northern California communities. He also serves as chair of the board of directors of the National Writing Project.
Thomas C. Layton – Director
Tom is president emeritus of the Wallace A. Gerbode Foundation, which he led for more than 35 years, and currently serves as a trustee/ director of the Stupski Foundation, the Stewart R. Mott Foundation, the Cow Hollow Foundation, and City Arts & Lectures. Tom also sits on the California Endowment’s Independent Review Committee. Other organizations in which he served as a trustee or director include the Ploughshares Fund, The Council on Foundations, Northern California Grantmakers (founding Chair), Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media, Hispanics in Philanthropy, Women and Philanthropy, Tides Foundation, the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, and the ACLU of Northern California. Tom has published articles dealing with the philanthropic process and the nonprofit sector, and has received numerous awards including the Council on Foundations’ Robert W. Scrivner Award for Creative Grantmaking. He holds an undergraduate degree in philosophy and a graduate degree in Urban Studies, both from Occidental College. Tom joined the Foundation in 2012 and currently serves as Chair of the Audit Committee.
Irma Herrera – Director
Irma Herrera joined the Foundation as a trustee in 2016 and sits on the Audit Committee. She is a Bay Area social justice activist, and a playwright and solo performer of her one-woman show, Why Would I Mispronounce My Own Name? and creator of her online Stairwell Teatro Series. She previously served as the Executive Director of Equal Rights Advocates (ERA) for almost 15 years. ERA is one of the nation’s premier legal organizations that advocates for fair and equal treatment of women and girls. In her 30+ year career as a public interest lawyer, Irma also worked with the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund and other legal aid organizations. Beyond her work as a lawyer, Irma has written on race, class, gender, and various social justice issues for New America Media previously known as Pacific News Service. Her writing and opinion pieces have appeared in publications that include The New York Times, Los Angeles Lawyer, and The Huffington Post. Irma currently serves on the board of Oakland-based Public Interest Law Project (PILP).
Staff
Nancy Wiltsek – Executive Director
Nancy was named Executive Director at the Foundation in September 2014. A graduate of U.C. Berkeley and the University of San Francisco’s Master of Nonprofit Administration (MNA) program, Nancy has trained and supported leaders and emerging leaders of NGOs here and abroad for more than 20 years. She has served with a variety of family, corporate and independent foundations, and created and taught in the online Nonprofit Management & Leadership Program at Golden Gate University. Her board service includes the Gagarin Trust, IGNITE: Political Power in Every Young Woman, and Co-Chair of the MNA Advisory Board at USF. A third generation San Franciscan, Nancy has deep roots in the City and a passion for cooking, making ceramics, and bringing people together for good conversation.
Angela Hom – Administrative Assistant
Angela joined the Foundation in August 2022 after working for fourteen years in records management at the University of California Office of the President (UCOP). At UCOP, she held leadership positions with staff affinity groups such as the Asian Pacific Islander Staff Association, Office of the President Staff Assembly and DEI advisory committees. She has worked in corporate business libraries and special library settings and because of her deep fondness for libraries, she knows that any future retirement will be surrounded by books. She can attest to her love of reading by being in three concurrent book clubs. Her post-pandemic plans include visiting more funiculars around the world after riding funiculars in California, Iowa, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, France, Switzerland, and Hong Kong. Angela immigrated from Hong Kong, grew up in East Los Angeles and is a first generation college graduate of Scripps College in Claremont.
Tributes
Dan Corsello
Dan was the Executive Director of the van Löben Sels/RembeRock Foundation from 1995 to 2010, after which he remained on the Foundation Board as a Trustee until retiring in March 2017. Dan has been an invaluable asset to the Foundation throughout his years of service and we wish him all the best as he moves on to the next chapter.
Gail Shuster
The Foundation’s longtime Grants Manager retired as of April 18, 2016. Gail began at the Foundation as our Program Administrator in November 2001. We are appreciative of her years of service and know many of you join us in wishing her the best.
Jenny Chan
Jenny Chan served as the Foundation’s Program Associate from April 2016 to September 2022. We are grateful for her years of service and will miss having her at the Foundation.
Richard W. Odgers – December 31, 1936 – September 7, 2014
Dick Odgers, former Secretary, served as Trustee since 1994. He was a retired partner in the law firm of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, LLP. Dick began his career at Pillsbury; then, in 1987, became Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Pacific Telesis and Pacific Bell. He returned to Pillsbury in 1998. Dick was a former member of the California Legal Services Trust Fund Commission (2002-2011) and was Co-Chair of the California Task Force on Lawyer Support for Legal Services. Dick was also a member of the Advisory Board of the San Francisco Lawyers Chapter of the American Constitution Society. He served as president of the boards of the Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center and Legal Community Against Violence, and most recently served on the board of Immigrant Legal Resource Center. Dick passed away in September 2014. We shall miss him always.