Team

Recognizing that financial inclusion and financial capability research and programs often overlooked the experiences of young people (15–25 years old), Margaret founded MyPath in 2007 in partnership with young people to engineer models promoting economic mobility and financial empowerment among working youth of color from communities historically excluded from financial access. Under her leadership, MyPath has expanded into a leading national nonprofit and launched the country’s first financial capability initiatives designed by and for youth. MyPath’s models integrate banking, saving and credit building into existing youth employment programs, transforming earnings into economic mobility. Leveraging Margaret’s ability to coalesce people in a shared vision, MyPath brings nonprofits, municipalities and financial institutions together to eliminate the racial wealth gap. MyPath also engages youth in policy advocacy to advance youth financial inclusion. Margaret has led MyPath through 15 years of tremendous growth, propelling both the organization and the youth financial capability field onto the national stage. Margaret has a BA from Brown University and an MSW from UC Berkeley.

As the Development & Communications Manager at MyPath, Alvaro manages the website, designs collateral material and multimedia graphics, and supplies creative solutions to the organization’s communications projects. Prior to joining MyPath in 2022, Alvaro worked in communications and information technology roles at a Los Angeles-based nonprofit dedicated to improving economic outcomes for underserved Los Angelenos. Earlier in his career, Alvaro worked as a small business lending officer for an economic development corporation. Alvaro graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science.

Stephanie Bimar is the Director of Data and Evaluation at MyPath, responsible for the development, implementation, and ongoing improvement of MyPath’s data collection, interpretation, and dissemination to stakeholders. She works closely with program staff and research partners to measure the impact of MyPath programs on participants and support continuous quality program improvement. Prior to joining MyPath, she spent a decade as an evaluation consultant working with nonprofit and government agencies to support a wide variety of programs (youth development, education, leadership, behavioral health, and human services). Stephanie has an MA from Claremont Graduate University and a BA from University of the Pacific.

Catherine Dhongade, MyPath’s Director of Strategic Growth and Special Projects, works with national and municipal youth-serving organizations, financial institutions, and fincap intermediaries to forge strategic partnerships and bring financial capability models to youth and young adults to help them get banked, start saving, building credit and reaching their personal financial goals. Catherine has worked in the social sector for 20+ years and hasa background in organizational strategy, nonprofit management, program design and evaluation, and direct services. In her previous role as Director of Strategic Partnerships with Goodwill Industries of San Antonio, she oversaw the organization’s financial and asset building programs, health and wellness initiatives, and the development and deployment of a resource and referral portal for a 23-county region in South Central Texas. She started her career as a case manager for newly resettled refugee families and later, a manager of programs for refugee youth. Catherine has a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication from Oglethorpe University and an MBA from Duke University.

Alexandria Downing, MyPath’s Financial Mentor Program Manager, is responsible for program development and design, administration, and training for the financial mentoring program. Alexandria brings 12+ years of experience and has a background in foster care, college bound and justice-involved youth services. In previous roles, she has supported various services for youth and adults throughout the Bay Area, and since joining MyPath, has facilitated national trainings on youth financial capability. Alexandria is a certified Financial Fitness Coach through SAGE Financial Solutions. She holds a BA from San Jose State University.

As Partnership Manager at MyPath, Itzel focuses on nurturing relationships and implementing MyPath’s financial capability model with national partners and youth-serving organizations. She joins MyPath with over 8 years of experience in youth advocacy, community organizing, and policy development. Her love and dedication for young people and social justice catalyzed at her time with the Youth Leadership Institute (YLI), where she worked on youth-led action research campaigns to drive policy change on racial, social and environmental issues in San Francisco. Itzel is a graduate from San Francisco State University with a degree in Sociology & a minor in Latinx Studies. She is a self-identified queer Latinx visionary who fights to amplify the voices of the communities that have historically been neglected.

Loraina Flores-Martinez brings more than 10 years of experience providing financial capability programming to youth in San Francisco and San Jose. Loraina’s interest in financial capability began when she was a participant of San Francisco’s Department of Children Youth and Their Families (DYCF) funded programs, including CORO and Juma Ventures. She was then recruited to serve as a Youth Warrior for DCYF and soon thereafter joined the original Youth Empowerment Fund Advisory Board. As Partnership Manager, Loraina leads the engagement and administration of MyPath’s municipal partnerships across the nation.

With more than two decades of experience in nonprofit administration and fundraising, Andrea leads MyPath’s development and communications team. Prior to joining MyPath in 2022, she spent 16 years overseeing early childhood education programming and fundraising at one Los Angeles’ largest nonprofit Community Development Corporations. Andrea has been awarded fellowships from the National Coalition of Asian Pacific American Community Development in Washington, DC (2017) and the Southern California Leadership Network in Los Angeles, CA (2018). Since 2019, she has served as a Commissioner for the City of Alhambra’s Housing and Community Development Commission. Andrea has a BA from Brown University and an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.

Lori Jones has over 20 years of experience in business management, including finance, human resources and operations, for organizations up to $30MM and staff sizes from 10 to 750 employees. Lori has worked in philanthropy, philanthropic consulting, higher education, and nonprofits, and draws from previous experience as a legal assistant case manager in business and litigation matters. As Finance Manager for MyPath, Lori works closely with the Chief Financial Officer on regular accounting responsibilities, audits, budgeting, and reporting. Lori is an Advanced Certified Nonprofit Accounting Professional through nationally-recognized Fiscal Management Associates, and holds BA and MS degrees.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Norel has witnessed firsthand the financial struggles faced by BIPOC residents living in under-resourced communities. He joined MyPath as a freshman in high school to gain the tools and education to begin banking, saving and building credit. Inspired by MyPath’s impact on his financial well-being, Norel helped establish MyPath’s Youth POWER, a group of 18-24 year old leaders focused on driving policy activities that will unlock resources to advance financial and economic inclusion for BIPOC youth. In this role, he helped develop MyPath’s Youth Economic Bill of Rights, which spotlights the resources, tools, and knowledge that all youth need to begin building income and wealth. Now in his tenth year at MyPath, Norel continues advocating for solutions to address financial and economic barriers faced by youth and young adults through presentations with local and federal policy makers. He was recently appointed to the San Francisco Guaranteed Income Advisory Group by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. As the BEEM Project Assistant, Norel supports MyPath’s Black Economic Equity Movement (BEEM) Guaranteed Income project for Black young adults in San Francisco and Oakland.

Stephanie Lopez began her financial development at 16 when she joined MyPath’s Youth Trainers for Economic Power (YTEP) program. She was hired on by the San Francisco Federal Credit Union, where she managed their Youth Credit Union Program (YCUP) and continued to provide administration and leadership with a youth perspective to support their organizational strategy. In 2018, Stephanie joined the MyPath staff, providing administrative support to the Youth Engagement and Partnership teams. Currently, Stephanie is the Youth Leadership Program Associate. She manages the Advocates New ERA Program, which provides high school students the opportunity to receive foundational financial education and critical youth leadership and advocacy skills. Stephanie is a graduate of San Francisco State University.

Angely Miranda has 20+ years of youth development experience, having spent her entire career in the nonprofit sector providing a wide variety of services (education, employment, coaching/mentoring, case management, foster care services, etc.) to community members. An immigrant born in El Salvador and raised in the Bay Area, she was the first in her family to graduate from high school and college. She is committed to working with BIPOC youth and young adults from diverse socio-economic backgrounds to help them to meet their fullest potential. She believes that everyone, especially underserved and marginalized young people, have a right to access information and resources (access to post secondary education options and college admissions information, financial aid opportunities, career and employment opportunities, opportunities to build their financial capability, etc.) that will help set them up for success in their lives . She is a huge proponent of change and fully supports positive systems and policy changes to create a more equitable and just world for youth and young adults.

Alexis Moore has 4 years of experience bringing financial capability programming to San Francisco youth. She started her journey with MyPath as a youth participant in the Savings program where she successfully met her goal of saving for college. She then joined MyPath’s Fresh Start Loan program to learn about and build her credit. Throughout her time at MyPath, Alexis has engaged in advocacy and policy work, presenting at local and national conferences about her own and other BIPOC youth’s experiences with youth financial inclusion. As the Youth POWER Associate for MyPath, she supports two key programs, BEEM and Youth POWER, by recruiting youth, facilitating financial education, and leading peer learning circles.

Leslie Prado, Senior Director of Programs, is well-versed in financial literacy and cost saving strategies for low-income families and individuals. Her strong analytical and quantitative skills, combined with her ability to simultaneously manage several programs, have resulted in proven success in program development and implementation. Leslie is bilingual (English and Spanish) and her perspective as a Latina raised by immigrants in Orange County facilitates meaningful connections and communication with clients and financial coaches. Leslie has a BS from California State University, Long Beach, and an MBA from Concordia University.

Claudia Stillwell has over 20 years experience in nonprofit management and has spent the last 5 years in Executive management. She has overseen finance, accounting and operations for organizations up to $5MM and staff sizes ranging from 12 to 250 employees. As Chief Financial Officer at MyPath, Claudia is a member of the Executive team, supervises the Finance Manager, and is responsible for fiscal management, risk management, audits, budgeting, and the Board Finance Committee. Claudia is a member of the Financial Professionals Network of CompassPoint, holds a BA from Wesleyan University and an MBA from Golden Gate University.

Claudia Villicaña joins MyPath with over 15 years of experience working with young people in both the nonprofit and higher education sectors. She is passionate about creating social change and breaking down systemic barriers using quality programming and public policy advocacy. She most recently comes from UC Berkeley where she focused on building financial literacy programs and elevating the field of higher education financial wellness at the institutional, state, and national levels. Her expertise is in program development, implementation, and evaluation. Claudia has a BA from the University of California, Irvine and an MPP from Arizona State University.

Abiud is the system administrator at MyPath in charge of Salesforce, GSuite, teamwork, Zoom, DocuSign, and all cloud-based software. He is a Salesforce Certified Salesforce Administrator and a Salesforce Double Ranger. Abiud has worked for governmental and nonprofit organizations throughout his career. Past roles include working as the President and Executive Director of various nonprofits, and at the U.S. House of Representatives where he lent his expertise to investigations of international banking. Throughout his career, he has emphasized improving performance through analysis and working as a strategic partner to address the knowledge and data needs of internal and external clients. Abiud has an MS in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie-Mellon University and a BA in Government from The University of Notre Dame with a minor in Computer Applications.

Meet Our Team

Margaret Libby

Alvaro Bermudez

Stephanie Bimar

Catherine Dhongade

Alexandria Downing

Itzel Estrada

Loraina Flores-Martinez

Andrea Giese

Lori Jones

Norel Knowles

Stephanie Lopez

Angely (Angie) Miranda

Alexis Moore

Leslie Prado

Claudia Stillwell

Claudia Villicaña