Board of Directors

• Sherea Westra, President
• Dave Bonaccorsi, Vice President, Guy Emanuele Sports Fund
• Desrie Campbell, Vice President, Innovative Education Grants
• Anne Damron, Vice President, After-School Band
• Beth Rasler, CPA, Treasurer
• Sandi Pantages, Secretary
• Cindy Bonior
• Kathleen Caine
• Sherri Swinney, FUDTA Representative
• Debra Watanuki
• Lara York

Associate Members

• Yogi Chugh
• Hilda Furtado
• Dirk Lorenz
• Nina Moore
• Debbi Pearson
• Raj Salwan
• Sharon Yap

Honorary Members

• Hattie Hughes
• Anu Natarajan
• Robert Wasserman

The Fremont Education Foundation is currently looking for new board members.  The Board meets monthly, and board members are expected to be actively involved in one or more aspects of our annual fundraising activities or in administering one of our programs.  Please contact us for more information about joining our Board of Directors.

Meetings are scheduled as follows:

At this time, all meetings are scheduled to be at the FUDTA Office, 39350 Civic Center Drive #430, Fremont, CA  94538.  All meetings are open to the public and volunteers are especially welcome. To RSVP for meetings, .

Sherea Westra has been an active participant of the FEF Board for over 5 years. She first became involved as the liaison between FEF and the teachers’ association, but for the past two years has served solely as the President of FEF. She has been involved in the Innovative Education Grant program by conducting grant writing workshops for FUSD teachers and reading grant applications for a number of years. For the past two years, Sherea has co-hosted the ASB Telethon. As a full-time elementary teacher in Fremont Unified, she is also an active volunteer at her school site, Niles Elementary School, and serves as the 1^st Vice President of the Fremont Unified District Teachers Association. Sherea is a long-time resident of Fremont and believes in giving back to the community where she received a solid education. She lives in Niles with her husband and daughter.

David Bonaccorsi is a life-long resident of Fremont since 1961.   He played the clarinet as a marching and school band participant at both Centerville Junior High and Washington High School, after first learning to play this band instrument in an after-school program at Maloney Elementary.  David is an attorney and a partner with the law firm of Bernard, Balgley & Bonaccorsi in Newark.  He has been blessed with two children, and a spouse, brother and father who are or have been educators in the Fremont Unified School District.

He currently serves as a Planning Commissioner on the City of Fremont’s Planning Commission, a Board member of OneChild, and a member of the Fremont Chamber of Commerce’s Government Affairs Committee.  His other local community activities have included being Co-Chair of Fremont Unified’s Measure B Health and Safety Bond Campaign, a member of the City of Fremont’s Integrated Waste Management Affairs Committee, and an alumnus of the Fremont Chamber’s Leadership Fremont.

Desrie Campbell is the owner of Benefits Solutions which provides comprehensive health  benefits and financial services to individuals, families, professional associations, executives and small to midsized businesses.  Desrie has lived in Fremont since 1996.  She and her husband, Willie, have 4 young men, all of whom attended and graduated from Fremont Schools.  As an active member of the community, Desrie serves as the Chair of the Alameda County Commission on the Status of Women’s Gender Racial and Equity Committee and she is a 2007 Emerge graduate.  She is a member of the Fremont Community Engagement and Advisory Board, Fremont Chamber of Commerce, the Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA).  She holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, Fremont..

After nine years of varying levels of involvement with After School Band, Anne Damron is celebrating her tenth year by assuming responsibility for the Telethon. Her background includes public relations work for a specialized retailer and a book publisher.

A part-time employee of FUSD, Anne also volunteers for Girl Scouts, numerous academic, parent and sports groups at American High School, the Gifted and Talented Student Parent Advisory Committee and is the chairperson of the district’s Health and Sex Education Advisory Committee. Along with their three children, Anne and her husband Peter have lived in Fremont since 1990.

Beth Rasler, CPA, joined the board in June 2001 to serve as treasurer.  She was named the 60,000^th resident of Fremont when her family moved here in 1962.  Beth grew up in Fremont and is a graduate of California State University, Stanislaus.  She has a daughter in the 6^th grade in Fremont who plays the baritone in her 3^rd year of after school band. Beth is employed by Greenstein, Rogoff, Olsen and Co., a CPA firm in Fremont.  She is an alumnus of the Leadership Fremont program, a volunteer for Girl Scouts and a volunteer at her daughter’s elementary school.

Sandi Pantages served on the Fremont Education Foundation board in the mid-1990’s, and rejoined the board in late 2001. Now retired from the Alameda County Library, Sandi worked in the Fremont libraries for 32 years and was the manager of the Fremont Main Library for many years. She is an active member of Niles Rotary, and is also involved with the Fremont Symphony Guild and the League of Women Voters of the Fremont, Newark and Union City Area. Sandi grew up in Concord, obtained her undergraduate and graduate degrees from UCLA and worked a few years at the Library of Congress before returning to the Bay Area in 1969. She lives with her husband Dick in the Brookvale area of Fremont.

Kathleen Caine was born at Washington Hospital and is very nearly a lifelong Fremont resident, having spent her college years in Berkeley.

After graduation, she went on to receive her Masters in Communications  from San Jose State, while raising her family.  After several years in high tech marketing, she changed careers and became a teacher with the Fremont Unified School District.  Her most recent return to college was to obtain a teaching credential in business.

She is a former PTA President, Drama Coach, English Language tutor and member of the FUSD Technology Advisory Committee.  Kathleen joined the Fremont Education Foundation Board in 2008.

Debra Watanuki and her husband, Tim, have called Fremont home since 1985.  After the birth of her son, Debra joined the board of the Fremont Education Foundation in 2001 to support music, athletics and creative instruction in Fremont schools. She was a post-secondary teacher until changing her career path upon earning her law degree and opening her practice in estate planning and business. In addition to her legal practice, Debra works as a development officer for Safe Alternatives to Violent Environments, a local nonprofit serving victims of domestic violence. She is a Fremont Human Relations Commissioner and also serves on the Community Advisory Engagement Board for the City of Fremont. She enthusiastically promotes education as past president of her child’s elementary school’s parent teacher organization, volunteering at his school and the Fremont Education Foundation.

Lara York has been a board member of FEF since 2000 and served as President from 2003-05 and Vice-President from 2001-03 and 2005-08.  In 2006 Lara was elected to the Fremont Unified School District Board of Education.

Lara moved to Fremont in 1992 after completing her BS in Business Administration from California State University, Chico.  After working for a major publishing company for several years, she made the decision to stay at home with her children and become more active in the community. 

Lara is an active member of the community including her involvement over the years with groups including: The Fremont Chamber of Commerce; The League of Women Voters of Fremont, Newark & Union City; the American Association of University Women; Citizens for Better Community; The Tri-Cities Democratic Forum; The Cultural Arts Council; The F.U.N. Mothers' Club; PTA; School Site Council; FUSD Financial Advisory Committee, Parent Representative Advisory Assembly and the Community Facilities Committee.