Alston Ghafourifar, President

Alston is the President of Schools for Humanity. As a young champion for education and global citizenry, he has traveled to two dozen exotic and culturally diverse nations and has participated in a variety of social projects on and off college and university campuses. Alston's own extraordinary educational experiences have afforded him not only the opportunity, but also the deep desire to help democratize and improve education. Alston began his university track at the age of 14 and earned his bachelor’s degree in 2009, at 17, from the University of California, Santa Cruz, graduating with Highest Honors in Politics—with specialization in International Relations and Political Theory.

In addition to his duties at SFH, Alston, also serves as the Director of Social Innovation at Univetica Inc., a social venture aimed at creating a thriving global community. In 2008, he became an associate producer of the eye-opening feature documentary, Iran: Hot Tea, Cool Conversations, and assisted in bringing new awareness to the topic of citizen diplomacy and cultural education by organizing film screenings and discussion forums through several west coast universities and colleges.

Works of authorship and speeches by Alston include topics ranging from social movements to China-U.S. relations in the 21st century, from innovative mechanisms of governance to social capitalism. Alston’s forthcoming book, Video Games or Education: A 14-year-old’s Journey to College, is scheduled for release in March 2011.

Rocky Rocamora, Board of Directors

Rocky serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Schools for Humanity. He has more than 25 years of finance, operations, and executive management expertise in business, financial, education, and IT services sectors. He has designed and implementated key financial and information systems, raised capital, and successfully negotiated with numerous industry partners.

As the CEO, Rocky developed Employee Benefits Services Group into Northern California's leading financial and retirement planning services firm in the education sector. He is also the interim CFO of Applied Isotope Technologies, Inc., a biotech start-up committed to innovation in the field of Metrology.

Rocky is a member of the Board of Directors of Greater America Siquijorian Association, a non-profit organization committed to charitable work to the inhabitants of the island province of Siquijor, Philippines.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Commerce with a Major in Accounting from the University of San Carlos, Philippines. He also holds various professional licenses in Insurance, Real Estate and Securities and is a member of FINRA, NAR, CAR and the California Tax Education Council.

Mehdi Ghafourifar, Board of Directors

Mehdi serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Schools for Humanity. He is an author and social innovator with an established 25-year track record of dynamic business experiences in both for-profit and non-profit sectors, developing innovative, socially-minded projects that touch the lives of many. He leads the development of select international initiatives in the fields of energy and education. Mehdi's support of various non-profit groups has also included serving as a former member of Pars Equality Center’s Board of Directors as well as a former member of the Board of Hiller Aviation Institute. His passion for transformative education and social justice rests at the core of Mehdi's work.

Currently, Mehdi is the CEO and Chairman of Univetica Inc., and is the author of Univetica: Compelling Change (Arquos Publishing, 2010) as well as other works including Univetica’s Practical Approach to Critical Thinking and the Univetica in Education curricula series spanning junior high school through higher education all aimed at fostering critical and innovative thought processes.

Some of Mehdi’s other accomplishments include building the largest B2B membership organization in Silicon Valley, creating the Tradius payment system, a fully integrated global payment system including proprietary currency, credit card, and online services, and developing the BeMatched publishing platform, a robust global network solution aimed at bringing clarity and open access to the worlds of education and publishing. Mehdi is also the Chairman of Pillarton Corporation, a Silicon Valley-based strategic advisory firm.

Dave Brown, Founding Member

Dave has over 25 years experience in the high-technology and consulting industries. He has been a Vice President of Sales for various software companies, a Managing Director for an International Technology Consulting company, Country Manager for China and India, and a Regional Director in Asia. Dave has run multi-national projects across Asia and Europe and has established, staffed and operated offices in India, China and Singapore. In his younger days, Dave completed a full bricklaying apprenticeship and worked in the construction industry for a number of years.

Dave was a regular volunteer for the Peninsula Habitat for Humanity. He has sat on the board of the non-profit organization: "Digital Divide Data" (mentioned in "The World is Flat", by Thomas Friedman). Dave spent time as a volunteer for Digital Divide Data in Cambodia.

Joanna Delaney, Founding Member

Joanna works for the law firm, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Joanna is a dedicated volunteer; she has been responsible for organizing and leading teams for various non-profit agencies for the past 12 years and is a member of her firm's Community Service Committee. Joanna is also a regular volunteer for the Peninsula Habitat for Humanity.

Joanna has spent time building new homes for Habitat for Humanity in New Zealand.

Robert Gumina, Founding Member

Robert has worked on wall street for 14 years as a research analyst and money manager. He currently works as a venture capitalist. Robert has been active in non-profits for over twenty years. He has worked with various non-profits and currently sits on the board of directors for Festa Foundation, a public charity serving the needs of children and adults with developmental disabilities.

Before his financial career, Robert worked as an electrician in a local union during which he became knowledgeable with the trades. Robert received his Bachelor of Science in Applied Economics from the University of San Francisco.