Board of Directors

Spencer Perry is currently the Director of IT Services at Computer Courage, an IT managed service provider in Emeryville. He has an extensive career working in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, primarily in operations and IT roles. He was the Director of Operations at BlueSkies for Children from 2015-2018.

Stacy Owens is the president of S.E. Owens & Company, a compliance and accounting firm that focuses on political campaigns, non-profit organizations, mission driven businesses, and animal rights organizations. She has taken her lifelong interest in causes that support a more equitable world for women, children, and animals, and has made it the focus of her career. Stacy spends significant time and resources working to move the needle forward for these causes. When not working or volunteering you can find Stacy reading, traveling, or hanging out with her dogs.

Alicia Gould-Bailey is a Senior Counsel in the Legal Department at Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. Her practice focuses on managing employment litigation matters and providing advice and counseling to operational and regional executives on a wide variety of labor and employment law issues. Alicia holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. She lives in Alameda with her husband, Jelani, her son, Ellison, and her daughter, Avery, who attended BlueSkies.

Rosalia Arteaga-Romo joined BlueSkies in 2012. She graduated from San Francisco State with a B.A. in Child & Adolescent Development. She is bilingual (Spanish) and previously worked in the child care center at San Francisco State. She was the Wobbly Walkers’ Head Teacher before joining the Schoolroom.

Matt Bush is a People and Culture Consultant from Oakland, CA. Matt's academic background is in Economics, Sociology, and International Development with a focus on Child Protection. Additionally, Matt is an alumnus of Blue Skies for Children.

Conor McNamara is an attorney with Nixon Peabody, focusing on complex litigation related to construction, real estate, government investigations, and general business disputes. As a litigator, Conor regularly guides companies through early analysis and identification of liabilities, and development of a strategic approach to addressing existing or likely disputes, and has led and worked on teams through all phases of the dispute resolution process, and subsequent litigation. Prior to practicing law, Conor was a Captain in the U.S. Army, where he worked with multiple organizations leading units in training, deployment, and recovery operations, which included a deployment to Afghanistan. During his time in both the military and the law, Conor has worked for a variety of veteran non-profit organizations, and has focused his pro-bono legal efforts on immigration for the past 10 years. Conor holds a JD from Berkeley School of Law, and a BS in Environmental Engineering from the US Military Academy at West Point. He lives in Oakland with his wife and two children, one of whom is a BlueSkies alumni, and one of whom currently attends BlueSkies. 

Vanessa graduated with a B.A. in Sociology from Mills College and immediately began her independent school career at Live Oak School in San Francisco. She has specialized in enrollment strategy for over two decades at various schools in the Bay Area. Vanessa's primary focus in admissions has been making a private school education accessible to underrepresented communities and family choice. Vanessa firmly believes that admissions is not merely a job but a calling. Meaningful connections with the community - those that can make a difference in the lives of families - drive her work. She has been involved in designing social justice standards, strategic planning, and parent/guardian/student affinity group work. In her free time, you will find Vanessa building a Lego set, perusing children's books at a local independent bookstore, and adding funky socks to her ever growing sock collection.

Sam has worked in the education field for over 20 years—from a first grade public school classroom to a high school in a juvenile prison to an Ivy League graduate school of education. Sam has written and edited books about race, culture, and innovation in schools. He currently teaches and works at the Stanford d.school, where he co-leads the K12 Lab. He also serves on the board of the National Equity Project. Most weekday mornings, you can find Sam walking his and his wife Sunanna’s kiddo to BlueSkies.

Christa is the Executive Director of BlueSkies for Children. She has been at the school since 2010, when she started as a volunteer in the Baby House classroom. Since then she has worked in every group, served on the Board for seven years prior to being hired as Executive Director, and her daughter attended from 6 months through her COVID-kindergarten year. She is thrilled to be working alongside BlueSkies staff and Board to preserve this amazing program for generations to come.