Board of Directors
The Foster City Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors is comprised of business leaders who are dedicated to driving a vibrant local economy and supporting our city’s diverse communities
Angie Krackeler
Angie leads a team of developer evangelists working with Startups, Venture Capital firms, Incubators and Business Partners, to inspire, and enable them to adopt IBM’s Cloud solutions. Her focus is on developing demos, use cases, and solutions using Watson cognitive computing, the Internet of Things, Mobile, Big Data, Watson Analytics and Cloud. Prior to joining the IBM Cloud Ecosystem team, Angie was Senior Planning & Delivery Manager for IBM Innovation Center Silicon Valley, working across all IBM Development Relations business units to create an integrated business partner experience at our events and technical engagements.
Angie has held various leadership positions in software development, IBM Global Services, IBM Sales & Marketing and hardware development. Roles including Senior Network Services Manager, Worldwide Cloud Lab Operations Manager, Delivery Project Executive, Consulting, Technical and Sales.
Angie joined Foster City Chamber of Commerce board of director in 2016. Angie has been working closely with the Chamber to develop and host various community projects to help increase the interests and skills of the younger generations.
Angie has a MSEE from Syracuse University.
Melvin Justice
A Bay Area native, Melvin Justice has been in the transportation industry for over 20 years. Originally from San Francisco his affiliation with the transportation industry started with his first solo bus trip at the age of 8. Melvin never looked back and continues to use the means of transportation to explore the city, the state and the world holistically.
In the course of his career, Melvin has started and sold two small businesses, worked in major public and private sector organizations, and continues to volunteer at two non-profit organizations.
At every opportunity throughout his career and life, Melvin has sought to learn from others in order to create a thriving environment for those he interacts with both professionally and personally.
Always thinking outside of the box, Melvin seeks to incorporate innovation with proven processes and best practices to challenge the status quo.
The Foster City Chamber of Commerce is comprised of diligent and determined business leaders from the community. The ability to contribute and add value to the Board in areas such as community engagement and fiscal best practices is what Melvin hopes to achieve by joining the Board. In collaboration with the former and current board members, Melvin would like to continue to move the needle forward to ensure that local businesses (large and small) maintain a strong, active voice in the community.
Sonja Tappan
Sonja Tappan is a Foster City native who currently lives and works in San Mateo. After leaving Foster City to attend U.C.L.A. (B.A History) she traveled extensively before living in the Netherlands for 5 years. In the Netherlands she worked in the family business where she learned business acumen and to speak Dutch. Upon her return to the U.S, she worked at Genentech, Inc holding various leadership positions in the pharmaceutical manufacturing department during her 8 year tenure. Her time in manufacturing ignited her passion for improving processes and systems.
After Genentech, Inc., Sonja took the lead role in a local non-profit as their Director of Administration. Her passion for helping others, developing processes, and improving systems that lead to sustainable solutions flourished when many local nonprofit and for-profit partnerships were realized. As a Business Operations Manager for a local startup specializing in high end connected home devices, she was instrumental in ensuring the company had the essential systems, equipment, people and processes to run effectively and scale the business. She fondly reminisces of her time as a founding employee and the dedication and hard work it takes to build a successful company.
Sonja Tappan is currently the Operations Manager at Bould Design and Executive Director for the San Mateo-Foster City Education Foundation. As a board member Sonja is excited serve the community by enhancing the relationships between the city, community members, and its businesses with a focus on young adults.
Nathan Tsai
Nathan Tsai is the Managing Director for the Foster City Hotel Group and is on the ownership team of several other hotels and retail spaces located in and around Foster City. While he lives in the San Mateo area, he grew up working in the Crowne Plaza Hotel. An engineer by education, he worked in the technology industry in both San Francisco and Mountain View before returning to grow his family’s local hospitality business. Nathan was on the team that completed the construction of the new TownePlace Suites and the adjacent Chess Corner Retail Center and is proud to see both properties serving customers and guests from Foster City and beyond.
He has spent considerable time leading efforts in Cambodia to build schools and technical institutes for children and adults whose lives remain devastated after the genocide in Cambodia and the effects of the Khmer Rouge. In 2017, Nathan was honored with the Decoration of National Construction by Gen. Ke Kim Yan, a Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia, for his humanitarian contributions to Cambodian education.
Locally, Nathan has volunteered at Sequoia Hospital as an EMT and has donated both time and capital to other organizations in the Bay Area.
Daniel Brown
Daniel Brown is a local business developer in Foster City, with a technical background and history in Mechanical Engineering. Between 2012 and 2017, Daniel obtained a bachelor’s and Master of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alabama. After graduation, Daniel entered the start-up, analytical instrumentation industry when he moved to Germany and worked for an emerging company named Sentronics Metrology. During his time with Sentronics, Daniel transitioned from an engineering role to sales and, eventually, business development. Daniel’s work was crucial in building a U.S. pipeline and presence for Sentronics Metrology. This work ultimately resulted in a move to Foster City in June of 2018 to continue this work; now as an employee of Sentronics’ U.S. Distributor, Quantum Analytics.
Continuing in the role of business development, Daniel identified the largest growing market for Quantum Analytics and spearheaded a project to create and launch a new division focused on improving the efficiency and level of service given to this industry, while simultaneously increasing company partnerships and offerings. This project resulted in the development of Rhine Laboratories, a consulting and knowledge-services company for startup cannabis testing laboratories across North America. Daniel is now the Vice President of Rhine Laboratories, and is responsible for overall business strategy, sales, logistics, continued business development, corporate partnerships, regulatory affairs, and overseeing of day-to-day operations. The recent launch of Rhine Laboratories has renewed QA Group’s focus on fostering growth in Foster City, both in community as well as business. Daniel has worked with the Business Leadership Council on their Transportation Task Force since early 2019, and sees value in increasing QA’s presence and value to its community through participating as a board member for the Foster City Chamber of Commerce.
Dan Demers
Dan Demers, a San Mateo native, is the Executive Artistic Director at Hillbarn Theatre. He has been working locally for more than 15 years in educational theatre, directing and acting all over the Bay Area. His diverse background in business management, graphic design, creative direction, coupled with his out- of-the-box thinking, brings a unique perspective to this award-winning theatre company. With a Bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts and Direction, Dan strives to change and grow the theatre to ensure that Hillbarn continues to be a beacon of the arts on the Peninsula.
The Foster City Chamber of Commerce is a pivotal part of the city and the community. Running Hillbarn Theatre and working in the non-profit world allows Dan to look at things very differently and he is excited to bring that unique outlook to the Board of Directors and apply his talents to work on behalf of the Chamber.
Cliff Berry
Cliff is a corporate real estate executive with 25 years of experience in areas such as real estate transactions, acquisitions/dispositions, construction management, strategic planning, facilities management, and lease administration. He has spent the last year and a half as the Senior Director of Real Estate & Facilities at Visa managing a staff of 22 and overseeing the Bay Area portfolio that includes 1 million square feet at the 4 building campus in Foster City.
Prior to Visa, Cliff spent 24 years at Oracle in Redwood Shores where he played numerous roles in Real Estate & Facilities during a period of time when Oracle grew from a few thousand to 130,000 employees. During that time, he was involved in over 30 acquisitions, and helped build and manage their Bay Area real estate portfolio that grew from 150,000 square feet to over 4 million square feet.
Cliff has a Bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley and is married with two teenaged sons. In his free time, Cliff is an avid golfer.
Joanne Bohigian
Joanne is a business development, market planning and strategy professional with over 20 years leading for-profit and nonprofit organizations to develop and execute strategic plans for growth, foster and build strategic alliances, lead business and cultural change, promote volunteer and partnership involvement and raise funds to support organization mission, vision and values.Joanne has a reputation for sound business acumen as well as creative go-to-market insight and effective management of initiatives in both start-up organizations and Fortune 500 companies as well as nonprofit and municipal entities.Joanne brings proven ability to maximize the growth and profitability of an organization from her experiences serving such global companies as SAP, IBM, Lotus Development and cc:Mail, Inc. Ms. Bohigian founded whaddyathink®, a business consulting company in 1999, and focused on market development, collaboration, business transformation and sustainability strategy services.Joanne is a graduate of the University of San Francisco with a Bachelor of Science, Business Administration, McLaren College of Business) and Golden Gate University (Master of Business Administration, Executive MBA Program).
Al DeGroot
Al heads the Facilities Management & Operations Team within the CEF Organization at Gilead Sciences. In his role, he provides strategic direction and oversight covering 3.7M sf at 56 locations across Asia, EMEA, Latin America and North America. His scope includes: Physical Site Operations, Service & Amenity Management, Maintenance, Utility Operation, Commissioning & Laboratory Operations.
Al joined Gilead in 2013 and is based at the Corporate Headquarter site in Foster City, California. He has 34 years of BioTech Industry experience in leading Facilities & Plant Engineering functions within Corporate, GxP/GMP Manufacturing & Research/Development Environments.
Constantinos Vorrises
As a long time Foster City resident, Costa has been involved with the community in many different aspects. As a real estate professional with Century 21 Real Estate Alliance for 14 years, selling/leasing both residential and commercial has afforded him the opportunity to connect with many local business owners. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Child and Adolescent Development from San Francisco State University, Costa also worked at Brewer Island Elementary School for 17 years as a tutor and has a strong connection to the school district and families in the community. As an entrepreneur, with a strong passion for creating artwork and t-shirts, Costa knows the commitment and time it takes to pursue your goals. Being a realtor and an artist has presented opportunities with many people from different backgrounds and cultures. Driven by the concept of creating more opportunities to assist local business owners, make more connections, and develop new relationships in the local community, Costa is a long time member of the Foster City Chamber of Commerce. With the current economic environment brought on by the pandemic, Costa is committed to becoming more involved with the FC Chamber and enhancing the quality of life for all in Foster City and the surrounding area.
Joanne Bohigian
George Fanourgiakis, a Foster City native, born and raised, is one of the Co-Founders of Penelope’s Coffee & Tea, Sandwich Monkey, and a franchise owner in Nick the Greek and President of Techni, LLC. George has a diverse background in managing small businesses, retail construction, as well as the ability to think out of the box. Within the last several years, George has worked on many projects and concepts from start to finish bringing new ideas to the market place. George currently holds many US and International patents on these various concepts.
Being a part of small business community of Foster City and working closely with The Foster City Chamber of Commerce throughout the years has been a pivotal part of growing his businesses and bridging connections with city and the community. George is very excited to bring his unique outlook to the Board of Directors and apply his talents within the chamber.
Farzine Parelwalla
Farzine Parelwalla is currently the Branch Manager at U.S. Bank in Foster City. She has more than 20 years of experience in banking operations and managing financial teams with a strong emphasis on customer satisfaction, consistently achieving and exceeding revenue targets. As leader of the branch, Farzine is responsible for planning and executing customer market share growth, including building relationships and collaborating with partners. Her time in the banking industry has allowed her to demonstrate mastery at delivering exceptional customer, strengthening relationships, and proactively identifying ways to add value for customers.
Farzine regularly participates in local market and community activities to promote growth and culture and encourages her team members to utilize their volunteer time and engage with the community. Part of her role as branch manager is to be out in the community to visit existing business owners and help them achieve both their business and financial goals. She is also responsible for acquiring new business relationships to enhance sales and profitability by participating in networking events which have resulted in increasing her customer base. During these difficult times, Farzine helped to promote local businesses in order to both improve their growth by providing financial advice and assist them with the Payment Protection Program. Farzine has also received several awards and recognitions during her banking career, including the annual Star of Excellence award.
Farzine obtained her Bachelor of Commerce degree from The University of Bombay. She is married with two teenage daughters. In her free time, Farzine loves to cook, listen to music, and spend time with her husband, her daughters and her adorable Labrador Toby.
Yazmin Mora
Yazmin Mora traces her passion for community from her very first role at Redwood City Public Library 20 years ago. She found herself inspired by the stories, struggles, and strength amongst the diverse individuals and families she came in contact with. Since then, she has committed herself to serve and support her community any way that she could.
With more than 20 years of work experience in a professional setting, Yazmin has grown as a business administrator, proven herself as a team player, and emerged as a respected leader in her field. No matter what role she found herself in, she has gone above and beyond her job description while building a strong community along the way.
Today, as the Sales and Community Manager at OnePiece Work, a California-based flexible workspace provider, Yazmin lives out the company mission to create an inclusive, global community - helping tech professionals work and grow.
Yazmin is excited to empower the local community and resident businesses while promoting growth on behalf of the Board of Directors at Foster City Chamber of Commerce.
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