A forward thinker whose creativity and determination make him a visionary in the human capital management industry, Gary is the founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Nelson Family of Companies which has been providing innovative workforce solutions for nearly 50 years to global clients through its Nelson Staffing, Nelson Technology, Nelson & Associates, Nelson Interactive, Nelson Compliance and iWorkGlobal business units.

Throughout his career, Gary has distinguished himself as a staffing industry expert and innovator. He has a proven track record of building sustainable businesses focused on delivering personal service with excellence, integrity, empathy, and innovation as core principles. In 2000, Gary created WorkforceLogic and built it into a market leader in strategic workforce management and risk mitigation solutions which he successfully sold in 2012 to Snow Phipps, a private equity firm.

Gary stepped down as Chairman of the Nelson Family of Companies in 2011 in order to focus more of his attention on cultural, philanthropic and civic endeavors. Both he, and wife, Marcia, have a passion for giving back to the community, especially as it relates to healthcare, education, and performing arts.

In 2008, recognizing a significant need in the care of the uninsured in the Sonoma Valley, Gary and Marcia founded the Gary & Marcia Nelson Emergency Care Fund to support the Sonoma Valley Hospital’s improved and updated emergency room and related healthcare services. To this day, they continue as major supporters.

Believing strongly in the value of education -particularly early childhood education -Gary was instrumental in establishing the Sonoma Charter School in 1993; California’s 9th charter school, and one of the top performing in the Sonoma Valley School District.

Gary realizes the success of the youth in any community is also determined by the support available outside of school. In 1989, Gary, along with other local business leaders, launched the Sonoma Valley Field of Dreams initiative to create a major baseball, softball, and soccer complex near downtown Sonoma. He has also been an active supporter of the Hanna Boys Center, the Sonoma Mentoring Alliance, and the Boys & Girls Club of Sonoma Valley.

Gary is currently committed to the success of the K-3 Grade Level Proficiency Project dedicated to ensuring that every student attains or exceeds grade level proficiency in math and English Language Arts by the end of third grade.

Marcia earned a MS in Marriage Family Therapy from Dominican University after receiving her BA in Anthropology from UC, Berkeley in 1975. A lifetime learner, Marcia realized while raising her children that the standard of education they were receiving was not on par with the one she received as a child growing up in the Bay Area in the 60s and 70s. Aspiring to provide a higher standard school option to Sonoma Valley, she and her husband, Gary, worked with others to found the Sonoma Charter School (SCS) in 1993. In its first few years, SCS developed the Graduation Project (later used across the School District), offered an individually-paced read program, and now, the K-3 Proficiency Project.

In her words:

My hope has always been that the Sonoma Charter School be an incubator for innovative educational ideas to serve all schools and all students. I have dedicated my unpaid career to the needs of families, children, education, and healthcare in Sonoma Valley. Serving others has become my life’s mission and explains my passion for the work we are doing at Innovations in Education.

A Sonoma County resident, Shawn Harmon is an accountant with 25 years’ experience in a variety of industries including staffing, utility and construction companies. He is currently the CFO of a Family Office dealing with regional, national and international financial operations.

Sandra Zimmermann, Ph.D., a Professor Emeritus from Sonoma State University, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with an intensive background working with families and children in various capacities: as an Teacher/Educator, an Administrator, and a Counselor/Therapist.

Her heart is in public education and she has observed from her 35 years on K-12 campuses that if a child cannot read at grade level by 3rd grade, they themselves (long before others) erroneously decide that they not capable of ever succeeding academically. Addressing this crucial need is the goal of K3i’s Proficiency Project, which is why Dr. Zimmermann enthusiastically supports its goals.

Craig Nelson is Chairman of the Board of Nelson Family of Companies and Higher Growth Search.

Craig joined Nelson in 2001 as General Counsel and subsequently served as CEO prior to becoming Chairman in 2015. He served for seven years as Chairman of Nelson’s sister company iWorkGlobal until it was acquired by Velocity Global in 2021. He has been named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the Staffing Industry by Staffing Industry Review.

Admitted to the State Bar of California in 1990, Craig earlier spent seven years with the Criminal Division of the California Department of Justice and three years as a litigator with the Law Offices of Bowles and Verna.

Craig also serves an Executive Coach and Strategic Advisor to family businesses. He is a current board member of Overaa Construction and strategic advisor to Cartelligent.

Highly involved in the community, Craig served as Chair of the North Bay Leadership Council and is a member of the Executive Committee. He earlier chaired the Executive Leadership Committee of the American Heart Association’s 2011 North Bay Heart Walk. He was Chair of the Marin County Workforce Investment Board and is a former Board Member of the Marin Economic Forum. In recognition of his community service, Craig is the recipient of both the Spirit of Marin and Spirit of Sonoma awards.

Sought out for his expert commentary, Craig has been quoted by numerous news organizations, including National Public Radio, the Sporting News, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, Staffing Industry Review, and the Recorder. His expertise has covered employment trends, recruiting, family businesses, the San Francisco Medical Leave law, and California’s Three Strikes law.

Craig earned a master’s degree in law from the University of San Diego, a Juris Doctor from Hastings College of Law, and degrees in Business Administration and Economics from California State University, Chico.

Craig is the author of the novel GOD LEFT MANOR FARM, available at www.GodLeftManorFarm.com, Amazon.com, iBook, and other online retailers.

Remy spends his time between the world of biotechnology and real estate development.

Remy has successfully participated as both a real estate developer and investor since 1999 with transactions/managed portfolio value currently over $500 million dollars of completed projects and another 250M of starts in 2022 alone.  Remy co-founded RCP with Max Grelier in 2013 to take advantage of thoughtful, primary market placemaking into secondary markets, such as its core market Huntsville, AL. RCP has grown considerably in its short tenure with two in-fill master planned mixed-use projects CityCentre and MidCity, both in Huntsville.  These two projects alone will have a total developed value of 1.8Bn once completed.  Additionally, RCP is paving the way for new and novel ESG elements in Alabama and the southeast, including the first net zero multi-family development.

In addition to his real estate endeavors, Remy is actively engaged in new start-ups in the biotech industry. A chemist by training, Remy was instrumental in the building of Shearwater Corporation as its VP, Operations (sold to Inhale Therapeutic Systems, Inc. in 2001) for $161M.  Remy also is the part-time Vice President, Business Development at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, California, a rapidly growing non-profit institute. Remy took the Technology Transfer office at the Buck from having no licenses/partnerships to licensing out over 90% of its patent portfolio and creating an average of two capitalized start-up companies per year from the novel science being performed at Buck.  Remy brings in sponsored research for novel science in excess of 10M/year for the institute and done strategic licensing transactions with Astellas, Calico, Astera and many others.  He has founded or represented parties in multiple venture and angel-backed companies. He has advised and helped create multiple new biopharmaceutical startups at Buck, such as Unity Biotechnology (UBX), Aeovian Therapeutics (over 40M raised), BhB Therapeutics (over 40M raised) and multiple others.

Remy sits on the board of BhB Therapeutics, Napa Therapeutics and Selah Therapeutics.  Remy is also on several non-profit boards including MidCity Accelerator Foundation, Hatch HSV and k3innovation.  Remy acts as a strategic advisor to Serina Therapeutics, Inc.

Most importantly, Remy is married with three children who are all launched and in grad school or working on the east coast.  He enjoys fitness of any kind, reading and adding value wherever he can.

Catherine has been a K-12 educator for more than 25 years – as a teacher, principal, superintendent, and school board member.  She has a master’s degree in Psychology and completed doctoral work in Organizational Leadership. Catherine has worked in all types of schools and districts, and understands the differing dynamics of each. She found that the key to increasing student learning and achievement is to work closely with administrators and teachers to support teachers in their essential work. This doesn’t mean giving them a day or two of professional development every year, this means ongoing and sustained support and development for helping students learn.

In her words:

When I think back on my education, I always remember those teachers who got me excited about learning. I also think about my mother who instilled in us the importance of education. These two things underlie my approach to education. I want to help students get engaged with their education and to value it.  You can’t do that with teachers who aren’t supported in the art and science of teaching… and this is why I appreciate GLPP.  GLPP is not the latest sparkly gimmick or method in education.  Instead it is a way of supporting staff to weave the numerous threads of a school day into a beautiful tapestry of learning. It is a way of applying the best practices in education in a coordinated way that results in improved student learning and achievement.

Brian Nicholson is a career private equity investor and business builder.  He is currently a Managing Director with Sonoma Brands, a growth equity firm focused on the consumer sector and before that held senior positions with Stripes Group, a New York City private equity firm.  Brian started his career as an investment banker in San Francisco working with technology businesses.  Originally from Los Angeles, Brian is actively involved with several non-profit organizations including serving on the board of La Luz in Sonoma Valley as well as mentorship with LatinxVC, an organization dedicated to empowering people of Latin American descent in the venture capital and private equity industries.

Marilyn Kelly, Ed.D. has had a variety of roles and education: teacher, counselor, vice, principal, principal, superintendent, adjunct college professor, and consultant.

The majority of Marilyn‘s educational career spans two school districts: the San Carlos elementary school district where she was a respected educator. In that district she served primarily as a teacher, counselor, vice, principal, and principal at the middle school and elementary levels. When Marilyn left San Carlos she joined the Sonoma Valley unified school district where she was, the principal of Altamira middle school, followed by serving as the SVUSD superintendent.

Marilyn received her Ed.D from the Universit of LaVerne in organizational management with the focus on planning, change, staff development, instructional practices, and leadership. Following her retirement from the SVUSD, Marilyn was an adjunct professor at Sonoma State University in the administrative credential program. In that role, she guided over 600 aspiring and practicing school administrators in six  counties in California: Sonoma, Mendocino, Marin, Lake,  Solano, and Alameda.

As an educational consultant, Marilyn was hired to guide the planning process for the development of the Sonoma Charter School. She worked with Gary and Marcia Nelson and other parents who wanted to create an educational program that provided a strong learning environment and also included a focus on the arts and positive school culture. Together, they defined the elements of the required charter, identified facility needs, and developed educational practices to be implemented by the staff.

As an educator, although retired, Marilyn remains committed to public education by supporting educational programs that support student learning. She was invited to join the K – 3 Proficiency Project where she is on the board of directors. She feels that this project will improve student performance in the areas of reading and math at the K-3 level, resulting in stronger student performance as students proceed in their K-12 educational experience.

Catherine Townsley, a seasoned educational leader with over thirty years of experience, held key roles including elementary and middle school teacher, principal, K-8 superintendent, director of leadership development, executive coach, and professional development director in a statewide California principal support network.  She earned a master’s degree in Education Administration from the University of California, Berkeley, and was awarded Marin County Educator of the Year in her fifth year as a superintendent.  Throughout her career, Catherine has consistently provided direct support for teachers to collaborate using student progress data to enhance teaching and improve student achievement in reading and math.

In Her Words…

Being a member of the K-3 Innovation Board is a perfect fit with my belief about targeted data driven instruction with the goal of students being proficient in reading and math by the end of the third grade. In addition, the program supports teachers with on-going coaching, monitoring results and resources.   Few schools achieve this goal for all third graders.  The K-3 Proficiency Project has succeeded in reaching this goal for most of its students in the Sonoma Charter School, far above other like schools in Sonoma County.  I am dedicated to see the program expand to other schools and enthusiastically support its goals.