Our Leadership
Elizabeth Funk’s career blends Silicon Valley high-growth start-up entrepreneurship with innovative impact initiatives that align for-profit and nonprofit approaches to accelerate positive social impact outcomes.
Elizabeth was one of the early pioneers in impact investing, founding the Dignity Fund in 2004. One of the first for-profit funds mobilizing investment capital for the microfinance industry, her fund demonstrated the benefits of harnessing capitalism to accelerate an industry that had previously been driven by philanthropy and the public sector.
At the same time she served as Chairman of the Board of Unitus, a nonprofit that was one of the world’s most innovative microfinance accelerators. Through these simultaneous roles Elizabeth developed a deep understanding of the relative roles nonprofit and for-profit approaches play in accelerating impact. Elizabeth continued her impact investing journey as Senior GP of Dev Equity, investing in companies that foster poverty alleviation, including several developers of low-income housing in regions across Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, Peru, and Ecuador.
Elizabeth started her career in product design, marketing, and business development as a Product Manager for Microsoft Word and was part of the founding team of Microsoft Office. In 1995, as one of the earliest employees at Yahoo! she helped shape the early consumer internet with services such as Yahoo! Finance, Search, Auctions, Greetings, Travel, and others. Most notably, Elizabeth was behind the creation of Yahoo! Shopping, a forerunner to the booming sector now known as e-commerce.
Elizabeth’s career also extends to experience as the President and CEO of a public company, CML Global Capital, an investment conglomerate based in Canada. As CEO she oversaw several major transactions and eventually a privatization of the corporation.
Elizabeth has been actively involved in homelessness in California for nearly two decades. She served on the board and chaired Glide Memorial’s Community Housing initiative, which built two buildings for the formerly homeless in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District, on the board of LifeMoves, a leading homelessness services organization in Silicon Valley, and on the real estate advisory board of HomeRise, a permanent supportive housing developer in San Francisco.
The founding of DignityMoves was the culmination of this lifetime journey– merging her experience in high-growth disruptive entrepreneurship, helping people help themselves through microfinance and low-income housing, and accelerating impact by harnessing the power of capitalism and the private sector.
Elizabeth has served on or chaired over a dozen nonprofit and social enterprise boards including South Pacific Development Bank, Uchu (Ecuador), Candid, Root Capital, Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Deutsche Bank’s Microfinance Consortium and FINCA’s microfinance fund.
She is an active member of Young Presidents Organization where she served on the International Board, co-founded the impact networks, and now chairs the YPO Impact Investing Initiative. She is a member of Toniic (an impact investors network) and Battery Powered, among many other prominent impact-focused organizations.
Elizabeth holds an undergraduate degree in International Relations and Economics with Honors from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School as a Baker Scholar.
Email: elizabeth@dignitymoves.org
Freya Estreller started her career in real estate development, project management, acquisitions and finance at Ryan Homes in Northern Virginia, Abode Communities, a non-profit affordable housing developer in Southern California, and at a $20m multifamily real estate fund focused on Echo Park/Silverlake. Her career took a left turn into CPG when she and her wife co-founded Coolhaus Ice Cream in 2009 as food truck and artisanal food pioneers. Coolhaus is now the largest women-led and LGBTQIA founded ice cream company and their ice cream pints, mini-cups, sandwiches and cones are sold in over 6,000+ doors all across the US and internationally. Perfect Day, a Bay Area food tech start-up making animal-free dairy, acquired Coolhaus in December 2021. She also co-founded Future Gin, a collaboration with her wife and their two female friends to create a Los Angeles distilled and California inspired gin with an activist mission that can be found in 6+ states including CA and NY and shipped to your door all across the US. Most recently as COO of Tea Drops, a minority and woman founded Organic and Fair Trade omnichannel tea company, she scaled the team and company revenues from $400k to $10m while raising $8m in seed and Series A funding. She was born and raised in Los Angeles (Atwater Village represent!) and has a BA in Sociology with a minor in Business from Cornell University. She is a mom to two wonderfully rambunctious kids and is active in youth and entrepreneur mentorship and has even given a couple TED-X talks. She is an Advisor to FabricVC, a fund dedicated to diverse founders and the capital they deserve. She is excited to bring her start-up and real estate experience to help scale DignityMoves and its mission to end unsheltered street homelessness. She is also an active member of the YPO Beverly Hills chapter.
Email: freya@dignitymoves.org
Marge joined DignityMoves in October 2022 as their Chief Real Estate
Officer following a 35+ year career as an entrepreneurial real estate
developer recognized for award winning LEED mixed-use, infill projects
primarily in California.
She is gifted at creating alliances among municipalities, architects,
contractors, project managers, investors, land use experts and partners
who are all committed to helping DignityMoves ensure a scalable and
dignified solution to housing the chronically homeless. She thrives on
collaborating to deliver unique and reliable solutions to difficult real
estate challenges.
Marge is the founder of Urban Developments and a member of the
Urban Land Institute and the ULI Sustainable Development Council. She
is a Board Member of the Music Academy, studied Finance at Arizona
State University and completed the Executive Program in Business
Strategies for Environmental Sustainability at Stanford University
Graduate School of Business. For heartfelt service and adventure, she
and her partner Jan have raised over $500K for various charities
including their most recent efforts with the World Central Kitchen
feeding and assisting refugees at the Ukraine/Poland border.
Email: marge@dignitymoves.org
Matt’s passion to help address homelessness in Santa Barbara led him out of retirement and into the leadership our regional effort. He is a lifelong resident of Santa Barbara and has decades of project management experience.
Matt Riley leads many initiatives in renewables energy, with a specific passion to engage in the fight against climate change. As the Head of Grid-Scale Renewables at ENGIE North America, he led a global independent power producer during its transition from fossil fuel generation to a zero-carbon renewable energy future. Building more than two gigawatts of wind and solar energy projects during his tenure, ENGIE emerged as a leader in this important transition. Prior to his role at ENGIE, Matt co-founded Infinity Renewables, a leading renewable energy developer in the U.S. Infinity’s successful development of over four gigawatts of operating wind energy projects, representing the electricity use of over 1 million households, was capped by its acquisition by ENGIE in 2018.
Matt holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biopsychology and a Master’s of Environmental Science and Management from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
When Matt is not working you can find him spending quality time at the beach with his family and dog in Santa Barbara, California. His weekends often include adventuring in the hills or spending time out on the water.
Email: matt@dignitymoves.org
Marc brings over 30 years of Human Services Experience to DignityMoves. His first role after graduation from San Jose State University was with American Standard as a National Sales Director. Though it was a terrific role, Marc quickly realized he wanted to work in a capacity which had an impact on community. The epiphany led to service in the United States Peace Corps- Lesotho, Africa. For an experienced drenched two-years, Marc worked on a solar Energy project. Upon returning to San Francisco, Marc began working with homeless youth in San Francisco. In this work, with the renowned Haight Ashbury Free Clinics, Marc implemented the first homeless youth-focused, street-based outreach program in conjunction with the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The harm-reduction focused project was one of the key partners in the early reduction in HIV transmission of HIV. Marc then transferred his skills into an Executive Director role to lead an organization which provided residential substance abuse treatment to over two hundred adults in three Bay Area Counties. In 2012, after a hiatus in the mountains of Colorado, Marc was fortunate enough to join LifeMoves, the premier provider of homelessness services in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. As a Senior Director, he led initiatives and teams which provided street-based outreach, street medicine, shelter services, services to veterans, permanent supportive housing, interim housing, rapid rehousing, and encampment resolution services.
In his career, Marc has found that developing initiatives to address homelessness is most rewarding when it done across systems and through the lens of what does the person receiving services need. Marc has thrived on building the teams to create and deliver services to our neighbors who struggle with homelessness, substance abuse issues, mental health challenges.
In his role with DignityMoves (joined in May of 2022), Marc is combining his deep human services experience, his acumen for collaboration and his understanding of the complex needs of Cities and Counties -to change how we approach homelessness services. His ultimate charge is to expand DignityMoves Interim Housing concept with the result being a lasting impact on the current state of homelessness. Marc is committed to the expansion of the interim housing model and ensuring that DignityMoves maintains a laser focus on delivering its projects with the dignity deserved for the individuals and families served.
Email: marc@dignitymoves.org
Holly Million has over two decades’ experience in nonprofit management, has been a consultant, director of development, executive director, and board member for scores of organizations, and has raised millions of dollars throughout her career. Holly also has over two decades’ experience fundraising for films. In addition to securing funding for A Story of Healing, which won a 1997 Academy Award, she has raised money for documentary and dramatic films that have aired on PBS, HBO, and other broadcast outlets. Holly has an MA in Education from Stanford University and a BA in English from Harvard University.
Email: holly@dignitymoves.org
Joanne has two decades in real estate development, focusing on homelessness initiatives for the past several years. She drove the LifeMoves|Mountain View project funded by the State of California’s Homekey program, delivering 100 new construction units in an eye-popping six months. She helped surpass this effort on Labath Landing, Rohnert Park, a second wave Homekey project, that also used prefabricated construction, delivering 60 units in a draw-dropping four months enabling the city to achieve an Early Occupancy Bonus and additional funding.
It’s Joanne’s unique, creative and ‘out of the box’ way of thinking that allows her to tackle challenges and come up with new ideas and solutions to help push boundaries and achieve the impossible. She wants to share this magic across communities to bring our unhoused and most vulnerable neighbors indoors and firmly believes our homelessness crisis is not rocket science and can be solved.
Jo holds a BSc (Hons) in Architecture, Building, Planning & Environmental Studies from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London and a MSc in Project Management (with a major in Private Finance Initiatives) from the University of Reading, UK.
Email: joanne@dignitymoves.org
Kris brings an expertise in philanthropy, government relations, fundraising, corporate partnerships, and new business development, having led teams in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors throughout his 30 year career.
Kris began working in professional sports, prior to serving in The White House and Administration in Washington, DC for eight years, serving in the Office of the President and Vice President in both domestic and foreign roles. Following his time in Washington, D.C., Kris returned home to California where he helped raise significant funds to start and manage an international online business and then worked as a Senior Director for new business at an Omnicom Group owned firm.
Kris has spent the past 20+ years holding senior leadership and management positions, directing large teams and raising over $100 million in support through public, private and nonprofit relationships. Over two decades, Kris has devised and implemented complex strategies for long-term revenue growth, built significant corporate and political partnerships, launched effective donor development and retention initiatives, and challenged his large teams and board members to fulfill their commitments to achieve their significant and impactful goals, together.
Kris grew up in Sonoma County and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in International Political Economics with an emphasis in Public Policy and Business. He lives in San Francisco with his family where he volunteers with multiple organizations, explores the many corners of the city, enjoys hiking and skiing, attends as many San Francisco Giants baseball and Cal Bears football games as possible, and is constantly in search of THE perfect burrito!
Email: kris@dignitymoves.org
Jeff joins the Dignity Moves team from the real estate development and construction industry where he has renovated property for over 30 years. Starting with his own GC firm in Los Angeles and then developing Southern California projects for Legacy Partners and Steelwave. His experience in commercial high-rise buildings, capital improvement projects and renewable energy lead him to work extensively for portfolio managers and large corporate clients. He brings an entrepreneurial passion for development along with his construction skillset. His team building and leadership experience will be valuable in our rapidly expanding geographic reach. Jeff is a California Native and excited at the prospect of making a real impact in our homeless communities – both in California and beyond…
Jeff is LEED certified, a licensed General Contractor and holds a BS in Business Administration.
Email: jeff@dignitymoves.org
Amy Price is a fundraising professional with three decades of experience on a range of issues, including ending homelessness. The $150 million in nonprofit revenue that she has generated in her career includes federal awards and contracts, philanthropic foundation grants, major gifts, and corporate investment. Her work securing corporate funding for public/private conservation projects was recognized by the US Forest Service with the “Wings Across the Americas” Conservation Award, the only time this “on the ground” award has been given to a fundraiser. She is in demand for writing articles on fundraising and training newcomers in the profession. A native of Texas, Ms. Price attended the University of Texas at Austin.
Email: amy@dignitymoves.org
Having recently returned to San Francisco during the pandemic, Mike discovered a vastly different city from the one he left in 2017 with dramatically higher numbers of people experiencing homelessness, many of whom were unsheltered altogether. He has always been committed to the community where he lives. Wanting to turn the trajectory of homelessness around in the city after seeing it firsthand, he decided to apply his project management skills and expertise to make a positive impact on the growing issue.
Mike joins us from the construction industry where he spent the majority of his professional years managing a plethora of projects from community-based nonprofits to both small- and large-scale architectural design and construction project management. Starting his career off the coast of Maine where he managed offshore lighthouse restoration activities, he grew into residential and larger commercial construction projects in Charleston, South Carolina; Washington, DC; and San Francisco, most notably having his hand in architectural design work at the 181 Fremont Tower. Mike has acquired a diverse set of project management and technology skills that are invaluable to us here at DignityMoves.
Mike holds a Master of Science Degree in Project Management (Summa Cum Laude) from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Historic Preservation & Community Planning and Art History from the College of Charleston.
Email: mike@dignitymoves.org
Hannah joined the DignityMoves team in June of 2022 after graduating with degrees in Economics and Anthropology with Honors from Yale University. Having been interested nonprofit management and the role of humanitarian organizations in addressing issues such as homelessness, she eagerly accepted the opportunity to work with our innovative mission and fast-paced team. Hannah is responsible for our volunteer management, community outreach programs, administrative upkeep, and social media channels, bringing eight years of experience from a diverse resume of nonprofit work.
Email: hannah@dignitymoves.org
Jack Lorenz has dedicated the last 20 years to serving social and economic justice organizations. He was most recently the Director of Development and Communications for Alliance for Housing and Healing, a Los Angeles based non-profit that provides services to homeless individuals with HIV/AIDS. Prior to Alliance, Jack was the Deputy Executive Director of Programs and Development at Equality California, the largest statewide LGBT organization in the United States.
Other funding projects Jack has overseen include “Protect, Detect, Report,” a program that protects LGBT seniors from Medicare Fraud, the California State Department of Mental Health’s “Reducing Disparities Project,” and the Equality California Institute’s “Health Happens with Equality,” which was recognized by the White House for its impact.
Prior to working in the nonprofit space, Jack was a film and television studio executive supervising productions at The Walt Disney Studios, MCA Universal, and Mandalay Entertainment. He used this expertise to serve as Executive Director of the Gatekeeper Foundation, producing documentaries advocating for the fair treatment of undocumented immigrants and other vulnerable populations.
Jack holds a Bachelor’s in Theatre History and a master’s degree in Humanities from California State University, Northridge.
Email: jack@dignitymoves.org