Board

Michael (he/him) and his wife Michele are an interracial couple (he is African American, she is white) who adopted their multiracial daughter through Pact, and have remained involved in the Pact community ever since. He is an instructor at Chabot College, where he teaches African American and U.S. History. He is a member of the Umoja learning community for African American students, leads faculty inquiry groups exploring equity issues, and has served as an advisor to formerly incarcerated students.

Nisha (she/her) is an international transracial adoptee from Goa, India and the subject of YOU FOLLOW: A Search for One’s Past, a documentary about her attempts to reunite with her birth mother. Nisha has shared her experiences at many national adoption conferences, including Pact Family Camp West, and in her blog The Adoptee Diary. She co-facilitates workshops, support groups, and publishes articles for Pact and other adoption nonprofits. Nisha currently works in Berkeley as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor.

Dave (he/him) is a transracial adoptee from South Korea and currently serves as the Controller and Purpose-Aligned Capital Director at the Christensen Fund, a private foundation based in San Francisco, CA. Passionate about innovative philanthropy and social impact, Dave lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his partner and two children. He can often be found on his bicycle, where he does his best thinking. 

Marcia (she/her) and her husband Ron are an African American couple who adopted their son through foster care. Marcia has worked in private schools for many years and is currently serving as Director of Student Life at Julia Morgan School for Girls in Oakland, CA. Marcia brings her passion for children and her understanding of their needs to her work for Pact.

Sean (he/him) and his husband Robert are the adoptive parents of two sons (now young adults) who joined their family through domestic open adoption. Sean found Pact an incredibly valuable resource both for himself, as white man raising children of color, and for his children. The support and community Pact provides has been invaluable in expanding Sean’s understanding of race, intersectionality, and adoption. Sean has worked for the YMCA of Greater San Francisco since 1998, and currently serves as Senior Director of Donor Relations & Major Gifts.

Christina (she/her) has been teaching in the School of Social Welfare at UC Berkeley since 2007. She teaches courses on child welfare practice and school social work; she was previously employed as a child welfare worker and school social worker. She coordinates the Title IV-E program, a curriculum that prepares social workers to work in children’s protective services. Christina also consults with SOAR for Youth, a foster youth educational advocacy program. Christina and her spouse are foster-adopt parents of two daughters who are sisters by both birth and adoption. They have contact with the girls’ first mother and feel blessed to be raising the sisters together.

Kit (he/him) is a transnational and transracial adoptee from Hong Kong. He is an associate professor in the Department of History & Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Merced, and author of The Violence of Love: Race, Family, and Adoption in the United States (University of California Press, 2025). He serves on the executive committee for Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture, worked with the Adoption Museum Project, authored articles on adoption, and worked at a summer camp for transnational adoptee youth. He loves sweets, nature, sports, spending time with his partner and kids and visiting family in Oregon.

Jake (he/him) is a transracial adult adoptee from California, a graduate of New York University with degrees in Music and Black Cultural Studies. He currently works as a freelance producer and songwriter as well as with the community organization US4US in his native San Francisco. He has been a member of the Pact community since he was three years old and is excited to serve on the Board and as a youth mentor and counselor at Pact Camp and in the year-round youth program.

Delrisha (she/her) holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism & Media Studies with a minor in Global Studies from Bennett College in Greensboro, NC. In 2019, she earned her master’s in Education Policy & Management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was awarded the Intellectual Contribution award. Del is a journalist, educator and social impact leader who confronts educational inequity and racial and socioeconomic injustice through education and storytelling. Her life’s work is a culmination of her experience growing up in a family impacted by poverty, as well as the criminal justice and child welfare systems.

Jeffrey (he/him) is the Principal Artistic Director at Tencue , a live communications agency. He and his life partner, Kristin, have two children (now young adults), one of whom joined the family through foster-adoption. They believe in giving back to the community by supporting arts and education programs locally and globally.   Pact has been incredibly important to the growth of their family and they are committed to supporting the organization and helping it grow in return.