Leadership Team
Jay Jacobs, Chief Executive Officer
Linda Mornell, Founder

Marina Arsovska, Comptroller
Joshua Decell, ETO Database Administrator
Emily Edwards, Post-Secondary Program Director
Mia Ellis, Executive Director, Summer Search Seattle
Wendy Epstein, Executive Director, Summer Search Philadelphia
Michele Forté, Director of Development
Kevin Gay, Chief Financial Officer
Amanda Graham, Development Manager
Sarah Ham, Director of Human Resources
Nikki Hiatt, Design and Communications Coordinator
Katherine Kennedy, Campaign Manager
Karina Kirsch, Executive Director, Summer Search New York City
Debbie Krause, Executive Director, Summer Search Boston
Erin Lasky, Executive Assistant
Shelby Lewis, Development Database Administrator
Matt Osgood, Summer Program Coordinator
Monique Rodrigues, Training Coordinator
April Ruiz, Benefits and Payroll Assistant
Kait Schroeder, Executive Director, North Bay
Stacey Thompson, Director of Talent and Training
Jessica Vibberts, Vice President of Operations
Melissa Rawlins, Executive Director, Summer Search San Francisco
Roxy Vargas, Office Manager
Janice Yang, Director of Program Quality

Leadership Team

Jay Jacobs, Chief Executive Officer
Jay holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota (1992), and a master of theological studies degree from Harvard Divinity School (1995). He came to Summer Search after working in the field of summer experiential education including experiences as a student and instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School. Jay founded Summer Search Boston in 1995 and built that office to serve nearly 200 students annually. In August of 2002, Jay moved to San Francisco to build a national team with Linda Mornell and currently serves as CEO, overseeing national operations.

Linda Mornell, Founder
Linda was born in Muncie, Indiana, in 1943. She attended Methodist Hospital School of Nursing. In 1964, she studied psychiatric nursing at Langley Porter Institute at the University of California Medical School in San Francisco. From 1972 until 1989, Linda was in private practice counseling families and adolescents. She developed a special interest in summer experiential educational programs as corrective emotional experiences for teenagers. In addition, her three children participated in these programs, ranging from leadership camps in North America to drama programs in England and community service projects in Haiti. In 1990, with no experience in the non-profit sector, Linda started the Summer Search Foundation.

Emily Edwards , Post-Secondary Program Director
Emily graduated from Philadelphia's Central High School and from Wesleyan University with a Bachelor's degree in African American Studies. Both of these educational experiences sparked her interest in helping young people break the cycle of poverty. Emily began working at Summer Search Boston in 1999 as a Program Associate and became Executive Director in 2002. In 2004, the Junior Chamber of Commerce named her one of Boston’s Ten Outstanding Young Leaders. Under Emily’s leadership, Summer Search Boston grew to partner with nearly every public high school in Boston and tripled the number of students served. In 2007, Emily joined Summer Search’s National Senior Management Team as the Director of Strategy, applying her experiences in Boston to support all seven sites in growing their programs. In 2010, Emily became Summer Search’s Post-Secondary Program Director. She now works with the sites to ensure that our programming supports every student to complete our long-term outcomes of college persistence and civic engagement.

Michele Forté, Director of Development
Michele Forté has nearly twenty years of management and consulting experience in marketing for both non-profit and for-profit organizations. She graduated with a BA in Government and Sociology from Skidmore College. She then spent nearly ten years in the for-profit sector before making the transition to the non-profit world as the first Director of Development and then as Executive Director at George Mark Children’s House, the only freestanding pediatric hospice and respite care facility in the United States. Following her four years with GMCH, Michele consulted with companies and organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area to strengthen organizational capacity, focusing on development and marketing. Most recently she served as Senior Director of Development for CARE USA’s western region. Michele first learned of Summer Search nearly ten years ago, and was immediately drawn to the mission and the students, attending Spring and Fall Events in the North Bay and Oakland. Throughout her career, she has carved out time for travel and learning about other cultures, and is most passionate about children and their self-esteem, education and international affairs. Michele grew up in the Bay Area and she and her husband reside in San Francisco.

Kevin Gay, Chief Financial Officer
Kevin joined Summer Search in February 2009 with over twenty years of banking, consulting, and financial management experience. He played financial roles in the building of several private equity financed companies, including Universal Fibers, Inc., Davidson Cotton, and Astor Corporation. Earlier Kevin was an associate at WSGP partners, a Los Angeles based private equity firm, and a manager in the management consulting division of KPMG in San Francisco, specializing in mergers and acquisitions. He began his career as a corporate banking officer at Mellon Bank. Kevin grew up in Philadelphia and attended Villanova University, where he was a member of the varsity track and cross-country teams for four years, and earned his MBA from Indiana University. He currently serves as a board member of Youth Movement Records in Oakland, CA and lives in San Francisco with his wife Mona Hanes.

Amanda Graham, Development Manager
Amanda was born and raised outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She attended George Washington University in Washington, DC, and during her junior year, she studied abroad. Her spring semester, Amanda was a student of the Semester at Sea program where she studied aboard the S.S. Universe Explorer. During this time, Amanda participated in global fieldwork and cultural exchanges in countries such as Brazil, South Africa, Kenya and China. In each port, she was able to learn about and assist local communities with some of their challenges including hunger prevention, family planning and wildlife preservation. Amanda graduated in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in business with a concentration in marketing. Her lifelong interest in volunteering and her experience on Semester at Sea, brought Amanda to Boston to work for United Way of Massachusetts Bay. After four years at United Way, Amanda relocated to San Francisco and joined Summer Search staff in June 2007.

Sarah Ham, Director of Human Resources
Sarah graduated from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BA in Art History. She also holds a MA in Applied Psychology from New York University. She started her Human Resources career at Thomson Financial in their training and development department. Sarah went on to expand her HR knowledge through working in various industries including hospitality and healthcare. Before joining Summer Search, she was the Human Resources Manager for a financial services company in Northern Virginia. At Summer Search, Sarah’s main areas of responsibility are recruiting, employee relations, implementing benefits, and providing support in the areas of performance management and development.

Nikki Hiatt, Design and Communications Coordinator
Nikki grew up in a suburb 15 minutes west of Boston. Seeing her immediate and extended family struggle paycheck to paycheck, she concluded early on that education was the only way to break that cycle and went on to become a first generation college student. She graduated from Framingham State College in Massachusetts with a BA in Studio Art (minor in literature) and after landing her first post-graduate position at a design firm realized that she was better suited for graphic design. To help expedite the learning process, Nikki went back to school to study Graphic Design at Mass College of Art and Design and began working as a Marketing designer. Now on the West Coast, she couldn’t be happier than to be part of a company that has such a wonderful mission.

Katherine Kennedy, Campaign Manager
Katherine was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and attended the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in African American Studies. She first discovered the field of summer experiential education when she taught in a village in Kenya after her freshman year at Penn. Upon graduating in 1993, she joined Teach For America and taught middle school in Baltimore. In 1995, Katherine joined Founder Linda Mornell as her first staff member to teach and train the unique mentoring methods. After five years as Program Director, Katherine became the Executive Director of the San Francisco office in 2000. In 2005, Katherine joined Summer Search National to apply what she has learned as a director and mentor to the training and building of a growing staff.

Erin Lasky, Executive Assistant
Erin grew up in Petaluma, California. She attended the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 2001 with a dual degree in Latin American Studies and History. During her junior year, Erin spent a life-changing semester studying in Oaxaca, Mexico, where she came to love traveling, languages, and especially working with young people. In 2003, she joined the Summer Search San Francisco staff and over the last five years, has worked in mentoring, development, and fundraising. In 2006, Erin helped launch Summer Search Philadelphia, the seventh and most recently opened site. Now, in her new role with National, Erin is contributing her years of experience and her love for Summer Search to support the national team as she begins her graduate studies this summer.

Shelby Lewis, Development Database Administrator
Shelby was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. She earned her B.A. in English (with minors in Biology, History and Political Science) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After returning to Omaha, she worked for Metropolitan Community College as a Library Assistant while studying Web Support Technology. In 2002, Shelby joined The Salvation Army Western Divisional Headquarters where she was the Data Management Coordinator and Online Communications Specialist. She remained there until moving from Omaha to San Francisco in September 2008 to begin her work with Summer Search.

Matt Osgood, Summer Program Coordinator
Matt grew up in Kansas City, but he has been traveling the world off and on since high school, experiencing different cultures in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. He graduated with majors in Biology and Spanish from Hanover College in 2004. He has been interested in improving the lives of others ever since the summer of 1999, when he lived and worked in a rural community in Paraguay. Before joining Summer Search, Matt worked at various non-profits, including Children International, the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, and Amigos de las Americas, where he first heard of the amazing things that Summer Search does for young people. Observing the drive, energy, and maturity of Summer Search students and how it spreads to other teenagers was always a highlight of his job at AMIGOS. Matt enjoys his role in creating new opportunities for such deserving students.

Monique Rodrigues, Training Coordinator
Monique, a native of the city of Boston, graduated high school from the John D. O’Bryant School of Math and Science in Roxbury, MA. She was a Boston Scholars recipient and attended Boston University with full tuition scholarship. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, Monique developed her love for cultural immersion and community action by studying abroad in Niamey, Niger and London, England. Monique was the first in her family to graduate from college, earning a BA with honors in International Relations and a minor in Business Management (2003). She joined the staff of Summer Search Boston in 2003 and within two years became Program Director. Partnering with the Executive Director, she helped supervise the site growth and more than double program capacity, serving 300 students annually. In fall of 2008, Monique transitioned from Associate Director in Boston to serve a regional role as Training Coordinator to support strategic and programmatic growth in New York City and Philadelphia program sites.

April Ruiz , Benefits and Payroll Assistant
April grew up in Manila, Philippines, and graduated from San Francisco State University with a BA in Broadcast Communication. After working in production for five years, she moved into the corporate world with a job at Gymboree Corporation. April worked as a Payroll Administrator for four years and in a marketing role for two years. Before joining Summer Search in September 2008, she was contracting with Exelixis, Inc., a bio-tech company, as a Benefits Specialist.

Stacey Thompson, Program Director
Stacey was born and raised in San Francisco and has a long history with Summer Search. She was accepted into the program as a student in 1994, and participated in an art camp in Massachusetts, and Outward Bound in Oregon. In college, with a scholarship through Summer Search, she taught environmental education in a small village in Ecuador for three months. While attending Sonoma State University, Stacey interned in the San Francisco office and served as the Project Manager of the North San Francisco Bay office. In 2001, she became the first in her family to graduate from college, with a bachelor's degree in women and gender studies from Sonoma State University. In 2003, as program director, Stacey helped launch Summer Search New York City. After three committed years in New York City, Stacey is thrilled to bring her unique experience to the Summer Search national team by training new staff members and supporting new Summer Search sites.

Jessica Vibberts, Vice President of Operations
Jessica grew up in the rural foothills of Northern California, where only a third of her high school peers graduated college-ready. Jessica attended Sonoma State University as a first generation college student and earned her BA in Gender Studies and Sociology in 1999. This experience made her acutely aware and determined to make an impact on the pervasive lack of opportunities and education available to many high-potential youth. After college, Jessica ran the Prevention Education/Community Outreach Department at United Against Sexual Assault of Sonoma County, where she developed a comprehensive Prevention Education curriculum for youth that became widely used in Sonoma County schools. From 2000-2002 she sat on a countywide council for teen health. In 2002, Jessica joined Summer Search North Bay as a Program Associate and rapidly advanced to become the Executive Director in December 2005. Under Jessica’s leadership, Summer Search North Bay has increased its annual student enrollment over 60%. In 2007, Jessica participated in Strategic Perspectives on Non-Profit Management, a Social Enterprise course at Harvard Business School, thanks to a full scholarship from the Rimsky Family Fund.  Now as part of Summer Search’s National Leadership Team Jessica is applying her experiences growing the North Bay program to ensure that all seven Summer Search sites across the country hit their aggressive growth targets and maintain program quality.

Janice Yang, Director of Program Quality
Janice joined the Summer Search team in 2003 and has been a mentor, the Program Director (2004-2006), and the Executive Director (2006-2008) of Summer Search New York City. In her current role as National Director of Program Quality, Janice is focusing on program evaluation and the implementation of systems to maximize program quality, training, and staff recruitment. Prior to Summer Search, Janice worked in the curatorial department of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and at the East Bay Community Foundation in Oakland, CA. She holds a B.A. in Art History from Cornell University and an M.A. from New York University.