The Playworks Northern California Regional Board is a group of change-makers who believe in the power of play and are active ambassadors for Playworks. These playful professionals contribute their personal time to share the mission of Playworks: to improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.
Nick Nieto, Chair
Project Manager
Signature Development Group
Nick Nieto is a project manager at Signature Development Group, a real estate development firm based in Oakland, California that specializes in residential, commercial, and mixed-use projects in Northern California. At Signature, Nick is involved in project due diligence, financial analysis, site planning, design, entitlement, construction, marketing, and asset management for various developments. Prior to joining Signature, Nick worked in various roles at UCLA, most recently in marketing, where he was responsible for project management and communication strategy for key fundraising and admission initiatives. Nick holds a BA in Economics from UCLA, where as an undergraduate, he founded Funnel, an organization that provides pro bono management and marketing advisory services to nonprofits. It was through Funnel that Nick first connected with Playworks, consulting on various marketing initiatives in Southern California, and developed a passion for the transformative power of play.
Annie Crangle
Annie is a team leader, strategist, and coach. She utilizes her experiences in education, business, and athletics to facilitate inclusive and inspiring strategic planning processes. Her ability to work across sectors and with diverse leaders stems from years of advising social impact organizations and businesses, playing Division I college basketball, and teaching elementary kids.
Annie holds an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis and a BA in Journalism and African American History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a former Big Ten Conference athlete and a current member of the San Francisco Olympic Club Women’s National Basketball team.
Annie first encountered Playworks as a Teach for America Corps Member teaching fourth grade students and physical education at a start-up charter school in North Minneapolis, Minnesota. Annie is passionate about the role of social-emotional development and athletics in preparing students for healthy, happy lives, and is thrilled to be a part of the Playworks family, energizing education for all students.
Jackie Fusco
Head of Exchange Platforms
Google
Jackie is the Head of Exchange Platforms at Google. She manages a technical team that optimizes media buying, focusing on smarter integrations, improved performance and greater insights. She has a proven track record of success in leading and managing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives at Google. She currently leads a cross-functional DEI&B employee resource group, where she communicates direction, defines goals and manages initiatives that influence the environment and culture for over 400 Googlers. Prior to Google Jackie worked at a number of startups in the Ad Tech space in San Francisco and New York City.
Outside of work, Jackie is a dedicated volunteer who has worked with a number of organizations helping children, including Make A Wish, the YMCA, and GCSA. She is also a mentor to young professionals.
Jackie is a passionate advocate for children and their right to play. She believes that play is essential for children’s development and that Playworks is making a real difference in the lives of children across the Bay Area.
Rebecca Goldberg
Consultant
Rebecca is a consultant and works closely with the California Department of Education and several non-profits in CA to strengthen the quality of after-school programs across the state.
She brings over ten years experience in the youth development field as well as a background in workforce development creating career pathway programs for low-income youth, adult, and veterans. Rebecca has a BA degree from Colgate University.
Rebecca believes in the importance of play and was inspired by the impact Playworks makes on kids, schools, and communities by fostering leadership and social-emotional learning on the playground, eliminating bullying, and making schools safe, fun, and welcoming for all kids. She’s also a big fan of a round of handball on the playground.
Pramod Gosavi
Corporate Venture Capital, Strategy, Corporate Development
VMware
Pramod is a senior member of VMware’s corporate strategy and corporate investments group. He advises business unit leaders in the areas of cloud computing, security, mobility, artificial intelligence, and IoT. He also leads VMware’s strategic investments in these markets. Prior to VMware, Pramod led corporate strategy at Seagate Technology and helped formulate three-year strategy and priorities for the company. Pramod attended business school at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and completed MSEE at Purdue University and Bachelor of Technology from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India. Pramod grew up in India and moved to the US for graduate studies.
Outside of work, Pramod likes outdoors, traveling, trying out new restaurants and meeting interesting people. Pramod is passionate about children’s mental and physical health and has volunteered for several Taproot projects helping non-profits grow and create a bigger impact
Pramod lives in Cupertino with his wife and two daughters who love Playworks’ coaches and games played during recess.
Pramod first encountered Playworks when his team volunteered for recess play at Brentwood Elementary School in East Palo Alto. Pramod is passionate about the role group based games and physical activity in preparing students for healthy, happy lives, and is thrilled to be a part of the Playworks family.
Trinity Martin
Managing Director
Accenture
Trinity is a Director in Accenture’s Talent and Organization practice. She has worked with Silicon Valley based clients for almost two decades helping to prepare technology companies for the future by driving organization change, as well as talent and learning transformations. Trinity is passionate about not only driving change and growth for Accenture’s clients, but in developing the skills and careers of the practitioners that she works with, and creating new offerings to help clients build successful and dynamic workforces. Trinity was a National Merit Scholar and graduated magna cum laude with a BS in Mathematics from the Honors College at the University of Oklahoma.
When not in her car commuting around the Bay Area, Trinity spends her time with husband and young son. On any given day they are either traveling to various countries around the world, working at home on their small ranchette (usually building fence for their menagerie of animals), or making wine as part of their fledgling winery.
Trinity is passionate about lifelong learning and the importance of safe and inclusive play in early development, to help build compassionate and resilient leaders of the future. She believes strongly in the value of the Playworks mission and the tangible results they are achieving both in the classroom and the lives of kids.
Carlita Romero-Begley
Vice President of Human Resources
California Health Sciences University
Carlita Romero-Begley is a human resource professional with over 20 years of comprehensive experience and expertise in people operations, talent management and culture development. She helps attract, develop, and retain top talent and build engaged and productive workforces.
Carlita currently serves as the Vice President for Human Resources and is the Title IX, Equity and Diversity Coordinator for California Health Sciences University. She was instrumental in establishing the Title IX, Equity, and Diversity department at the University and is an expert in risk management and employment law compliance.
She previously served as Human Resources Manager at Lozano Smith, LLP, a statewide education and public agency law firm that serves hundreds of California’s K-12 and community college districts, universities, and numerous cities, counties, and special districts.
Carlita received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from California State University, Chico, and is currently working toward a Master of Studies in Law from USC Gould College of Law. Carlita has been a member of the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) since 2009, and she has been a certified Professional in Human Resources (PHR) since 2008. Carlita has maintained her SHRM Certified Professional (SHRM-CP) since 2015.