Board of Directors
Shiraz Kotadia
​
President
An Almaden resident since 1980, Shiraz has a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He has over 30 years of industry experience as Director of Information Systems, Director of Consulting Services, Program Director, Senior SAP Project Manger, and IT Advisor. He has been a Manager or Director for IBM, SAP, Nortel, Panasonic, and General Motors and has implemented SAP systems at a number of large and medium-sized companies. He has taught MBA courses in Production and Operations Management, Project Management, and Information Systems in the evening MBA program at Santa Clara University. He was certified as a Fellow in Production and Inventory Management. He is currently a senior management and systems consultant.
His wife, Anar, is a senior Quality and Regulatory consultant for Medical Device companies. They have two daughters.
Michele Dexter
​
Vice-President
Michele is the 3rd generation in her family to be born in San Jose. She grew up in Cambrian Park and Willow Glen, and has lived in Almaden for the past 17 years. She has a long family history of business, entrepreneurship, and community involvement.
Michele co-founded an IT services business with her husband, Rick. She has managed the business operations for the past 15 years, while simultaneously raising two sons. She is currently Council Liaison for District 10 Councilmember Johnny Khamis, working to accomplish many projects in the District as well as building strong community relations.
Michele is eager to support AVCA in its mission to keep the residents of Almaden informed about important issues and to encourage active engagement in civic affairs.
Michael Lee
​
Treasurer
Michael has lived with his wife, Luz, in Almaden Valley since 1979. He came to the Silicon Valley in 1975 to work at IBM as a research scientist. When the IBM Almaden Research Center opened in 1986, the commute became a short walk and a hop on the shuttle to the top. He subsequently moved to HP Labs and continued his research activities until his retirement. He is a well-known expert in electrophotography, the process behind laser printing.
He and his wife have helped many children of friends and acquaintances toward their goal of attending college over the years with advice and academic assistance. While his degree is in physics, he especially enjoys tutoring math since that often requires high level view, while a typical student is mired in the details. And occasionally, the light goes on!
Board of Directors
Shiraz Kotadia
​
President
An Almaden resident since 1980, Shiraz has a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He has over 30 years of industry experience as Director of Information Systems, Director of Consulting Services, Program Director, Senior SAP Project Manger, and IT Advisor. He has been a Manager or Director for IBM, SAP, Nortel, Panasonic, and General Motors and has implemented SAP systems at a number of large and medium-sized companies. He has taught MBA courses in Production and Operations Management, Project Management, and Information Systems in the evening MBA program at Santa Clara University. He was certified as a Fellow in Production and Inventory Management. He is currently a senior management and systems consultant.
His wife, Anar, is a senior Quality and Regulatory consultant for Medical Device companies. They have two daughters.
Michele Dexter
​
Vice-President
Michele is the 3rd generation in her family to be born in San Jose. She grew up in Cambrian Park and Willow Glen, and has lived in Almaden for the past 17 years. She has a long family history of business, entrepreneurship, and community involvement.
Michele co-founded an IT services business with her husband, Rick. She has managed the business operations for the past 15 years, while simultaneously raising two sons. She is currently Council Liaison for District 10 Councilmember Johnny Khamis, working to accomplish many projects in the District as well as building strong community relations.
Michele is eager to support AVCA in its mission to keep the residents of Almaden informed about important issues and to encourage active engagement in civic affairs.
Michael Lee
​
Treasurer
Michael has lived with his wife, Luz, in Almaden Valley since 1979. He came to the Silicon Valley in 1975 to work at IBM as a research scientist. When the IBM Almaden Research Center opened in 1986, the commute became a short walk and a hop on the shuttle to the top. He subsequently moved to HP Labs and continued his research activities until his retirement. He is a well-known expert in electrophotography, the process behind laser printing.
He and his wife have helped many children of friends and acquaintances toward their goal of attending college over the years with advice and academic assistance. While his degree is in physics, he especially enjoys tutoring math since that often requires high level view, while a typical student is mired in the details. And occasionally, the light goes on!
Board of Directors
Shiraz Kotadia
​
President
Michele Dexter
​
Vice-President
Michele is the 3rd generation in her family to be born in San Jose. She grew up in Cambrian Park and Willow Glen, and has lived in Almaden for the past 17 years. She has a long family history of business, entrepreneurship, and community involvement.
Michele co-founded an IT services business with her husband, Rick. She has managed the business operations for the past 15 years, while simultaneously raising two sons. She is currently Council Liaison for District 10 Councilmember Johnny Khamis, working to accomplish many projects in the District as well as building strong community relations.
Michele is eager to support AVCA in its mission to keep the residents of Almaden informed about important issues and to encourage active engagement in civic affairs.
Michael Lee
​
Treasurer
Michael has lived with his wife, Luz, in Almaden Valley since 1979. He came to the Silicon Valley in 1975 to work at IBM as a research scientist. When the IBM Almaden Research Center opened in 1986, the commute became a short walk and a hop on the shuttle to the top. He subsequently moved to HP Labs and continued his research activities until his retirement. He is a well-known expert in electrophotography, the process behind laser printing.
He and his wife have helped many children of friends and acquaintances toward their goal of attending college over the years with advice and academic assistance. While his degree is in physics, he especially enjoys tutoring math since that often requires high level view, while a typical student is mired in the details. And occasionally, the light goes on!
Board of Directors
Michele Dexter
President
Michele is the 3rd generation in her family to be born in San Jose. She grew up in Cambrian Park and Willow Glen, and has lived in Almaden for the past 17 years. She has a long family history of business, entrepreneurship, and community involvement.
Michele co-founded an IT services business with her husband, Rick. She has managed the business operations for the past 15 years, while simultaneously raising two sons. She is currently Chief of Staff for District 10 Councilmember Arjun Batra, working to accomplish many projects in the District as well as building strong community relations.
Michele is eager to support AVCA in its mission to keep the residents of Almaden informed about important issues and to encourage active engagement in civic affairs.
Gary Hector
Vice-President
Gary Hector has lived in Almaden Valley for the last 33 years, where he and his wife Janice raised their four children. Born in the Bay Area and raised in Los Gatos, Gary holds a masters in Journalism from Columbia University and an MBA from New York University. As a financial journalist, including 9 years as a writer for Fortune Magazine, he received national recognition for his work, including the Loeb Award, described as the Pulitzer prize of business journalism. Business Week and the Wall Street Journal ranked his 1988 book as one of the ten best business books of the year. In 1990, just before the birth of World Wide Web, he left journalism to work at start-up companies that were building financial and community services. He is an avid hiker and can be found on the trails of Almaden Valley parks most days of the week.
Nooran Bayzaie
Treasurer
Nooran C. Bayzaie is a lifelong Almaden Neighbor and Treasurer of the Almaden Valley Community Association. He has been involved in the community from a young age, volunteering his time at the Almaden library and serving his District in several capacities over the years. Nooran is finishing up his Bachelor's in Economics at San Jose State University. When he is not working or studying, Nooran's hobbies include golf, riding his motorcycle around Almaden, and grilling.
Jim Johnson​
​
Secretary
Jim Johnson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He grew up in a small town in west central Wisconsin. After high school, he entered North Central University, graduating in 1977. After college he married Leisa and served as a youth pastor in Rockford, Illinois.
Moving to Colorado, he started his own business and continued serving as a youth pastor. In late 1984, Jim and Leisa moved to San Jose and brought his business to the Bay Area. They have resided in Almaden Valley for almost 30 years.
In 2008 Jim organized 190 volunteers to help victims of the Summit Hill Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Jim and his volunteers helped many people clean up their properties, cut and plant thousands of trees, and rebuild houses. Out of that effort grew a food outreach that now feeds about 1000 people. Jim, once again, organized volunteers to help the victims of the 2017 Loma Fire.
Jane Frommer​
​
Director
Jane Frommer has been a resident of the Almaden Valley since 1993. She and her husband Steve raised their two children here, participating in school and youth athletic organizations. They both had long careers as research scientists at the IBM Almaden Research Center. They now serve as science advisors at Google, expanding the reach of molecular recognition and association in scientific search.
Jane takes an active role as editor, reviewer, and board member in organizations such as the National Science Foundation (NSF), the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology. She is committed to mentoring the next generation of scientists, particularly those first in their families to seek advanced degrees. Her recognition includes the Perkin Medal Award, the ACS Industrial Chemist Award, the YWCA Tribute to Women Award, and an IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Award for Imaging and Manipulating Single Molecules.
Jane has a BS in Chemistry from Tufts University and a PhD in organometallic chemistry from Caltech.
In all of her endeavors - local and far - she upholds an idealistic yet rational approach.
Mike Ross
Director
Michael Ross has lived in Almaden Valley since 1988. He’s a retired science writer/media relations
officer who has worked at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, IBM Research and SLAC
National Accelerator Laboratory, in addition to daily newspapers and an electric/gas utility company
in Texas and several high-tech firms and professional associations. Ross earned degrees in chemistry
and materials science at Rice University in Houston.
Nolan Mascarenhas
Tech/Youth Lead
Nolan Mascarenhas is a lifelong resident of Almaden Valley. He currently serves District 10 on the San Jose Youth Commission, where he helped pass the Bill of Rights for Children & Young Adults. He also changed the municipal code to encourage participation on the Youth Commission. Nolan currently attends Branham High School, and continues to look for ways to impact his community. He hopes to pursue public policy in college and apply his learnings from serving District 10 to drive change.