Our Board

Michael Kubo

Board President

Mike is a Research Scientist for the SETI Institute at NASA Ames Research Center and holds a B.S. in Chemistry from UC Santa Cruz. His research helps to elucidate the energetic habitability of environments analogous to those found on Mars and the ocean worlds of Europa and Enceladus, and to better understand the types of chemical biomarkers that potential life on those worlds might leave behind. In addition, he is the co-developer of the NASA Lassen Astrobiology Internship Program – a collaboration between NASA, Lassen Volcanic National Park, and Red Bluff High School – a Title I high school in rural Northern California.

Always looking for ways to engage with his community, Mike has 10+ years of experience serving on the board of the Santa Cruz Roundtree HOA, as well as 3+ years on the board of directors at Coastal Community Preschool – serving in at-large and leadership capacities on both boards.

When he’s not working or engaging in board service, Mike enjoys winemaking with friends, cooking, and spending time with his wife and 7-year-old daughter.

Tessy Paikeday

Board Vice-President

Tessy Paikeday Le Duc (she/her/hers) is a Partner at Fox Rothschild LLP, a national full-service law firm. For the last 15 years, she has focused her law practice in corporate finance, assisting start-up companies in the Bay Area with securing capital, and venture capital firms with deploying it. Prior to joining Fox Rothschild, Tessy worked at Latham & Watkins LLP, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, the Office of the Inspector General of the Los Angeles Police Department and McKinsey & Co.

Tessy received a B.A., summa cum laude, in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1997 and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 2001.

Tessy moved with her family to Santa Cruz in 2015. She is passionate about education, and serves on the Yale Alumni Schools Committee. In her free time, Tessy enjoys traveling, reading, gardening, biking, playing tennis and exploring the beaches and trails of Santa Cruz with her husband, son and dog.

Ian Christie

Board Treasurer

Ian is a California native, born in Riverside and raised in Santa Cruz. He attended Cabrillo College, after which he chose to pursue a full-time career in the cycling industry. 

At the age of 24, he became owner of Summit Bicycles’ two shops. Since then, he has opened two additional locations, acquired Trek Store San Jose, become a franchise owner of Beeline Bikes , and started San Jose Bike Rentals and Corporate Bike Solutions. Ian also sits on the Board of Directors of the cycling industry advocacy group, PeopleForBikes. Ian has also been the treasure for a local private school for the last 4 years. 

He lives in Scotts Valley with his high school sweetheart, three daughters, two dogs, one cat, and two hamsters. Ian enjoys cycling, running, gym workouts, golfing, goofing around with his daughters, and Disneyland.

Rosamaria Garcia

Board Secretary

Rosa Garcia serves as the Systemwide Human Resources Complaint Resolution Officer for the University of California, Office of the President. She is a subject matter expert in EEO, ADA, Title IX, and Abusive Conduct, overseeing compliance activities to foster a culture of safety, inclusion, and non-discrimination across the UC system. Her work encompasses governance, policy development, training, communication, and internal auditing to support a harassment- and discrimination-free environment.

While originally from the East Bay, Rosa has lived and worked in Santa Cruz since 2003. At UC Santa Cruz, she advanced through roles at the Disability Resource Center, Title IX Office, and as Senior Director of Equity & Equal Protection. In this capacity, she also served as the campus’s inaugural ADA Compliance Officer. Prior to her higher education career, she worked in community mental health.

Rosa’s expertise includes disability law and policy, workplace accessibility, and the interactive process to ensure meaningful access for individuals with disabilities. She also has significant experience in resolving discrimination and harassment complaints in both higher education and workplace settings.

A proud UC Santa Cruz alum, Rosa holds a BA in American Studies, an ABA Paralegal Certification from Cal State East Bay, and a Master of Science in Mental Health and Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling from San Francisco State University.

Layla Franks

Board Member

Layla Franks is currently the Executive Director of the Society for Fetal Urology, focusing on managing the day-to-day operations of a medical organization of fetal urologists with 360 national and international members. With an educational background in Integrative Biology from the University of California, Berkeley, she has built a successful career in medical research and leadership. As a Research Associate for the Department of Urology at the University of California, San Francisco, she used her highly effective organizational and time-management skills to maintain a database on renal trauma and urethral reconstruction. Since the 1980s, this database has been used to write more than 250 peer-reviewed journal articles.

In 2012, Layla became a founding member of the Santa Cruz Philanthropy Society for the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. As part of the Executive Committee, she assisted in raising over $1,000,000 for various medical programs that improved the health of the Santa Cruz community – programs that supported cancer care, palliative care, women’s & children’s programs and pediatric behavioral health. She has 6 years of Event Chair experience for the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Gateway School, playing a leading role in event planning, fundraising and community building.

With her increased enthusiasm for community engagement, Layla is excited and honored to be a member of the PCS Board of Directors.

Carrie Mulcaire

Board Member

Carrie Mulcaire has served as the Grant Development Director of Cabrillo College since 2015. Carrie oversees the Grants Office to pursue funding that advances the college’s mission to support student success equitably and inclusively and student’s pursuit and completion of college and career pathways. During her tenure, she has helped to secure over $55 million in state and federal funding for educational and workforce initiatives. Carrie holds a master’s degree in city planning from the University of California at Berkeley, where she also earned a bachelor’s of science in business administration at the Haas School of Business. She has worked more than 15 years in grant development and management of federal, state, and private sources of funds to support education, workforce development, community and economic development. Prior to moving back to her home state of California, she worked in Washington, DC for nine years at the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) where she directed the growth of a national program for post-disaster economic recovery with grant funding and worked on applied research and consulting projects. She has lived and worked in the United Kingdom and the People’s Republic of China. When not working or volunteering, Carrie enjoys traveling, cooking, mountain biking, and hiking around Santa Cruz County with her husband, two daughters, and two dogs.

Bernie Tershy

Board Member

I live in Santa Cruz with my wife, Erika Zavaleta, and two youngest children. My two older children, my brother and his family, and my 100-year-old mom live nearby. In addition to being a dad, I’m a conservation entrepreneur. I helped start:

1. Freshwater Life, which protects endangered freshwater species from extinction.
2. Island Conservation and Conservación de Islas, which protected 460 species from extinction and formed 4 million acres of protected areas.
3. Conservation Metrics, a for-profit social venture monitors that wildlife and land use.
4. Henry Arnhold Fellows Program, which finds and supports great people with proven conservation solutions.
5. Conservation Action Lab and the Coastal Science & Policy Program at UCSC which trains new conservation leaders from all over the world.

Joy Flynn

Board Member

Single mother

South county resident 

Manuel Arens

Board Member

Manuel Arens joined Google in 2007 and held different positions in three different countries as data scientist, in sales as well as in finance. He is now working as purchasing manager where he oversees global processes and develops programs for Google’s technical infrastructure organization to procure equipment for a global data center fleet more efficiently. Before that, he started his career in finance with Eaton Aerospace in the United Kingdom in the accounts payables department. His excitement for aircrafts and machine tools continued while working in supply chain management for Airbus in Germany, where he was involved in global logistics for the Airbus A380 program.

In his free time Manuel loves to hike and explore Santa Cruz’s playgrounds with his wife and twin daughters. He is an enthusiastic reader of classic literature and crime novels and can also be found in the children’s section of Santa Cruz library picking new books for his girls. He likes playing tennis, skiing and is a student private pilot. 

Samantha Rosasco

Board Member

Sam is a botanical artist and she holds a BA in Business Management Economics from the University of California Santa Cruz.  For the last 5 years, she has served as President of the Pacific School Foundation, supporting Pacific Elementary School in Davenport, CA.  Prior, she served as President of the Westside Parent Education Nursery School in Santa Cruz for 3 years.  As board president, she has fine tuned her leadership style to create an open and inclusive environment and has worked on defining straightforward opportunities for volunteers to follow in order to create memorable “fun” community and fundraising events. She is a dedicated volunteer who wears many hats from event planning, fundraising, website management and social media.

When she’s not creating art or supporting the Pacific Elementary School, Sam enjoys reading books, playing piano, culinary exploration, singing and kickboxing as well as spending time with her husband and two children. 

Hong Zou

Board Member

With do-it-yourself (DIY) running in her blood and aspiration toward better education opportunities, Hong immigrated into the United States at age 16. In her first decade here in America, life revolved around school, work, volunteerism (then, to improve English and to assimilate), and time with family. She worked for a long list of technology companies in the Bay Area, and in 2021, switched to precision medicine. Hong enjoys collaborative problem-solving (starting from the statistics course at De Anza College in Cupertino, CA), interacting with diverse groups of people, learning from them, and working to achieve shared goals.  

Hong lives in Santa Cruz with her better half (he owns a community-oriented store in downtown) and 2 daughters. She is more than thrilled to have discovered PCS and wants to continue building its legacy in all positive and inspiring ways. Spare time is spent on cooking, reading, time with family (including aging parents, who still live in the Bay Area), exercising, and vacations like visits to Hawaii or Japan (latter is yet to evolve beyond a concept).