Board of Directors

Annie Falandes
president and Founder

Annie has a BA in Social Sciences, is a retired United Airlines pilot, and spent nine years facilitating Art Wednesday for Sonoma Teen Services. She have been a homeless advocate for the last 3 years and founded Homeless Action Sonoma in 2020. Annie is the heart and visionary of HAS and is passionately committed to ending homelessness in Sonoma.

JAMES WHITTAKER
board chairperson

James has a great deal of nonprofit management experience, having served on 7 nonprofit boards and leading 4 as chairman. His experience includes years of work with a large homeless services organization in Arlington, Virginia. He was co-founder and Sr. Vice President of a 300 person management and IT consulting firm, and later was Executive Director of a nonprofit neighborhood partnership that focused on community building and economic development.

JERRY KLENOW
VICE CHAIRPERSON

Jerry Klenow has lived in Sonoma since the 1980's. He has a B.S. degree in Mathematics from UC Davis and career history includes actuarial work and teaching/coaching positions. He has held actuarial assignments at various Property/Casualty Insurance Companies, up to and including the position of Chief Actuary. Teaching positions included mathematics at the middle school, high school and college levels and coaching positions included basketball and track at the middle school and high school levels.

He has volunteered on the Board of the Sonoma Valley Ed Foundation, served as a recreational sports coach for basketball, soccer and softball, mentored twice for the Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance, volunteered at the Homeless Service Center in Santa Rosa, and worked on food distribution for many organizations in Sonoma County.

He is one of ten children and he, along with wife Mary, raised four daughters in Sonoma Valley. They are now experiencing the joy of spending time with grandchildren.

steve latimer
treasurer

Steve Latimer had been in the real estate investment management business since 1986, prior to his retirement in 2018. During that time, he held many functional roles at Clarion Partners and its predecessors, including asset management, acquisitions and portfolio management, as well as heading the firm’s 20-client, $20 billion separate account business and being a member of the firm’s Executive Board, as well as its Investment and Valuation Committees.
Steve holds an MBA from Columbia University and a BS from Providence College.

CONNIE BENNETt
SECRETARY

Connie is a retired English teacher, mother of 2, grandmother of 5 year old twin boys. She became involved with Homeless Action Sonoma to be a good neighbor and friend. Her primary passions in life are teaching and learning. She taught all grades in elementary school in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and in Oakland, California (10 years);high school English in Sanford, Florida (10 years);Community College English 101 and 102, ESOL (10 years). Her Mission work includes hospice trained volunteer for the dying and for their families; medical team work in Honduras; house restoration work in New Orleans after Katrina; Arthur Ashe trained tennis instructor for underprivileged children; Community Church mission: gathering and sending clothes to Haiti after the hurricane; teacher to prison guards and deputy sheriffs: writing skills.

Her BS degree is from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and her Masters is in English, from the University of Central Florida. Connie's 2 children and 2 grandchildren mean the world to her, and have been her excellent teachers throughout life.

"It has been a privilege volunteering for HAS over the past 4 years, particularly under the leadership of Annie Falandes. She has shown me depths of compassion I didn't know existed."

TED NORDQUIST
Programs director

Ted has a BS from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and a PhD from Uppsala University, Sweden where he taught religious history. He founded Sweden’s first tofu factory, and in 1994 moved his Swedish family to Sonoma and started organic soyfood businesses. He is a consultant in the plant-based food industry. He has volunteered in Russia, Bolivia, and Malawi developing soyfoods, and co-managed a project building a small hospital, school buildings and a spring water source for the remote Andes village of Sicaya. Ted joined Homeless Action Sonoma to include the less fortunate in our famous Sonoma Love.

GUSTAV GUSTAVSSON

Gustav was born and raised in Sonoma. Gustav has been a volunteer with a variety of Sonoma Valley non-profits, El Nido Teen Center, Relay for Life, Mentoring Alliance, Hit the Road (SVHS), Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly, and helping renovate a homeless shelter in Corona, California along the way. Gustav is currently on the Board of his HOA, and is now a Board member of HAS. Gustav loves people and strongly believes that being of service to others is what brings true happiness.

OSIAS ENCARNACION

Osias has spent 25+ years in the Information Technology industry, being part of the rapid changes from large mainframes to the distributed, personal computing platforms of today. Along the way he has been an active member of non-profits groups, notably during the forming days of the Sonoma Valley Teen Center.

Osias is an amateur photographer and filmmaker; taking advantage of the latest in Artificial Intelligence technology to continue to expand his capabilities in crafting unique media.

patrick favale

petra longley

For over 25 years, Petra, of A Land of Design, not only has been one of the top landscape design firms in Marin and Sonoma counties, but has been an active part of her community. Through her creativity, talent, and passion to help, Petra always goes above and beyond.

In 2016, Petra founded Marin Clothesline, a non-profit clothing resource in Marin County assisting under-resourced youth. Here, she helped teens and young adults find clothing and accessories to match their personalities and improve their self-esteem. Through a partnership with the Home Away From Homeless organization, she also hosted fundraisers and created pop-up clothing shops throughout the Marin and San Francisco.

Now a resident of Sonoma, Petra is excited to bring her experience and enthusiasm to the HAS team and community. Through her talent and passion, you'll be sure she will create programs and opportunities to support not only HAS, but all her community.

Sierra Nadeau

Sierra is a Sonoma-Native, and moved back to the valley after graduating from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, a B.A in Family Human Services, and a minor in Spanish. Sierra’s big heart has always guided her, and she often feels the most fulfillment when being of service to others. Because of this, she also explored a path in Early Childhood Education and shortly after earned her teaching credential in the state of California.

Initially, Sierra joined H.A.S by donating hours of graphic design, but after two years of volunteer work, she found herself a position on both the Philanthropy team and the Board of Directors

ADMINISTRATOR

Valli Vieira

Philanthropy Team

Faye Mellos - Team Leader
Tim Blair
Sierra Nadeau - Event Coordinator & Graphic Designer
Madeline Whittaker

ADVISORY BOARD

Carol Allison
Maria Abadesco
Harry Boon
Stephen (Steve) Bossio
Doug Fryday
David V. Hall
Marion Weinreb
Steve Wolf