JobTrain is extremely thankful for outgoing Board of Directors Chair Tamar Pichette who served on the Board for 10 years. Tamar’s passion and leadership took JobTrain to new distances, inspiring with her hands on approach and professionalizing the board and its work. Tamar shares a few words about JobTrain:
“Helping people turn their lives around in very direct, measurable ways is arguably the most important mission there is. What JobTrain accomplishes on a daily basis through free vocational training and sustained job placements is extraordinary. JobTrain’s model for sustainable workforce development is not only effective, but offers clear outcomes that demonstrate the impact of its work. Joining this board was an easy decision to make, and taking on the role of Chair of the Board, even easier. This organization is led by a dedicated, hard-working, committed staff and an active, engaged board. Smart people make smart decisions, and this captures the ethos at JobTrain. Having recently moved to London, I am reluctantly stepping off the board, but doing so with the knowledge that I leave it in very accomplished hands both with respect to our staff and CEO and our new Board Chair.”
We are thrilled that the torch of leadership and extension of good work is being passed from Tamar to JobTrain’s new Board leadership, Board Chair Anees Iqbal and Vice Chair Ellen Eder. Anees considers this a time to “deeply engage the Board with distributed leadership and diversification to continue to lead in the way JobTrain needs it most.”
Anees Iqbal (pictured left) is a 19-year Silicon Valley IT veteran and serial entrepreneur with a background in IT enterprise, cloud consulting, and Internet Services. He is currently responsible for creating and sustaining cloud operations for one of the largest enterprise private clouds at VMWare, Inc.. Anees was born and raised in Daly City, CA and is currently a resident of East Palo Alto with his wife and two children.
Ellen Eder (pictured left) is currently a Vice President at Oracle Corporation, responsible for Global Business Practices functions in the Office of the CEO. In this role, Ellen oversees the establishment of sales and go-to market policies that guide the company in its deal-making and contracting processes worldwide. Making her home on the Peninsula since she was a child, she and her husband raised their two children here. Ellen says, “The work that JobTrain does to prepare its students for a job that can start them on a lifelong career journey is inspiring. I am thrilled to playing an active role on the board to work with the staff and other board members to support this wonderful organization.”
Tamar will always be a big part of the JobTrain family. Anees and Ellen, we are thankful for your leadership!