Laura McNabb, Executive Director
Working alongside the CCG community to make Our Mission a reality for as many people as possible is a privilege I shoulder with urgency and social responsibility. CGG’s Mission is one that I fully endorse; providing youth who are racially, socially and economically diverse opportunities to consider their own unique stories alongside others doing the same in a safe space is imperative for our global community. CCG and myself are committed to providing Commoners with scaffolds and explicit instruction about intercultural competence coupled with real time practice to learn about how to inclusively navigate a variety of social constructs. After experiencing CCG, Commoners are equipped to apply learnings in daily aspects of their lives and receive foundational assets to develop into globally minded change makers, leaders and upstanders.
As a first time Executive Director of a Nonprofit, I come to CCG humble and eager to learn. I bring over fifteen years of diverse experiences in the public K-12 education sector as an administrator, project manager, teacher and advocate. Originally from Southern California, I currently reside in Redwood City, CA with Chad, my partner of 17 years. We share our home with our three young children and our cat: Andy (6 years old), Finn (7 years old), Eli (8 years old), Kitten the cat (17 years old). My hobbies include playing water polo, cooking, reading, singing, swimming laps, spending time with loved ones, seeing/tasting the world, watching movies and napping.
Evan fortin (Left), Ron Towns (Right) - Leadership Academy Facilitators
Evan was born and raised in the Bay Area and has been an educator here for the past 8 years. He was the founding teacher of Oakland’s first Public Montessori Middle School Program where he supported students in intercultural learning, youth activism, and project based community engagement. Evan has a Masters in Education from Mills College and was awarded for Innovation in Social Justice Practices in Education. He was a teacher fellow with Agency by Design Oakland, as well as a hometeam member with Stanford’s d.school k-12 lab. Evan obtained his B.A. in Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies from The Evergreen State College. Evan loves to explore California’s beautiful coast by hiking and surfing. He has also been known to teach a student or two how to ride a good wave.
Board of Directors
Camp Common Ground is proud to have such an amazing and dedicated group of individuals serving as a Board members!
Ben Gips, Board chair
Ben believes that young people hold a unique power to effect change in their communities and that outdoor settings, summer camp in particular, offers the perfect environment to grow these leadership skills. Outdoor experiences were a common thread growing up between Colorado, South Africa, and Washington DC. Ben initially started working with Camp Common Ground as a Project Lead with YCore, working with a team of volunteers to build an impact report.
Currently, Ben works in Product Operations at Byteboard which focuses on reimagining interview processes to facilitate more equitable access to technical careers. Ben has previously worked as a consultant to foundations and nonprofits at Redstone Strategy Group and a Chief of Staff at Kountable, an international trade finance startup. When he’s not working, you can find him hiking, skiing, or trying to learn how to throw a frisbee.
ANNIE DEAR - Vice President/Secretary
Annie has been a camper and a counselor at various camps from the ages of four through twenty-two, where she did things like build fairy houses, learn about local ecosystems, and go for long runs at altitude. These experiences gave her lifelong friends, a venue for self-exploration, and opportunities to see both new places and old places in new ways. Born and raised in Olympia, WA, her family spent many days and nights in the mountains throughout the northwest. She believes that camp experiences, especially ones that introduce you to new people in the outdoors, offer life lessons and leadership opportunities that should be available to young people everywhere.
Annie is a Director Social Finance, a national impact investing and advisory nonprofit, where she works with state and local governments on quality improvement and outcomes funding initiatives that implement data-driven and community-informed practices to deliver better results from social programs. Annie previously worked in policy research for a California state senator. Annie holds a B.A. in Political Science from Williams College. Outside of work, you can find Annie running and hiking on the Bay Area trails, racing marathons, and playing outside with her husband and son.
Lea Li
Lea has had quite a global journey! From the charming coastal town of East China's Shandong province, Lea ventured abroad for her master's studies at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and a research visit to ETH Zurich in Switzerland. Then, she embraced the U.S., starting in Chicago and later in sunny Mountain View, California, when she joined Oracle.
With a computer science background from NUS and an MBA from UC Berkeley, Lea's tech adventure covers over 15 years, mainly in Cloud and AI. She's been on quite the ride, from co-founding a tech startup as CPO to managing programs and engineering at Amazon. These days, she's loving her role as a Technical PM lead at Meta.
Beyond the tech world, Lea is all about adventures. You'll often find her immersed in a book or exploring the great outdoors, whether it's hiking, traveling, or skiing. She also loves making some noise on an acoustic piano. And when she's not reading or making music, you might catch her on the golf course, swinging a club or two.
Brittany Nuno-Pelay0
Brittany is a Camp Common Ground alum parent. She knows first hand the positive impact that the program has on young people and is excited to join the Board in their important work supporting the CCG mission. Brittany feels that Camp Common Ground offers youth a unique opportunity to develop skills that are not always a focus in school, but that are essential to becoming compassionate and successful people in our changing world.
Brittany is a born and bred Oaklander who spends as much time as possible with her family in Jalisco, México. She attended Merritt College and transferred to Mills College where she earned her B.A. in Child Development with a minor in Women’s Studies. She has worked in education, predominantly in Early Childhood, for over 17 years. She is currently the Admissions Director at a local Spanish immersion preschool.
Volunteering is an important and fulfilling activity for Brittany. Besides collaborating on the CCG Board, she also volunteers once a week at Oakland Animal Service with cats, and likes to participate in other local opportunities. For fun Brittany enjoys reading, spending time with family, going outside, and traveling.
Katie Ginsberg
Katie has loved the outdoors, especially California’s mountain ranges, since she started camping with her family as a child. She has gained confidence and lifelong friends from her camping experiences, and she loves that CCG provides students in her hometown the same opportunity.
Katie didn’t go very far for college. She attended UC Berkeley, where she studied Political Economy and City Planning. After a couple of years working in land planning San Francisco, she moved to South Korea and taught English. When she returned to the Bay Area, she began her career in edtech, where she remained for six years. Currently, she is completing her MBA at her alma mater and wants to continue her career in social impact and education. She lives in Oakland with her husband who also loves camping and works in education. In her spare time, she can be found reading, writing, skiing and going on walks with her miniature Schnauzer, Stanley.
VINEET Sahni - Treasurer
Vineet is the latest addition to the CCG Board. He is a soon-to-be graduating MBA student at UC Berkeley and husband to a Bay Area native, and they live together in Oakland (not far from CCG’s main office). Vineet has had a diverse and international upbringing, moving from India where he was born to living in Nepal, U.A.E, and Jamaica, amongst other places. Although he did not attend summer camps growing up himself, Vineet has a strong appreciation for youth development and sharing positive communal experiences amongst nature. With his keen interest in youth leadership and non-profit board service, Vineet hopes to bring an intellectually and emotionally diverse perspective to CCG’s board and mission.
summer camp COUNSeLORS
Aurora Lionée Jeffrey was born and raised in Hilo, Hawai'i. She is grateful for all that Hawai'i has taught her and hopes to eventually return better prepared to give back to the community. For now, she lives in California's Bay Area on land home to Patwin, Miwok, and Ohlone people. When her family could afford a summer camp experience for her as a kid, her favorite activities occurred during downtime when she and other campers got to lead games themselves and have conversations about identity and values. Aurora has spent her whole life intrigued by heritage, history, and how those elements of culture shape our daily lives. In her career, she hones in on those ideas graduating with a Bachelors in Sociology from Vassar College. Two years later, Aurora continues those conversations in elementary school classrooms. She is working toward her credential in elementary education and interested in building accessible curriculum that empowers young people to discuss acceptance, equity, oppression, and their role in change.
Joey serves as the Athletic Consultant for Argonne Elementary School in San Francisco, CA. Joey has extensive experience directing outdoor sports programs for youth at both Hi-Five Sports Zone and the YMCA-Richmond District. In his spare time, Joey loves playing kickball, hanging with friends, and studying best practices to engage youth in physical activity.
Jamie was born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley (Tongva territory) just east of Los Angeles. While in college, she became passionate about environmental justice, and learning and working with youth. Naturally, after graduating, Jamie became a high school science teacher in South LA, where she currently teaches courses such as biology and environmental science to students in grades 9 and 12. Throughout her seven years in education, Jamie has implemented restorative justice practices and social emotional learning that centers student well-being and building relationships. When Jamie isn't teaching, she is giving her dog (Orejitas) belly rubs, hiking with her husband, facilitating yoga classes, and tending to her garden. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Analysis from Pomona College and a M.A. in Urban Education from Loyola Marymount University.
Hap comes to the Bay Area from Denver, Colorado. He serves as the College Readiness Counselor at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Early College in Denver Public Schools. Hap has a decade of experience working with youth and is very excited to join the Camp Common Ground community this summer.
Megan is a recent graduate of James Madison University in Virginia, where she recently obtained her B.S. in Justice Studies. Megan has multiple years of experience working with youth, including serving as a Lead Mentor in the Valley Forge Scholars Program. During her time at Valley Forge Scholars, she mentored first-generation college students on how to navigate the college application process and college systems. She has taught youth how to swim and led sports programs for multiple groups of youth. She is so excited for the summer!