Board of Directors

Charmaine Wong, Board Secretary, is the Vice President of Technical Solutions Operations at Datadog.   She oversees the SupportOps team to expand their scope of operations to all Technical Solutions teams in addition to building a Project Management Office from the ground up with the mission of optimizing efficiencies (people, process, technology) and driving innovation.  Charmaine has 18+ years of experience working with companies to deliver world-class experiences and scaling how customer-facing teams operate at Marakon Associates, and Medallia. She has spent 15 years at Medallia in various roles focused on scaling and growing all post-sale customer functions.  Charmaine loves the mountains, she hiked the AV1 trail (75 miles) in the Italian Dolomites, and snowboard. Charmaine holds a Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in Industrial Engineering & Management Sciences, and Economics from Northwestern University.

Gabrielle Alexander is an attorney with the Contra Costa County Public Defender’s Office. She has worked as a public defender in Contra Costa County since 2017 representing indigent individuals as they navigate the criminal justice system. In 2017, she began to serve on the Contra Costa County Public Defender’s Racial Justice and Diversity Committee (RJDC) which seeks to promote racial justice and diversity in recruitment, hiring, retention, and promotions of all staff attorneys; and as of 2024, she has been an executive board member of RJDC. Prior to joining the Public Defender’s Office, Gabrielle worked as a staff attorney at the Law Office of Rachel Ewing within the Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers, Inc. Gabrielle represented parents and legal guardians in the dependency system as they worked through the reunification process with their children. She is passionate about the rights of juveniles and is committed to elevating their voices especially within the criminal and dependency systems. Gabrielle has a BA in Communication from Santa Clara University and a JD from the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Samuel Carter was a part of Alameda County’s child welfare system throughout most of his childhood.  He became a client of East Bay Children’s Law Offices when it opened in 2009 until he emancipated in 2012.  Unlike most emancipating foster youth, Sam went on to graduate from college.  He earned a BA in Africana Studies from Cal State Northridge in 2018.  In 2021, Sam earned his master’s degree and teaching credential from the Alder Graduate School of Education.  Sam is now teaching math and coaching basketball at his alma mater, Lighthouse Community School. Sam looks forward to influencing EBCLO’s future by sharing his valuable lived experiences with the Board.

Julie Grijalva has been a dedicated volunteer in her community for the last 15 years, serving as an executive board member in various PTA, PTSA and Athletic Boosters organizations in the elementary, middle and high school levels.  She is an active member of both National Charity League and Boys Team Charity and currently serves as the philanthropy liaison for Special Olympics Northern California and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.  From 2013-2017, Julie served as the Chief Corporate Development Officer and General Counsel for a start up in the digital memory space, where she focused on partnership agreements, product development, marketing and fundraising.  From 1997-2013, Julie worked for Sun Microsystems and then Oracle, including roles as Director for Global Business Practices, Assistant General Counsel in the Global Sales and Services Law group and Senior Corporate Counsel for the Product and Technology Law Group. She helped create company-wide business practice policies, led contract negotiations with customers, provided internal legal support and served on the Legal Policy Council, Mergers and Acquisitions Integration Team and Intern Development Program Team.  Julie has a BA in Psychology from UCLA and a JD from Santa Clara University School of Law.

James Isbester retired as a Partner at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton where he advised and represented clients in intellectual property and technology-related matters, mostly with high technology and medical device companies. Jamie has represented both plaintiffs and defendants in jury trials, bench trials, various state and federal courts of appeal, and arbitrations. As a member of the Northern District of California’s panel of court-appointed mediators, he has conducted mediations in dozens of patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret disputes. Jamie actively advised clients in mergers, acquisitions, new product introductions, and initial public offerings. He has been recognized as a Northern California “Super Lawyer” in the areas of Intellectual Property and Intellectual Property Litigation each year since 2006 by Super Lawyers magazine. Jamie has also done pro bono work in the juvenile dependency court through EBCLO and in the juvenile delinquency court through Public Counsel. He has a BSE from Princeton in chemical engineering, a JD from UC Davis and an LLB from Osgoode Hall School of Law.

Reichi Lee, a founding staff attorney at EBCLO, has deep roots in supporting the well-being of young people. She is the Director of Curriculum and Programs at My Digital TAT2, a nonprofit aimed at helping youth and the supportive adults around them develop healthy relationships with technology. There, she oversees the strategic growth and curriculum development of MDT2’s three programs: school partnerships, healthcare partnerships, and teen empowerment initiatives. Prior, she was a law professor serving as the Director of Academic Achievement and Associate Dean of Online Education at Golden Gate University School of Law where she developed academic support programming for students in need and designed one of the country’s first hybrid online J.D. law programs. Reichi’s commitment to improving opportunities and access for young people stems from growing up in a working-class family as a first-generation Chinese-Taiwanese immigrant and English language learner. She co-founded a Mandarin dual immersion school in West Contra Costa County, serves on Berkeley Unified School District’s African American Success and Planning & Oversight Committees, and is a commissioner on the City of Berkeley Parks and Recreation Commission. Reichi has a BA in American Politics and Economics from UCLA and a JD from UC Hastings College of the Law.

Greg Roberts brings to EBCLO more than 20 years of leadership experience in the nonprofit sector. He currently serves as Philanthropic Advisor to Give TV, a nationally televised NBC show featuring connecting nonprofits to crowdfunding. He was previously the President/CEO of the Magic Johnson Foundation (MJF), President/CEO of the Muhammad Ali Center (MAC), President/CEO of Greater DC Cares, and Interim Executive Director of the National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE). Since 2014, he has been a Partner with Dale Consulting, where he manages their education, nonprofit and government clients. Though he lives on the east coast, many of his clients and connections are based in the Bay Area so he finds himself here regularly. He would like to help EBCLO grow its board and diversify its funding through his connections and ideas. He has a BS as well as a Masters in Counseling in Higher Education from Central Connecticut State College, New Britain.

Janelle Sampana is an attorney at The Norton Law Firm where she advises and represents clients in a variety of complex civil litigation and white collar matters. She also maintains an active pro bono practice, which includes representing youth in guardianship proceedings, advising on animal law cases, and seeking justice for those wrongly affected by the criminal justice system. Prior to joining The Norton Law Firm, Janelle was a judicial law clerk for Magistrate Judge Thomas Hixson, District Court Judge Susan Illston, and United States Court of Appeals Judge Salvador Mendoza Jr. She has a BA in Psychology from UC Davis and a JD from Georgetown Law.

Katherine Steadwell became the Director of Procurement for Johns Hopkins Health Systems in Baltimore, Maryland in 2023.   Previously, Katherine was an attorney with Kaiser Permanente where she most recently served as a Regional Contracts Manager for markets outside of California.  She was with Kaiser from 2011 through 2023 in various capacities across the country, including in Oakland when she came to know EBCLO.  She was also the founding Chairperson of the Kaiser Permanente National Facilities Services Equity, Inclusion, and Diversity Council.  Prior to joining Kaiser, practiced at several firms in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia & New York.  She is licensed in both New York and Washington, D.C.  Katherine has her BS (cum laude) in Biology from Spelman College and her JD from New York University.