Press Release: New Board Member Willie Hernandez

February 14, 2022

Contact: Nicole Williams, Senior Director, Development & Marketing

925.339.8440
nicole.williams@rmhcbayarea.org


Man in suit smiling

New Board Member, Willie Hernandez

Willie Hernandez Elected to Ronald McDonald House Charities Board of Directors

PALO ALTO, Calif. – February 14, 2022 – Ronald McDonald House Charities Bay Area is pleased to announce the appointment of Willie Hernandez to the Charity’s board of directors for a three-year term, which began on January 1, 2022.

“The mission of RMHC resonates with me on a deeply personal level,” Hernandez said. “I grew up in a family of farmworkers in the Central Valley — the same community where so many of the families we serve at the Ronald McDonald House are from. The housing and services we provide make it possible for families to access the best medical care in the Bay Area.”

Hernandez is the Head of Legal for the Messenger division at Meta (Facebook), following executive positions with IBM, Amazon and Hewlett Packard. He focuses his free time on community service, serving on the boards of Cristo Rey San Jose and the Silicon Valley Urban Debate League. Hernandez earned his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and his JD from UCLA, and now has two children of his own in college.

“I’m honored to welcome Willie to our board of directors,” said Laura Keegan Boudreau, chief executive officer of RMHC Bay Area. “As we implement our new strategic plan, it is especially important that our board membership reflects the communities and families we serve. Eighty percent of our families are low-income, one-fifth are from medically underserved communities in the Central Valley, and more than a third speak only Spanish. Willie’s family ties to the Central Valley and dedication to advancing the success of underserved children at Cristo Rey in San Jose adds invaluable leadership experience and perspective to our board at critical point in our history.”

The 2022 RMHC Bay Area board of directors is also celebrating its first all-woman slate of board officers this year, who will lead the 25-person board, which includes the following members:

Officers:

  • Board President: Heather Pietsch, Salesforce (Retired)
  • Immediate Past President: Amy Oliver, Morgan Stanley
  • Treasurer: Vania Santella, Deloitte & Touche LLP
  • Secretary: Katty Coulson, Oracle NetSuite

Directors:

  • Cecelia Aviles, Sutter Health – Palo Alto Medical Foundation
  • Eileen Bocci-Campbell, Traditionally Derby, Inc./Derby Interiors and Design
  • Laura Boudreau, Ronald McDonald House Charities Bay Area
  • Lisa Caswell, Spencer Stuart San Francisco
  • Anthony Ewell, McDonald’s Owner/Operator
  • Lee Ann Freeman, McDonald’s Owner/Operator
  • Ross Glasser, Elefund
  • Willie Hernandez, Meta (Facebook)
  • Gerry Hinkley, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP (Retired)
  • Linda Howell, Community Member
  • Brad Koening, Apex Technology Acquisition Corp.
  • Brad Lyman, Newmark
  • Bob McIntire, Nova Partners, Inc. (Retired)
  • Kelley Meade, MD, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals Oakland
  • Christophe Mosby, Hewlett-Packard
  • Solomon Moshkevich, Natera
  • Richard Seiler, Morgan Stanley
  • Rishi Seth, Stanford Children’s Health/Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
  • Greg Sinigiani, McDonald’s Owner/Operator
  • David Thomas, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
  • Sean Truesdale, Truebeck Construction

###

 

About Ronald McDonald House Charities Bay Area

Ronald McDonald House Charities Bay Area (RMHC Bay Area) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) that provides no-cost housing, free meals, and comprehensive psychosocial support services to families with critically ill children who are accessing lifesaving care at the Bay Area’s leading children’s hospitals, including Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland. Additionally, the Chapter’s two Ronald McDonald Care Mobiles provide free oral health care services to the Bay Area’s most vulnerable children in Contra Costa and Santa Clara Counties. The 123-bedroom Ronald McDonald House at Stanford is one of the world’s largest pediatric housing facilities for medically fragile children and their families, which offers lodging, daily meals, 24/7 family services in English and Spanish, and innovative family-centered programming, including its distinctive makerspace; Family Support Services graduate training program that offers 3,000 hours of therapeutic support to families in medical crisis; an onsite credentialed K-12 school; and more. For more information, visit rmhcbayarea.org. Follow RMHC Bay Area on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Learn About RMHC Impact