Katherine was inspired to join WIRE as a Bay Area native and as a woman who has spent too much of her largely finance and technology career as the only woman in the room. She has been involved with various efforts for women in business or technology; WIRE is her first foray into working to advance women in government. Katherine believes that constituents in any sphere are better served if leadership represents all their varied voices and interests.  

 

Katherine lives in Palo Alto. 

Virginia has the privilege of serving on both the San Mateo County Harbor District Board of Commissioners and the Menlo Park Fire Protection District Board of Directors. She is the first Asian-American woman to serve on both boards and is the second woman in the 100+-year history to serve on the Menlo Park Fire Protection District Board. In 2015, Virginia was named by the Silicon Valley Business Journal as a “Woman of Influence.”

Virginia was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California Commission for Economic Development, serving on the Commission from 2007-2014. As a Commissioner, she was appointed by Lt. Governor John Garamendi to chair the Commission’s Biotech Advisory Committee. Professionally, Virginia has fifteen years of experience in corporate financial analysis, planning, and investments. She is a former Senior Director of the Nasdaq Stock Market and has worked at some of the country's leading financial institutions.

Virginia earned her B.A. in Government with a minor in Economics from the University of Texas at Austin and is currently in her last semester studying for her Masters of Public Administration from the University of Southern California.

Virginia lives in unincorporated West Menlo Park.

Christina brings more than 20 years of transformation leadership having served as a senior strategy and corporate finance professional, an entrepreneur and change leader. Her client list include leaders the Biotech, Consumer, Technology and Utilities sectors. She believes in hands-on engagement to make a difference in all areas and selectively extends pro-bono advisory services and mentorship to non-profit organizations focused on empowerment, education and entrepreneurship.

Christina lives in San Carlos.

Vicki is the Managing Director, West Coast, of Convergence Center for Policy Resolution, a national non-profit working to bridge policy divides. Vicki ran Convergence’s California Health Reform Initiative whose March 2020 recommendation was advanced by the Governor and the Assembly Health Committee. Vicki was a candidate for the State Assembly in 2016, after being recruited by Close the Gap and trained by Emerge. Vicki currently serves on the Advisory Board of Fund Her. She helped found, and served as the first General Counsel of, Women’s Professional Soccer. Vicki is a professional mediator and was appointed by the International Trade Commission and the Federal Court to their mediation panels.

 

A practicing attorney, Vicki was a partner at international law firm Shearman & Sterling LLP and at Fish & Neave (now Ropes & Gray) before founding Veenker Law Offices in 2013. She is a Board Member and former President of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, which provides legal services to under-served communities. Vicki served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law and at Santa Clara University Law School. She earned a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, and degrees in Biochemistry and Political Science from Indiana University where she was mentored by Professor Elinor Ostrom, the first woman and first political scientist to win the Nobel Prize in Economics.

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Vicki lives in Palo Alto.

Karen Schwarz was elected to the San Mateo County Community College Board of Trustees in November 1995. She has served five terms as President of the Board and completed her 25 year tenure as Board President. She is the Past President of the San Mateo County Colleges Educational Housing Corporation Board which oversees the operations of the College Vista and Cañada Vista residential communities for faculty and staff. She previously served as an elected member of the San Mateo County Board of Education (1988-1994), including two terms as Board President. She has been elected and appointed to several educational and community associations, including the San Mateo County School Boards Association (President, 2001-02), California State School Boards Association, California County Boards of Education.  She has extensive PTA executive leadership experience as past President of South San Francisco PTA Council.

 Honors include: 2011 inductee into San Mateo County Women's Hall of Fame, Soroptimists Distinguished Woman of the Year Award, and numerous South San Francisco Honorary Service Awards.

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Karen has been a resident of San Mateo County for more than 40 years. She currently resides in Redwood City. She is a long time member of the League of Women Voters, was appointed member of the Redwood City Library Board; is currently a  Board member of Broadway by the Bay Theatre Company, and President of the Peninsula Hills Women's Club. 

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Karen believes in WIRE and hopes to share her experience of being an elected and appointed woman to help all women in their quest to also serve their communities.

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Karen lives in Redwood City.

Diane Papan was first elected to the San Mateo City Council in November, 2015, and is serving her second term after being re-elected in 2020. Diane brings a broad perspective to the Council based upon her unique background of working and serving in the non-profit, public and private sectors. Diane is the Co-Director of a non-profit benefiting school-aged kids and a scholarship program that provides special scholarships to high school seniors. Diane's public service within the San Mateo community includes having served as President of the Baywood Owners Improvement Association, Second Vice-president of the San Mateo United Homeowners Association, and Chair of the Baywood School Site Council. She worked on San Mateo's Downtown Master Plan and Parking Plan. Diane is an attorney who began her legal career litigating public works projects. Today she has her own commercial law practice, representing small businesses. Diane was selected to serve on several County boards, including the Flood & Sea Level Rise Resiliency District (established to combat the effects of climate change), as Vice-Chair of the 101 Express Lanes Joint Powers Authority and the JPA's Finance Subcommittee. She is also a past-president of the San Mateo County Council Cities.

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Diane grew up in San Mateo County and has lived with her family in the City of San Mateo for over fourteen years.

Carol began her career in public service as a Congressional Intern on Capitol Hill. Later, she served as a Legislative Assistant to three Congressmen and two Senators. In 1969, she became the first woman ever to serve as an Assistant Secretary for Congressional Relations in any Administration. She was later appointed by the President and confirmed by the US Senate as the first female Director of VISTA (the Domestic Peace Corps). In 1989, President Bush Sr. appointed and the Senate confirmed her as the first woman Director of the San Francisco Mint.

 

Carol has run her own consulting business, practiced law, and been active in commercial real estate development. She has run for the California State Senate and has served on many local community and political boards. She founded a salon of women, now in its eleventh year, which meets monthly to discuss issues of national and international importance. She serves on the board of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, is the Chair Emeritus of the NARAL Leadership Council, has served on the national NARAL board, and on both the local and state boards of Planned Parenthood. She is the founder of WIRE for Women.

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Carol lives in Menlo Park.