About Us

Josephine Appiah

Program Manager

Josephine Appiah joined Capitol Impact in June 2022. As a Program Manager, she primarily supports the California Legislative Staff Education Institute, as well as supporting several initiatives at Capitol Impact.

Prior to joining Capitol Impact, Josephine served as an Adjunct Instructor of Applied Health Sciences at Johnson & Wales University. In addition to teaching, she has worked in county and state health and social services departments on public health outreach, health education, and chronic disease case management. She received her PhD in Health Services Research from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in August 2021 where her focus included monitoring access, cost, and effectiveness of various health services. Josephine also holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Texas A&M University, concentrating on Health Policy, Administration, and Nonprofit Management. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Illinois, majoring in Community Health which inspired her passion for the health care system.

When not at work, you can find Josephine practicing yoga as a certified RYT-200 and exploring brunch locations throughout the area. Josephine’s passion for health and education exceeds beyond the workplace as she aims to incorporate “health” into every atmosphere.

Salma Awad

Program Manager

In her role as a Program Manager, Salma Awad role primarily supports The James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards Program and the California Legislative Staff Education Institute.

Before joining Capitol Impact, Salma served as a Project Coordinator for MSA West —providing logistical support for events dedicated to developing principled students as catalysts for change. More recently, Salma was a Research Assistant for a lab at UC Davis, working on projects that analyzed data to test the efficacy of a local parenting program. Salma earned her B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Davis, in 2021.

With her background in psychology and her passion for public service, Salma constantly strives to be involved in community organizing to hear, uplift, and amplify the unheard voices.

Jasleen Bains

Program Associate

Jasleen Bains supports Capitol Impact projects as a Program Associate on the Workforce and Education Team. She sees herself as a cross between a social justice advocate and a tactical problem solver. She was drawn to Capitol Impact because of the firm’s shared commitment to driving positive community change.

Jasleen’s professional background includes social media marketing, policy research, and grassroots advocacy. As an Intern at Eviction Defense Collaborative, she helped shape San Francisco’s short-term rental policy and empowered Bay Area residents facing housing displacement. While studying sociology at UC Berkeley, she was deeply involved with the Underground Scholars Initiative, where she used her passion for education to guide incarcerated individuals towards achieving their academic goals.

While she loves data and strategic planning, her true inspiration is the belief that systemic change begins at the community level. Jasleen channels her energy into projects that empower, uplift, and create sustainable opportunities for youth and marginalized communities in the education and career development sectors.

When not at work, you’ll find Jasleen experimenting in the kitchen or challenging herself on a rock-climbing route.

Cristina Puente

Program Manager

Cristina Puente is a Program Manager at Capitol Impact, where she utilizes her leading communication, engaging relational, and keen analytical skills to contribute to the K-16 Collaborative grant program. Cristina specifically supports the advancement of equity projects for the Priority Student Populations workgroup, Dual Enrollment workgroup and Career pathways workgroup. Cristina guides diverse members of these groups in collaborating towards shared goals that pursue community liberation through education and workforce development initiatives. She specializes in project management, qualitative research, and mixed media communications.  

Cristina’s background includes experience in education for over 6 years in various teaching capacities within the greater Sacramento region. Specifically, she led in public, Title I. K-3 classrooms as a bilingual Spanish-English educator for literacy, math, social studies, science, music, social emotional learning, and the arts. Her background growing up feeling marginalized in schools as a first-generation daughter of Colombian immigrants, informs her passion for reimagining school sites as spaces for liberation and justice. Her teaching experiences coupled with her own personal narratives in school, inspire her work at Capitol impact and the equity-driven projects she is on.  

An often-unknown fact about Cristina is that she is a mixed media artist. In her personal time, you can catch her painting and screen printing, and she brings her creative visual communications skills to Capitol Impact! 

Cristina earned her AA-T in Sociology from Foothill College as a dual enrollment high school student, her BA in Anthropology from UCLA where she transferred, and her graduate degrees with a Teaching Credential and MA in Education from UC Davis. As a Program Manager, Cristina utilizes her own unconventional educational path to highlight the plural pathways possible to be successful.  

• What can we find her doing on a Saturday afternoon? 

Hanging out with family and friends at the farmers market, going on bike rides, doing yoga, and playing board games.  

• Hidden talent? 

Cooking! She loves to utilize her creative skills in the kitchen to design delicious, culturally immersive, and colorful meals for her loved ones.  

• Book/article/class/podcast that changed her? 

Recently, she read Rest Is Resistance by Tricia Hersey which gave her a radical new perspective on centering personal and community rest as a part of our larger justice work.  

Lex Carlsson

Program Director

Lex Carlsson is a Program Manager at Capitol Impact. She works with public sector and philanthropic clients to develop, manage, and evaluate products and partnerships in the workforce development and public health spaces. Lex specializes in program and grant operations, technical project management, qualitative and user experience (UX) research, service design, civic technology strategy, and capacity building to inform and meet the needs of emergent social impact issues. In her work at the firm, Lex drives cross-sector program management and client engagement with an equity lens for the Regional K-16 Education Collaborative Grant Program, the Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) Academy, and The Regents of the University of California Task Force. As core values, she believes in centering empathy and joy in her practice to enable inclusive spaces for social cohesion and innovation.

Prior to joining Capitol Impact, Lex provided program management and product development for a $16.9M portfolio of CDC-funded health and workforce development initiatives at ChangeLab Solutions and served as a nonprofit management consultant to fiscally-sponsored projects at Arabella Advisors. She has also worked as a podcast producer, environmental health ethnographer, and community farm organizer.

Lex received her B.A. in Global Health and Sustainability with a concentration in Science and Technology in Society from Drexel University and her User Experience (UX) Research Design Certificate from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She is a competitive gravel cyclist and open water swimmer in the San Francisco Bay.

Sarah Dillon

Communications Manager

Sarah joined Capitol Impact in April 2022. As Communications Manager, she leads communications activities for Capitol Impact and its initiatives, especially the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards, and provides programmatic support.

Outside Capitol Impact, Sarah serves as the Board President for Alchemist Community Development Corporation in Sacramento, where she previously served as the Interim Executive Director. She is also a founding Board Member of The Ramble Collective in Boulder, CO. When not at work or in board meetings, Sarah can be found traveling, recreating outside, crosswording, camping, and attending or hosting trivia nights.

Prior to joining Capitol Impact, Sarah worked with nonprofit organizations for 10 years, including roles in development, communications, grants administration, and leadership. She received a BA in Urban Studies and Visual Arts from UC San Diego and a MA from Marylhurst University, where she studied food systems and social justice.

Melissa Granville

Partner

Melissa Granville joined Capitol Impact in January 2018. As a Partner at Capitol Impact, Granville supports major government and nonprofit clients with communications, program development and management, and strategic planning.

Since 2018, Melissa has supported The James Irvine Foundation with the management of its Leadership Awards program that recognizes diverse and innovative leaders making a difference in California. In January 2021, Capitol Impact assumed a full management role of the annual grant program. As such, Granville now oversees the strategy, design, and implementation of the program, including communications, grants management, event planning, and ongoing public policy advising and capacity building for grantees.

In 2020-2021, Melissa helped advance the Newsom Administration’s efforts to engage vulnerable Californians around COVID-19 and disaster preparedness by cultivating partnerships on behalf of the Listos California Emergency Preparedness Campaign with businesses, governments, and philanthropic organizations. She assisted with the development and dissemination of culturally-appropriate materials, statewide communications campaigns, and announcement events; and advised the Campaign’s community-based organizations on effectively engaging elected officials. Notably, Granville secured partnerships with nearly 2,000 essential businesses in 2020 to distribute lifesaving health and safety information to tens of millions of Californians.

Melissa previously served as the development director for the Sacramento-based nonprofit, Food Literacy Center. In her role, she was responsible for leading all fund development activities, including annual planning and budget management, grant writing and reporting, event planning, and building relationships with funders, businesses, elected officials, and individuals. She also managed all nonprofit communications, including public relations and marketing.

Melissa holds a B.A. & M.A. in Communications from Wichita State University. In 2021, she was named a “Young Professional On the Rise” by Comstock’s Magazine and appointed by Mayor and former President pro Tempore of the California State Senate Darrell Steinberg to serve on the City of Sacramento’s Active Transportation Commission (2021-2025). She is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Community and a founding member of Capitol Impact’s Diversity, Equity, and Belonging Committee.

Rick Miller

Partner

Rick Miller has extensive experience in education management, policy and communications on the federal, state and local level. His work at Capitol Impact focuses on district improvement and large scale collaboration between educational organizations.

Miller serves as the Chief Executive Officer of CORE Districts. The CORE districts is a learning partnership between eight large California school districts, representing over a million students.

Prior to joining Capitol Impact, Miller was a Deputy State Superintendent at the California Department of Education. In this position, Miller developed policy recommendations on promising ways to improve student achievement throughout California specifically focused on closing the state’s achievement gaps from Prek to Higher Education.

Previously Miller worked at Microsoft Corporation developing communications strategies on privacy, security, and overall corporate image. Miller also served as a strategic communications advisor to the Chancellor of the California State University System (CSU). Prior to working at CSU, Miller served the U.S. Department of Education in Washington D.C. as Press Secretary to Richard W. Riley, Secretary of Education in the Clinton Administration. Miller also spent time during those years periodically detailed to the White House Office of Advance where he traveled domestically and internationally on behalf of President Clinton.

Miller lives in Rocklin, California with his wife Julie, an elementary school speech therapist, and their two High School aged sons, Casey and Ryan. Miller was also elected as a Trustee for the Rocklin Unified School District in 2018 and is currently serving a four year term.

Rina Patel

Program Director

Rina G. Patel joined Capitol Impact in January 2024 as a Program Director. Her role is focused on secondary and postsecondary education initiatives across the state of California through serving two of our clients: ARCHES and CORE Districts. CORE Districts is a non-profit rethinking and redesigning education between nine large California school districts, representing over a million students and ARCHES Alliance is a collaborative committed to closing opportunity and resource barriers for students in California.

Rina’s work over the past decade has been driven by the question of how we can birth new systems, both within and outside our old systems, as we hospice the systems that are no longer serving us and our natural world.

Her attempts at answering this question have been through designing more heart and human centered approaches to change through her roles as a founder, facilitator, and mediator. Over the past decade Rina built and ran youth focused initiatives across the United States and Global South. Most recently, she was the founder and CEO of SHE Health, a teen focused mental and reproductive health company that was acquired in August 2023 by Backpack Health, a pediatric mental health company. SHE’s social and emotional learning programs over the past five years supported teens, parents, caregivers, and educators. Prior to SHE, Rina founded Aahana, an education and health non-profit for youth across rural communities in India.

Rina holds an MA in Creative Non-Fiction Writing, Storytelling, and Anthropology from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and a BS in Business Administration with concentrations in Marketing and Legal Studies and minors in Public Health and International Area Studies from Drexel University.

When Rina isn’t working, she is studying Ayurvedic Medicine where she is pursuing her studies to become an Ayurvedic Practitioner and fulfilling her broader vision to combine spirituality and holistic, nature based healing. She also loves running, writing, and going on long walks with friends.

Uli Smith

Program Manager

Uli Smith is a Program Manager at Capitol Impact, primarily working on the Sacramento K16 Collaborative. Uli is passionate about fostering equitable opportunities in education and workforce development, ensuring that all Californians have access to the resources they need to thrive. Her work spans various sectors, collaborating with city and state agencies, philanthropies, educational institutions, workforce organizations, and community-based partners. She leverages her expertise in public health, community engagement, and the arts to advance social impact initiatives across California.

Prior to joining Capitol Impact, Uli served as the Director of Outreach and Programs at the Neighborhood Wellness Foundation, where she focused on disrupting intergenerational trauma and poverty in North Sacramento. Through her leadership, she implemented programs addressing social, economic, academic, and health inequities, helping to reduce barriers to success and wellness in underserved communities.

Uli holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of San Francisco with a concentration in Policy, Research and Leadership. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from San Jose State University, majoring in Health Services Administration.

When not at work, you can find her creating in her art studio or painting murals throughout Sacramento. She believes in the transformative potential of art to foster well-being and address systemic issues such as mental health, trauma, and social justice. Her commitment to blending public health with creative expression continues to shape her work as she explores innovative ways to make a lasting impact on communities across California.

Aaron Ramsay

Program Manager

Aaron Ramsay joined Capitol Impact in July 2024. In his role as a Program Manager, he manages the California Legislative Staff Education Institute, primarily the K-12, Higher Education, and Associate Education cohorts. This work is an outgrowth of his previous roles working in, and adjacent to, education.

Aaron previously worked as a Program Manager for Lakeside Church, rebuilding a robust, student-first program. Aaron directly impacted students who faced the critical issues of many Californians, including familial abuse, housing insecurity, mental health conditions, and academic struggles. Through a strategic framework, Aaron’s work empowered students by spearheading relevant programs to address these issues. In addition to program management, Aaron formerly taught science at a Title 1 School in the historic neighborhood of Watts, Los Angeles.

With a deep belief in empowering growth, opportunity, and wellness for all people, Aaron brings robust experience in research, curriculum development, implementation, and evaluation. He ushers in evidence-based practices to all his work; laboring to bring novel, cross-disciplinary approaches nurtured by his Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Honors Humanities minor from Azusa Pacific University. When not at work, you can find Aaron making coffee, creating and playing music, or finding the best food spots in the city.

Serena Rodriguez

Program Manager

Serena Rodriguez joined Capitol Impact in March of 2022. As a Program Manager, she primarily supports the California Legislative Staff Education Institute (CLSEI) Program.

Prior to joining Capitol Impact, Serena graduated from San Jose State University with a B.A. in Political Science and Global Studies. In San Jose, she explored her passions for public service and social justice through her internships in city council government, county social services, and the county Public Defender’s office. Upon graduation, Serena moved to Washington D.C. and interned in the United States Senate. Where she supported the member’s legislative team that oversaw the judicial portfolio.

Now in her hometown of Sacramento, Serena is excited about working with Capitol Impact because of their commitment to improving outcomes for all Californians.

Outside of work, Serena spends most of her time making memories with her seven younger siblings. She also enjoys thrifting, visiting historical sites, discovering new breakfast spots, volunteering, and traveling.

Robynne Rose-Haymer

Vice President

Recently transitioning from the non-profit world, Robynne joined Capitol Impact to utilize the over twenty years of workforce development, program development & implementation, and leadership experience to support organizations with their policy, strategy and professional development goals. Focused on economic justice, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, Robynne’s continuing passion is helping people obtain the education and skills they need to pursue their goals. Robynne began her career as an ‘on the ground practitioner ‘ working directly with low income families and communities of color on health & well-being and education issues. As local school district employee and leader, she planned the implementation of the WIA & Adult Career Technical Education programs districtwide. Focused on making an impact, Robynne extended her range to include consulting and grant writing for non-profit organizations seeking to build new programs or shore up existing ones seeking to serve community.

As a graduate of the Nehemiah Emerging Leaders Program (NELP- Class VI), Robynne took her leadership skills to the next level by strengthening her boardsmanship and program management skills. Additionally, since Robynne completed the Prosperity Now Platforms for Prosperity Fellowship in partnership with Bank of America, Robynne has become a champion for financial capability integration into workforce development programming. In 2018 she graduated with a master’s in Organizational Learning and Effectiveness and started the journey for a doctorate at the University of the Pacific. Of all her accomplishments, her greatest is being a proud Mimi to two fabulous grandchildren and parent of three successful children.

Jay Schenirer

Partner

Jay Schenirer has worked in a multitude of positions that provide him a unique and comprehensive view of the world. He has had experience in both the public and private sectors, as a legislative and state employee, operating his own businesses, working in the non-profit and philanthropic fields and as an elected official.

Schenirer is co-director of the California Legislative Staff Education Staff Institute, a program officer for the California Education Policy Fund, and leads a variety of Capitol Impact’s projects on education and children’s health.

After earning his Masters in Public Affairs at the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs, he came to Sacramento to work as a budget and policy analyst in the Office of the Legislative Analyst, focusing on general government and health issues. In two other stints as a legislative staffer, he worked for the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Office of Research concentrating on health and youth issues. He was also appointed as an Assistant Secretary of Education for Development and Planning by former Governor Gray Davis. Schenirer left state government to develop a restaurant and catering business that, over 11 years, grew into a multimillion-dollar operation with 5 facilities and up to 100 employees at a given time. Schenirer transitioned from the private sector into the non-profit world, first as Deputy Director of the Foundation Consortium for California’s Children and Youth and later as the General Manager of Sacramento Food Bank Services in one of Sacramento’s poorest neighborhoods.

Schenirer was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Sacramento City Unified School District in 1996, serving as Board President for 3½ years and vice-president for 2 years, helping lead the district through an academic renaissance that resulted in SCUSD becoming known as a national model of school reform. He also led two bond campaigns that resulted in over $400 million to rebuild the physical infrastructure of the district. More recently, Mr. Schenirer was elected to the Sacramento City Council, representing 58,000 Sacramentans in 22 neighborhoods.

Over the past decade, Schenirer has helped build Capitol Impact into a well-respected consulting business working primarily in the non-profit and philanthropic arena. Schenirer serves on a number of boards and commissions important to the future of the community. Jay and his wife Bina have two sons, David and Noah.

Nate Spilkin

Program Associate

Nate joined Capitol Impact in 2024 as a Program Associate working on the Workforce and Education Team. He brings his research and program evaluation skills to the Capitol Impact team, where he aims to be part of creating positive change and a better future in education. Nate is particularly passionate about mental health, socio-emotional learning, trauma-informed care, and creating just and equitable opportunities for underserved groups, and enjoys working with quantitative and qualitative data and finding efficient ways to manage and display data.

Prior to Capitol Impact, Nate completed his M.A. in Psychological Research where he studied group perception, social media, and Fear of Missing Out. As a graduate student, he evaluated educational programs in K-12 and higher education targeting underserved groups.

In his free time Nate enjoys being active, including hiking, rock climbing, and practicing martial arts. He also enjoys spending time with family, traveling to new places, and trying different foods.

Tamara Simental

Program Associate

As a program associate at Capitol Impact, Tamara is on the Leadership and Awards team. She is providing program support to the team as they look to expand to the reach of the Prebys Foundation Leadership Awards and The James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards. She specializes in partnership building, and problem-solving and vivid descriptions.

Tamara is grateful for her time at Sac State to have been able to learn about and focus on learning history and social issues from a diverse perspective She is most proud of her work as an Outreach Coordinator at CASA Sacramento where she got to advocate for youth in foster care. She is very interested in how historic and current policy impacts the lives of individuals, especially those that are marginalized or minorities. Tamara saw that the work at Capitol impact focused on the bettering of the lives of Californians and highlighted the work of non-profits across the state. Tamara is very interested in how non-profits can function efficiently and effectively to best serve the most at-risk individuals in our state. The best part of Tamaras job is learning about non-profits throughout California that she might not have hear of otherwise. Getting to meet passionate individuals who are doing great work in their communities.

• Hidden talents: Giving good advice to my family & friends through empathetic listening and creating non-judgmental spaces for people to share.
• Something that changed the way you think: The Color of Law
• Where you can be found on Saturday afternoon: Enjoying the local Midtown farmers market and grabbing a chai latte at a local Midtown coffee shop or going on a day trip to either the beach or the lake with her husband 

Annie Sterling

Program Director

Annie Sterling is a program manager at Capitol Impact. She supports education and workforce related initiatives centering equity and opportunity for California’s students and schools. She works primarily on the Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) Academy program, the Regional K-16 Collaborative Grant Program, and the University of California Regents Task Force, as well as consulting on other programs.

Annie brings 13 years of practical experience in education to her work on education policy and school-to-career programs. Prior to joining Capitol Impact, she served as a secondary English and social studies teacher. Having taught in diverse California schools, public and private, Basic Aid and Title I, Annie understands the unique challenges and opportunities 21st century California students and teachers face. As a teacher, Annie took on leadership roles in curriculum development, the transition to the Common Core, and in the adoption of technology programs at her schools. Annie is a teacher consultant with the Bay Area Writing Project, a Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment Mentor, and has served on the Social Emotional Advisory Committee, the Strategic Plan Committee, and the Inclusion Diversity and Equity Alliance at her past school sites.

Annie earned her BA in English and Global Studies from UC Santa Barbara. She holds an MA in Education from UC Berkeley and an MA in Educational Administration from San Francisco State University. When not at work, Annie enjoys exploring California’s great outdoors, hiking and running, yoga, reading, and spending time with her young son and daughter.

Alex Taghavian

Partner

Alex Taghavian, who joined Capitol Impact in 2013, has 20 years of educational leadership and teaching experience, and has extensive expertise in economic and workforce development strategies. Prior to joining Capitol Impact, Taghavian served in academic management roles for public and private universities, including as an adjunct professor at Sacramento State teaching scholarly writing and research methodologies.

Taghavian serves as the Chair Elect for the Los Rios Colleges Foundation board of directors, and previously served as Chair of the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce board of directors in 2019.

At Capitol Impact, Taghavian leads strategy for the firm’s business clients and their social impact initiatives. His portfolio covers the design and implementation of technology solutions, workforce development programs, and postsecondary partnerships.

Taghavian holds a bachelor degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, a master degree from Sacramento State, and a doctor of education from Drexel University. He received the Leadership and Service Award from the School of Education at Drexel University and was selected as a winner in the Sacramento Business Journal 40 Under 40 award.