Wendy Lee, Executive Director
Wendy Lee is a pediatric occupational therapist with California Children Services in San Francisco working with children with physical disabilities. She is certified in pediatric neurodevelopmental treatment for the treatment of children with neuromuscular involvement. She has diverse experience working with children of all abilities and backgrounds. While working with the non-profit Easter Seals, Dupage, she treated children with autism, downs and many other genetic syndromes and learning disabilities. She also has experience with children in development settings at UCLA's Infant Development Program and the UCLA Fernald Child Study Center. Wendy has taught elementary, junior high and high school students in summer camp programs in Taiwan and Japan. Working with Chinese Children Charities therapy volunteers, she trained orphanage caregivers on basic therapy and special needs care in Central China. Wendy earned an undergraduate degree from UCLA in psychology with a specialization in developmental psychology and a graduate degree from USC in Occupational Therapy. She loves music, dance, food, travel, and children. She feels that if we can give our children the opportunity to experience the fullness and fun of life, it can be the seed to grow dreams and new realities. Melding her love of children and her skill base in special needs with her interests in international work as an American born Chinese and citizen of the world, Inspire to Do is her dream project come true.
Jackie English Byrne, Director
Jackie English Byrne had a 15 year career in food and beverage marketing, where she most recently was the coffee and espresso marketing manager at Starbucks headquarters in Seattle. Jackie's role there included strategic planning and management of the then $1 billion coffee category.
While in Seattle, Jackie and her husband Bob adopted their son Jack as an infant through a domestic open adoption. While thrilled to have Jack in their family, the realization remained that not every child they encountered in their adoption search would be adopted. Jackie's passion lies in finding ways to bring at least some of the fundamentals that families offer (love, belonging, security and hope) to those children that may not get the chance to experience family life.
Jackie holds an M.B.A., and a B.S. in business from Golden Gate University. She has lived in San Francisco for over 20 years and now spends her time on her family, travel, and real estate activities.
Michael Leuthner, Director
Experienced with online fundraising, advocacy, and marketing and earned media, Michael Ryan Leuthner has helped many of the largest nonprofits develop and implement projects in their online communication programs.
Michael has been raising money, organizing, and communicating for nonprofit organizations and causes for 12 years, not including his seventh-grade campaign for Michael Dukakis. Notably, in 2004 Michael helped the Sierra Club on their Environmental Voter Education Campaign. Since then he has been consultant helping many organizations, like American Humane, ACLU, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) develop online campaigns, build their marketing lists, and fundraising. Currently Michael is a Senior Strategist with Common Knowledge, a communication boutique that helps nonprofits with their online strategies and web communities.
Michael attended Indiana University and earned his Master of Public Affairs with a concentration on Environmental Resource Management. In 2003 he completed his Doctorate of Jurisprudence from Indiana University School of Law at Indianapolis.
When not at work you can find Michael on a soccer pitch or at a bar with friends.
Miles Ito, Advisory Board
Miles Ito has worked at Intel Corporation for the past seven years where he has held a wide variety of positions ranging from sales to marketing to operations. In 2003, Mr. Ito co-founded Milestone Mediaworks, a successful music production company headquartered in the bay area which produces music for independent artists and musicians across the country. He is an accomplished pianist and composer. Mr. Ito is involved in his community and served as a commissioner for Santa Clara County's Sister City program with Florence, Italy and is an alumnus of the CORO Community Leadership program. He also enjoys spending time volunteering at local schools and mentoring youth. Mr. Ito holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles and holds a M.B.A. from Arizona State University.
Johnson Hor, Advisory Board
Johnson Hor has worked in a range of verticals and now works at First Republic Bank as a Sr. Analyst – Operation Strategy. Johnson serves on several community and professional boards. He is an alumnus of the CORO Community Leadership program, an American Bar Foundation Life Fellow, and a member of the US Supreme Court Bar. In his spare time, he volunteers as a San Francisco Deputy Marriage Commissioner. Johnson has certificates from Cornell, Stanford, GIA, and San Francisco State University. He has a JD from New College of California, a MSCIS from the University of Phoenix, and a Bachelors in Accounting from San Francisco State University.
Haeli Kim, Advisory Board
Haeli Kim is currently a law student at Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California, and has been a staff member of the Law Offices of John C. Carpenter since 2003. In 2000, Ms. Kim was a Woman's Advocate at the Center for the Pacific-Asian Family, Inc. ("CPAF") in Los Angeles, California, a domestic violence and sexual assault crisis center focused on providing comprehensive services to monolingual Asian and Pacific Islander clients. While at CPAF, Ms. Kim was a community educator of domestic violence and sexual assault, providing trainings and awareness seminars to various agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department and the Department of Public Social Services. In 2002, Ms. Kim joined the Asian-Pacific Islander Unit of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. At Legal Aid, Ms. Kim provided legal assistance to monolingual Korean-speaking clients in areas of family law, immigration, government benefits, and landlord-tenant issues. A graduate of UCLA with a B.A. in English Literature, Ms. Kim enjoys working with children, volunteering at the animal shelter, and traveling.