Karen Nemsick, Executive Director

Executive Director Karen Nemsick has been a Bay Area resident since 1988. Her long nonprofit career has focused primarily on moving families out of poverty. After working five years at Raphael House, a shelter for homeless families, Karen started her own nonprofit called Women In Action to fill a gap in job preparedness training at welfare-to-work programs. Women In Action activities taught teamwork and communication skills to women moving from welfare to work, and the activities also built confidence and challenged women to overcome self-defeating beliefs. She also provided leadership as the Executive Director of Healing Waters, a nonprofit that provides wilderness adventures to men, women, and children affected by HIV and AIDS. In addition to her direct service work, Karen has worked as a consultant to executive directors and small nonprofit organizations on program development, leadership, operations, grant writing, and fundraising. She joined RTSF in June 2009 and is thrilled to be here!

Jen Garber, Program Director

Jen brings a diverse breadth of experience to her role as Program Director at RTSF. She has been producing content for the web since its inception in the early ‘90s, when she founded one of the first online culture magazines, worked as a record company publicist while completing her journalism/environmental studies degree, and became a founding member of ARTISTdirect, a visionary E-commerce start-up. Jen gained an appreciation for the craftsmanship and straightforwardness found within the skilled trades while working for a custom motorcycle builder.  Although she left that world to resume her online marketing and promotions career at interactive marketing agency, Jen’s heart remained with the trades and ultimately she parlayed the management experience gained in the virtual world into a position as a project manager for a high-end residential general contractor, facilitating the work of those whose talent she’d grown to admire.  Jen’s ongoing work with Kinetic Steam Works, an industrial arts education nonprofit sparked a desire to devote her working hours to nonprofit service. Jen still can’t believe she has the good fortune to spend her days at RTSF, and when she’s not there she is often sighted wandering the streets of her native Bay Area in search of participants for her current photography endeavor, www.strangerproject.org.

Valerie Coleman, Outreach Manager

Valerie Coleman joined the RTSF staff as the program coordinator in the fall of 2007, following an eye opening volunteer experience in New Orleans. With over 10 years of work experience within a wide variety of nonprofits (from animal shelters, foster youth, community arts center to a national magazine and City advocacy), Valerie has found that RTSF’s clients (low-income seniors, community leaders & other nonprofit employees) are by far her favorite population and has recently become the Outreach Manger. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz with a B.A. in International Politics, she’s passionate about community based work, issues of social justice and absolutely loves the tangible grassroots changes RTSF is making every year in San Francisco. Focusing on outreach and communications within RTSF, Valerie loves talking to anyone who’ll listen about our great work, has a great fondness for working with volunteers & seniors, collaborating with other SF based organizations and trying to improve the visibility of our organization. When not at RTSF, Valerie can be found volunteering for her other fave nonprofits, digging around in her community garden plot, dancing, & finding even more reasons to fall in love with San Francisco.

Jonathan Rossall, Program Coordinator

Jonathan joined the Rebuilding Together San Francisco team in January 2010 after relocating to the bay area from sunny San Diego.  Originally intending to become an engineer, Jonathan chose to pursue a career in non-profit social service after being inspired by the praxis of friends and professors he met while studying at the College of the Holy Cross.  His own journey has involved feeding the homeless in Phoenix, preventing evictions in Boston, career counseling at-risk teens in southern California, and more.  Jonathan moved to San Francisco at the end of August to return to school and discovered Rebuilding Together when he was looking for a place to volunteer.  He’s very happy that now, when he’s not hitting the books, he’ll be putting his organizational skills to good use supporting the great work of Rebuilding Together San Francisco.

Andrew Oommen, Program Development Associate, AmeriCorps Member

Andrew joined the RTSF team after finishing his degree at Western Washington University in June 2011. As a second term AmeriCorps member, Andrew previously completed a year of service at his former high school working with at-risk youth. Along with serving as an AmeriCorps member, he also worked as a program assistant for a national AmeriCorps program, which provides scholarships for university and college students who serve their communities. He has a background in politics and advocacy, working with local community groups in Washington State for public policy changes. Andrew hopes to explore the Bay area thoroughly during his current term of service with RTSF. As a Washington State native, he is set to find the best coffee in the Bay area.

Ted Aquino, Client Outreach & Volunteer Coordinator, AmeriCorps Member

Ted Aquino is the newest member of RTSF, serving through the AmeriCorps CapacityCorps program. His primary focus at RTSF will be Client Outreach and Volunteer Coordination. In May of 2009, he graduated from California State University, Chico earning a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, with an emphasis on Operations Management. His interests lie in project management, bringing communities together, forming nonprofit partnerships, the power of media arts and utilizing social media effectively. He was inspired to be a part of the AmeriCorps program by his experiences working with diverse populations at Chico State’s Cross-Cultural Leadership Center, and seeing poverty in his home country. Ted hopes to focus his career path towards the non-profit sector and empowering others to tell their stories.

Melissa Reyes Program Associate, AmeriCorps Member

Melissa Reyes recently joined the RTSF team in January 2012, serving through AmeriCorps CapacityCorps program. She will act as the primary liaison between RTSF and volunteers during project planning and the execution of community based projects. In June 2011, she graduated from University of California, San Diego earning a B.S. in Urban Studies and Planning with a focus on urban design and the built environment. Melissa is interested in the relationship between community based work, sustainable efforts, and the built environment. After working with housing counselors in the effort of preventing home foreclosure, she discovered her passion in working for the non-profit sector. With the love of design and the eagerness to gain hands on experience, she decided to join RTSF as an AmeriCorps member. Melissa hopes to make an impact within the city and contribute to Rebuilding Together’s mission for safe and healthy homes.

Zoe Dawg, Mascot and Volunteer Recruitment Tool

Zoe has no experience, and outside of general cuteness, offers very little to the organizational support of RTSF. But she is our favorite mascot, holds a world record for sleeping and loves to have her belly rubbed by volunteers. Bring bacon & she’ll be yours forever.