Our Leadership

Jasmin Alvarez is the director of clinical operations at San Francisco AIDS Foundation, joining first in 2015 as a lab technician. Jasmin was born and raised in the Bay Area and has deep roots in the heart of the Mission where she grew up. Having lived in a Latinx Community most of her life, she has experienced health disparities firsthand with herself, her family, and her friends. That’s one reason why she advocates for marginalized communities and has a passion for health rights.

Working in laboratory fields, Jasmin makes connections with clients by listening to their stories, experiencing and the challenges they face every day just to take care of themselves. Their stories are the drive and passion behind her work. When she’s not working to dismantle racism and misogyny in the workplace, Jasmin is kept busy by her two loving dogs who would do anything for a tennis ball.

Nathaniel Anderson is the facilities director at San Francisco AIDS Foundation, leading a team overseeing facilities operations, budgets, maintenance and workplace safety and security.

For six years prior to his current role, Nathaniel led events production for AIDS/LifeCycle. Nathaniel has previously worked with several Bay Area arts organizations, including managing development and front of house operations for Museum of Craft and Design and development and special events for Kala Art Institute. He received his Master’s degree in arts administration from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Ernest Hopkins leads the San Francisco AIDS Foundation national policy and legislative activities at the federal administrative and congressional levels, seeking appropriate levels of resource and sound public health policies that promote the health and wellness of San Franciscans living with and at risk for HIV.

Ernest marked 20 years at SFAF in 2017 having led federal policy and legislative activities since 1997. Prior to joining SFAF, Ernest was the director of health and treatment at the National Association for People with AIDS (NAPWA) in Washington, DC where he led clinical trial review and consultation at the inception of HIV antiretroviral development and availability, advocating for safety, effectiveness and affordability. Ernest leads and has led national advocacy coalitions like the National Black Gay Men's Advocacy Coalition (NBGMAC) and the Communities Advocating Emergency AIDS Relief (CAEAR). He has testified before congressional committees and advised Congress on legislative initiatives, earning him the Congressional Black Caucus's Leadership Award.

Jenny Hsieh facilitates fiscal stewardship of SFAF’s federal, state, and local funds while managing the end-to-end grants lifecycle. She partners with stakeholders to administer core financial operations; implement effective internal controls to mitigate risk; and optimize resource management with respect to the Foundation’s grant portfolio.
 
Prior to this position, Jenny held a similar role at Impact Justice, a national nonprofit dedicated to criminal justice reform. She also has previous experience in for-profit financial consulting. Jenny holds a BS in Business Administration from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Sara Kunitake is the Director of SFAF’s People and Culture team. She is passionate about empowering and engaging employees to do the hard work necessary for an organization to succeed.

Prior to joining SFAF, Sara worked in people operations and business partner roles to help College Track through a CEO transition, reorganization, and the implementation of a new performance evaluation process. Prior to College Track she worked at Penumbra, Inc. where the People Team grew the organization from 650 employees to 2500 employees. Before making the switch to Human Resources she worked in fundraising with LGBTQ+ and environmental nonprofits and community organizing for electoral campaigns. 

Sara attended University of California, Irvine, where she earned a degree in Political Science, Sociology, and Education. On weekends, Sara enjoys hikes and bike rides but can be talked into a day of binging the latest shows on Netflix. Vacation days are spent traveling to other countries or volunteering on campaigns in more competitive areas than her native San Francisco.

Mazdak Mazarei leads and oversees justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) initiatives at San Francisco AIDS Foundation. He is passionate about working collaboratively with staff to identify and successfully implement JEDI-related projects that are person-centered, evidence-based and anchored in the organization’s mission to promote health, wellness, and social justice for communities most impacted by HIV, including within the organization. Mazdak works closely with his People & Culture colleagues to maintain a work environment that supports effective talent acquisition, development, and retention of employees, particularly those from historically marginalized backgrounds.
 
Mazdak has more than 20 years' history providing capacity building assistance to the nation’s HIV workforce, informed by his experiences providing direct services at AIDS service organizations in the Bay Area and lessons learned from staff at the agencies he's worked with across the country.  During this time, Mazdak supported community-based organizations, clinics and health departments to better operationalize their JEDI-related values.
 
Outside of his role at SFAF, Mazdak is a certified end-of-life doula.

Beth Nauslar is the controller at San Francisco AIDS Foundation, overseeing accounting operations for the foundation. She is responsible for ensuring that financial reports accurately reflect the financial position of SFAF to inform programmatic, management, and strategic decisions. She also oversees external financial reporting as required by various government organizations.

Beth joined SFAF in 2012 as assistant controller. Her 9 years in this role were instrumental in understanding the foundation’s work, clients, and impact. Prior to joining SFAF, Beth held management positions at manufacturing and start-up companies, and at a regional CPA firm. She holds a master’s degree in Accounting from Golden Gate University. In her free time, she enjoys trail running, and is also an active volunteer for AIDS/LifeCycle, Dining Out For Life, and DIY fundraising for SFAF.

Jorge Roman oversees clinical services at Magnet, the sexual health clinic at San Francisco AIDS Foundation. Passionate about health care delivery for clients living with HIV and HIV PrEP, Jorge came to SFAF in 2019. Prior to that, he worked at OLE Health where he led efforts for LGBT inclusion and culturally appropriate care.

Jorge holds a Bachelor of Science (BS) from the University of California, San Diego, and a BS and a Master of Science from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. Jorge is passionate about bringing about health equity through health care delivery that focuses on BIPOC communities. Jorge lives in Sonoma with his partner of over 20 years and beagle Tucker.

Kyle Temple, LCSW is Senior Director of The Stonewall Project at San Francisco AIDS Foundation. He oversees day to day programming and operations for SFAF’s harm reduction substance use treatment program. The Stonewall Project provides individual and group counseling support for community members who wish to explore their relationship with drugs and alcohol, and mitigate the potential for harm caused by their use, including elevated risk of HIV and Hepatitis C. In this model of care, substance use goals are set by participants and include a range of options including safer use, targeted abstinence, and abstinence.

Kyle brings experience living with HIV and a history of substance use to his work with community, and holds Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Master of Social Welfare (MSW) degrees from University of California, Berkeley. He is driven by a belief that stigma kills, equitable access to quality care is a right, and that all community members deserve to be treated with compassion, dignity, kindness, and respect.

Preston Vargas, PhD, is the interim senior director of community partnerships & engagement at San Francisco AIDS Foundation. He is responsible for the Aging Services, Black Health, and Housing & Benefits teams at SFAF, and in addition leads collaborations with partner community-based organizations in the Bay Area.

Previously, Preston served as the Director of Black Health at SFAF. In this capacity, he oversaw the Black Brothers Esteem (BBE) and TransLife groups, shaping the experience of Black communities at SFAF through resilience-building, social support, and learning opportunities. Previously, he served as the BBE coordinator, as a residential substance use counselor at Positive Resource Center, and as a case manager for Northern Rhode Island Community Services. Preston holds a PhD from the California Institute of Integral Studies and is a certified alcohol and drug counselor-certified addiction specialist CADC-CAS.