The Board
About President Carolyn Rebuffel Flannery: Carolyn founded Make It Home in 2020 during the pandemic after being an interior designer in the Bay Area for about 25 years. Interior Design was her way of helping others to make a house into a home and help others share in some of the wonderful things about home. As an interior designer, she was seeing a LOT of waste. Vendors were telling her to “just donate” slightly damaged pieces rather than send them back. Clients were having her replace perfectly usable furniture. At the same time, she was also doing volunteer work with foster kids and was learning that when foster kids age out, they do often get housing assistance but almost nothing else. She finally realized we can solve one problem with the other; the problem of furniture waste can solve the problem of furniture poverty. She started collecting furniture in her garage and giving it to foster kids and foster families in need of resources. This soon blossomed into Make It Home opening business doors in October of 2020.
About Vice President Susan Brennan: Susan has spent the better part of the last three and a half decades working at Levi Strauss & Co. across a variety of disciplines, including, merchandising, marketing, operations, business development, and strategy. Prior to her retirement, Susan was the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Levi Strauss's mass-market business. Susan has worked in the US for most of her career with a few years spent overseas in Asia. Since retirement, Susan has spent most of her time volunteering and sitting on nonprofit boards.
About Secretary Bitsa Freeman: Fourth-generation Marin native Elizabeth “Bitsa” Freeman stands as a pillar of knowledge, confidence, and integrity as she serves the community she loves through her distinctive real estate services. Bitsa, founder of Boulevard Real Estate, a Marin certified Green business, is continually sought out by repeat clients, new referrals, and friends alike for her expert real estate advice and genuine, upfront honesty. Her well-respected reputation and deep community connections have made her a top-producing luxury agent throughout Marin County. With service at the core of her being, Bitsa is dedicated to giving back through numerous avenues. A past president of Kent Woodlands Property Owners Association and former trustee of the award-winning Kentfield School District, Bitsa currently serves as Chair of Kentfield Planning and Advisory Board and Vice President and Fire Committee chair of Kent Woodand’s Property Owners Association. She’s also passionate about the planet and serves on the board of Cool the Earth, a local nonprofit aiming to inspire people to take action against climate change and Make It Home, a local furniture bank which helps families individuals transition out of crisis and homelessness. Bitsa has been married for 30 years and is a proud mother of three grown children. Her personal experiences have shown her the magic of raising a family in Marin, in the midst of so much incredible natural beauty. In her free time, she’s an avid reader, hiker and traveler.
About Kendall Galli: Kendall has been a classroom teacher for 32 years, the last 26 spent in Marin County. Classrooms and kids at White Hill Middle School, Marin's Community School and Archie Williams High School have brought her joy and enthusiasm and inspiration for decades. An active community member of Ross Valley and Marin County and a risk taking DIY'er, she combines her love for teaching and fresh starts in an elective course for Marin's Community School students at Make it Home. Reimagining and repurposing gently loved home goods keeps the furnishings out of landfills, provides a fun and creative outlet for kids, allows for hands on learning and lifelong skill building that illicit a "can-do" spirit in the students. She is a lifelong educator, proud mother of three, an equity advocate and ever evolving ally, a sand collector and Earth traveler.
About Katie Sears: Katie Sears is principal of Alexander Sears Creative, a consulting practice that focuses on partnering with small business leaders in the areas of operations and people management, marketing & product development, strategy, and business development. Her career has spanned over 30 years from a trajectory of corporate and advertising agency experience centered in branding, marketing, and public relations toward design project management roles with an emphasis on residential and hospitality. She started her career working in corporate marketing & community relations for Safeway Inc, McCann-Erickson, and Kaiser Permanente. In 2008, after a stint in high tech startups, she started her consulting practice and has focused on the design industry where she collaborates with small business owners who are looking for an extra hand on strategy and execution. Alexander Sears Creative is a co-pilot to leadership and Katie is a helper by nature and enjoys working with teams and clients to produce practical solutions. Katie Sears is an East coast transplant who has lived in San Francisco since 1992. She has been an active volunteer at the San Francisco Decorator Showcase and a former Board member at Scott Valley Swimming and Tennis Club. When she is not juggling projects, she can be found making dinners with her family and walking her terriers at Crissy Field.
About Hilary Sessions: Hilary Sessions is a San Francisco Bay Area-based marketing professional with over a decade of experience in interior design, PR, and business management. She served as Vice President of Client Services for Coupar Consulting and was a founding team member of Chairish.com, an online marketplace. Prior to entering the world of design, Hilary was an Account Executive for Carlson Marketing Group, where she planned and executed events for tech clients on a global scale. She brings her passion for PR, marketing, events, tech, and business innovation to Quarry Hill Consulting. Hilary recognized her passion for design while studying Decorative Arts & Architecture at Parsons School of Design in Paris, as well as Design and Illustration at the Academy of Art in San Francisco. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Art History and French from Georgetown University. She was born and raised in Manhattan and attended The Spence School. She now lives in Marin County and enjoys sailing, hiking, traveling, and visiting flea markets around the globe.
About Treasurer Jim Eichenberger: Jim retired in 2015 after a 36-year career in finance and corporate management. He practiced as a CPA with a regional public accounting firm for four years and then accepted a controllership position with one of his audit clients. Jim spent the next 32 years in various accounting, treasury, and management positions with several large agricultural cooperatives. For the last ten years of his career, he was President and CEO of a global sales and distribution company specializing in agricultural commodities. Since retiring, Jim has volunteered as an adult ESL instructor and continues to work during income tax season in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program providing free tax preparation for individuals through Canal Alliance in San Rafael. Jim and his wife, Leslie Eichenberger, live in San Rafael.
About Nel Ellwein: Originally from New York City, Nel is a graduate of Brown University and received her MBA at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. She worked as a management consultant with Bain & Company with a focus on serving clients in the areas of private equity and consumer products until changing her focus to raise her two daughters. Nel has volunteered extensively and served on the Bay Area Regional Board of Teach for America, the Legacy and Endowment Board of St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church and most recently as the Board Chair at the Katherine Delmar Burke School. Nel and her husband Charles live in San Francisco.
About Vicki Masseria: Vicki began her career in non-profit in early 2015 when she joined St. Vincent de Paul Society as Director of Finance & Operations. SVDP is a non-profit organization based in San Rafael with programs working to end hunger, poverty and homelessness in Marin. Prior to SVDP, Vicki spent 20+ years in Executive Management roles in healthcare media, worked hand-in-hand with private equity and served as an M&A consultant in the science/healthcare markets. Vicki holds a BS in Education from Ohio University and is a graduate of Executive Management Programs at both Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. Her belief in giving back to the community continues as she serves on the boards of St. Vincent de Paul and the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce. She also serves as Treasurer of the Marin Chapter of UNICO, the nation’s largest Italian American service organization, and as a volunteer at Bloom, a San Rafael non-profit that provides free clothing to low-income individuals, assisting them in getting back to the workplace. A 33-year resident of San Rafael, Vicki enjoys the outdoors, especially hiking the hills of Marin County and an occasional round of golf. She is also an enthusiastic Warriors fan. She and her husband, Joe O’Hehir, have two sons.