Advisory Council

American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley’s Advisory Council serves as a critical community champion for the organization. Members of the Advisory Council share their gifts in service to our mission by providing our organization with their professional expertise; their connections to local, national or international resources, colleagues or peers; their philanthropic support or other forms of needed assistance. The Advisory Council has no governing function within the organization.

Ned Barnholt : Retired Chairman and CEO, Agilent Technologies

Ned Barnholt

Retired Chairman and CEO, Agilent Technologies

Edward W. (Ned) Barnholt is the former chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Agilent Technologies.  He guided Agilent through its spin-off from Hewlett-Packard Company in 1999 and retired from Agilent in 2005.

Ned is currently chairman of the KLA–Tencor Corporation and serves on the board of eBay and Adobe. He participated in ALF Class IX and received the John W. Gardner Leadership Award from ALF in 2004.

Eric Benhamou : Founder and General Partner, Benhamou Global Ventures

Eric Benhamou

Founder and General Partner, Benhamou Global Ventures

Eric served as CEO of 3Com from 1990 to 2000 and Chairman until 2010. He also served as CEO of Palm until 2003, and subsequently Chairman of the Board. Both 3Com and Palm were sold to HP in 2010.

Eric founded Benhamou Global Ventures in 2003 and made active investments in early stage information technology Silicon Valley firms focused on global enterprise and telecommunications markets. He participated in ALF Class VIII.

Ann DeBusk : Founder, American Leadership Forum - Silicon Valley

Ann DeBusk

Founder, American Leadership Forum - Silicon Valley

Ann built ALF Silicon Valley’s core program in 1988. She established a board with representatives from the private, public and nonprofit sectors, and in 1989, she launched the ALF’s first class of Fellows: Class I.

Ann led ALF Silicon Valley as President until 2000, attracting many of Silicon Valley’s most influential leaders from all sectors and establishing ALF as the preeminent leadership program in Silicon Valley.

Susan Goldberg : Editor in Chief, National Geographic Magazine

Susan Goldberg

Editor in Chief, National Geographic Magazine

Susan is Editorial Director of National Geographic Partners and Editor In Chief of National Geographic Magazine. She was named Editorial Director in October 2015 and Editor in Chief of the magazine in April 2014.

Susan previously worked for Bloomberg News, Cleveland Plain Dealer, San Jose Mercury News, USA Today, Detroit Free Press and Seattle Post-Intelligencer. She participated in ALF Class XVI.

Adam Grosser : Managing Partner, Sandcast

Adam Grosser

Managing Partner, Sandcast

Adam recently founded Sandcast, a multi-stage investment fund. Before Sandcast, he led Silver Lake Kraftwerk, a growth equity fund. Before Silver Lake Kraftwerk, he was a General Partner at Foundation Capital and before that, he was President of Excite@Home, which encompassed thousands of people across multiple divisions, and $1 billion in revenue.

Adam holds BA, MS and MBA degrees from Stanford University, is a lecturer at Stanford University, and contributes to National Public Radio's Marketplace. He participated in ALF Class XXXV.

Mike Honda : Retired US Congressman

Mike Honda

Retired US Congressman

Mike served in the US House of Representatives from 2001 to 2017. He began his career as a science teacher, then became a principal and finally a school board member.

In 1990 Mike was elected to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and in 1996 to the California State Assembly. He participated in the very first ALF class (Class I) in 1989.

Marc Jones : Chairman and CEO, Aeris Communications

Marc Jones

Chairman and CEO, Aeris Communications

Marc is Chairman and CEO of Aeris Communications. He has over 25 years of experience in the technology industry as a securities lawyer, investment banker and senior business executive.

Prior to Aeris, Marc was the CEO and chairman of the board of Visionael and prior to Visionael, he served as President of Madge Networks. He participated in ALF Class XVI and has served on the ALF board of directors.

Carol Larson : President and CEO, The David & Lucile Packard Foundation

Carol Larson

President and CEO, The David & Lucile Packard Foundation

Carol is President and CEO of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, a position she has held since January 2004. Prior to joining the Foundation, she was a partner in a Los Angeles, California law firm specializing in civil litigation.

Carol currently serves on the boards of the ClimateWorks Foundation and the Sobrato Family Foundation. She participated in ALF Class XV and has served on the ALF board of directors.

Ronnie Lott : Owner, Lott Auto Ventures

Ronnie Lott

Owner, Lott Auto Ventures

Ronnie starred in the National Football League as a safety and cornerback from 1981-1995. He is a four-time Super Bowl champion, a 10-time Pro Bowl selection and a Hall of Fame inductee in 2000 in his first year of eligibility.

Ronnie was named one of the top 50 players of all time during the NFL’s 75th anniversary celebration. The San Francisco 49ers retired his jersey number (42). Subsequently, he has worked in venture capital, in addition to his ownership of Lott Auto Ventures. He participated in ALF Class XII.

John Morgridge : Chairman Emeritus, Cisco Systems

John Morgridge

Chairman Emeritus, Cisco Systems

John joined Cisco Systems as its second CEO and chairman of the board from 1988-2006. In 1988, Cisco had 34 employees. At John’s retirement in 2006, Cisco had 50,000 employees in 77 countries and had exceeded a market capitalization of $500 billion.

John serves on several corporate and charity boards of directors, including the Nature Conservancy and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. He participated in ALF Class VIII and received the John W. Gardner Leadership Award from ALF in 2005.

Susan Packard Orr : Board Member, David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Susan Packard Orr

Board Member, David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Susan is the founder and CEO of Telosa Software, a company that has been providing fundraising and volunteer-management software to the nonprofit sector for over 30 years. Prior to starting Telosa in 1986, Susan worked as a programmer at Health Computer Services at the University of Minnesota and as an economist at the National Institutes of Health. She is the past chairman and a current member of the board of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and serves on the boards of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, the Packard Humanities Institute, and the National Audubon Society. Her past board service includes the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, the Monterey Aquarium, Hewlett Packard Company, and Stanford University. Susan holds a B.A. in Economics and an M.B.A., both from Stanford, and an M.S. in Computer Science from New Mexico Tech. She and her husband, Lynn, have two children and four grandchildren. Susan participated in ALF Class VII.

C.S. Park : Retired Lead Independent Director, Seagate

C.S. Park

Retired Lead Independent Director, Seagate

C. S. Park is working for technology start-up companies where he is serving as an investor, advisor and board member. Also C.S. serves as a board member of Catholic Community Foundation, and an advisory board member of the Markkula Center of Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University.

Most recently, C.S. was on the board of Seagate Technology where he served as Lead Independent Director. Formerly he was Chairman and CEO of Maxtor Corporation. Previously, C.S. was Chairman and CEO of Hynix Semiconductor (now SK hynix), and Managing Director of H&Q Asia Pacific. Also he previously served as Board Chair of Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

C. S. participated in ALF Class XVIII, and received the John W. Gardner Leadership Award in 2016. He also served for ALF-SV Board for more than a decade.

Ann Ravel : Fellow, New America

Ann Ravel

Fellow, New America

Ann is currently a Fellow of New America and lectures at the UC Berkeley School of Law.  Appointed by President Barack Obama, she served on the Federal Election Commission from 2013 to 2017 as a Member and as Chair for 2015. 

Prior to her appointment to the FEC, Ann worked for the State of California, the US Department of Justice and the Santa Clara County Counsel's Office, and she participated in ALF Class XI.