​David Channer was named A Better Way’s President & CEO in October 2020. Prior to this he had served for 15 years in multiple organizational leadership roles including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Program Officer, Clinical Director and Mental Health Program Director. David began his career working with homeless youth in upstate New York in 1993. In 1997 he earned a Masters in Clinical Social Work from Smith College School for Social Work. David has focused his professional efforts on the development and improvement of programs occurring at the intersection of Social Services and Mental Health Treatment. He is committed to building systemic partnerships that honor families and centralize the wisdom of lived-experience in the delivery of measurably effective supports.

Bryan Saalfeld is an attorney at Murphy Pearson Bradley & Feeney, a California based law firm with offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento. Mr. Saalfeld represents businesses and individuals in all phases of litigation, focusing primarily on real estate, sports related practice, and legal malpractice. Bryan holds a B.A. in History with a minor in Economics from Bowdoin College, and a J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law.

Bryan joined A Better Way’s Board of Directors in 2009 and currently serves as Board Chair as well as Chair of the Administration Committee. Mr. Saalfeld was raised in the East Bay, and has a long history of supporting family and youth services throughout the Bay Area. Bryan is married and a proud parent of two boys.

Dr. Marc Martos-Vila is a Principal with Econ One Research, an economics and finance consulting firm. Before working as consultant, Dr. Martos-Vila was a professor at the University of California Los Angeles, the London Business School (United Kingdom), the Claremont McKenna College and ESADE Business School (Spain). He has written on various topics including mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and corporate governance. He has taught MBA students, undergraduate students and executives.

Dr. Martos-Vila received his PhD in Economics from Princeton University.

David joined Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center (TVHC) with over 20 years of experience in practice management and health services administration. For the 7 years prior to joining TVHC in 2012, he served as the CEO of Central Texas Community Health Centers, Inc., a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), managing 22 delivery sites and over 500 employees and led the transition of the organization from a department of the City of Austin to a non-profit. He also worked as practice administrator for the renowned Nemours Children’s Clinic, Orlando, Florida, a multi-pediatric specialty practice, with operational responsibility for 18 medical and surgical divisions. He has served on the boards of directors for the National Association of Community Health Centers and for the Texas Association of Community Health Centers.

David holds Bachelors in Health Services Administration from Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL and a MBA from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, FL. He has been a member of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) since 1995 and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the City Of Hayward’s Chamber of Commerce. David is an avid jazz and blues pianist, often playing locally in the East Bay area.

Gay Searcy joined the Board of Directors in 2014, and serves on the Program Committee. Gay has been a practitioner and advocate for mental health services throughout her career. Prior to joining the Board of A Better Way, she worked as a Special Education teacher in Oakland Unified Schools, and as a Staff Psychologist, Supervisor, and Case Conference leader during her seventeen years at West Coast Children’s Clinic.

​Gay is passionate about child and family services. Previously, Gay served as a Board Member of Fred Finch Youth Center for ten years, and held the post of Board Chair for four years.

Gay received a B.A. in Clinical Psychology from UC Berkeley and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Marital and Family Therapy. She subsequently obtained both her MFT and PSY licensure, and she has maintained a private therapy practice since 1987.

​Emily Wu is East Bay Regional Manager at Community Bank of the Bay. She has over 22 years of experience in banking including 12 years with First Republic Bank. She has established many trusted client relationships and helped with their business banking, private banking and financial planning needs.
​
Emily is an active participant in the East Bay community and especially passionate about supporting families in need. She has been a Board member of A Better Way for over 5 years, where she serves as Chair of the Fund Development Committee and as a member of the Audit committee. Emily is also a Board member and Finance committee member of East Bay Asian Youth Center based in Oakland.

James Orellana joined A Better Way as a member of the Finance committee in 2013 and officially become a member of the Board of Directors in early 2014. James retired at the end of 2021 after a 40-year career in the construction and insurance industries. During his career he participated in construction industry-related legislative efforts, construction litigation, housing development, labor relations, workers compensation, and other insurance topics. He started his career in the insurance business with Chubb & Son, Inc. as manager of their San Francisco Surety Bond Department. James has participated in construction industry-related organizations in their legislative efforts related to construction litigation, housing development, labor relations, workers compensation and insurance related topics.

James graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics.

Jen Kokko is the Regional Sales Manager of the Northwestern Region with Insperity, a nationwide full-service HR solution company supporting small and mid-sized businesses. She has over 20 years of experience in business development and sales leadership including 14 years with Insperity.

Jen joined the Board of a Better Way in 2022 following her passion for helping children and belief in A Better Way’s mission.

Jen was born and raised in Michigan and graduated from the University of Michigan Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in Economics and German. She has spent multiple years living and working abroad in both the U.K. and Germany. She holds a Certified Business Performance Advisor Certification through the University of Houston Bauer School of Business.

Ariel grew up in Berkeley and Oakland. He works as a data scientist specializing in product research. He spent 2.5 years working on Search at Facebook before joining the Core Data Science team. Before Facebook, he worked as a quant researcher at a hedge fund.

After receiving his BA in Economics & Politics at Oberlin College, Ariel obtained an MA in Statistics at UC Berkeley.

​Ahmad serves as an attorney at the California Department of Health Care Services. He obtained a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.