We Believe In
Equal Opportunity
We believe that all people, regardless of ethnicity, social class, sexuality, religion, or background, should have the opportunity to prosper and succeed through hard work, and that a society that protects and ensures equal opportunity through its laws and practices is stronger across generations.
Education
We believe that education is the great equalizer. It is the primary engine for economic growth at a national level and the fastest path to prosperity at a local level.
Potential
We believe in maximizing human potential, both national and foreign-born, to advance productivity and economic competitiveness.
Civil Society
We believe in a civil society that welcomes the talents of all people, encourages diversity of opinion, and engages in thoughtful, factual discourse.
Giving Back
We believe that successful businesses and individuals should give back to the communities they call home.
Leadership
Tom Chavez President/CEO
Tom Chávez is a serial technology entrepreneur who lives in San Francisco and was born and raised in Albuquerque in a second-generation Mexican American family. Neither of his parents attended college; all five of their children graduated from Harvard University. Tom started and sold two venture-backed technology companies: Rapt, started in 1999 with friends from graduate school and sold to Microsoft in 2017, and Krux, started in 2010 with partners from Rapt and sold to Salesforce in 2016. Early in his career Tom worked at Sun Microsystems and Rockwell Palo Alto Science Lab. Over the last ten years he has served on the boards of education non-profits in San Francisco, which informs the work he now pursues with the Chavez Family Foundation.
Currently Tom Chavez is the co-founder of super{set}, a venture studio that founds, funds, and builds technology startups. He also currently serves as the CEO of Eskalera, an HR tech company, and LatinX, a SaaS media-data company.
Alongside former Salesforce colleagues Vivek Vaidya and Chris O’Hara, Tom co-authored Data Driven: Harnessing Data and AI to Reinvent Customer Engagement, published in 2018. The book aims to explain and “de-geekify” the latest data-driven techniques that marketers use to drive stronger engagement and smarter experiences for consumers.
He holds a bachelor in Computer Science and Philosophy from Harvard and a Ph.D. in Engineering-Economic Systems and Operations Research from Stanford University, where he was a NASA Doctoral Fellow.
Elena Chavez Quezada Head of Investments
Elena Chávez Quezada is Head of Investments at the Chavez Family Foundation (CFF), where she supports her brother Tom Chávez in the launch and grantmaking of a new foundation focused on the intersection of immigration, education, and entrepreneurship. Elena is also Senior Director of Expanding Access to Opportunity at The San Francisco Foundation. She oversees the foundation’s grantmaking related to expanding access to economic opportunity, which fits within the foundation’s broader focus on advancing racial and economic equity. Prior to this role, Elena oversaw the economic security portfolio at the Walter and Elise Haas Fund, and was a senior program officer at Tipping Point Community. Prior to her roles in philanthropy, she managed the California expansion of Single Stop USA and worked on research and policy at the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program.
Elena is involved in various local and national organizations/efforts: She is a founding partner for the Closing the Women’s Wealth Gap Initiative; a Mayoral appointee to the San Francisco Citizen’s Committee on Community Development; co-chair of the national Asset Funders Network; and a Leadership Council Member of Immigrants Rising.
Elena earned her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, and lives in San Francisco with her husband and two sons.
Rosalyn Chen Board Member
Rosalyn Chen serves on the Boards of Upwardly Global, which provides job search skills to highly skilled immigrants in the U.S.; Every Woman, a global campaign to end violence against women and girls through the creation of a globally binding treaty among nations; and the Good Samaritan Family Resource Center, which provides basic services to new immigrants in San Francisco.
Rosalyn immigrated from Taiwan to California with her family at the age of 11. She received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from U.C. San Diego and her Master of Business Administration in Finance from University of Southern California. Previously she worked as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, UBS Investment Bank and Piper Jaffray.