Lisa Daly
Lisa Daly grew up in Los Angeles and moved to Palo Alto over two decades ago. She has worked as a therapist for 25 years. Lisa brings with her a wealth of experience working with children and teens in high schools, and through social services. Lisa graduated from California State University at Long Beach in Psychology and completed her Masters of Arts in Psychology. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist. Lisa has always felt passionate about working with students from underserved communities to grow and achieve their potential, and is thrilled to join the mentorship team to mentor RTE scholars. Lisa has a daughter who is currently in college. |
John Fitton
John Fitton lives with his wife in Palo Alto. They are parents of two recent graduates of PAUSD. John has a passion for student support services and effective change leadership. After 38 years of public service, John retired from the Superior Court of California in 2015. He served as both CEO of the San Mateo County Superior Court and Deputy Court Executive Officer for almost two decades. Earlier in his career, John worked in leadership and student guidance positions at four different universities (Southern Oregon, UCLA, Santa Clara and SDSU) offering personal counseling, academic advising, financial planning and mentoring support for first generation, low-income and historically underserved students. |
Amy Friedman
Amy Friedman grew up in New Jersey and has been a Palo Alto resident for over two decades. She has two sons who graduated from Paly and is very grateful for the tremendous support and opportunities that this community has provided for her family. A graduate of both Columbia College and Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in New York City, Amy has worked as a marketer in high tech for more than 25 years and is currently at Workday. Amy is passionate about giving back what she has been so generously given --- encouragement, mentorship and resources. |
Laura Grant
In 2020, Laura Grant moved to Palo Alto from Alaska with her family in the middle of the pandemic. Laura and her husband Kevin has a daughter who is currently a student at Paly and two sons are studying in college. She has worked in many capacities over the years since graduating from Yale & Wharton, including corporate strategy at a Fortune Global Top 20 company, entrepreneurship, and volunteering in classrooms and forests. Laura and her family have lived in Alaska, Indonesia and Azerbaijan. In Alaska, Laura volunteered at the Cook Inlet Tribal Council FabLab/MakerSpace, tutored ESL students at West High School, built trails in parks and started an after-school language program at Chugach Elementary. In Baku and Jakarta, she taught English to refugees and asylum seekers who were in line to relocate to English speaking countries and worked on rainforest preservation. Currently, Laura is volunteering with Ravenswood Classroom Partners. She cherishes listening to, empowering and supporting youth.. |
Grainger Marburg
Grainger Marburg lives in Palo Alto. He has two sons that attended PAUSD schools since kindergarten, the oldest of whom graduated from Paly in 2020. Grainger was the Chief Operating Officer of the Well Being Trust and is now an executive coach. He has more than 25 years of professional experience in nonprofit leadership, philanthropy, management consulting and education. He earned a B.A. from Hampshire College and an Ed.M. from Harvard University. Most recently, Grainger served as the CEO of RAFT – Resource Area for Teaching, where he succeeded the founder and guided the organization through its first executive transition in 20 years. Prior to RAFT he led two organizations serving low-income middle-school students and their families. |
Victor Meyerfreund
Victor Meyerfreund lives in Palo Alto with his wife and two children attending Paly. He grew up in Brazil, where he graduated in Engineering, followed by an MSc in the UK. In 2019, Victor moved to Palo Alto from Brazil with his family. He now studies and invests in technological innovation, and also serves as a mentor for Paly's Advanced Authentic Research (AAR) students. Outdoor sports are his passion; his favorites are running, biking, and skiing. Victor inherited a sense of discipline and commitment from his German roots, and being educated in Brazil taught him the importance of having fun during the journey! |
Melanie Norall
Melanie Norall has worked as a math specialist in Palo Alto for more than a decade. In the school district, she first gained experience in the classroom as a student teacher and a math support teacher, working with small groups of students at both Hoover Elementary and Nixon Elementary. Melanie has also served as a math tutor for high school students at AJ Tutoring and at Palo Alto High School’s AVID class and also out of her home office. Prior to working in education, Melanie was a communications specialist for several Bay Area hospitals. Melanie received her bachelor’s degree from Brown University and her teaching credential from NDNU in Belmont. She has a daughter who graduated from Palo Alto High in 2022. When she isn’t working with her math students in geometry or algebra, Melanie can be found on the Mitchell Park Pickleball court! |
Adelaide Roberts
Adelaide Roberts lives in Menlo Park with her husband and daughter. Her professional background is in fundraising and communications, primarily for environmental and human services organizations. Adelaide served as Membership Director at Earthjustice for nine years, and as Planned Giving Director at the Peninsula Open Space Trust for seven years. Her most recent position was with LifeMoves, a local organization serving families and individuals experiencing homelessness. Adelaide holds a BA in from the University of California at Berkeley and an MA from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. In her private life, Adelaide has worked with many young people to graduate from high school and thrive at universities. |
Kimberly Schwan - Mentorship Chairperson
Kimberly Schwan is on the RTE Board of Directors and is the Mentorship Chairperson. Kimberly's. two daughters attended PAUSD schools. Kimberly concluded a successful 16 year career as VP of Human Resources for a private equity firm. Since her retirement she dedicated 4 years to the Paly College & Career Counseling Center. Through this experience and helping her own daughters through the college selection and application process she became enlightened to the challenges that students from low-income families face. She joined RTE hoping to break down some of the barriers for these young adults. She received her BS in Business from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Please contact Kimberly for mentorship opportunities at [email protected]. |