Leadership & Staff

Carolyn Ross

Executive Director, Programs and Member Management

Carolyn Ross has a passion for harnessing the wisdom of older adults to change how we experience the journey of aging. Carolyn was previously VMC’s Director of Strategic Initiatives for two years, launching the Village Incubator. She has also served as the Executive Director of Care Connections Network (CCN) in Huntington Beach for ten years, helping develop and guide CCN through the planning and implementation phases to produce a thriving village of multi-racial members and volunteers. Carolyn is a strong supporter of the village movement and served as a member of the Village Movement California leadership team for two years. She worked as a consultant to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and as president of ALOA: Adult Lutherans Organized for Action to promote intentional programming and ministry for older adults in Lutheran congregations across the country.

Carolyn also currently serves as a board member of the Huntington Beach Council on Aging. She has a BA from California State University, Long Beach, and an MSW from California State University, Fullerton.

To reach Carolyn, call her at 714-874-4219 or email her at carolyn@villagemovementcalifornia.org

Bill Sandoval

Director of Inclusive & Collaborative Partnerships

William Sandoval began his career in local government in 1990 when he was hired as a Recreation Leader for the City of Bell Gardens. He brings with him an extensive background in budget administration, community outreach, facilities management, public policy, project management, youth, adult and senior program development, special event planning, and parks programming. He has collaborated with non-profits, community-based organizations, and other agencies to deliver activities and programs to previous municipalities.

Bill holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Public Administration and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of La Verne, and an Associate’s in Gerontology. He believes that aging is not lost youth, rather a new stage of opportunity and strength.

To reach Bill, email him at bill@villagemovementcalifornia.org.

Patrick Shandrick

Communication Officer

Patrick empowers nonprofits and government agencies through advocacy and strategic communications. He served as a Communications Officer at the California Community Foundation where he helped guide the organization’s Los Angeles county-wide response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For many years, Patrick worked on behalf of the homeless in the Skid Row community at organizations Chrysalis and the Downtown Women’s Center.

He has taught nonprofit communications at UCLA Extension, served on the City of West Hollywood’s Human Services Commission, and has consulted with clients including the City of Santa Monica and Habitat for Humanity of Southern Santa Barbara County.

He holds a Masters in Communications from the Annenberg School at the University of Southern California and a Bachelors in Marketing from Parsons School of Design at the New School for Social Research.

To reach Patrick, email him at patrick@villagemovementcalifornia.org or call him at 310-919-8066.

Charlotte Dickson

Former Executive Director

Charlotte has devoted her career to building organizations and movements to create equitable, healthy communities for people of all ages and backgrounds.

From 2018 until retirement in 2024, Charlotte served as the Executive Director. Under her leadership, a VMC was built into a statewide organization with a powerful brand and portfolio of programs that accelerates the uptake of the village model across California. She successfully advocated for inclusion of villages in the state’s Master Plan for Aging and built relationships with powerful stakeholders crucial to implementation of the Plan’s village goal.

Charlotte has a B.A. from Duke University and an M.S.W. from Boston University.

Kate Hoepke, Board Chair & Founding Partner

Kate serves as the Chair of Village Movement California and was the Executive Director of San Francisco Village (SFV) for 13 years. During her tenure, SFV grew to well over 1000 people: 700 members, 250 multi-generational volunteers, dozens of donors, partners and supporters, all of whom come together to optimize health and well-being for everyone involved.

In 2015, Kate founded Village Movement California after a year-long planning process to assess viability, gather broad input, and build a shared vision for a statewide organization to scale the Village model. With strong interest and support from stakeholders across the state, VMC secured a three-year grant to fund the design and launch of this statewide coalition.

Her career in community building started in the 1990’s when she founded more than 40 social support networks for young families in the San Francisco Bay Area, called Mothers Clubs. To date these clubs have served more than a million families. She has a BA in sociology and an MBA from San Francisco State University.

To reach Kate, email her at kate@villagemovementcalifornia.org.

Luke Barnesmoore

Luke serves as the Managing Director of Strategy for Front Porch’s Home Match program. Luke is a member of the Marin County Homeless Policy Steering Committee where he represents the prevention sector and acts as co-Chair of the HPSC’s Older Adult Committee. He is also a member of the Alameda County Continuum of Care’s Housing Stability and Homelessness Prevention committee where he serves on the System Modeling Technical Work Group for the Home Together 2030 strategic plan, a member of LeadingAgeCA’s Public Policy committee and a member of the American Society on Aging’s Equity & Justice Advisory Council. Prior to serving as Director of Strategy for Front Porch Community Services Luke was the Program Director for Home Match Marin and a Case Manager (SEIU 1021) for Larkin Street Youth Services’ Castro Youth Housing Initiative. 
 
Luke completed his B.A. in International Relations at San Francisco State University and his M.A. in Human Geography at the University of British Columbia. He also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Mt. Tam Community Land Trust 

Patrick Brown

Patrick played a lead role in establishing Sequoia Village and the Villages of San Mateo County (VSMC) and is currently board president for VSMC. He sits on the board of advisors for BlueCart, a startup in the food services area. He joined the board of Village Enterprise (a non-profit that works to alleviate poverty in East Africa) in 2013, after serving as Chief Operating Officer for five years. Prior to this, Pat worked for twenty years in the computer software industry. In his last position, he was the Senior Director of Technical Publications for Siebel Systems. Pat has a BA from UC Santa Barbara and an MA from California State University, Fresno, and completed doctoral work at UC Berkeley. Pat serves as the Treasurer for the Village Movement California Leadership Team.

Leza Coleman

Leza was the Legislative Director of the California Commission on Aging. She was introduced into the world of senior advocacy as a Long-Term Care Ombudsman, and later, after working as a marketing director for a large assisted living facility in Elk Grove, California, she resumed her advocacy efforts as the Executive Director for the statewide LTC Ombudsman Program Association. Having successfully navigated the legislative system, getting bills passed, and increased program funding, Leza is excited to share her knowledge, encouraging others to engage in systemic advocacy focused on changing the way we view “aging” in California.

She was exposed to Villages through her mother-in-law, Sandra Coleman, who served as the Village Chair for the North Oakland Village.

Carlene Davis

Carlene has twenty-five years of leadership in the public and non-profit sectors, and brings a comprehensive portfolio of expertise in policy and advocacy, community engagement and capacity building, convening and facilitation, organizational development, participatory research, training and curriculum development, program design, and project management. Carlene is the Co-Founder of Sistahs Aging with Grace and Elegance, and Director of Strategy and Evaluation at the California Black Women’s Health Project. Carlene researched and wrote Sankofa Stories: Black Women Reflect on Aging in Place and Community: A Narrative on Policy as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Fellow.

Peter Fitzgerald

Peter Fitzgerald is the Chief Strategy Officer at the National PACE Association, where he plays a pivotal role in advocating for and supporting the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). With a background in healthcare policy and finance, Peter has been instrumental in advancing initiatives that enhance the quality of care for older adults. His writings on improving the health care system have been featured in the New York Times, Harvard Business Review and numerous peer-reviewed journals. Peter serves on the board of his local community health center, the national board of Empath Health’s Complete Care Division and the Starlight Fund for Girls. Outside of his professional commitments, Peter enjoys travel, dog walks and spending time with friends and family.

Carol Haig

Carol is a past editor of the Village Movement California Newsletter and co-chaired the former Walnut Creek village. She developed the materials for the Village Movement California Incubator program. 

A long-time writer and editor, Carol has more than 40 years of multi-industry experience partnering with organizations to improve their employees’ performance. She has superior skills in project management, analysis and problem/opportunity identification, and instructional design and facilitation. She has consulted with executives and line managers, established and managed training departments, trained trainers, written for professional publications and mentored performance consultants. She holds both a BS and MS in Secondary English Education. Carol is committed to the village concept and is delighted to be part of Village Movement California. 

Laura Peck

Laura is a trusted advisor and leadership coach to courageous leaders and organizations building a more just world. Direct, curious and irreverent, her sweet spot is framing the questions and hosting the conversations that move people into action.

A Philadelphia native, she moved to the Bay Area in a beat-up old Datsun in 1972 and never looked back. She has a BA from Cornell University and an MPH from UC Berkeley School of Public Health and is a certified yoga instructor. Before opening her own consulting business in 1995, she worked for Alameda County Health Care Services and northern California Kaiser Permanente.

A long time board member of Ashby Village, she led the Diversity Initiative as an ex officio member and collaborated on design and launch of the VMC Diversity Institute

A swimmer, yogini, and grandmother, she lives in Albany with her sensei/chef/photographer husband.

Amy Stuck, PhD, RN

Amy Stuck is Senior Director, Value-based Care and an applied health services researcher at the West Health Institute, a non-profit medical research organization focused on senior-specific care delivery innovations to lower the cost of health care and enable successful aging in place.  

Amy earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Portland, her master’s degree in nursing education from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and a PhD in Nursing from the University of San Diego. She completed post-doctoral studies in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of California, San Diego.  

Amy’s current fields of study include value-based care policies and payment that support sustainability of home and community-based systems with a goal of improving access, affordability, and lowered healthcare costs for America’s older adults.   

In addition to research at West Health, Amy has over 30 years’ experience in Acute and Critical Care nursing, quality improvement, hospital leadership and nursing education. She is the co-founder of Village Encinitas, happily married for over 40 years, mom of four, and just became a grandma. Amy also enjoys golf, yoga/meditation, and watching sports.