SAN JOSE, Calif., September 4, 2024 — Second Harvest of Silicon Valley is pleased to announce the appointments of Ellen Kamei en Tom Larkins to its board of directors. In addition to bringing their talent, experience and perspective to the board, both leaders have demonstrated a passion for serving the community and are committed to helping Second Harvest advance its mission of ending hunger in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
Ellen Kamei is a current councilmember, former mayor, and former environmental planning commissioner for the City of Mountain View, California. A third-generation resident, she is the daughter of a Chinese and Puerto Rican American mother and a Japanese American father born at Heart Mountain incarceration camp. She is a multi-lingual government affairs professional with over 15 years in the public sector working at every level of government, and currently serves as part of the external and legislative affairs team for AT&T California. Kamei is committed to combatting food insecurity and the stigma that surrounds it in our communities.
Tom Larkins retired in 2021 after a 35-year legal career. Most recently, Tom served as senior vice president and general counsel of Applied Materials Inc., where he was responsible for all legal affairs, worldwide intellectual property and global security — bringing to Applied a wealth of experience in mergers and acquisitions, global commercial transactions and operations, corporate finance, securities, and corporate governance. Prior to Applied, Larkins served in various executive and general counsel roles. He first became involved with Second Harvest over a decade ago through the Applied Materials annual fundraising drive and was immediately struck by the severity of the food insecurity problem in Silicon Valley and the passionate persistence of the Second Harvest team in addressing it. He has remained involved ever since.
Annually, Second Harvest’s board governance committee conducts a rigorous process to identify, recruit and appoint high-impact individuals. “Our goal is to identify people who have not only demonstrated real passion for our mission, but who also bring skills and professional or lived experience that contribute to the board being diverse across a number of key attributes,” said Leslie Bacho, CEO of Second Harvest of Silicon Valley and a member of the board. “We look forward to leveraging all the great experience Ellen and Tom will bring to the board as we continue the important work of ensuring everyone in Silicon Valley has access to nutritious food.”
In addition to welcoming Kamei and Larkins, the board appointed current board member Maria Poveromo, senior vice president and chief communications officer at Cisco Systems Inc., to the board chair position.
The appointed Second Harvest board members began their terms effective July 1, 2024. Please visit Second Harvest’s website for a complete list of board members.
Over de tweede oogst van Silicon Valley
Founded in 1974, Second Harvest of Silicon Valley is one of the largest food banks in the nation and a trusted nonprofit leader in ending local hunger. The organization distributes nutritious food through a network of nearly 400 partners at more than 900 sites across Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. Due to the prohibitively expensive cost of living in Silicon Valley and the dramatic reduction in pandemic-era government support, Second Harvest is serving an average of about 500,000 people every month. Second Harvest also connects people to federal nutrition programs and other food resources, and advocates for anti-hunger policies on the local, state and national levels. To learn more about how Second Harvest is responding to the incredible amount of need in Silicon Valley, visit shfb.org.
If you are covering issues related to hunger in Silicon Valley, we can provide expert spokespeople who can talk about the local landscape. Please contact Diane Baker Hayward at dbakerhayward@shfb.org or 408-266-8866, ext. 368.
