STAFF & BOARD
The staff at CALICO work hard and deal with horrific stories, but they still remain generous, warm, and welcoming people.
—Calvin C. James, Assistant County Counsel (retired)
Office of the County Counsel, Alameda County
CALICO is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.
CALICO CENTER & CHILDREN'S ADVOCACY CENTERS OF CALIFORNIA STAFF
Erin Harper
Executive Director
Erin is committed to helping every abused child in California receive justice and healing. She has worked in the children’s advocacy center field for over 14 years. Erin has held roles at CALICO including Forensic Interview Specialist, Outreach Coordinator and Multi-Disciplinary Team Director. She has also traveled to Zambia with the Global Alliance for Health, helping to conduct a training on child sexual abuse investigations for the Zambian National Police Force. Most recently, Erin was the State Director for Children’s Advocacy Centers of California, promoting the growth of children’s advocacy centers, providing assistance to centers throughout the state, and developing legislative policies promoting issues related to child abuse. Since March 2017, she has served as CALICO’s and CACC’s Executive Director where she directs the overall agency operation, policies, and services.
Prior to joining CALICO and CACC, Erin was an Associate Attorney at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in History, where she was active with the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project. She later received her law degree from UC-Hastings College of the Law. At Hastings, she participated on the Moot Court team and the Constitutional Law Quarterly journal. She received the CALI/Witkin award for having the highest grade in her Corporations and Criminal Law classes as well as the Best Brief award in her Moot Court class. She was a quarter finalist and winner of Best Brief at the national Evans Moot Court Constitutional Law Competition.
Favorite Childhood Book: The Velveteen Rabbit - Margery Williams
Favorite Childhood Activity: Playing soccer or ice skating, depending on the season
Current Hobbies: Reading, playing with her daughters, creative writing
Nadia Bueno
Deputy Director
Nadia Bueno joined CALICO in August 2018 as a Child Interview Specialist. As a native Spanish speaker, she was able to conduct interviews in Spanish when needed. She added to her duties in 2021 by becoming CALICO's Victim Services Coordinator. In October 2022, Nadia became CALICO's first Deputy Director. Prior to joining CALICO, Nadia worked at the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office as a Victim/Witness Advocate. Nadia has a Bachelor’s degree in Human Services and a Master’s degree in Public Administration.
Favorite Childhood Book: The Secret of Nimh - Robert C. O’Brien
Favorite Childhood Game or Activity: Playing Operation
Current Hobbies: Landscape photography
Kristy Brodeur Dermody
Senior Forensic Interviewer/Training Director
Kristy joined CALICO in 1997 and works as a Child Interview Specialist (CIS) and CALICO’s Training Coordinator. Since 2015, Kristy has also been the statewide training coordinator for the Children’s Advocacy Center of California (CACC) program. Kristy has conducted trainings throughout California and the US. Before CALICO, she was part of an MDT that went to Zambia to train their national police force and Zambian prosecutors on child forensic interviewing. Kristy is a tenured faculty member at John F Kennedy University. In 2012, Kristy received the National Children’s Advocacy Center’s award for Outstanding Service Award.
Favorite Childhood Book: The Little Mermaid - Hans Christian Andersen
Favorite Childhood Game or Activity: Horseback riding on my giant, Billy.
Fun Fact: Kristy is an avid bike rider, but hates hills!
Bertha Nevárez
Senior Forensic Interviewer/Program Manager
Bertha started working at CALICO in January 1999. Since her start Bertha has conducted almost 5,000 forensic interviews! Bertha works closely with all of our partner agencies, and answers all of CALICO’s after hours and weekend pages. In addition, Bertha facilitates Spanish peer reviews for Spanish-speaking forensic interviewers throughout the state. Before CALICO, Bertha worked for Alameda Alliance providing psycho-social case management to HIV+ clients. She also was the HIV Testing Coordinator for two hospitals and five clinics and an HIV Outreach Coordinator.
Favorite Childhood Book: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
Favorite Childhood Game or Activity: Riding my bike around the neighborhood for hours.
Fun Fact: Bertha has traveled around the world and her current favorite place is anywhere!
Martina Broussard
Forensic Interviewer
Before joining Calico as a Bilingual Forensic Interviewer Martina worked as a Bilingual Crisis Interventionist at BAWAR. She studied Sociology and Public Health at UC Berkeley and has done direct service with more than 400 survivors of gender-based violence in Alameda County.
Favorite Childhood Book: Skippyjon Jones book series - Judith Byron Schachner
Favorite Childhood Activity: Arts & Crafts
Current Hobby: Spending time with her dog Candy, going on hikes, and doing Pilates.
Andrea Reyes
Forensic Interviewer
Andrea joined CALICO in 2023 as a Forensic Interviewer. Andrea previously worked as a Police Cadet for Alameda County Sheriff's Office. She has a Bachelor's degree in Sociology and a Master's degree in Forensic Psychology.
Favorite Childhood Book: Winnie the Pooh - A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard
Favorite Childhood Activity: Coloring and reading
Current Hobby: Eating lots of food while working it off at the gym and on hikes!
Francisca Segura
Family Advocate
Francisca joined CALICO in September 2021. Before becoming Family Advocate, Francisca was a Senior Case Manager for a nonprofit, working with formerly homeless adults with mental health needs.
Favorite Childhood Book: Always Running - Luis. J. Rodriguez
Favorite Childhood Activity: Hide and Seek
Current Hobby: Crafting
Alexis Taper
Family Advocate
Alexis joined CALICO in January 2022. Before becoming Family Advocate, Alexis was an ABA therapist in an autism program for NHUSD for 15 years and worked as a Registered Behavior Technician for Kadiant LLC for 7 years. She has a B.S. in Psychology.
Favorite Childhood Book: Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters - John Steptoe
Favorite Childhood Activity: Reading and playing
Current Hobby: Reading and cooking
Holly Fleming
CACC Program Director
Holly Fleming is the Program Director for CALICO’s Children’s Advocacy Centers of California (CACC) program. She joined CALICO in 2014 as a Forensic Interviewer. Before that, Holly worked in a community clinic as an MFT trainee providing counseling to adults, children, and families. Holly holds a master’s degree in clinical psychology. Some of her recent accomplishments include completing a Trauma Justice Fellowship with the Women’s Policy Institute and sitting on the Equity Advisory Group for the All Children Thrive – California Initiative.
Favorite Childhood Book: Stellaluna - Janell Cannon
Favorite Childhood Activity: Playing with Barbies
Current Hobbies: Cooking, reading, pub trivia, and live music
Cory Blasi
Office Manager
Cory has been a member of CALICO’s staff since 2008. Her role at CALICO is to coordinate and oversee administrative duties and ensure that the office operates efficiently and smoothly creating a welcoming environment for our clients, partners, and staff. Prior to CALICO, she worked in marketing for several major financial institutions.
Favorite Childhood Book: Charlotte's Web - E. B. White
Favorite Childhood Activity: Playing board games
Current Hobbies: Reading, gardening and volunteering at the Oakland Zoo
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Allison Crapo, Director, Skytown Preschool
President
I grew up in Idaho on a potato farm, one of five children with a free-range approach to childhood and play. After leaving home for college and then law school, I worked as a civil advocate in the Bay Area for youth in the juvenile justice system at the National Center for Youth Law. As part of Juvenile Mental Health Courts, I provided services and support to youth who had unmet mental health needs. Since then, I’ve become a mother, fallen in love with early childhood education, and become a preschool teacher. I am currently working as Director at Skytown Preschool in Richmond, CA, a parent co-operative that immerses caregivers in our preschool and embraces play-based, emergent, and Reggio-inspired pedagogies.
I was introduced to CALICO by my law-enforcement spouse, and I was thrilled to find a new avenue for my passion for child advocacy. I was elected to the board in 2021, and am currently serving as President of the Board.
In my free time, I find myself putting off laundry, reading, baking, playing cards, gardening, and spending time with family and friends.
Francesco Polizzi, Group Product Manager, Discord Inc.
Vice President
Francesco currently serves as Vice President of the CALICO Board of Directors and has served as a member of the board since 2018. In his professional life outside of CALICO, he serves as a Group Product Manager at Discord, a software company based in San Francisco. In his free time, Francesco likes to spend time with his friends, fiancée, and cat.
Favorite Childhood Game or Activity: I loved playing RuneScape :)
Jamshed Rahman, Lead Software Engineer, Apple Cloud Servies, Apple Inc
Treasurer
Jamshed is passionate about helping children live amazing lives that are full of potential. He joined CALICO in 2019, inspired by its mission to bring justice and healing to the children of Alameda county. As a father himself, Jamshed understands the need for every child to grow up in a safe and just community. And that is why he has made it his mission to support CALICO’s awesome staff to excel at their roles, and foster a supportive environment for our communities’ children. He works in fundraising, event organization, financials, marketing, and technical sections of the CALICO board. When he’s not volunteering at CALICO, Jamshed works as a Software Lead at Apple, and enjoys the beautiful outdoors of the San Francisco Bay Area with his children.
Favorite Childhood Book: The Hardy Boys
Favorite Childhood Game or Activity: Playing basketball
Current Hobbies: Bicycling, hiking, traveling, wine tasting, and enjoying life :-)
Teresa Ortega, Alameda County District Attorney's Office
Alameda County Deputy District Attorney since 1993.
Favorite Childhood Book: Nancy Drew Series
Favorite Childhood Game or Activity: Playing softball
Current Hobbies: Watching college sports
Kelsi Perttula, Assistant Professor at California State University East Bay
Kelsi Perttula grew up in Sacramento, came to Berkeley for college, and has lived in the Bay Area ever since. Kelsi worked for ten years as a forensic scientist, primarily for San Mateo County Sheriff's Office. In 2012, she left that career and went to earn her doctorate at UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. Recently she began work as an assistant professor at nearby CSU East Bay in the Department of Public Health. With her spouse Drew, they have four young children. She loves supporting CALICO and believes its mission is critical to getting children through some of the most difficult times in their young lives.
Favorite Childhood Book: Can't pick one. The Babysitter's Club series and Harriet the Spy.
Favorite Childhood Game or Activity: Playing Super Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda
Current Hobbies: Yoga and tricking my kids into eating vegetables