Maggie Lower
Board Chair
Maggie is a seasoned modern marketer with 20+ years of leadership experience. Most recently serving as CMO at Hootsuite, her unique blend of the art and science of marketing drives global brand success, evident in Hootsuite's recent award-winning rebrand. Prior to joining Hootsuite, Maggie was CMO at Cision, held CMO roles at TrueBlue and Aon Hewitt, and spent thirteen years in senior leadership roles at Bank of America. A Board Director at NYSE-listed Grindr, she mentors in the US Marketing Academy, fostering diverse talent and LGBT+ leadership. She has been named to OUTstanding’s Top 100 LGBT+ Global Executives List for 5 consecutive years, reaching the top 20 in 2021, and was named one of 20 Global PrideStars by AdWeek in 2022. She is also a member of the McKinsey Alliance which is an LGBT+ executive forum that strives to connect globally and surface opportunities to share experience, expertise, and resources between individuals and institutions.
Brandon Riker
Board Vice Chair
Brandon has a diverse background in finance, politics, and philanthropy. Since 2017, he has served on Washington College's Board of Visitors and Governors as a member of the Advancement and Enrollment Committees. Brandon previously served as a Senior Manager with ProShares, a leading provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), where he guided the company's strategic planning, helping to position ProShares as a prominent player in the competitive ETF market. Prior to ProShares, he held the position of Executive Director for Strategic Planning at Teucrium Trading, an innovative ETF provider based in Vermont. He has also held significant roles in various Democratic campaigns, including senior positions on President Obama's 2008 primary and general election campaigns, Sen. Tester's reelection campaign in 2012, Sen. Begich's reelection campaign in 2014, and was a candidate for Lt. Governor of Vermont in 2016.
Owen Harris
Board Secretary
Owen is one of the co-founders of SafePlace International and has served as its first Director of Operations. After working at the shelters in Turkey and Greece, he returned to the United States to pursue a Masters Degree. Owen currently works as a Public Diplomacy Officer with the U.S. Department of State in Algeria, while also serving as the Board Secretary at SafePlace International.
Marnie Webb
Board Treasurer
Marnie Webb is the Chief Community Impact Officer for TechSoup and leads Caravan Studios, a division of TechSoup. In her role, she works with communities around the world to describe desired impact and to develop technology solutions that help them move towards that impact. Her work is influenced by human centered design principles, as well as methodologies from social work and international development, such as Participatory Action Research. She has been working with civil society, governments, academia, and corporations for more than 30 years to put together teams and solutions that can accomplish big goals, with and for communities. She's passionate about protecting the rights of humans to live the lives they want to live, safely, freely, with love and in a spirit of abundance.
Justin Hilton
Founder & Board Member
Justin is an entrepreneur, writer, passionate activist, personal growth, and spiritual leader who is deeply committed to social change. He had a successful career in Real Estate that was always punctuated by Social Action and the support of underrepresented communities. He also worked in India, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Turkey, Mexico on LGBTQIA+ transformational work focused on combating oppression and advocating for inclusion. The founding of Safe Place International represented the coming together of his experience as a philanthropist, human potential leader, and passionate defender of marginalized communities.
Sarah Summerall
Board Member
Sarah is the founder of Summerall Law, End Probate, and Essential Estates - all businesses focused on keeping more money with families on the passing of a loved one. She is a lawyer who has been practicing estate planning for 15 years. Summerall Law's community initiatives focus on helping underserved communities in California and has a free Special Needs Trust program to help families who have disabled children put plans in place to enable friends and family to care for their disabled family members after they pass. EndProbate is focused on keeping more money in African-American families by providing a free process to avoid probate. Sarah has been advising SafePlace International’s founder Justin Hilton since he started SafePlace International in 2017.
Yvonne St. John-Dutra
Board Member
Working with teens and adults in schools and communities since 1980, Yvonne has been instrumental in designing and implementing over 20 different nationally recognized prevention, intervention and leadership programs for teenagers and adults. Yvonne’s earliest experiences varied from classroom presentations, school assemblies, to TV programing on eating disorders, gender stereotypes, and all forms of social oppression. She later focused her attention on working with at-risk youth; creating addiction and recovery programs; emotional intelligence workshops; peacebuilding; and couples, parenting, and family workshops.
Rich Dutra-St. John
Board Member
A former high school teacher and championship wrestling coach, Rich has worked with teens and families since 1978. As a licensed family therapist and drug intervention specialist, Rich was recruited to open and direct two unique adolescent treatment facilities in California, where he served as founding clinical director and program designer. As a man committed to social justice and equality, Rich has facilitated several men’s groups over the years and was honored as one of the Men of Merit by STAND! For Families Free of Violence and Contra Costa’s Zero Tolerance for Domestic Violence Initiative.
Todor Grigorov
Board Member
Todor has served as chief financial officer in various nonprofit organizations, including the University of California Press and most recently the Public Library of Science, publisher of the largest open access scientific journal in the world, PLOS ONE. His experience in strategic planning, global operations, human resource management, and risk management has enabled organizations to stabilize performance and grow their reach. Todor's career in finance has been underpinned by his commitment to work at institutions exclusively dedicated to education, scholarly research, and human rights. As an immigrant himself, he has a unique perspective of what it feels like to uproot oneself and pursue sanctuary far away from family, friends and other support systems.