Meet Our Staff

Rebecca Brown, MA, CFA, CFRE, Founder and President of Further The Work, has spent the last decade helping nonprofit organizations do their work, and do it better. She is a facilitator, trainer, organizational development and strategic planning consultant, philanthropic advisor, and highly experienced grantwriter, having served as sole or lead author on numerous innovative program proposals that have become recognized as exemplary in their fields. Over the years, she has raised more than $15 million for her clients, who range from small community nonprofits to some of the Bay Area’s leading social service providers, youth development and arts organizations, and philanthropies. A Certified Fund Raising Executive, she holds a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from California State University East Bay, reflecting her commitment to ongoing education and training in best practices.

Rebecca has extensive experience as senior staff in the nonprofit sector; prior to founding Further The Work, Rebecca was Chief Advancement Officer at Family Service Agency of San Francisco, serving on the three-person senior management team for this $12 million nonprofit organization, which provides more than 30 social service programs to meet the needs of a wide array of high-need, hard-to-reach populations.

Some of her proudest work is in designing (and successfully raising funds for) innovative new programs to meet the needs of the most fragile among us. At FSA, Rebecca conceived and wrote four successful proposals to the state Mental Health Services Administration for programs to engage San Francisco’s hardest-to-serve residents (dual-diagnosed seniors, transition-age youth, and adults). She also wrote FSA’s proposal for the city’s innovative Back on Track program for first-time drug offenders, and she helped design, named, and wrote the concept paper for PREP (Preventive Recognition of Early Psychosis), a partnership of FSA and leading researchers and doctors at UCSF to identify and preventively treat young people at risk for emergent schizophrenia.

A Chartered Financial Analyst, in an earlier career Rebecca worked as a financial analyst at Westwood Management Company & E.F. Hutton, both in New York City. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley and a Master’s degree from Stanford University, where she is a doctoral candidate. Since 2003, Rebecca and her family have lived in Richmond, a city she now considers her hometown.

Glenn Miller, Chief Operating Officer of Further The Work, is a civic exponent, business catalyst, and database veteran who embraces the tools that enable today’s virtual marketplace of ideas. He develops Further The Work’s infrastructure while providing hands-on leadership as a business development partner, grantwriter, trainer, editor, and technical manager.

Six years ago, Glenn co-founded Colorado Springs Charter Academy, now one of Colorado’s most effective elementary/middle schools. With over 400 students, CSCA has become a paragon of excellence in the city and across the state: its students—with poverty rates exceeding the neighborhood, city, and state average—consistently perform in the top 10% percent of every comparison group. For CSCA Glenn wrote the school’s charter, an inspirational and scholarly work that the Colorado Department of Education now offers as an exemplar for new charter applicants. As chief fundraiser and marketer he secured over $1 million in grants during school’s history. Recently navigating the murky landscape where political, regulatory, financial, and educational interests intersect, Glenn led CSCA’s issuance of a $7 million bond, a first of its kind for a state-sponsored charter school with no local taxing authority. Glenn presided over CSCA’s board for five years and remains a board member; he is also the school’s chess coach. All of his work for CSCA has been as a volunteer.

Previously, he capped his twenty-year technical career by selling his software consultation firm, an enterprise Glenn led from conception through its public offering on NASDAQ in 1999. In that capacity he served as president, data warehouse practice manager, and publication czar, building Tsunami Consulting Group to over fifty people and capitalizing it at its technical and financial peak. Glenn navigated Tsunami through the dot-com heyday, while performing hands-on project management, systems analysis, and applications development. He also authored two database reference books.

Glenn began his career as a genetic engineer, building on his Bachelor’s degree in microbiology. He retains a keen interest in scientific frontiers, and relies on this background to find meaning in data, and to translate complex ideas into straightforward messages.

Joyce Lee-Ibarra, MS, serves as Director of Research for Further the Work, where she has combined together her passion for the nonprofit community with her interest in rigorous, evidence-based learning. Since 2003, she has provided grantwriting, program evaluation, and academic research and writing services to a range of nonprofit, educational, and government organizations, including clients such as Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Wayne County (Michigan) Court Appointed Special Advocates, and The Synergy Project, which provided technical assistance and services to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on HIV/AIDS programs.

Previously, Joyce served as Research Coordinator of the Violence Intervention Project (VIP) at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center. In this capacity, she oversaw the day-to-day operations of an emergency department-based youth violence prevention program that annually identified nearly 2000 children and young adults with violent injuries. The study enrolled more than 350 youths in an effort to better understand the social and psychological forces that lead to violence, and its consequences. VIP also created partnerships among members of the medical, academic, and CBO communities seeking to reduce the incidence of youth violence in West Philadelphia.

Earlier in her career, Joyce was a high school science teacher through Teach For America, the national teacher corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit two years to teach in under-resourced urban and rural public schools. She credits her experiences teaching and living in an underserved rural community as the foundation of her commitment to social justice. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Molecular & Cell Biology from UC Berkeley, and a Master’s degree in Health & Social Behavior from the Harvard School of Public Health; her degrees speak to her interest in understanding the social and natural sciences and their confluence.

Jessica Van Tuyl, MSW, serves as a member of our grant-writing team, focusing on both foundation grants and government grants, particularly for small-to-medium sized nonprofit clients serving young people. With a strong background in youth development, case management, and nonprofit operations, Jessica spent the last three years at Oasis For Girls, most recently serving as its Interim Executive Director.

Previously, Jessica worked primarily with LGBTQQ young people, supporting youth-organizing efforts, leading anti-homophobia trainings for school personnel, and providing case management services at the Richmond Village Beacon, the GSA Network, and the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network. In addition, Jessica has worked in the youth employment field, coordinating city government internships at San Francisco YouthWorks.

Jessica holds a Bachelor’s degree in Women's and Gender Studies from Macalester College and a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Southern California. Jessica joined Further The Work in September 2009.

Lori Mattern, MS, serves as Performance Analytics and Online Presence Associate of Further The Work, where she provides online (and some offline) marketing and communications support for both Further The Work and its clients. Past and current responsibilities include updating the Further The Work web site, co-managing the Further Thoughts social network, analyzing and reporting on online survey results, assisting with e-newsletter design and writing, and developing social media strategy.

Lori's interest in working with nonprofits began with her previous position, that of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Analyst at Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences in Plymouth, Massachusetts. There she managed and analyzed GIS data for Manomet's Regional Conservation Planning (RCP) Program, which focused primarily on identifying and conserving ecologically important lands in southeastern Massachusetts. It was also at Manomet where she got her start in online communications, when she conceived and developed ConservationMapper, the RCP Program's online mapping service and accompanying web site.

Previously, Lori worked as a GIS Specialist for the USGS in Columbus, Ohio. She began her position at the USGS just before she received her Master's degree from The Ohio State University. She also has a Bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics from Purdue University.

Tatiana Guerreiro Ramos joined Further The Work in October 2010 after making the migration west to California from Brooklyn in July of 2010. Having been hired for her organizational prowess and award-winning memory, it was discovered that Tatiana has a talent for writing clearly and engagingly. Previously, Tatiana worked as a third-grade teacher, personal assistant, and creative resource manager in the advertising industry. She comes to Further the Work with a zeal for grassroots organizing, social justice, and a desire to help those who want to help their communities.

Tatiana holds dual citizenship in the US and Brasil, from whence her mother hailed, and to whose beautiful beaches Tatiana plans to retire someday. She speaks Portuguese, Spanish, and French, and wields all three languages as needed.

Tatiana has a BA in Communications from Monmouth University, where her mother was an outspoken PoliSci professor. She lives in Berkeley with her two sons, Luca and Dash, her two little sisters, Xochi and Gabi, a Westie named Wallace and a Shepherd/Malamute mix named Timber.

Janae Harris, our Office Manager, joined Further The Work in August 2008, as its first staff member. A Richmond native, Janae is driven by her desire to give back to our community. Having worked for several years in the retail industry, Janae was delighted to join a company that focuses on social justice. As she puts it, “It feels great to be part of an organization that really wants to help make things better.”

In addition to her responsibilities at Further The Work, Janae is pursuing a degree in sociology at Contra Costa College. She is active in our community, volunteering with Greater Richmond Interfaith Program, serving as a visible member of her church, and working with special-needs children.

Janae also supports her peers by participating in poetry speak outs and cultural activities featuring emerging young talent, while also developing her own skills as a burgeoning photographer.