Board of Directors

Our Board is composed of leaders in education, business, and the community. These volunteers provide valuable strategic guidance to Civicorps Schools.

Amy Slater, President

Amy Slater is president of the board of directors of the EBCC. She is a 1976 graduate of the University of California at San Diego and a 1981 graduate of Hastings College of the Law. After law school, Amy worked for various law firms in San Francisco and from 1997 to 2000 was the General Counsel of Ask Jeeves, Inc. Amy has been a member of the board of the EBCC since 2003; she is also a director of the East Bay Community Foundation and a member of the Development Council of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders.

Thomas Mead, Vice President

Thomas D. Mead is a Senior Vice President at Webcor Builders, a $1.5 billion commercial general contractor based in San Mateo and the largest in the Bay Area.  Mr. Mead is responsible for all hospitality projects, as well as many high-rise residential projects and institutional projects.  A 30-year veteran of the construction industry, Mr. Mead is active in many nationwide construction and community-based projects.

Robbie Yohai, Treasurer

Mr. Yohai is a licensed real estate broker and developer.  Currently, he is the Managing General Partner for Linden Associates and President of Schaefer Heights, Inc. in Oakland, California. 

Stephen Davenport, Secretary

Stephen Davenport is a 1953 graduate of Oberlin College and received his MA from Trinity College in 1965. He has a long career in education including teaching since 1957, serving as the Head of School for the Country School in Connecticut (1973-77) and the Athenian School in Danville, California (1977-87), and consulting to independent schools from 1987 to 2000. Steve has published articles in The New York Times and was awarded “Capital Area Teacher of the Year” in 2000. Davenport’s most recent work, Saving Miss Oliver’s, is a novel of leadership, commitment and change.  It is about what happens in an all girls boarding school when the long-time, beloved, autocratic headmistress is fired.

Craig Y. Bloom

Dr. Bloom is currently in private practice in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMS) in Berkeley, California and serves as Chief of OMS at Alta Bates- Summit Medical Center.  He is currently an associate professor of OMS at the University of the Pacific and Highland Hospital Alameda Medical Center in Oakland, CA.  Previously he has served as Chairperson of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the University of California, Irvine.  He lives with his wife and 2 daughters in Lafayette, California.

Rita Isaacs

Rita Isaacs spent eight years in international film sales, followed by four years of consultancy in corporate and systems design and administration for international film, television and video start-up companies in Los Angeles. After the birth of her second child, Rita retired to spend the next 15 years homemaking and volunteering. She has served on the on the parent boards of preschool, elementary, middle and high schools as well as for various parent organizations in the city of Piedmont. She also served as Vice President of the Board of Directors at Temple Sinai in Oakland, assisted on their capital campaign, and chaired their 2000-2002 Endowment Campaign. Rita and her husband, Ian, have three children: David (21), Mickey (16) and Marjorie (14). 

Yolanda Peeks

Yolanda Peeks has been a member of the EBCC Board since 1995, but was an active supporter for many years earlier in her role as district liaison to the partnership between the Oakland Unified School District and EBCC.  Yolanda served Oakland students for over 30 years as teacher, principal, assistant then associate superintendent of curriculum & instruction, and executive director.  Dedicated to participating in efforts to expand successful learning and rewarding life opportunities for youth, Yolanda has volunteered for many years with non-profits such as Partners in School Innovation, the Marcus A. Foster Educational Foundation, East Bay Reading Association, Bay Area and National Writing Projects and continues her civic mission to this day through EBCC.

Eric Premack

Eric Premack is the founder and Co-Director of the Charter Schools Development Center (CSDC), a leading provider of policy expertise and technical assistance to charter schools, charter-granting agencies, and policy makers.  Premack has played a leading role in the development of the chartered school concept since its inception in his native Minnesota in the 1980s and has helped to draft and implement chartered school legislation in over 25 states, at the federal level, and overseas.  He is known for his broad and deep expertise in all aspects of charter school matters and his in-depth grasp of education policy.  Prior to founding CSDC, Premack provided consulting services to hundreds of California school districts and previously was a non-partisan education policy analyst for the California Legislature.  He is a graduate of both the College and the Harris Graduate School of Public Policy of the University of Chicago.

Anne Scheer

Anne Scheer is the Chief of Maintenance and Skilled Trades at the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) in Oakland, California.  She oversees the Maintenance and Skilled Trades Department, including a staff of 65 regular full-time employees and a $12.4 million budget.  She is responsible for all major maintenance of the District’s 68 parks encompassing 98,000 acres of open space.  Ms. Scheer has worked her way up at EBRPD, starting in fire services in 1978; working as a Park Ranger until 1983, then shifting to office work as an Administrative Analyst II for 11 years before her promotion to Trades Manager in 1994.  Ms. Scheer has been in her present position since 2002.  She holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Conservation and Resource Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.

Download the Board of Director's By-Laws (PDF 60KB)

Download the 2007-2008 Board Meeting Schedule (PDF 7KB)