Board of Directors
Cornell NorCal is managed by a committed group of volunteer Cornellians who are elected annually by our membership. Cornellians serving as board members for the 2021-2022 term are as follows:
Laura Bloch, President
Laura Bloch, Arts '88 works as an attorney, property manager, and manager of two kids. She was born and raised in Los Angeles and now lives in San Francisco. In addition to serving as General Counsel and Secretary for Cornell NorCal, her Cornell volunteering includes serving as a CAAAN ambassador as well as a Class of ‘88 officer.
Ellen Taylor, Vice President
Ellen Taylor, JD '16 is an attorney in the Bay Area and has served on the Cornell NorCal Board of Directors since 2018.
Bill Roeschlein, Treasurer
Chuck Wong, Secretary
Richard Foxall, General Counsel
Peihua Ku, Director of Technology
Peihua Ku, Arts '94 is enjoying his second year on the Board. Peihua lives in El Granada along the West Coast of San Mateo County. He has worked with CAAAN for over 10 years and also volunteers with CoastPride, Coastside Hope, and the Half Moon Bay Library.
Ash Vaidya, Director of Marketing and Membership
Mr. Vaidya has been in the technology industry for over 20 years as an entrepreneur/operator, investment banker, and investor. He is a co-founder of Sanctum Capital, an alternative investment platform focused on making debt and equity investments in high-growth technology companies. Mr. Vaidya is a frequent guest lecturer at Cornell’s Johnson School of Management on venture capital finance and related subjects. He currently serves on the Boards of the Advisory Council of Entrepreneurship@Cornell, Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network, and Cornell NorCal. Mr. Vaidya received a BA in Computer Science and Economics in 1999 as well as an MBA in 2007 from Cornell University, where he was the recipient of the Fried Fellowship.
Claudia Choi, Director of Social Media
Claudia Choi, SHA'19, is on her first year on the Board. Prior to joining Cornell NorCal, she had served as the Secretary of the Cornell Club of Los Angeles in 2020. She has lived her whole life in California, only to move to Texas for a couple years to set up her own skincare manufacturing factory there. Now she has moved back to SF and is excited to meet with and connect both students and alumni. Claudia enjoys participating in philanthropy and taking food and nature pictures during her free time.
Daniel Herman, Director of Communications
Dan Herman, Arts ’91, Eng ’94 founded and leads DigitalFish, a mid-sized technology consultancy in Media & Entertainment, helping many of the world’s best-known brands transform into digital-media enterprises while enabling new forms of user-generated content. At Pixar Animation Studios and at DreamWorks Animation, Dan was a core contributor to software tools for feature film animation. Previously, Dan sailed in the 1995 America’s Cup and continues to sail competitively, and he is active with the Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit, providing wilderness and mountain search-and-rescue throughout California. He studied Computer Science and Psychology at Cornell and Stony Brook University. Dan grew up on Long Island and has been living on the West Coast since 1994.
Melissa Baxter, Director of Events
Melissa Baxter, MBA '20 is the Waste Zero Manager for San Benito County and Founder of Nothing Wasted Consulting. She is native to the Bay Area and enjoys spending time with family, traveling and working out. Her true passion is connecting with others. Melissa has strong connections to Stanford University, Graduate School of Business and finds true enjoyment in networking with others schools. She is thrilled to be part of the board and ready to plan fun filled events.
Anthony Asta, Director of Events
Anthony Asta, MBA '04 has more than 16 years of experience in software engineering management, software design & architecture, distributed systems, business intelligence, storage systems, data warehouses and financial management at several companies including Corning, Google, Twitter and Uber. He is currently a Director of Engineering at LinkedIn, where he leads a group of Software Engineers within the Core Engineering division. Anthony has been involved in Cornell Norcal activities for many years and has served on the Board of Directors for over 15 years with a passion for organizing outdoor and athletic events.
Mae Lum, Director of Events
Mae Lum, A&S '84 is Deputy Director at the Alameda-Contra Costa Medical Association, where she oversees the functional areas of membership, communications, and program development. Before entering nonprofit organization management, she worked in scholarly and educational publishing after earning an MA in International Relations. In her free time, Mae is an active animal rescue volunteer, deejays at a bar in downtown Oakland, and travels to all corners of the world. She is serving her fourth term on the Cornell NorCal board as an Events Director.
Peter Rodway, Director of Events
Deborah Levine, Director of Events
Niru Anisetti, Director of Events
Are you interested in serving on the Cornell NorCal Board of Directors? Please contact us at .