Our Leadership

Tyler TerMeer, PhD, joined San Francisco AIDS Foundation as CEO in February 2022. Reporting to the Board of Directors and working in partnership with a leadership team, Dr. TerMeer is responsible for setting the organization’s strategic priorities with the Board of Directors and ensuring programmatic and operational excellence, strong fiscal management, effective human resources, and long-term financial viability of our work. He holds primary responsibility for building positive public awareness of SFAF as well as its associated brands, and for developing and maintaining constructive working relationships with funders, civic leaders and other organizations working toward common goals.

Dr. TerMeer came to SFAF with nearly 18 years of experience in HIV and AIDS policy, advocacy, and nonprofit management. He is currently the co-chair of the AIDS United Public Policy Council and is also a member of the AIDS United Governing Board of Directors. Previously, he served as CEO of Cascade AIDS Project, the largest community-based provider of HIV services in Oregon and southwest Washington. During his time at the helm of Cascade AIDS Project, Dr. TerMeer oversaw a merger with Our House of Portland, expanded the organization from one office to seven across two states, and launched Prism Health to serve the primary care and mental health needs of LGBTQ+ community members.

Previously, Dr. TerMeer served as the Director of Public Policy and Government Relations at AIDS Resource Center Ohio, as Director of Ohio AIDS Coalition, and on a variety of HIV and AIDS policy organization councils and boards including Positive Pedalers (PosPeds), the National Association of People with AIDS, and the National Center for Innovation in HIV Care. For more than a decade, Dr. TerMeer has supported San Francisco AIDS Foundation as a donor through his participation in AIDS/LifeCycle as both a Rider and a Roadie.

Dr. TerMeer is personally committed to the work of SFAF. Throughout his career and personal life, he has worked to ensure that people living with HIV have the resources and support they need to live healthy lives, that LGBTQ+ community members have access to affirming and non-judgmental care, and that Black-led organizations and BIPOC leaders are supported and empowered through diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and resources. In 2012, he was honored by the White House as one of the “Nation’s Emerging LGBTQ+ Leaders,” and in 2013 was named by the White House as part of the “Nation’s Emerging Black Leadership.”

Dr. TerMeer holds a PhD in Public Policy and Administration, and an MS in Nonprofit Management and Organization Leadership from Walden University. He is also a graduate of the UCLA/Johnson and Johnson Health Care Executive Management Program. Dr. TerMeer grew up in Central Ohio. When he is not working he enjoys spending quality time with friends and chosen-family, running, urban hikes and spoiling his rescue dog - a pug named Riley.

Ben Cabangun-Hice, MA thrives by cultivating creativity with teams. At his core, he’s a problem solver and human-centered design practitioner. At San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Ben is a cross-function thought partner and co-designs solutions to administrative and operations challenges across programs.

Prior to joining SFAF, Ben was managing director and principal investigator at the 28-year CDC-funded national HIV capacity building program, Capacity for Health. There, he led the design of organizational development and management consulting frameworks and training curricula integrating design thinking for HIV and public health contexts. His program design, implementation, and evaluation experience began in 2008 at the organization now known as the San Francisco Community Health Center. Since 2010, he has served on the San Francisco HIV Community Planning Council and has served terms as council co-chair, Jurisdictional Planning Committee Chair, and is currently co-chair of Community Engagement. He completed graduate school at the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University, and is an alumni of the CompassPoint Next Generation Leaders of Color, the Rockwood Leadership Institute, and the +Acumen Community of Social Innovators. He’s obsessed with indoor cycling, single origin coffee, yoga, reality TV, and happy hour.

Brenda Kiner is the Chief Program Officer, overseeing program development, ensuring that SFAF projects align with our strategic goals, and enhancing our impact on our strategic priority communities. Brenda works alongside department and team leaders to shape our program business strategies and drive excellence across all of our programs and service initiatives.

Prior to joining San Francisco AIDS Foundation, Brenda worked at a variety of healthcare and government-sponsored programs over a 20-year career. Most recently, she served as the first female African American Chief Executive Officer for Pierce County AIDS Foundation (PCAF), and previously as Chief Operations Officer for the State of Arizona Division of Developmental Disabilities, and Vice President of U.S. and Philippines Operations for HealthHelp, a WNS Global Company. Brenda also currently serves as the President-Elect of the National Association of Healthcare Executives AZ-Chapter.

She holds a bachelor's from Arizona State University, Senior Executive Leadership Certification from Harvard, and Executive Change Management Certification from Cornell University.

Peter Parisot is the General Counsel and Vice President of Business Strategy, leading San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s compliance program, acting as legal counsel for the agency, and identifying new strategic business partnerships and opportunities to drive growth and increased revenue for the agency. Peter works closely with agency leadership to provide strategic direction, ensure the agency meets all regulatory and legal requirements with an eye toward equity, and sustain growth initiatives.

Before joining SFAF, Peter held various roles at Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) in Portland Oregon, including Chief Impact Officer & General Counsel, most recently. At CAP, Peter oversaw the departments of People & Culture and Policy & Advocacy, and acted as Project Director for the Federally Qualified Health Center, Prism Health. Additionally, he provided legal counsel to the agency on a variety of topics, including employment and labor law, regulatory compliance, and real estate transactions. Before that, Peter worked as Director of Economic Development in the Office of the Mayor for Portland, Oregon. Peter received his JD from the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis & Clark College in 2000.

Peter lives in Portland, Oregon, with his husband Ben, their three dogs, and a grumpy cat named Cosmo. Peter is a fan of hiking, river sports, cooking, gardening, and international travel.

Jasmin Alvarez is the Director of Strut Programs & Services 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 Latine 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.

Sara Kunitake is the Senior 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.

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 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.