Bridge the Gap Colleg Prep Board of Directors

Shelley Brown, Executive Director of The Milagro Foundation

Rick Brusseau, Director of Accounting Services, Pacific Crest Group

Melissa Congdon, MD, Founding doctor of Prima Pediatrics in Mill Valley

Laura Cox, former Development Director for World of Children

Robert C. Hunter, Founder and Registered Investment Advisor

Kevin Johnson, Vice President, Portfolio Manager and Analyst with Dodge & Cox

Denni Locke Brusseau, Founder and Executive Director

Pastor Fred Small, Founder and Senior Pastor of Peoples Inter-Cities Fellowship, Marin City

Jani Ross, with the educational placement firm, McClure, Mallory & Baron

Florence Williams, Founding Board Member

All of our board members bring leadership skills and creative ideas to our organization.

Shelley Brown is the Executive Director of The Milagro Foundation. The Milagro Foundation was founded by Deborah Santana and Carlos Santana in 1998 to support underserved children in the areas of health, education and the arts around the world.  Shelley is a founding Board member of The Milagro Foundation and over the years has been at the helm, giving over $3,000,000 to agencies serving children in 35 countries from the Bay Area to as far away as Africa and India.

She is also an educator, with twenty five years of experience as a principal and teacher in the Marin and San Francisco School Districts.  She is an experienced board member with a wealth of knowledge in community educational programs and resources in Marin. Her life’s work has been dedicated to supporting underserved youth.  
 
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Rick Brusseau is the Director of Accounting Services for Pacific Crest Group. His specialties include the development of business plans and corporate budgets, managing financial and operational audits, and overseeing upgrades to accounting and human resources systems. Prior to joining PCG, Rick held leadership positions in finance, accounting, and employee development for a number of California companies. Rick brings more than 15 years of finance, accounting, mergers and acquisitions, and business management experience to Bridge the Gap College Prep.

Rick earned an M.B.A. from Dominican College and a B.S. in Economics from Rutgers University.

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Melissa Congdon, MD, is the founding doctor of Prima Pediatrics in Mill Valley. Prior to that, she was with Mill Valley Pediatrics. She has been practicing medicine for almost 18 years, 14 of those in Mill Valley. She has been privileged to care for Marin City children at both practices. Since 2004, she has served as an Advisory Board member of Beyond Borders. This group runs a summer camp and programs during the school year for 4th through 6th graders from San Francisco and Marin County, including Marin City and the Canal area. This program empowers these children by exploring the uniqueness and
commonality of their diversity.

Melissa's passion is preparing our students for high school and ensuring their success through high school and college. Her son just graduated from Tam High school, giving Melissa insight into the Marin City students at Tam and the challenges they face. She also has a student in 8th grade.
 
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Laura Cox has worked with non-profit organizations and foundations for the past 10 years.  Most recently, Laura worked as Development Director for World of Children, an international children’s charity.  She has worked with the Milagro Foundation and the Foundation for Reed Schools to ensure children reach their potential through access to exceptional education.  Her experience began in the corporate world, working in strategic planning for Avon Products, brand management for Del Monte Foods and acquisition analysis for National Medical Enterprises.

She earned her MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School and her Bachelor of Arts in both Economics and Psychology from UC, Santa Barbara.


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Robert C. Hunter is a Registered Investment Advisor based in Marin, with clients throughout the Bay Area. Prior to that, he worked as a stockbroker for some of Wall Street’s largest firms. He brings more than twenty years of investment experience to his wealth management work. He is a Founding Board member of Bridge the Gap and serves as Co-Chair.

He has a special interest in at-risk youth and brings personal insight to the challenges they face. He takes his fiduciary responsibilities seriously, providing strong leadership to ensure that Bridge the Gap garners the needed resources to stay on track programmatically, while leaving room for innovation. 

He has a Bachelor of Science Business Administration degree from Dominican University and he completed the Certified Portfolio Management Program at the Investment Institute.

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Kevin Johnson is a Vice President, Portfolio Manager and Analyst for Dodge & Cox, one of the country’s largest independent investment management firms. He joined Dodge & Cox in 1989 and is a shareholder of the firm. In addition to working with many of Dodge & Cox’s non-profit clients, he is a member of the firm’s Charitable Giving Committee, which reviews and approves the company’s numerous charitable gifts, which are focused primarily on education and at-risk youth. He has served on a number of non-profit boards. He is also currently on the board of the San Francisco Zoological Society and a member of the Stanford Business School Trust Endowment Fund.

He received his B.A. degree from Harvard College in 1984 and his M.B.A. degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1989. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and is on the Board of the National Association of Petroleum Investment Analysts (NAPIA).  

 
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Denni Locke Brusseau is the Executive Director of Bridge the Gap. She is a founding member of the organization, and her experience, dedication, energy and bright smile greet students, tutors and family members alike, welcoming them to Bridge the Gap’s family. Her desire to help children reach their fullest potential can be seen in the agency’s recent growth and program expansion. Denni has over 30 years of business experience in retail management with Macy’s that she brings to her new position as Executive Director.

Born and raised in Marin County, she graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Liberal Arts and Social Welfare.


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Pastor Fred Small is the Senior Pastor of Peoples Inter-Cities Fellowship, formerly known as the Marin City Church of God. Pastor Small is a Founding Board member of Bridge the Gap. He generously donates a place for Bridge the Gap to provide Tutoring sessions each week and our new series The Breakfast Club on designated Saturday mornings.

Born in Lancaster County, South Carolina, he is a Korean Veteran and not long ago was voted "Marin County Senior Citizen of the Year." He holds a Masters in Ministry degree from the Southern California School of Religion. He has also studied at Golden Gate Baptist Seminary and Southern Marin Bible Institute.

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Jani Ross works for the educational placement firm, McClure, Mallory & Baron. She brings to her work, years of teaching experience at middle school and high school levels in both public and independent schools in the Bay Area. Her administrative experience began at Mount Tamalpais School and continued for nine years at the Branson School where she was Associate Head and, most recently, Director of Admission. As Branson’s Associate Head, her responsibilities were twofold- overseeing curriculum and serving as Dean of Faculty. Working with the master class schedule and helping students plan their classes, Jani quickly became the “go-to” person for students and faculty alike. Her ability to listen carefully, diagnose a problem, present several possible solutions and put the onus on the high school student to follow through, won her praise from parents.

She earned her B.A. from the University of Michigan and continued her graduate work at Mills College. She looks forward to working with families seeking elementary and high school placement for their child. Her background in schools and her understanding of the developmental stages of students help her demystify the school search process. She also serves on the Board of Trustees and as consultant to the Board for several local schools. She is married to Terry Ross and two grown children, Dana and Daniel.
 
 
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Florence Williams is a founding board member of Bridge the Gap. As a secondary education teacher, she taught or many years in San Francisco high schools. Currently, she is teaching Vocational Education to Adults through the Marin County Office of Education’s ROP Program.

She also serves as Chairperson for two other agencies in the community - Marin City Community Development Corp, and the Community Land Corp (part owners of the Shopping Center the Ridgeway Apartment Complex).  Since the late seventies, she has lived in Marin City and for most of those years she has been a member of Peoples Inter-Cities Fellowship Church. She takes great joy in working with Pastor Small and serving in the Singing and Prayer Ministries, where she also serves as chairperson of the Women's Department.