Lila Holzman is originally from LA, but has bounced around a bit before finally landing in San Francisco in June of 2016. She spent her undergrad at Rice University in Houston, worked in DC for two years at a solar startup, served as a Sustainable Agriculture Systems Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama (2012-2014), and got her MBA at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in Philadelphia. Lila now is the Energy Program Manager at a shareholder advocacy nonprofit, engaging with businesses and their investors in order to promote long-term sustainability planning. She couldn’t be happier to be here and to be involved in the NorCalPCA community. 

Noah Brod is a a recent transplant to the bay area, having most recently returned from his Peace Corps service in El Salvador, where he served with his wife in the Community Organization and Economic Development Sector.  In El Salvador he worked with artisans, coffee cooperatives, young entrepreneurs, and local elected officials on everything from small community fundraisers to infrastructure projects to building rock-solid, trusting relationships over sweetbread and coffee. Noah graduated with his masters in Public Administration from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and currently works for the U.S. Small Business Administration in San Francisco as a Economic Development Specialist.  He lives in beautiful Alameda.

Jeremy Karnowski is originally from St. Louis, MO. After serving as an Education Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania (2006-2008), he worked in the Education sector of the Department of Veterans Affairs and then did his PhD work in the Cognitive Science Department at UC San Diego using data to study animal behavior. He is now Director of Product at Insight Data Science, a tech education startup helping people move into new careers in data. He is excited to help connect RPCVs around the area and help facilitate the transition back for newly returned volunteers.

Holly joined the board January 2017 as a Regional Director for the South Bay to further the mission of NorCalPCA. She wants to encourage others to be more activity involved, especially in the South Bay area, since she resides and works there as well.

Holly has enjoyed living abroad multiple times and has worked in several industries. As an agroforestry volunteer PCV, she called a small village in Cameroon home from 2002-04. While Holly worked primarily with the substance farmers, she also taught in the village school as an English teacher. These experiences led her to earn her graduate degree in teaching upon returning to the US. After working in the classroom for 9 years, both in the States and International schools, she decided to change directions towards educational technology.  She moved to the Bay area desiring to be closer to her nieces and nephews.  And then after attending a NorCalPCA sponsored career fair, Holly took her first steps towards changing careers. She really valued the opportunity to work with the established RPCVs who helped to update her resume and provided information about opportunities in the area. 

Now, as a NorCalPCA Board Member, Holly looks forward to bringing people together at different events as well as helping people connect to be a formal or informal mentor or a mentee. Please contact her with questions or ideas for potential events.

Kathleen Campbell is an international economic development professional with more than 10 years experience facilitating job creation and market access with small and medium enterprises in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Haiti.

In her role as purchasing director for Ten Thousand Villages, the largest North American fair trade retailer, Kathleen managed product development with 90 suppliers in 30 countries to introduce more than 500 new items each year, which supported as much as $28 million in annual revenue.

Prior to joining Ten Thousand Villages, Kathleen worked as a senior communications specialist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Habitat Conservation. She served in the Peace Corps for two years as a micro-enterprise development specialist in the Philippines helping to increase the revenues of community-based businesses in rural fishing villages and supporting the viability of local marine sanctuaries.

At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Kathleen designed and conducted a survey of the U.S. renewable energy industry’s ability to serve international markets and pursued private-public sector partnerships to promote the use of small-scale renewable energy technologies in support of income development, health and education in rural communities abroad. She was part of the start-up team that built Innovative HR Management, a consulting firm that outsourced human resource management services to companies in Silicon Valley.

Kathleen holds an M.A. in Global Finance, Trade and Economic Integration from the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.

Monterey/Santa Cruz: John Bost grew up a coast to coast Navy kid. He attended high school in California. After a degree in zoology from San Diego State College, he served in the Peace Corps as the science department of a small teachers training college in Sierra Leone (1967-69). There he met and after a very short courtship married VSO high school teacher Jennifer. It was, after all, the hot tropics. Post PC, a year in Yorkshire to get to know Jen’s family and to travel around Europe before entering Hastings College of Law in 1970. He passed the CA Bar in the summer of 1973. As a lawyer, John was CA Bar certified as a Specialist in Probate, Estate Planning, and Trust Law as well as a Specialist in Taxation Law. He served a three year term as a Commissioner on the CA Bar’s Taxation Law Advisory Commission. In 1979, he started teaching tax & law related courses at San Diego State University, eventually moving into a Finance Department tenure track position. He retired in 2003 as a Full Professor. John served two terms in the Faculty Senate and as Chair of the Senate’s Constitution and By-laws Committee. John served four years as the Director of the College of Business Faculty-Student Mentor Program. In the 1990s, John helped write the first national certification exam for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards becoming the Chair of the organization’s Board of Examiners in 1996. John was a co-author of the first three editions of West’s Federal Tax Research textbook and was the sole author of the 6th to 13th editions of Estate Planning and Taxation. John is no longer involved as author but both textbooks are still in use. He also wrote a number of journal articles and made presentations to local bar committees on matters related to estate planning and/or taxation. John and Jen’s two daughters attended the University of California Santa Cruz. At the end of their daughter’s first year, they bought a house for her and some of her friends to live, thinking it was a good investment. After their youngest daughter finished in 2003, John and Jen retired and moved up to the house in Santa Cruz having fallen in love with the area. John served two terms on the UCSC Arboretum Associates Board of Directors. In 2015, John connected for the first time with our local RPCV “chapter” and enjoyed meeting other RPCVs and engaging in activities. He stepped up to do the organizing with the help of a couple other RPCVs when the person who had been the moving force announced she was stepping back.

Peace Corps Volunteer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) 1978-80.

Associate Peace Corps Director in Mali 1985-88.

RPCV India 67-69 and Peace Corps Staff in US 1970-1990.

Membership Chair and NorCal Historian involved in founding NorCal in 1981-82. 

Former NorCal Board Member and President and NPCA Board Member.

Retired federal employee.

Married to Susan Neyer RPCV Philippines 62-65 and former NorCal President and NPCA Board Chair).  Met via NorCalPCA.