BOARD OF DIRECTORS
JENNY GOMEZ, CHAIR
Jenny is an independent film producer. Her award-winning films have played around the world in festivals from Cork to Aspen, and her feature film THE WEEK is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. Jenny believes that filmmaking enriches lives and that students of all ages should have access to this essential and vital art form. When Jenny isn’t making movies, you can find her huffing and puffing up Fitch Mountain with her dog Annie, yelling at the top of her lungs at one of her teen sons’ sporting events, or making dinner with her husband Rick in the kitchen of their Healdsburg farmhouse.
ANN ELSTON, SECRETARY
Ann joined the board of the Alexander Valley Film Society in 2019. She and her husband, Larry Lossing, have practiced law together for 40 years, most of it in San Francisco. Now full-time in Sonoma County, Ann enjoys country living, spending days in the gardens and orchard. Education in all its forms and formats, including film, has always been a very high priority for her. She lived part-time in desperately poor Niger in the early 2000s where she saw first-hand that video could be an effective tool to educate a mostly illiterate community. Ann serves on the HR committee, a good assignment for an almost retired lawyer who specialized in employment law.
Kirsten Tellez, treasurer
Kirsten Tellez is a Director of Development at Sonoma State University. Kirsten’s career started in television production, but two children (now adulting) later, transitioned into non-profit and educational fundraising. She has been at Sonoma State for three years and currently works to support the Center for Environmental Inquiry, the School of Science and Technology, and the School of Social Sciences. When not listening to podcasts on her daily commute, Kirsten is happiest up to her elbows in dirt working in her garden. As an avid reader, she believes in the power of the story and the essential medium of film to share important truths and beautiful fictions.
KIM BENDER
Kim Bender is a writer and producer. As a Producing Fellow at the American Film Institute, she learned the art of collaboration: filmmaking requires a commitment to and belief in the value of co-creation. After film school, Kim worked as a reader of film and television scripts, produced a number of short films, and worked at HBO on an original series. She moved back to the Bay Area where she put her producing skills, particularly in raising funds, to work at the San Francisco Art Institute, the California Film Institute, the San Francisco Film Society, BAVC and BAM/PFA. In 2014, she began to focus on raising funds for social justice. She was the senior director of development at the GLIDE Foundation for five years, and now is the executive director of the Healthcare Foundation Northern Sonoma County. Kim has enjoyed working with volunteers on difficult issues of our time, from income inequality to the housing crisis, and is honored to be working with the generous, deeply civic-minded people of northern Sonoma County on healthcare access, mental health and health equity.
SUE CAMPBELL
Sue joined the AVFS Board in 2019 and is currently serving as the Chair of the Board Recruitment & Development Committee. She spent her career as a healthcare management consultant, initially for Accenture and then at Kaiser Permanente. She has also served on numerous non-profit Boards. Sue is passionate about film, having volunteered and then worked for the Mill Valley Film Festival for a number of years. She also attends film festivals regularly, including Mill Valley, San Francisco, Sundance, Telluride, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, Seattle, Toronto, and Cannes. Besides film, she loves reading, hiking, and traveling, as well as her husband John and her dog Rodeo.
LAUREN CARTWRIGHT
Lauren is the Business Retention & Expansion Program Manager for the Sonoma County Economic Development Board. Lauren holds a BA in International Economic Development and an MBA and recently launched her career into the public sector after nearly a decade of working in the local wine and hospitality industry. Her experience primarily focused on brand marketing strategy, public relations, and digital marketing with an overarching theme of consumer engagement. She resides in Santa Rosa with her husband Alex and menagerie of pets, where they enjoy spending their free time exploring the great outdoors and sampling the famous wines of the region.
hillary kambour
Hillary is a retired trial and appellate attorney who spend most of her career representing abused, abandoned, and neglected children. Since moving to Dry Creek Valley in 2015, Hillary is busy in her garden, volunteering around the area, running, hiking, and biking, and trying to become proficient in Spanish. She lives with her husband Michael and their adorable Labrahula (really a mutt) Ziggy. Hillary’s first love was film. She spent her tweens holed up in a local theater watching classic films, her parenting years watching thrillers, and until COVID, never went more than a week or two without a movie theater experience. She loves movies —- but mostly loves to watch them on the big screen with the “ooohs” and “ahhhhs” of her fellow moviegoers around her.
JEANNE KEARNS
Jeanne is a non-profit professional with nearly two decades of development and leadership experience. As Executive Director for the American Heart Association, she currently leads the organization’s North Bay efforts to achieve health equity for all through transformative partnerships with local businesses and volunteers. An actor and classic film buff in her youth, Jeanne has always had a passion for the arts. She earned her BA in Film Studies at UC Santa Barbara and her early career includes development roles with San Francisco Film Society, California Film Institute and Stanford Jazz Workshop. When Jeanne is not building powerful partnerships and solving problems with creativity, strategy, and passion in service of the community, she enjoys swimming, cooking, travel, and spending time with her husband and two young children.
LIZBETH PEREZ
Lizbeth was born in Mexico City and has resided in Healdsburg since 2001. Lizbeth is the Programs Manager at Corazón Healdsburg. A film enthusiast, she is also passionate about her community and has experience working in Mexico as a Social Worker and Adult Educator. Lizbeth has first-hand experience with the challenges of being an immigrant including language barriers, lack of understanding of community systems and requirements, cultural differences, struggling for affordable housing and feeling isolated in her search for better opportunities in life. In 2008, when her first son started kindergarten at Healdsburg Elementary School, Lizbeth got involved with the English Learners Advisory Committee (ELAC). For many years, she has encouraged other parents to develop leadership skills to make their voices heard in order that Healdsburg Schools meet the needs of all children. Lizbeth is a part-time student at SRJC, studying to become an accountant. In 2019, Lizbeth received the Jackie Hoffner Heart & Hope Award for her heart, passion, community impact and optimism.
RANDY SCHAI
mike stok
Mike is a partner and co-owner of Murray, Stok & Company, an accounting and consulting firm based in San Francisco. Among Mike’s core areas of expertise are tax planning, compliance, and business consulting. Mike and his wife, Debra, began splitting their time between San Francisco and Cloverdale in 2014. As Mike spent more and more time in northern Sonoma County, he got to observe up close how the AVFS helps bring this wonderful community together through film, arts, and education. His appreciation for their efforts, his shared love of film, and desire to contribute to the Society’s success, prompted him to join the board in 2019. Mike is a dual citizen of the US and the Netherlands and is fluent in Dutch. He enjoys travel, sports (especially soccer), cooking, entertaining, and spending time with friends and family.
FOUNDING BOARD MEMBERS
The Alexander Valley Film Society owes sincere and ongoing gratitude to the founding members whose generous and extensive contributions helped launch and shepherd the organization. Thank you for your service!
TOD HILL, EMERITUS
(served 2014-2019)
JENNESS BREWER, EMERITUS
(served 2015-2020)
RENAY FANELLI, EMERITUS
(served 2015-2020)
NANCY DALWIN, EMERITUS
(served 2014-2019)
JOE DOBBINS, EMERITUS
(served 2015-2020)
DIANNE VERNON, EMERITUS
(served 2015-2020)
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