Maria Arms is the Development Coordinator at SV2. Maria’s role focuses on supporting SV2’s donor recruitment and stewardship.

Prior to SV2, Maria served as the Special Assistant to the President and The Children’s Movement at Children Now, a research and advocacy organization focused on improving children’s well-being. In this role, Maria provided administrative support to the President and supported The Children’s Movement by engaging members in advocacy campaigns and recruiting new members. Maria earlier interned at the Outdoor Foundation, where she conducted research and strategized with the development team and board on prospective partners for programs that increase access to the outdoors for children of color and children from low-income households.

Maria has considerable work and volunteer experience in K-12 and early childhood education settings, including at Prospect Sierra School, North Davis Elementary, and the Peregrine School. Maria earned a B.A. in Psychology, with a minor in Education, from UC Davis.

Amy serves as SV2’s Director of Community Engagement, working to ensure community leadership, collaboration, and voice are central to our work and impact. She supports SV2’s grantmaking, relationships with our Grantee Community Partners, family philanthropy, and impact measurement.

Amy joins us from Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, where her work has included the design and implementation of education, employment, and anti-corruption initiatives with youth. Amy has also facilitated “Storytelling for Changemaking” initiatives and produced courses with other social innovators around the world about Social Intrapreneurship for Innovation in Health. In her free time, she enjoys solving challenges with her volunteer social impact team at Development Solutions Organization. In addition, you will find her dancing (she’s a Doonya dance fitness instructor), adventuring in nature, running and hiking, reading, discussing Harry Potter, cooking, and overall being present with loved ones. She’s very excited to learn, re-imagine, do, collaborate, and grow with the SV2 community.

Amy holds a B.S. in International Relations, Public Policy and Management and M.S. in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Jody oversees SV2’s internal operations and supports SV2’s hands-on, collaborative grantmaking and impact investment processes. She guides SV2 Partners in their engagement with SV2’s programming, designed to transform their personal giving and investing through deep learning about power, privilege, racial justice, and equity. Jody has been an SV2 Donor Partner since 2008 and previously served as an SV2 Board member. She is also a Managing Director of The Campbell Foundation, a family foundation which makes grants focused on education equity. She holds a BA in History and Literature from Harvard University.

Jonathan Dena is a Gardner Fellow at SV2. The John Gardner Fellowship is a highly competitive fellowship awarded to three Berkeley graduates and three Stanford graduates each year, funding them to work for a public service agency of their choice. 

Jonathan is a graduate of UC Berkeley, earning a degree in urban planning with an emphasis in housing & real estate development, and community development. Originating in San Jose, Jonathan’s family struggled with housing instability during childhood, resulting in hazardous living conditions and teenage homelessness. Amid dire circumstances and removed from parental support, Jonathan would consecutively spend his teens and young adult years incarcerated. Jonathan overcame enormous obstacles to become the first in his family to attend college, starting college correspondence courses while in prison, transferring to a community college in Sacramento, and landing at UC Berkeley as a Regents’ & Chancellor’s Scholar. While at Berkeley, Jonathan volunteered for various community impact groups and worked for Alameda County’s Housing and Community Development agency as a policy and programs specialist, collaborating with various Bay Area governments for policy implementation and local community agencies for capacity building. Jonathan was also awarded several housing and real estate development fellowships nationally and across the Bay Area. Jonathan is a Co-Founder of Cre8innovations, an emerging nonprofit providing housing and wrap-around services to UC Berkeley’s most underrepresented students experiencing housing, food, and financial insecurities. Services include subsidized housing, financial literacy, mental health, mentorship, scholarships, internships, and community development – ultimately providing traditional resources to non-traditional students striving for higher education.

Daisy Manapsal is the Operations Associate at SV2. Her role focuses on supporting SV2’s operations, including administrative support, communications, events, and office management.

Daisy started her nonprofit career as a Residential Counselor for youth in foster care. She continued to serve children and youth in the dependency system at Child Advocates of Silicon Valley, both as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer and as a staff member. As the Director of Learning at Child Advocates, she oversaw recruitment, pre-service training, and continuing education for CASA volunteers.

In her free time, Daisy enjoys traveling, learning photography, and spending time with friends and family. Daisy holds a B.S. in Biology from University of California, Irvine and a Masters in Public Health from Drexel University.

David Onek is the CEO of SV2. He brings almost three decades of non-profit, government and private sector experience to the job and a deep commitment to equity and social justice. David previously served as Executive Director of the Northern California Innocence Project at Santa Clara Law School, as Deputy Director of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s Office of Criminal Justice, and most recently as Justice Director at the mission-driven consulting firm Resource Development Associates. He also taught at UC Berkeley Law School and served as Executive Director of the UC Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice. Earlier in his career, David worked for the W. Haywood Burns Institute for Juvenile Justice Fairness and Equity, Legal Services for Children, and the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. David is an active impact and angel investor and a long-time mindfulness meditation practitioner.  He is a graduate of Stanford Law School and Brown University, and lives in San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood with his wife Kara Dukakis and their two daughters.