Dagmara Avanindra (President)Stanford degrees: B.S. and M.S. Electrical Engineering, 2000. Dagmara works as a Senior Substrate Design Lead at Nvidia, where she is involved in the development of visual computing technologies and delivering high-performance graphics processors which generate breathtaking, interactive graphics on workstations, personal computers, game consoles and mobile devices. She rediscovered her passion for dance after attending an SPW dance-themed event in 2001 and since then has performed in various dance forms such as Jazz, Modern, Lyrical and Bollywood. Dagmara teaches Bollywood dance to students of all ages and is particularly fond of the dance program for senior citizens, which she leads at the Indian Community Center. She enjoys travelling and hiking with her husband.
Mary Bobel (Treasurer)Stanford degrees: A.B. Biology, 1970; M.A. Education, 1971; M.B.A., 1979. Mary is the director of finance and administration for Stanford School of Medicine's Radiology Department and has previously served as the chief financial officer of several technology and education companies. Mary is a member of the Stanford Parents' Committee and both her children are Stanford grads. Her son, 2007, is now the Director of Basketball Operations at LSU and her daughter, 2003, is the Executive Director of Teach for America for Bay Area. Mary is an enthusiastic Stanford sports fan, and a mentor for the Leukemia Society's Team in Training, which trains cyclists for century bike rides. She was recently elected to Stanford Associates, an honorary organization of 1500 Stanford alumni who have demonstrated significant and long-standing volunteer service to the University.
Jeanne Gobalet (Membership & Directory Chair)Stanford degrees: A.B. Sociology and History and minor in Geography, with Distinction and Phi Beta Kappa, 1966; M.A. Education, 1967; M.A. Sociology, 1976; Ph.D. Sociology, Specialties: Demography and Social Stratification, 1982. Jeanne taught social sciences for many years at a community college and then became co-owner of a Bay Area demographic research firm (www.Demographers.com). It serves a variety of public-sector clients, including many school districts and Girl Scouts of the USA. Jeanne lives in Saratoga with her husband and son and has traveled to all 50 states and all seven continents, including Antarctica. She enjoys art, travel, reading, yoga, and growing veggies in (what used to be) her swimming pool.
Aleathia Hoster (Director)
Stanford degree: A.B. Political Science, 1998. While at Stanford, Aleathia joined PaineWebber Real Estate Investment Banking Division as an Analyst and continued to work for them after graduation. After PaineWebber/UBS, she joined a NYSE listed industrial REIT in NYC. After ten years in real estate investment, she is now working in Palo Alto for MAP Royalty, Inc. and focused on wind investments. She has volunteered as a member of the Junior League for over eight years and volunteered for Girls, Inc. She has been a fundraiser and reunion organizer for Class of 1998. She enjoys being outdoors, fly- fishing and running and has run five marathons.
Marcia Mathog (Communications Chair)Stanford degree: M.A. Secondary Education, 1964. Marcia graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis in 1961 with Honors in Science and completed her M.A. while concurrently working on a Ph.D. in chemistry at U.C. Berkeley. She lived on a kibbutz in Israel from 1965-70, managing the Agricultural Testing Station in the Western Galilee. Upon returning to California, she spent the remainder of her career teaching high school and community college physics and chemistry and spent the last forteen years as principal of Mission San Jose High in Fremont. She retired in 1999 and devotes her time to painting water color minatures, volunteer work, and family.
Desiree Fabunan (Director)Stanford degree: B.S. Management Science and Engineering, 2009. While at Stanford, Desiree worked as the Managing Director of Advertising for Stanford Student Enterprises and she interned at AT&T as a corporate sales manager in its flagship Leadership Development Program. Desiree returned to AT&T in August 2009 to continue in their executive management training program. Desiree has volunteered as a development and community outreach intern for WISE, a bay area non-profit focused on women’s self-employment, and serves on the Stanford Women’s Community Center Advisory Board. In her free time, she enjoys reading business books, cooking gourmet dishes with her roommate, and exploring the best Bay Area restaurants.
Lauren Gellman (Director)Stanford degree: A.B. Economics and Political Science, 2000, 4 year varsity letter winner (softball), NCAA Division I Scholar/Honor Roll Athlete, Cap & Gown Women’s Honor Society, Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority. After working in the legal field for two years, Lauren accepted a role at Google as a member of the Online Sales and Operations department. During her 7 years with the company, she worked in a variety of positions in several different offices, including Dublin, Ireland, and Hyderabad, India, most recently managing a sales team and running the office's community outreach program in Boston. Lauren is currently pursuing her MBA at the Haas School of Business in Berkeley, where she was recently elected VP of Admissions for Haas Student Government. When not at work, Lauren is usually outdoors doing something active. She also enjoys photography and cooking.
Connie Lin (Director)
Stanford degrees: B.S. and M.S. Biological Sciences, 2002 and 2003 respectively. Connie works in healthcare consulting and recently joined the pharmaceuticals and biotech group at Simon Kucher and Partners, a global consulting firm specializing in product pricing and marketing strategy. Previously she was a senior manager at The Zitter Group and headed the custom project group, delivering market research and strategy projects on managed care access and coverage solutions for biotech and pharmaceutical companies. In addition to her involvement with SPW, Connie has served in various leadership roles supporting Future Women Leaders and Asian Americans for Community Outreach. She and her husband live in San Francisco, enjoying a life as foodies in a city full of bon vivants.
Mae Tai O'Malley (Director)Stanford degree: A.B. Political Science with honors, 1994. After Stanford, Mae received her J.D. from Berkeley's School of Law in 1998. She is the founder and managing attorney of Paragon Legal, an alterative model legal services firm that provides senior attorneys on a project basis to leading bay area companies. Prior to starting Paragon, Mae worked at Morrison & Foerster, as well as in-house for several technology companies including symantec and google. She is the mother of three rambunctious young boys and currently can't remember what her hobbies are. Mae is a member of Stanford Associates, an honorary organization of 1500 Stanford alumni who have demonstrated significant and long-standing volunteer service to the University.
Buffy Poon (Director)Stanford degree: A.B. Phi Beta Kappa, Human Biology, 1994. Since graduating, Buffy has had stints in investment banking, strategy consulting, database application programming, and marketing. She joined eBay in 1998 as a product manager and held various positions there before leaving in 2002 after the birth of her first child. Buffy has recently worked as a part-time reader for Stanford's undergraduate admissions and has tried her hand at entrepreneurship as well. She and husband Alex have three young children. Alex is a fellow Stanford graduate (B.S., 1991 and PhD, 1996). Buffy is a member of Stanford Associates, an honorary organization of 1500 Stanford alumni who have demonstrated significant and long-standing volunteer service to the University.
Past Presidents
Nita Singh Kaushal
B.S. Electrical Engineering, 2003
Janis Ahmadjian-Baer
A.M. 1975, Ph.D. Education Research, 1980 [B.A. 1973, UMass, Amherst]
Nancy Chapman
B.S. 1966, M.S. 1967 Statistics
Marcia Mathog
A.M. Education, Stanford, 1964 [B.A. 1961, St. John's College, Annapolis]
Laura Torres
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, 1988