Steve Tate
President
I had the good fortune of having two careers, both fun, rewarding and successful. In my 38-year career with IBM, I worked primarily in marketing roles after starting out in sales. IBM moved me to Morgan Hill in 1977 where I spent 25 years commuting to the San Jose plantsite serving in marketing and management positions supporting storage and software products.
In my second career, I spent 27 years with the City of Morgan Hill: seven years on the Planning Commission, eight years on the City Council, and twelve years as Mayor. I retired at the end of my sixth two-year term in December 2018.
I never set out to be a political leader, my love of Morgan Hill and passion for balanced growth inspired my civic involvement as I got involved in this wonderful community. I played a key role in extending our Redevelopment Agency and implementing projects that will benefit Morgan Hill for years to come. Over many years of tight budgeting, we kept Morgan Hill solvent and financially sound. In spite of ongoing growth, we have kept a small-town feel with friendly residents and many local gala events and gatherings.
I am committed to young people. I advise two of our Rotary Interact Clubs at local high schools, support Morgan Hill’s Youth Action Council and the El Toro Boys and Girls Club, The YMCA recognized my service with the Project Cornerstone Lifetime Asset Champion Award in 2017.
I am a member of Rotary Club of Morgan Hill and a past Board President; a Board member of Boys and Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley and I served as Board President of Leadership Morgan Hill in 2004-05. I am now back on the Leadership Board for a second round after receiving their Leadership Excellence Award in 2019. I am also a past Board President of the Santa Clara County Library Joint Powers Authority, the Cities Association of Santa Clara County, and the Peninsula Division of the League of California Cities. The Morgan Hill Community Foundation honored me as an Outstanding Philanthropist and Volunteer in 2018. The Morgan Hill Police Officers gave me their Public Safety award in 2019. I am also on the Board of the Compassion Center providing services to the homeless at a center located in Gilroy but serving all South County.
Jennifer, my wife of 50+ years and I have two adult children and two grandchildren. Daughter Stacy and her kids live in Gilroy while son Greg lives in San Francisco, so we are close and enjoy spending time together. Jennifer and I spend March in Arizona, enjoying Giants Spring Training games. We also enjoy traveling and try to make a trip to a new destination every year. We both read a lot, enjoy watching Giants baseball as well as 49ers and Cal football.
Daniel J. Sanidad
Vice President
Daniel is a former resident of Morgan Hill bringing twenty years of hand's on leadership training with him. His wife and three daughters relocated to Morgan Hill so that they may continue to directly support and nurture the foundational values of family and community. Daniel has extensive experience with both personal and business development. His fitness coaching practice has serviced a diversity of generational variances including top level executives in the Silicon Valley. More recently he has ventured into brand development and business positioning utilizing the same successful coaching strategies accrued over two decades. Daniel continues to educate a system of efficiency including for several start-ups, local businesses and non-profit organizations to help maximize their ongoing relevance both in the market and longevity in their community.
Daniel graduated from Leadership Morgan Hill in 2018 and is also a Director and Vice President for the Morgan Hill Mushroom Festival Board.
Lori Allen
Director
Lori was raised in Tennessee and became a resident of Morgan Hill in October 2016. By January 2017 she was already immersed into the Morgan Hill Community as a member of the Leadership Morgan Hill Class of 2017.
Lori is the Director of Programs and Communications for the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce. She loves building professional and personal relationships in her position and strives every day to be a positive and contributing influence in the Morgan Hill Community.
Jason Amezcua
Director
Jason was raised in Southern California and moved to Morgan Hill in 2017 with his wife Jessica. Jason has a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) from Saint Louis University and has been fortunate to have a career focused on service to others. His 20-year professional career includes working in the field of Student Affairs at several colleges and universities including San Diego State, San Jose State, the University of Kansas and his alma mater, Saint Louis University. Beyond that, he has also served at several non-profit organizations and as a Whistleblower Investigator for the County of Santa Clara, where he helps address systemic issues of fraud, waste, and abuse.
Educating and improving the lives of others is a passion that that Jason has had his entire life. He is a strong advocate for equity and social justice and believes that Black Lives Matter. There is no better place to do this than in northern California, Silicon Valley and Morgan Hill. He is a graduate from the Leadership Morgan Hill Class of 2020 and hopes to further assist in engaging others to be leaders in our community. Because he is such a huge fan of Morgan Hill, he was very motivated to be a part of an organization, based in the city, which promotes civic engagement through leadership development.
Christine Bourne
director
Christy was born and raised in the Monterey Bay area. She received her J.D. at Santa Clara University School of Law and her undergraduate degree in psychology and cultural anthropology at University of California, Davis.
Christy represents clients with business, real property, and trust and estate needs. She advocates for her clients in all phases of litigation, including case investigation and strategy, pleadings, discovery, motion practice, early resolution and trial. She has experience litigating and resolving disputes in both California state and federal court.
Christy lives in Palo Alto with her husband and their Italian truffle dog, Archie. When not practicing law, Christy enjoys working out, hiking, and generally being active.
Darcy Foster
Director
Darcy moved to Morgan Hill in 1977. She graduated from the University of Michigan where she studied foreign language, history and government. She obtained her teaching credentials from both the University of Michigan and the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Darcy held positions in private industry and with the city of San Jose in finance, operations, IT and marketing. She returned to teaching in 2002 and taught for 17 years as a secondary education teacher with a focus in language, history and government. In addition to teaching, she managed the associated student body organization for Live Oak High School for 6 years and coached the cheerleading programs at Britton Middle School and Live Oak for 9 years.
Darcy loves Morgan Hill and has volunteered for many projects in the city, including the 1st Morgan Hill Mushroom Mardi Gras and the implementation of the CERT Program. She believes one of our greatest strengths is our community’s commitment to engage our residents in this close-knit town.
Darcy spends her free time gardening at home, volunteering for AAUW and Leadership, Morgan Hill and is a trustee for the MH United Methodist Church. She is a graduate of the Leadership Morgan Hill, class of 2020…the best class ever!
Tim Hansen
Director
Tim grew up in Chicago and transplanted to the Bay Area after college. He has been a Morgan Hill resident since 2000 and loves its uniqueness and vitality. Tim’s enthusiasm for Morgan Hill was incited by his experience in the Leadership Morgan Hill Class of 2017. He is also a volunteer with the St. Vincent de Paul Society, which helps local residents in need.
Professionally, Tim is a program management executive and has spent most of his career in wireless telecom with Aviat Networks, joining it as a startup. He has led multiple product development teams in rolling out microwave radio platforms and had led several merger integrations. Tim is passionate about helping project teams achieve their goal through resilient communication and by overcoming tough obstacles.
Tim is married and is the father of three daughters. He graduated with a BSEE from the University of Illinois and an MBA from UCLA Anderson. In his free time, he’s trying to learn the banjo. He is also an avid sports fan.
Amy Martinez
DIRECTOR
Amy moved to Morgan Hill with her family 20 years ago. She graduated with a BS in Hospitality Recreation and Tourism Management with a focus in Event Planning. She has worked in the private and corporate Event Management space for over 15 years and just recently moved into Real Estate and absolutely loves the new change.
She was one of the 23 graduates of the 2022 class of Leadership Morgan Hill. Amy blossomed through the program personally and professionally. She believes to her core that this program is something that everyone in Morgan Hill should do and is looking forward to sit on the board and further the Leadership Morgan Hill mission to inspire, connect and serve.
When she is not working you can find her hanging out with the cutest goldendoodle named Finley, early morning workouts at Orangetheory and afternoons at Morgan Hill Yoga Collective. She also enjoys spending time with her nieces and nephew or traveling with or to visit friends. She is committed to her community and has been an active member of the Junior League of San Jose for over 7 years and recently joined the AAUW chapter in Morgan Hill.
Cinda L. Meister
Director
Raised in rural Michigan on a farm and Graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Social Work and Psychology before coming to California via Colorado.
After working in the resort restaurant business in Colorado for many years, Cinda and her husband, Brad, whose family lived in Morgan Hill in the early 1900s, moved to here to open a restaurant called Mushrooms Grille & Bar. They soon fell in love with the Community and have been actively involved ever since! After leaving the restaurant business they opened BookSmart, a gift shop, the Good Life Café and a toy store all in Morgan Hill. BookSmart, operating for over 22 years, moved last year to its new home. Cinda has been a Morgan Hillian for over 25 years and is involved in many ways in the community. Over the years Cinda has been involved with many diverse organizations in MH including the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, The Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce, the Historical Society, the Freedom Fest, Charter School of Morgan Hill and more.
Because of her passion for the MH community, Cinda has helped create a new non-profit organization called BookSmart Community Advantage, whose mission is to foster literacy and community through reading, writing, art and educational programs. Cinda is a 2016 graduate of Leadership Morgan Hill and is looking forward to her continued involvement with the program and the community.
Don Moody
Director
Don and his family are from Massachusetts and relocated to Morgan Hill 32 years ago for Don’s job in the biomedical space. Don’s daughters attended Morgan Hill schools and upon graduating from Live Oak High School attended Santa Clara University. Don’s wife, Sandy, worked for many years in the MHUSD at Paradise Valley, Britton, Sobrato and Jackson.
Don is recently retired after working 46 years in the biomedical industry managing multiple locations throughout North America. Don holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and a graduate degree from The Ohio State University. Don is a recent graduate of Leadership Morgan Hill, Class of 2023. Prior to that most of his local leadership focus was on our schools where he served in various roles leading up to 10 years of service on the Morgan Hill Board of Education.
Through Leadership Morgan Hill Don intends to continue to give back to his community.
Cyndy Sanchez-Singh
Director
Cyndy is a Bay Area Native. She has fantastic support from her husband of over 19 years, a son in 3rd grade, and a daughter in 5th grade, both attending Charter School Morgan Hill. Cyndy is a local Bay Area real estate broker associate, helping many families achieve homeownership for the past 20 years. In addition to being on the Charter School Foundation Board, Cyndy also serves on the Leadership Morgan Hill BOD. She has previously served on the Women's Council of Realtors Silicon Valley BOD, as an Ambassador for the Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce, and as a member of the National Hispanic Organization Real Estate Associates of Santa Clara County. Cyndy has had a passion for cooking since she was a little girl; she graduated from the French Culinary Institute and successfully owned and operated a private catering business from 2011 to 2015. Cyndy enjoys spending time with her family, being an active parent with all things sports and all other extracurriculars, big time foodie, wine tasting with friends, and traveling!
Tammy Parker
Director
Raised in Southern California and a graduate of USC, Tammy moved to San Jose in the early 80's to work for IBM. She was fortunate to have various roles, jobs and opportunities for education with Big Blue. Her career at IBM lasted 34 years until her software development team and product were acquired by Unicom Global in 2016. She continues to support the product as a software engineer working for Unicom.
Tammy moved to Morgan Hill in 1989 when she and her husband Ray were married. They raised 3 children in Morgan Hill, son Thomas and twin daughters: Anna and Claire, who are all busy now with their adult lives, working in the Tech industry. Various school, community and church activities kept the family busy during the kids' growing up years.
AAUW sponsored Tammy to attend Leadership Morgan Hill in 2022. She loves Morgan Hill and all that it has to offer.
Margaret Graham
Director
Margaret Graham moved to Morgan Hill with her family in 2003. Born in Dallas, Texas, Margaret moved many times throughout her childhood. California has been home for thirty one years.
Margaret attended Mount Holyoke College, and holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. She worked in the U.S House of Representatives and at the U.S. Department of State. Following her time in government, Margaret was a principal at the Washington Institute, Inc., a think tank specializing in national security policy, technology and strategy.
For the past several years, Margaret has turned her post-retirement attention to working with the Morgan Hill Kiwanis Club. She is a past president of that organization and currently sits in their board. Nurturing and supporting the children of our community is a mission near and dear to her heart.
Margaret is married and has three grown children. She is a graduate the Leadership Class of 2020.
Angelia Guglielmo
Director
Angelia was born and raised in Morgan Hill. After high school, she moved down to San Luis Obispo for college, where she met her husband, Issac. After 10 years in San Luis Obispo, they moved to Florida where Angelia attended a trade school to become a marine technician. From Florida they moved up the coast to Boston to be closer to her sister. After 5 years in Boston, her and her husband moved back to California so that Angelia could help with her family’s wine business. She eventually left the winery to follow her passion of working with animals and is currently a dog trainer with Lori Hamilton Dog Training out of San Jose.
Angelia went through the Leadership program in 2018 and truly enjoyed getting reinvolved and reacquainted with her hometown.
Her and her husband enjoy living a simply live with their dog Lily and are always ready for whatever road life decides to bring them down next.
Mark Matthews
Director
Mark was raised in southern California and moved to Morgan Hill in 2017. Mark has 2 stepsons who attended Live Oak High School and have moved on to college. Additionally, he has 3 children and 7 grandchildren.
Mark recently retired after almost 38 years in Program Management leadership roles for various defense and aerospace companies such as Boeing Defense Systems, BAE Systems, Loral and several small aerospace companies.
He is a graduate from the Leadership Morgan Hill Class of 2022 and hopes to further assist in engaging others to be leaders in our community. Because he is such a huge fan of Morgan Hill, he was very motivated to be a part of an organization, based in the city, which promotes civic engagement through leadership development.
He has a BS degree in Business Administration from the University of Redlands, CA and maintained a Program Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Program Management Institute (PMI) for many years.
Jeffrey S. Prickett
TREASURER
Jeff Prickett was born and raised in Iowa and Illinois. He moved to Morgan Hill from South Africa in 2013.
Jeff currently serves as the Global Director for Stanford Seed - a Stanford Graduate School of Business-led initiative that partners with entrepreneurs in emerging markets to build enterprises that transform lives. In his current role, he manages teams in West Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and South Asia. Before joining Stanford Seed, Jeff served as Director of Management & Operations for United States Peace Corps in Pretoria, South Africa, and N'Djamena, Chad. He obtained a Master’s in Public Policy from Walden University, an MA in Education from Teachers College – Columbia University, and a BS in Accountancy from the University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign. Jeff is married with 5 sons, and 2 grandsons.
Jeff graduated from Leadership Morgan Hill in 2016, and currently leads a group of volunteers (#cleanMH) working to reduce littering and dumping in Morgan Hill.
Jeff Schumacher
Director
Jeff moved to Morgan Hill in 2020 with his wife, Kayla, and their cats and dog. Seeking to connect with their new community, Jeff and Kayla participated in the Leadership Morgan Hill class of 2023, and helped beautify a community gazebo with mural art from a local artist.
With a BS in Computer Science from the University of Arizona, Jeff's career has spanned roles at both a startup, PredictSpring, and Google, where he works on Android app development.
In his personal time, Jeff enjoys photography and 3D printing, hobbies that allow him to explore his creative interests outside of his technology career.
Harpreet Vittal
Director
Harpreet was born and raised in India, lived in Singapore and then moved to Saratoga, CA in 2001. She has been a resident of Morgan Hill since 2017.
Harpreet has a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Sociology and a Masters in Business Administration. She is a member of the AAUW chapter of Morgan Hill and is on the Parks and Recreation Commission for the City Of Morgan Hill.
A graduate of Leadership Morgan Hill, class of 2022, she would like to further the Leadership Morgan Hill mission to inspire, connect and serve and to promote community involvement and volunteer service. Harpreet enjoys reading, hiking, walking and running.
Sheila Murphy
program facilitator
Sheila Murphy brings a wealth of experience and background to the position from Teaching and Leadership, to Business/Management experience and Technology. Sheila has those important Personal Attributes of being collaborative, innovative, patient, empathetic, well organized and data-driven. These are so important to oversee the class as they go through their 13 week / 60+ hours of training and project experience. Murphy previously served as a Principal, Executive Director for Human Relations and as an Instructional Coach for the Milpitas and San Jose School Districts. She holds a EdD in Educational Leadership and a Master’s degree in Administration and Supervision and is also a Certified Life Coach. She has done research on various cultural issues throughout her career and her extensive teaching experience is a major asset for the Leadership program and its students.
Sheila says she is very excited to be a part of the Leadership Morgan Hill Program and looks forward to continuing her involvement with her students in the Morgan Hill Community. She has stepped right in and started with the new class of 21 members for the 2020 year.
Kinnaly Vongsa
program administrator
Kinnaly Vongsa was born in the Central Valley and raised in San Jose. She graduated from UC Merced with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular and Cellular Biology. She recently became a resident of Morgan Hill last year. She is excited to bring her knowledge in leadership and passion for community service to the program and is looking forward to learning more about the town. Some of the many organizations she has volunteered at were Rotary, Kiwanis, and Project Homeless Connect.