Speakers

Tonya Graham McQuade is the author of A State Divided: The Civil War Letters of James Calaway Hale and Benjamin Petree of Andrew County, Missouri and Frank and Nora's Historic Honeymoon Adventure: A Travelogue through the West with a "Time Travel" Twist, and is a contributing writer to the Emerging Civil War website and her own "Chasing History" blog. She has a love for both history and historical fiction, as well as a passion for travel and writing, both of which she is now pursuing more fully since retiring – after 36 years – from teaching English at Los Gatos High School. A longtime resident of San Jose, California, Tonya is an active member of Emerging Civil War, South Bay Civil War Round Table, South Bay Writers/California Writers Club, National League of American Pen Women, and Poetry Center San Jose, and was an honorary member of Los Gatos Rotary for more than 30 years as a result of advising the LGHS Interact Club. She earned B.A. degrees in English and Communication Studies, as well as a Single Subject Teaching Credential in English, from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and later earned her M.A. in Educational Leadership from San Jose State University. You can learn more about Tonya on her website at tonyagrahammcquade.com.

Malini Rao is an accomplished HR executive currently serving as the Senior Director of People Operations for Research and Artificial Intelligence at Google. With over two decades of experience, she previously worked in human resources roles at Wachovia Bank and GE Capital before advancing through senior HR leadership positions at Google. Beyond her corporate work, she actively contributes to the community as a Member of the Board of Directors for the Foothill-De Anza Community College Foundation. She lives in Palo Alto with her husband and two children.

Elizabeth Alexander is a Program Manager at Google who specializes in strategic HR and People Operations for high-impact talent initiatives. Bringing experience across technical sourcing, recruiting leadership, and enablement operations, she currently focuses on talent strategy across Google with a specific emphasis on competitive AI talent markets. In her role she helps steer organizational programs and enablement efforts to support research and engineering teams. Holding an MBA from the University of San Francisco, Elizabeth pairs an analytical background with people-operations expertise to scale talent programs.

Reed Moulds is Managing Director for Sand Hill Property Company and has been with the company since 2005. He is involved in all aspects of the execution of the company's investment and development strategies and currently serves as Project Executive for The Rise, the 7.5 million sq. ft. mixed-use redevelopment of the 51-acre Vallco Shopping Mall site in Cupertino. Moulds has managed many of SHP’s most complex developments and partnerships, as well as over $1 billion in transactions.

Mr. Moulds and his wife are avid travelers and cherish opportunities to explore the world and its cultures. He regularly travels to Honduras, where he serves as executive director for a non-profit organization whose mission is to facilitate the educational and economic development in rural Honduras. Mr. Moulds holds a bachelor's degree in government from Claremont McKenna College.

Seth is the Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute, in Mountain View, California.  His career includes extensive research on galaxies using radio telescopes, and he has held positions at observatories and universities both in the U.S. and Europe.  He is chairman of the International Academy of Astronautics SETI Permanent Committee.

Seth has penned four books, numerous professional papers, and more than four hundred popular articles on various topics in science and technology.  He also hosts the SETI Institute’s weekly science radio program “Big Picture Science.”

Our Avenues of Service and Affinity Groups will share their operations and work with the club.

Senator Josh Becker is a public policy innovator working at the nexus of community activism, technology, and social justice. Elected to the State Senate in November 2020, Senator Becker represents the residents of California’s 13th Senate District, which comprises most of San Mateo County and the northern part of Santa Clara County. Josh earned a JD/MBA from Stanford University in 1999. While a student, Josh cofounded the Stanford Board Fellows program, which trains students to serve on the boards of local nonprofits, engaging them in social progress at the beginning of their careers, rather than the end. Senator Becker is a 20-year resident of Menlo Park, where he lives with his wife, Jonna, their two children, Leo and Aaron, and the family dog, Percy