Board

From the first time Jerome attended a FOC fundraiser years ago, he knew Friends of the Children was a very special place. He was not only inspired by the mission, but he was also awestruck by the dedicated and talented staff and the impact that the organization had on the lives of our youth. Believing deeply in the cause, he was excited to join the board in 2017.

Growing up, Jerome was taught the importance of service and giving back to the community. Whether it involved assisting with construction projects in an economically disadvantaged country or serving meals here at home, he and his wife involved their children making service a family value with the hopes this value will be passed down for generations to come.

Although he was raised in the other Washington, Jerome has lived in Seattle most of his life. He graduated from George Washington University in Washington, DC with a degree in Business Administration. He is also an alumnus of the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, Texas. He enjoys spending his free time with friends and family. He loves traveling with his family and believes that there is more to education than books. An avid home improvement show junkie, he likes to test his skills and abilities on the weekends.

Avi Joshi is a Senior Product Manager at Amazon, where he leads the launch and growth of online shopping experiences. Previously, Avi worked in corporate strategy and finance at The Walt Disney Company.

Avi first got involved in volunteering with youth as a music teaching assistant at an after-school center in South Central Los Angeles. He saw firsthand the impact that consistent quality personal interactions and structured activities can have in building up youth. After relocating to Seattle, Avi became acquainted with Friends of the Children and was immediately attracted to its mission and unique model of paid mentorship. He joined the Board of Directors in 2019 and continues to be inspired by the everyday impact Friends of the Children is having in the Seattle community.

Avi holds an AB Cum Laude in Economics from Harvard College and MBA from Harvard Business School. He resides in Seattle, WA with his wife.

Kathryn Aupperlee has been on the Ambassador Board of Friends of the Children since 2016. She was first introduced to the program in 2014 through a friend and after learning more about their mission, decided to get involved. Growing up, her parents taught her both the importance of giving back and how to throw a good party. Fittingly, she led the ABoard to launch a new fundraising event, Solstice Soiree, which was successfully held two years in a row, prior to pausing during the pandemic. Most recently, she has served on the host committee for Friends' signature event, Inspiring Greatness.

Kathryn has had a varied business career that includes roles at a real estate investment bank, Amazon, a tech start-up, and a food manufacturer. Currently, she is raising capital for commercial real estate projects. Kathryn holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a BBA from Emory University. She grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, and currently resides in Seattle with her husband, two young daughters, and Old English Sheepdog. She loves playing tennis, traveling, and drinking a good glass of red wine.

Jeffrey Beaver has extensive experience as a trial lawyer and focuses his practice on condemnation, financial institutions, and commercial litigation. Jeffrey has represented clients in a variety of industries, including transportation, timberlands, financial services, and manufacturing. He has successfully tried numerous multimillion-dollar cases and has obtained favorable verdicts or settlements in some of our area’s largest eminent domain cases.

Jeffrey successfully defended a salmon processor in a four-month class action jury trial against antitrust allegations that the processor conspired with other processors and foreign importers to fix prices in the Bristol Bay salmon fishery. The class in that case sought damages in excess of $1 billion.

He has represented Sound Transit since 2000 and continues to try cases for the firm’s real estate and banking clients. Following a recent bench trial, Jeffrey successfully defended a commercial bank against allegations of wrongful foreclosure. Jeffrey has also obtained successful verdicts for Sound Transit in the acquisition of real property for the extension of the East Link and North Link light rail projects. Earlier this year, Jeffrey and his team successfully convinced a jury to offset the value loss to property being condemned based on special benefits accruing to the subject property from the presence of the public project for which a portion of the property was taken.

Jeffrey has also been actively involved in the American Bar Association’s efforts to provide advocacy training and assistance to Sudanese lawyers representing victims of the Darfur conflict before the International Criminal Court. In 2018, Jeffrey spent two months of his sabbatical in the Republic of Tanzania where he worked with Lawyers Without Borders and other NGOs in country to fight human and wildlife trafficking in the region. Early in his career, Jeffrey was a member of the Hirabayashi coram nobis team.

Sarah Cox is Associate University Counsel in the Office of University Counsel at Seattle University. Sarah joined Seattle U after spending almost a decade in private practice, most recently working in commercial litigation at Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP. Sarah graduated with high honors from the University of Washington School of Law, where she also served as Managing Editor of the Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal (now the Washington Journal of International Law). She also completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Washington, where she graduated magna cum laude and double majored in Political Science and Journalism.

Sarah is a Washington native and lives in Seattle with her husband, Aaron, and cat, Lily. She began working with Friends of the Children five years ago, first as a volunteer tutor and member of the Ambassador Board, before making the transition to the Board of Directors. Sarah also volunteers with the King County Bar Association’s Pro Bono Clinics, and in her spare time enjoys rooting for local sports teams and spending time with friends and family.

Carmen Decker joined Kimco in 2011 and currently serves as the President of the Western Region. Ms. Decker oversees over 169 shopping centers in the Western US consisting of 33.5 million square feet. In this capacity, Ms. Decker is responsible for strategic planning, acquisitions, asset management, dispositions, leasing, property management, construction, and development. Ms. Decker has over 18 years of shopping center experience. Prior to her current position, Ms. Decker was the Vice President of Leasing & Asset Management for Kimco’s Pacific Northwest Sub-Region and spent 9 years as a Leasing & Sales Broker in both San Francisco and Seattle.

Ms. Decker holds a B.A. degree from University of Washington and is an Alumni of the Harvard Business School Program in Leadership Development. She is a licensed real estate broker in Washington, a member of CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) and the ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers).

Katie is a Director in the Advisory practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). She specializes in providing Software industry clients with litigation services, focusing on the financial aspects of patent and antitrust matters. Katie is thrilled to be a board member of Friends of the Children. She has been involved with youth mentorship for years through church youth groups and summer camps. In 2012, she began devoting time to PwC’s financial literacy and digital upskilling program. After returning from a trip to Belize, where Katie spent time teaching skills to Belizean youth, Katie was energized and inspired by what type of effect caring adults can make on the lives of disadvantaged youth. She soon developed a relationship with the Seattle chapter of Friends of the Children and has been involved ever since. Katie loves spending time with her husband and three young children, who help to remind her how much love, support, and guidance all kids need.

Matt is a Senior Manager in the Assurance practice of Ernst & Young. He is a CPA specializing in financial statement audits of private and public companies.

He joined the Friends finance committee in 2014 after a two-year rotation in the Leeds, UK EY office. Growing up in Klamath Falls, OR, which also has a chapter, Matt knew of the great impact Friends has and was excited to get involved with the Seattle chapter. He is inspired by the amazing staff, especially their dedication to the youth in our program.

Matt enjoys spending time with his wife and two boys (5 and 3) hiking, woodworking and appreciating the boy’s curiosity and excitement. He graduated from University of Washington with undergraduate and Masters degrees in accounting.

Prosper is a first generation Nigerian-American who was raised in the Dallas, Texas area. He comes from a close-knit family that highly values education, community, and giving back.

Prosper has an undergraduate degree from Columbia University, and an MBA from Texas A&M University. He moved from Texas to the Puget Sound area in 2017 to continue his budding career as a Corporate Finance and Strategy Specialist at Microsoft. This past October, however, he joined a rapidly growing food automation startup, called Picnic, as their new Director of Financial Planning & Analysis. Currently, he works at Amazon.

Prosper is passionate about helping others, outreach, entrepreneurship, innovation, and relationship-building. He enjoys playing and watching sports, volunteering, traveling, cooking AND eating, trying new things, and spending time with family and friends…especially his 3 year-old daughter, Semaya.

"If you want to keep happiness, you have to share it."

-Dale Carnegie

Kameo (she/her) joined Friends of the Children Board in October of 2019. She has served as the Inspiring Greatness Auction Chair in 2020 and again in 2021. Kameo was drawn to the Friends of the Children Board from witnessing through her volunteering with the organization the impact one-to-one mentoring can have on a child’s life, family, and community. She hopes to continue learning and growing with the organization, while also continuing to volunteer at Friends.

Kameo is a Seattle native and graduate of the University of Washington. Family is her biggest priority, and she loves when her kids are home visiting from college. She enjoys spending time outdoors with her husband Russ; hiking, skiing, fly fishing, and golfing. Kameo also has a deep appreciation for the visual arts. As an artist, she believes that art education and her antiracism work blend seamlessly to bring healing and growth within our communities.

Danielle Winslow is a public relations professional specializing in strategic communication and media relations. Throughout her career, she's developed and implemented campaigns for world-renowned brands, personalities, products, and services. Winslow is currently a brand communications manager on Starbucks Global Communications team where she leads seasonal promotions. In past roles, Winslow was also the publicist to travel writer and television host Rick Steves. Focusing primarily on Steves' media relations, programming, and tv special releases. She also worked on the Space Needle’s $100 million renovation announcement. Winslow finds the most joy when she’s developing community relations programming and connecting local non-profits to the brands she represents. At the Space Needle, she created and managed the tower’s first retail community relations program—Round-up at the Needle—encouraging visitors to round their purchases to the nearest dollar and donate the difference to a featured charity partner. The pilot program raised more than $80,000 dollars for Seattle Children’s Hospital and YouthCare. It was through this program Winslow discovered Friends of the Children and its positive impact on her community. Winslow graduated from the University of Washington and is a Seattle native where she currently lives with her husband.