We are thrilled to announce that our executive team has grown by two. Please give us a hand in welcoming Debbie Martinez and Geoff Phillips to our team!

Debbie Kessler Martinez served as vice president and general counsel at one of Raytheon’s key business divisions, where she handled a wide range of domestic and international legal and business issues, oversaw mergers and acquisitions, and ran the group’s ethics organization. During her time at Raytheon, Debbie also worked actively to promote diversity and inclusion at the company, and served as Executive Sponsor for an employee resource group for black engineers. 

If that wasn’t impressive enough, Debbie is also a second degree black belt in Uechi Ryu karate, and is a mother of two. 

Geoff Phillips is a Senior Product Manager for a small Boston-based startup that makes wireless charging systems for electric vehicles. He has formidable business acumen and is a skilled team builder and leader of cross-functional teams. A man with many degrees, Geoff has an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, an MS in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from Stanford University, a BS in Mechanical Engineering from University of California at Berkeley, and a certificate in Industrial Design from MassArt. 

Like Debbie, Geoff also makes it a point to give back to his community. He is a Board member at the Center for Collaborative Leadership at UMass Boston where he has been instrumental in building up systems and processes, formulating strategy and running fundraising efforts. 

As impressive as all of that sounds, you might be asking yourself — what does that have to do with running an education non-profit? Here at the Anaya Tipnis Foundation, we deeply value the transferable skills our executive team bring from other industries and other walks of life. The management experience and ability to execute on large-scale projects that both Debbie and Geoff bring are key to unlocking our next stage of growth. 

Debbie and Geoff are charged with developing a comprehensive Fundraising strategy for the Anaya Tipnis Foundation for 2023 and beyond. They will also be building out a team and running our Fundraising efforts including, but not limited to, Grant Writing, Corporate Sponsorship, and Fundraising Events. 

Both Debbie and Geoff reached out to us asking how they could get involved because they, like so many of you, believe in the importance of leveling the playing field for first-generation and low-income college students so that they get to graduation day, and are able to unlock and leverage all the opportunities that a college education can open. But they don’t just believe in the mission, they also believe how we are tackling it. And that’s a vote of confidence we are happy to have.