Board of Directors
Bruce Robertson — President
As a Marketing faculty member at San Francisco State University, Bruce Robertson (Ph.D., University of Cincinnati) believes in building bridges between the academic and not-for-profit communities. He has created opportunities for students to serve while learning with a variety of not-for profit organizations.
Bruce's “official” connection with Challenge Day began with a community service project for a graduate-level marketing strategy class. He believes Challenge Day has unlimited potential, and has joined the board in order to help realize that potential. His “unofficial” connection began three years ago when the family was living in Ohio. A friend of a friend was a major cheerleader for and coordinated several Challenge Days in Northwest Ohio. After moving to the Bay Area, the family became actively involved with the Challenge Day organization in a variety of capacities. In joining the board, Bruce is simply bowing to the inevitable.
Bruce's teaching experience includes marketing strategy, information technology in marketing (e-commerce), and global business. Currently at San Francisco State, Robertson teaches Principles of Marketing to 900 undergraduate students using a hybrid online/traditional classroom structure. He was named teaching professor of the year in the college of business for 2002-03. return to top
Janet Tillman — Vice President
Janet has been in the field of education for over 20 years in many different types of settings. She has worked with at-risk youth in Ann Arbor, Michigan, trained University of Michigan Medical students in patient care, and was a founding teacher in a charter school in Detroit. She moved to the Bay Area to be closer to the Challenge Day community and to create the job of her dreams. Her commitment is that everyone experiences being heard, and that each person has the freedom to express themselves and to create a life that they love. Janet sees her purpose as being a mirror to reflect everyone's greatness and to be a witness to their lives.
Janet is one of the founding members of the Washtenaw County Circle of Change. Being able to participate locally and globally gives her a unique perspective on the power of our work. Her contributions to the Board show up in her passion, clarity, commitment, integrity, authenticity, and willingness.
Being the Vice President of the Challenge Day Board of Directors is an honor she cherishes. Starting as a volunteer fueled her desire to become more involved with the organization. As a Board member, she is able to actively work in partnership to expand our impact in the world. return to top
Jeff Malone — Treasurer
The father of two teenage children, Jeff knows all too well what the world of teenagers is like today and what it can do to even the strongest of individuals. Jeff joined the Board because he attended one Challenge Day and saw the potential for lasting change that is not always possible with older adults. He sees that the future is in schools right now, where the leaders who can change the world are being trained. He believes that if we want a new and better world, then we should train new leaders who operate with new paradigms--those who look from love and trust; those who want connection, not separation.
Jeff made a commitment to himself in 1990 to make a difference with his life and his choices, and has been making a difference in the world ever since. He is currently working with Debbie Ford on delivering Debbie's world famous Shadow workshops, lectures, and Integrative Coaching to the world. Additionally, Jeff is a professor at JFK University, teaching Integrative Coaching and relationship transformation. Finally, Jeff is a Master Integrative Coach and spiritual mentor. He is known as the coach's coach. He specializes in people and leaders whose vision is very big and important. With an MBA from Stanford and a successful career in business, Jeff has been at the forefront of real world entrepreneurial effort aimed at bringing new leadership style and mentality to businesses of all kinds today. return to top
Larry Boxer — Secretary
Larry is an attorney who spent his first 10 years as a criminal lawyer and then spent 20+ years in civil litigation specializing in catastrophic injury, medical negligence, crime-related torts, and elder law. He resides in Oakland, California, is married to Susan Marie Davis, and has three grown children and a dog named Obi. Larry's varied background includes working as a longshoreman, warehouseman, toymaker, aerial cropsprayer (England), teacher, and other jobs prior to law school. He is also a Professor of Trial Advocacy, University of California, Hastings College of the Law (S.F.), and a Hospice Volunteer for the Zen Hospice Project at Laguna Honda Hospital, S.F. return to top
Vicki Abadesco!
Vicki is an expert educator and program consultant with close to 20 years of leadership work with schools and organizations throughout the United States and abroad. Her extensive work with a wide diversity of thousands of youth and adults allows her to have a constant pulse on what people need to be launched into lifelong success and growth.
Vicki is the co-founder of Soul Shoppe, a character education and life skills organization that delivers high impact programs to schools and youth. return to top
Mike Assum
Consultant to numerous companies over the last 25 years including Exxon, ExxonMobil, Pacific Telesis, Pacific Bell, Nevada Bell, Bellcore, Crown Zellerbach, Tektronix, Clorox, James River, DuPont, ICI, Procter & Gamble, Mars, Morton Thiokol, Toyota, McGraw-Hill, Imperial Oil, Esso Petroleum, Raychem, Pillsbury and others. Mr. Assum's emphasis has been on startups, continuous improvement, rapid sustained growth, improved competitive effectiveness, mergers and acquisitions, and, most importantly, improved thinking and thinking processes. Mike's background includes active management positions with Procter & Gamble (10 years), Raychem, and as an officer in the US Navy Nuclear Power Submarine Program. He holds an undergraduate degree focus in Math and Physics, with additional graduate education in nuclear engineering, organization development and business. Mike has taught graduate courses at MIIS MIBA program in Management of Productive Operations and served/serves on the Board of Directors of five different companies. He served on the Board of Directors of The Boys and Girls Club of Monterey County for more than 10 years and as President from 1996 to1998. He is a past President (2002-03) of the Challenge Day Board of Directors. Mike focuses on the question of how we can build human capability that brings us into harmony, societal success, community success, company success, and personal success. Most importantly, Mike has raised and nurtured four happily-married, successful children with great spouses and six wonderful grandchildren. return to top
Roya Biarash
Roya is finishing her junior year at Clayton Valley High School in Concord, CA, where she was also Student of the Month. Roya has been integrally involved with the pilot Be the Change school program. Roya is fluent in Farsi, loves to plan meetings, assemblies, and parties, and enjoys helping others for fun. She has written news articles for Clayton Valley High School's newspaper, The Talon, one of which recently made National Top Story. She is excited about joining the Board, believes this is her calling in life, and promises to do her best to serve the Challenge Day organization and the people who benefit from its efforts. return to top
Amy Clark
A life-long resident of Ohio, Amy attended the University of Toledo for marketing and sales. She has occupational experience in real estate, where she was a million-dollar sales agent, as well as a sales account executive. Currently, Amy is the Regional Program Coordinator for the Spring Green Educational Foundation.
Amy's extensive volunteer work with churches and ministries, parent organizations, historical societies, Easter Seals, and other community agencies led her to receive the Anthony Wayne Hall of Fame Award in 2006. Ms. Clark has been significantly involved in building the Challenge Day program in Northwest Ohio.
Amy is married to recording artist Kerry Clark and has three sons. return to top
Rich Dutra St. John — Chairman of the Board
A former high school teacher and championship wrestling coach, Rich has worked with teens and families since 1978. As a licensed family therapist and drug intervention specialist, he was recruited to open and direct two different adolescent treatment facilities in Northern California, most notably the Thunder Road Adolescent Recovery Center in Oakland, where he served as the founding clinical director.
A gifted facilitator and counselor, Rich is viewed as an expert in working with youth and families. With a shared vision that every child could someday live in a world where they feel safe, loved, and celebrated, Rich and his wife Yvonne combined their collective passion and experience to co-found the Challenge Day program in 1987. Their work with has now positively affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of youth and adults in 39 different states and six Canadian Provinces. Rich now serves as a Challenge Day trainer/facilitator and Chairman of the Board. return to top
Steven Echtman
Steven Echtman joins Challenge Day's Board with 20 years of experience in media and marketing. He is the founder and president of Passing Lane, Inc., a media and marketing solutions company specializing in the production of video and internet projects.
In 2002, on the day Steven moved to San Francisco, he met a friend at a Challenge Day "Meet the Leaders" event held that same evening. Needless to say, that day he was moved in more ways than one. Steven found an instant affinity for Challenge Day and made it his priority to help the organization in fulfilling its mission and reach.
Practicing Challenge Day's philosophy and principals of compassionate communication, non-judgment, and speaking one's truth, Steven could not help but feel the loss of so many years without these fundamental tools. He decided that if he could use his experience to reach more people at a younger age, others would not have to spend years feeling isolated and disconnected.
After contributing for a couple of years as a Table Captain at Challenge Day's annual fundraiser and initiating a number of conversations around being more involved, Steven was invited to serve on the organization's Resource Development Committee. A year later he was elected to the Board of Directors. return to top
Patrick Hughes
Patrick is presently Executive Director of the Solano Coalition for Better Health, a community health collaborative. He is also Director of the Healthier Solano Communities Project, multi-year initiative that facilitated the creation of community health collaboratives in each of Solano's seven cities.
Before working with the Coalition, Patrick was Assistant to the City Manager in Vacaville, California, with staff responsibility for development of city-community partnerships. Coming from an educational background, Patrick has been a high school teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, and chief operations officer for a large non-profit.
Patrick has a doctorate degree in Educational Administration with a concentration in Organizational Development from the State University of New York at Buffalo. return to top
Roxana Marachi
Roxana Marachi is currently an Assistant Professor of Education at San Jose State University. She joined SJSU in 2006 after having served for three years as faculty in the Department of Child and Adolescent Development at California State University Northridge. She earned her doctorate in Education and Psychology from University of Michigan in 2003 with a research focus on School Climate and School Violence Prevention. Dr. Marachi currently serves as Co-Chair of the Safe Schools and Communities Special Interest Group for the American Educational Research Association. She has presented at numerous national conferences and the International Society for Research on Aggression. Her publications include chapters in the Handbook of School Violence and School Safety: From Research to Practice and the School Services Sourcebook: A Guide for School-Based Professionals as well as research articles in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, The Journal of School Violence, and School Psychology International.
Roxana's research interests focus on interpersonal dynamics among teachers and students, school climate, and how elements of control are related to student violence and victimization. She also has an emerging interest in the intersection of Biology, Psychology, and Education in connections between psycho-physiological aspects of emotion-regulation/coping strategies, and effects on student cognition, motivation, school climate, and behavior. She teaches the Psychological Foundations in Education courses to credential candidates in the Multiple Subjects Credential program and supervises students in the Middle Level Emphasis Program. Roxana is looking forward to serving on the Board at Challenge Day, as she finds the work of inspiring meaningful social connections in schools to be the single most important action to support students in schools. She looks forward to sharing her knowledge and passion about development/behavior in efforts to enhance school climates for safety and engaged learning. return to top
Jeff Parrett
Jeff's personal life mission is to create peace and healing through love and compassion. His vision is a world where everyone feels safe, loved, and celebrated in all their relationships. He received his B.A. in Applied Mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley. From 1981 until 2004 he worked in the software industry. From the oil fields of Alaska to the boardroom of Fortune 1000 companies, his focus was on creating software technology to serve human needs. On a personal level he raised three beautiful daughters and has been blessed with five amazing grandchildren.
In 2000, he began pursuing a series of personal growth workshops with organizations including The Human Awareness Institute, The Mankind Project, and Challenge Day. In 2002, he began formal training with the Ford Institute for Integrative Coaching in order to become a life coach and teleclass leader.
In 2004, he founded Life Guide, dedicated to provide more than just insight--to create transformation in people's lives and the world. His philosophy is that as human beings, everything we do revolves around relationship. Using his training and the variety of experience he's gathered in life, he supports individuals, couples and groups in creating empowered, supportive, and loving relationships. return to top
Mike Robbins
Mike Robbins is an expert in teamwork, communication, and the power of appreciation. He delivers keynote addresses, leads customized seminars, and works one-on-one in a way that empowers people and organizations to work together effectively and be more successful. Mike has inspired thousands of people to reach new levels of awareness and success, both personally and professionally.
Prior to his speaking and coaching career, Mike played baseball at Stanford University. While at Stanford, he was a standout pitcher and he helped lead his team to the Pac-10 Conference Championship and an appearance in the College World Series. He was named to the All-Conference team, nominated as an academic All-American, and voted "Most Inspirational" by his fellow teammates. Mike was drafted by the Kansas City Royals and played three seasons of professional baseball with the Royals before arm injuries ended his playing career.
After his athletic career was cut short by injuries, Mike worked in sales and business development for two Internet start-up companies. He has extensively studied many disciplines of both personal and professional development, and received training from the nationally acclaimed Coaches Training Institute. Mike uses his background, knowledge, and training to motivate and inspire audiences.
Mike has worked with some of America's top organizations and institutions such as SBC, Apple Computer, UC Berkeley, the U.S. Department of Labor, New York Life Insurance, Stanford University, and many others. He is a member of the National Speakers Association and has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, and on Fox Sports Television. Mike is the author of the book Focus On The Good Stuff.
Mike was born and raised in Oakland, California. He graduated from Stanford with a B.A. in American Studies and a specialization in race and ethnicity. return to top
Yvonne St. John Dutra — Director/CEO
Working for over 24 years with teens and adults in a variety of settings, Yvonne has been instrumental in designing and implementing over 17 different nationally recognized prevention and intervention programs for teenagers.
Yvonne's earliest experiences varied from facilitating classroom presentations and school assemblies, to conducting media programs on gender roles and eating disorders. She later focused her attention on working with at risk youth, addiction, and social oppression issues.
A gifted speaker, program designer, trainer, and educator, Yvonne has received many honors and won numerous awards for her work with teens and families. In 2003, Yvonne was selected to receive the Contra Costa County Woman of The Year Award.
As parents of four daughters, Yvonne and her husband Rich co-founded the awarding winning Challenge Day program in 1987. In addition to leading Challenge Day Programs, Next Step, and Living the Change Community Workshops, Yvonne is currently serving as CEO and head of Challenge Day's Training Department. return to top
Suzanne Stanford
Suzanne's mission is the welfare of children. Her extensive background in Internet Safety Education includes lobbying the United States Congress on internet safety issues, and the illegal trafficking of minor children. She authored proposed federal legislation, “Parents Against Predator’s Act” (a.k.a. PAPA) which will be voted on by the United States Congress in 2008. In 2008, she received the Artemis Award by the Euro American Women’s Council, in Greece. In 2003, while an executive with I-Safe America, a federally funded internet safety education foundation she helped launch, she was selected by Congressman David Vitter as one of "10 American Women of Leadership”. In 2002, she received a Congressional Merit Award for “Internet Safety and America's Youth”. Currently, she is the founder and CEO of My Internet Safety Coach.com, and the Vice President of Internet Safety Affairs for the Children's Educational Network. Suzanne publishes online internet safety information and speaks around the country on responsible internet use, how to avoid being victimized by online predators; and the worldwide crisis of child pornography and trafficking.
Prior to working in the Internet safety education field, Suzanne enjoyed a long and varied career in the network television and feature film industry as an actress, writer, television critic, producer, and production executive. She remains a member of the Directors Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
She is active in her church, her daughter's school, is an avid supporter of The Special Olympics, and the President of the Founder's Guild for Casa Teresa, a non-profit organization that provides a loving home for single, pregnant women 18 years of age and older and their babies.
In 2005, Suzanne launched "The Rolling Suitcase and New Clothing Drive" for Hurricane Katrina and Rita victims for The Red Cross in San Antonio, Texas. This resulted in donations of over 24,000 rolling suitcases and countless articles of clothing.
Suzanne holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from UCLA, lives in Newport Beach, California, and is a single mother. She gives credit to God for her accomplishments, and is honored to be a member of the Challenge Day Board of Directors. return to top
Joan Zappettini
Born and raised in San Francisco, Joan earned a BS in Dietetics and a Masters in Nutrition Education. Following college, she married and had two sons, Jacob Michael Rickey and Charles Branch Rickey. She returned to Chico where she earned a second BS in Home Economics and two teaching credentials. She began teaching in Yuba City Unified School District where she is an assistant principal at Yuba City High School (YCHS).
In April of 2000 Joan was asked to be the liaison between YCHS and Paramount productions out of Hollywood. Paramount Productions produced a national, award-winning documentary entitled The Teen Files: Surviving High School, which featured students from YCHS. Also featured in the documentary were Rich and Yvonne Dutra-St. John and the Challenge Day message. It was at this venture that her life became entwined with Rich and Yvonne. Since that time, Joan has spent a great deal of time on personal growth and has followed her heart in bringing this message and experience to all teenagers. She is passionate about her work with teenagers and truly believes that we can and will make a difference in life.
In her spare time, Joan especially enjoys gardening, cooking and eating, running, traveling, and spending time with her boys and friends. return to top
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