Our Team

GABRIEL BALDINUCCI

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CO-FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Gabriel leads the development of UVA’s vision and strategy. He is a senior executive and entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience building startups inside and outside of organizations, including at Singularity University and Virgin Group, where he led the strategy and development of Virgin Voyages. Gabriel has experience in B2B and B2C services, social impact, platform business models, community and global licensing. Gabriel’s focus is on solving big problems and innovations with positive impact. He set up one of California’s first Public Benefit Corporations and is an advocate of multi-stakeholder corporate models.

DAWN PIPER

CHIEF IMPACT OFFICER, CO-FOUNDER & BOARD DIRECTOR

Dawn drives key relationships and initiatives, focused on the San Francisco Bay Area. Through her experience, she finds the synergies between stakeholders, connecting the dots to develop citywide collaboration. Dawn also oversees UVA’s operations, ensuring that all of the systems, resources, and people are in place and aligned to achieve UVA’s ambitious goals. Dawn is a senior executive with over 25 years in the human capital industry, including roles at Yahoo, Prosper Marketplace, and RPX. She firmly believes in a world where no one is sleeping on the streets through better collaboration, more transparency, and deeper compassion for our neighbors.

ANDREW BURNETT

SALESFORCE

Andrew Burnett joins the team as a Salesforce Adminstrator from Charlottesville, Virginia. Here, he began working on CRM management at another UVA, the University of Virginia. Currently, he works remotely for MilliporeSigma as a Salesforce CPQ Product Owner, involved in a global, company wide implementation. He enjoys all things Salesforce and anything outdoors outside of work.

BHARATHI AKKI

SALESFORCE

Bharathi brings a wealth of knowledge to UVA through her experience in Salesforce Administration, Pardot, and the Nonprofit Success Pack (NPSP). Outside of UVA, she volunteers as a Salesforce Administrator at Ripples in Africa, a nonprofit organization focused on investing in women entrepreneurs to create sustainable economic development in Africa. In her free time, Bharathi enjoys gardening, reading, and walking through nature.

ELLIE SWEEZY

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Ellie leads product development at UVA and works with a stealth venture studio creating startups focused on social impact. She has been an On Deck Catalyst fellow for young leaders and entrepreneurs who want to solve the world’s most pressing problems and a No-Code fellow for passionate builders who want to turn their ideas into reality using no-code tools. Ellie is a graduate of Duke University where she majored in political science and studied in Russia. During her undergraduate career, she gained experience at the Women’s Foreign Policy Group in Washington, DC and at NGO Atina, a nonprofit combating human trafficking and gender-based violence in Serbia.

GARETH FINUCANE

DESIGN & CREATIVE DIRECTION

Gareth uses his extensive experience as a design leader to let UVA’s brand be all it can be. For over 20 years, Gareth has honed his skills within the Bay Area’s design landscape, helping startups like HiRoad Insurance as well as established companies such as Yahoo! push the boundaries of user experience design. He values brand consistency and design excellence, and brings a level of craft to meet those goals. Gareth is currently the Director of User Experience at Truity.

HALLE STAUSE

FUNDRAISING

Halle assists with programs and fundraising. In conducting donor research and outreach, she is helping UVA form the connections necessary to create collaborative solutions to street homelessness. Halle is currently a sophomore studying economics at UC Santa Barbara. There, she is a member of the Economics Department DEI committee and is actively involved in Santa Barbara Hillel. Stemmed from her passion for social impact, she hopes to one day pursue a career in economic research and public policy.

KRIS ROBINSON

PEOPLE & BUSINESS OPERATIONS

Kris oversees UVA’s People and Business Operations. For over 25 years, she ran HR and Administration operations in a variety of industries including impact investing, biotechnology, SaaS, and venture capital. Kris has developed global teams in India, the UK, Africa, and Mexico and always found a home in scrappy, Silicon Valley startups. She values curiosity, creativity, and compassion in every aspect of life and brings these, along with a principles based approach to leadership and decision making.

KYLE FAXLANGER

SALESFORCE

Kyle helps oversee, implement, and train UVA on Salesforce. By leveraging best practice and business use cases, Kyle assists in creating a more efficient platform for daily usage. A long time educational professional, Kyle switched gears into the technology sector in late 2021. After spending almost a decade in higher education and collegiate coaching, he started a new career as a Salesforce Administrator. Kyle joined the team at UVA in 2023 while also doing Salesforce Administration for Simplify Compliance and MyComputerCareer. Having also volunteered at Family Promise of Harrisburg Capital and We, The World, he brings nonprofit experience to help bridge the gap from business to technology. Kyle has a Master’s of Education in Educational Administration from University of South Alabama.

LEA GIKAS

SMARTSHEET

Lea represents Smartsheet, a work execution SaaS platform used to align UVA and Alliance partners, and provides technical expertise and solution architecture consulting. As a Smartsheet Advisor to UVA, Lea pulls from over 5 years of experience with Smartsheet to best support the UVA team. Lea is a Sales Engineer and has a passion for architecting solutions that solve meaningful problems, using her deep product knowledge. Her technical leadership will provide a Smartsheet solution that UVA can leverage to increase program effectiveness, improve visibility and accountability amongst the alliance, and help run UVA as a mission-oriented organization.

MICHAEL SEILER

FUNDRAISING & DEVELOPMENT

Michael is a social impact strategist with a focus on business development, tech innovation, and brand marketing. His firm, Collective Impact, helps mission-driven organizations grow by leveraging new technology, cross-sector partnerships, and creative media campaigns. With a background in entertainment, education, diversity/inclusion, and cause acceleration, Michael is passionate about creating big cultural and business-for-good movements that support those working to address our world’s most pressing challenges.

PARAM BHATTA

HOUSING FINANCE

Param is focused on developing financial modeling for housing projects and fundraising and brainstorming new project ideas with Gabriel, the CEO. He works in acquisitions for a real estate investment management firm and has experience analyzing multifamily projects from an ROI perspective. Param is passionate about finding new ways to bring private capital to create change in the housing space. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia, holding a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Master’s degree in Finance. Param’s investment experience will help UVA find the right projects to deploy its network to help end street homelessness.

SHELLEY GONZALEZ LONDON

FUNDRAISING

Shelley is an experienced leader with 20+ years bringing advanced technologies within healthcare, pharma, and human services. She has a passion for contributing to impactful, positive social change and is an advocate for those underserved and overlooked. Shelley contributes towards the advancement of AI for Good, privacy, health equity, and STEM, and she sits on the board of organizations working towards the advancement of human health and wellbeing, including: Data2Discovery Inc (Bloomington, IN), the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirths (Seattle, WA), and The HomeMore Project (San Francisco, CA).

Board Directors & Advisors

JOEY NEUGART

BOARD DIRECTOR

Joey spent over a dozen years practicing law in the Bay Area with a focus on nonprofit law and social impact start-ups that fostered multi-stakeholder collaborations using cutting edge technologies to address global challenges at organizations including Latham & Watkins LLP, Singularity University, and Change.org. Joey also served three terms on the board of The Center for Justice and Accountability, an international human rights legal organization. Joey now lives in Austin, TX and is motivated to work on issues surrounding people experiencing homelessness by his conviction around human rights and his desire to be part of social change movements.

RAJ AGRAWAL

BOARD DIRECTOR

Raj Agrawal (Menlo Park) joined KKR in 2006 and has 25 years of experience. He is the Global Head of KKR’s Infrastructure business and helps oversee KKR’s Impact and Energy investing businesses.  He is Chairman of the Infrastructure Investment Committee and serves as a member of the Infrastructure Portfolio Management Committee, the Impact Investment Committee and the Energy Investment Committee.  He oversees a global infrastructure portfolio in sectors including, among others, telecommunications, energy transition, utilities, asset leasing, transportation, and waste.  Prior to joining KKR, he was a vice president with Warburg Pincus, where he was involved in the execution and oversight of a number of investments in the energy and infrastructure sector.  Mr. Agrawal’s prior experience also includes Thayer Capital Partners, where he played a role in the Firm’s business and manufacturing services investments, and McKinsey & Company, where he provided strategic, merger, and acquisition advice to clients in a variety of industries.  He holds a B.A., Honors and Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, from Stanford University and an M.B.A., Arjay Miller Scholar, from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

SCOTT ACKERSON

BOARD DIRECTOR

Scott advises UVA on strategic approaches to building alliances among key stakeholders to coordinate services for the homeless. Scott has 15 years of experience working in homelessness services, and spent 10 years at Haven for Hope, where he provided clinical and programmatic oversight at the 22-acre transformational campus for homeless services in San Antonio, TX.  Scott coordinated services and resources among continuum of care organizations and oversaw social service operations, workforce development, and supportive housing programs. Scott helped integrate over 80 partners on the Haven for Hope campus.

Lived Experience Advisory Board

THOMAS WOLF

Thomas Wolf, a formerly homeless heroin and fentanyl addict from San Francisco, struggled with addiction for six months on the streets of the Tenderloin neighborhood in 2018. He was arrested six times for drug-related offenses and eventually went to jail for three months before finding recovery in a six-month inpatient treatment program. Thomas is now a Recovery Advocate based in San Francisco, speaking about the crises in the United States and Canada. He has stood with parents in Sacramento who have lost their children to fentanyl poisoning, been invited to speak at fundraising events for various nonprofit organizations, including: The Salvation Army and The Welcome Home Project, and spoken at the Stanford Institute of Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). Thomas started a YouTube channel, Voices in Recovery, to raise awareness about homelessness and addiction. He advocates for a new approach that blends accountability and public health to address homelessness and the drug crises. His story and solutions have been featured in local, national, and international news outlets. Thomas is a co-founder of the California Peace Coalition and founder of the Pacific Alliance for Prevention and Recovery. He has been clean and sober since 2019 and has reconciled with his wife and two children.

ZAK FRANET

Zak Franet is a Bay Area native and public affairs professional specializing in supporting the work of nonprofit homelessness service providers. During his youth, experiences with trauma, instability, and loss led to him turning to drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism, eventually leading him into homelessness for several years. Upon completing treatment and permanently exiting homelessness, Zak has been a dedicated advocate for youth experiencing homelessness, serving as the chair of Larkin Street’s Youth Advisory Board, on the Executive Committee of the Youth Policy and Advisory Committee where he helped acquire a $3 million dollar HUD grant to support young people experiencing homelessness, and was appointed by former Mayor Ed Lee to the San Francisco Youth Commission, in addition to numerous other philanthropic and community-facing roles. Zak continues to be active in his community on issues he is passionate about such as homelessness, substance use, criminal justice reform, LGBTQ+, and youth development.

Advisors

MATT STERN

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT ADVISOR

Matt is a founding partner of Deca Companies, a real estate investment and development company based in San Francisco. Founded in 2014, Deca is actively developing over 5 million square feet of real estate across California with a finished value of over $2.5 billion. Prior to co-founding Deca, he was an investor at Bain Capital and Starwood Capital and a strategy consultant at the Boston Consulting Group. He co-founded Artha Project, a non-profit that provides studio space to emerging artists in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He received an MBA from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree in History and Urban Planning from Harvard University.