Board of Directors
Members of The Crucible’s board are our governing body and are actively engaged in advancing our mission, procuring and stewarding the resources necessary to meet our goals, and providing strategic direction and oversight. The Board lends expertise in critical areas of artistry, nonprofit operations, business, technology, community relations, and more.
Melanie Moore
2023-01-25T16:13:16-08:00Department(s):
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Melanie Moore - Bio
Dr. Melanie Moore is Chief Executive Officer of Oakland Thrives. An experienced, strategic social sector leader specializing in innovation, collaboration, and collective impact in public-private partnerships, she was a professional evaluator for over 15 years, leading projects assessing the impact of youth development, school reform, community development programs, capacity-building initiatives, and funder networks. As a strategic leader in the social sector for over 10 years, Melanie has created strategies for achieving community and population-level results in governmental, nonprofit, and philanthropic organizations. Dr. Moore was the lead evaluator for the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth, and Families' first comprehensive outcomes-based evaluation, and also led the Department's citywide strategic planning efforts for the Mayor's Children's Cabinet.
Julie Sigoloff
2022-07-05T13:41:07-07:00Department(s):
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Julie Sigoloff - Bio
Julie Sigoloff is the Executive Director of Business Support for National Facilities Services at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, CA. A Kaiser Permanente employee since 1992, Julie worked as the managing director of leadership development for the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group before moving to NFS in 2010. She also has clinical experience as a mental health clinician and crisis counselor.Julie is a certified executive/life coach and a certified Gallup Strengths coach.
Jeremy Sugerman
2022-07-05T13:32:50-07:00Department(s):
Phone:
Email:
Jeremy Sugerman - Bio
Jeremy Sugerman is an Oakland-based attorney who has represented a number of working artists and non-profit organizations. He has held a variety of leadership roles, including as a board member of the BlackRock Arts Foundation, and as past President of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Senior Center. He is also a current board member of the American Safe Climbing Association.
Alex Zwissler
2019-08-22T12:18:02-07:00Department(s):
Phone: (510) 444-0919
Email: [email protected]
Alex Zwissler - Bio
Alexander Zwissler is the Principal of Einstellung Labs, a consultancy working at the
intersection of the nonprofit and for profit sectors. Engagements include Google, NASA,
Arizona Science Center, The Crucible and Bay Area Resilient by Design.
Prior to the formation of Einstellung Labs, Zwissler was Executive Director/ CEO of Chabot
Space & Science Center in Oakland California from 2007 to June 2015, where he led the
Center’s fundraising efforts, raising over $25,000,000 through the cultivation and
stewardship of new individual, corporate and foundation support. Zwissler developed new
programs including Bill Nye’s Climate Lab, a NASA funded Climate Change Teachers
Institute, and the NSF funded Tales of the Maya Skies full-dome planetarium show. As a
result, he positioned the Center to address the community's needs and interests while
leading it to a position of financial sustainability and national prominence.
Before leading Chabot, Zwissler was the Executive Director of the Fort Mason Foundation in
San Francisco from 1999 to 2006. Prior to Fort Mason, Zwissler had a 17-year career as a
senior executive in the cable television and telecommunications industry in the US and the
UK.
Zwissler serves in the leadership of both local and national non-profits including recently the
Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Association of Science and Technology
Centers. He is co-Chair of the Gateways Eastbay STEM Network, on the Advisory Board of the
Climate Readiness Institute at UC Berkeley, on the Board of Cool the Earth and is a
Commissioner on the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.
Zwissler graduated with a BA (Hons) in Political Science from the University of California at
Berkeley, and went on to become a Postgraduate Research Fellow at the Centre for Mass
Communication Research at the University of Leicester, England. In 2008 Zwissler was a
fellow of the Noyce Leadership Institute.
In his free time Zwissler can be found mountain biking in Marin and planning to become a
poet.
Prior to the formation of Einstellung Labs, Zwissler was Executive Director/ CEO of Chabot Space & Science Center in Oakland California from 2007 to June 2015, where he led the Center’s fundraising efforts, raising over $25,000,000 through the cultivation and stewardship of new individual, corporate and foundation support. Zwissler developed new programs including Bill Nye’s Climate Lab, a NASA funded Climate Change Teachers Institute, and the NSF funded Tales of the Maya Skies full‐dome planetarium show. As a result, he positioned the Center to address the community's needs and interests while leading it to a position of financial sustainability and national prominence.
Before leading Chabot, Zwissler was the Executive Director of the Fort Mason Foundation in San Francisco from 1999 to 2006. Prior to Fort Mason, Zwissler had a 17‐year career as a senior executive in the cable television and telecommunications industry in the US and the UK.
Zwissler serves in the leadership of both local and national non‐profits, including recently the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Association of Science and Technology Centers. He is co‐Chair of the Gateways Eastbay STEM Network, on the Advisory Board of the Climate Readiness Institute at UC Berkeley, on the Board of Cool the Earth and is a Commissioner on the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission.
Zwissler graduated with a BA (Hons) in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley, and went on to become a Postgraduate Research Fellow at the Centre for Mass Communication Research at the University of Leicester, England. In 2008 Zwissler was a fellow of the Noyce Leadership Institute.
In his free time Zwissler can be found mountain biking in Marin and planning to become a poet.
B Byrne Astrella
2023-01-25T16:38:55-08:00Department(s):
Phone:
Email:
B Byrne Astrella - Bio
B is an entrepreneur and product leader, most recently leading the teams focused on Creative Tools at Twitter. He founded Clef, an Oakland cybersecurity startup that hosted weekly community dinners in Jack London Square for many years and received a 2016 East Bay Innovation Award as well as the 2016 Oakland Chamber "Tech Oakland" Award. Throughout the pandemic, B has worked on 3D modeling and printing art pieces to be cast in bronze, skills he learned in the Digital Fabrication and Foundry class he took at the Crucible in 2019!
Cindy Johanson
2020-12-14T19:59:48-08:00Department(s):
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Email:
Cindy Johanson - Bio
For more than 30 years, Cindy has led the design and expansion of digital services with a primary focus on education. In her current role, she oversees Edutopia, a trusted source for inspiration and information about what works in education. Prior to joining the George Lucas Educational Foundation, Cindy served as senior vice president of interactive and education for the Public Broadcasting Service. At PBS, she was responsible for the launch and growth of the award-winning pbs.org and its suite of Internet sites, including pbskids.org, pbsparents.org, and pbsteacher-source.org. Cindy’s passion for online learning started in 1989 with text-based interfaces and 300 baud modems when she managed teacher support and training for Learning Link, an online service for K-12 classrooms. She holds a master’s degree from Teachers College, Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in communications from Ohio University. Twitter: @cinjo
Craig Croteau
2021-01-20T18:06:46-08:00Department(s):
Phone:
Email:
Craig Croteau - Bio
Craig moved to the Bay Area in 1989 to attend UC Berkeley and never looked back. His 20+ years in the tech industry have spanned a wide range of roles--desktop support, systems engineer, and network architect to name a few. While he has fond memories of installing Excite.com’s last internet crawler and indexing server farm, people and organizational culture are his passion. This was highlighted by his leadership role as Operations Director for Postini, Inc., which he helped grow into an email security market leader. Postini was eventually guided through a successful acquisition by Google where Craig currently has responsibility for production infrastructure supporting the Android ecosystem for billions of mobile devices across the globe. Married to Dominique for 20 years, they’ve made Oakland their home and are raising four children--Ruby (18), Sylvie (16), Frankie (14), and Teddy (11).
Greg Hansen
2019-08-22T12:21:02-07:00Jeremy Crandell
2021-05-13T14:34:07-07:00Department(s):
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Jeremy Crandell - Bio
Jeremy Crandell is the owner of St. Louise Studios, a collaborative workspace for artists, fabricators and entrepreneurs, located at the northern end of the West Oakland Industrial Arts Corridor. Crandell has worked with The Crucible since 2000 in various capacities; as student, volunteer, staff and on the Board of Directors from 2005 to 2012. He has returned to Board service again in 2013. Crandell is a member of the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Children’s Eternal Rainforest supporting the work of the Monteverde Conservation League in Costa Rica. He has served on the Black Rock City LLC’s Art Department for the annual Burning Man event as well as the Black Rock Arts Foundation’s Advisory Council. Crandell was a co-founder of Brightmail, Inc., the email protection platform, now owned by Symantec, the Director of Technology for Network for Good and a Senior Technical Producer at America Online. Earlier in his career, Crandell worked for the Soviet/Russian Refugee program for the State Department and Immigration and Naturalization Service. Crandell received a bachelor’s degree in Politics and Russian from Principia College.
Joyce Shulman
2022-02-16T19:11:17-08:00Department(s):
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Joyce Shulman - Bio
Joyce is a business design strategist and futurist whose experience spans reimagining patient-centered healthcare, launching wearable technology, and leading rapid business model prototyping sessions within a venture accelerator.
Her unique blend of empathy and quantitative expertise has helped to guide companies to capture sustained value, leverage ambiguity, and provoke the status quo. As a former senior digital strategy designer inside Kaiser Permanente, Joyce has led projects in partnership with KP's internal innovation consultancy to explore new technologies and determine the business case for new digital products and services.
Joyce graduated with honors with an MBA in Design Strategy from California College of the Arts in May 2019.
Her driving curiosity for growth and exploration has led Joyce to compete in multiple Ironman events and summit one of the highest mountain peaks in the world. Her newfound passion is in collaborations to create large, public art installations.
Ken Cassidy
2023-01-18T15:40:25-08:00Department(s):
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Ken Cassidy - Bio
Ken is a Director of Financial Strategy and Community Impact Investing at First Republic Bank, where he focuses on navigating the macroenvironment to drive long-term sustainable growth and investing in low and moderate income communities. Ken also founded the Bank's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Ambassadors program to increase engagement and ensure a long-term commitment to ideation, implementation, and lasting change. Ken lives in Oakland and is passionate about playing music, the outdoors, and giving back to the community.
Shawnee Keck
2021-01-20T12:35:39-08:00Department(s):
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Shawnee Keck - Bio
Shawnee Keck is a Vice President with Citi Community & Investing Development. She has worked with organizations in six countries and across the public, private and non-profit sectors with a focus on economic development, policy and systems change. With Citi, Shawnee has invested in Black-led real estate and property projects, user-led public service design and local arts and manufacturing business development. An American in London for over a decade, Shawnee was a Project Manager and Economic Policy Advisor for the London Borough of Hackney in east London where she documented the rise of the creative industries and policies to support inclusive vibrant cities.
Tasion Kwamilele
2023-01-18T15:47:23-08:00Department(s):
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Tasion Kwamilele - Bio
An Oakland native, Tasion Kwamilele graduated from Oakland School for the Arts, founded by former CA Governor Jerry Brown, as a member of the inaugural class. She obtained a bachelor’s degree in English from Howard University and a Master’s in Journalism from the University of California, Berkeley.
Tasion formerly served as a local reporter for the Oakland Post Newspaper, the District Communications Manager for Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and the Director of Public Affairs for California Waste Solutions. She currently leads Government and Public Affairs for Schnitzer Steel Industries.
Tasion is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. She is also the proud mother of Khailey, an emerging visual artist and extraordinary student-athlete at Bishop O’Dowd High School.
Zeydi Gutierrez
2023-01-05T13:00:06-08:00Department(s):
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Zeydi Gutierrez - Bio
Originally from Nicaragua, Zeydi came to the US when she was 17-years-old due to the civil war. After learning English, Zeydi earned her B.S. in Organizational Management and her MBA from Golden Gate University. As a member of the City of Oakland Workforce Development Board, Zeydi supported federally-funded employment and training programs and services in Oakland, making a difference both locally and nationally.
EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Michael Sturtz, Founder
Lauren Adams
Warren Breslau
Deborah Chalsty
Robert Dubow
Joaquin Haskell
Edward Kangeter
Adam Lamoreaux
Mark McClure
Jana Pastena
Leslie Pritchett
Charles R. Olson
Sean Orlando
David Shulman
Nina Sazevich
Phillip H. Tagami
Annie Campbell Washington
Michael Sturtz, Founder
Lauren Adams
Warren Breslau
Deborah Chalsty
Robert Dubow
Joaquin Haskell
Edward Kangeter
Adam Lamoreaux
Mark McClure
Leslie Pritchett
Charles R. Olson
Sean Orlando
David Shulman
Nina Sazevich
Phillip H. Tagami