Jeanette Cool, Executive Director
Ms. Cool studied music at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, earning a bachelor’s and graduate degree in music theory. She has been organist and choir director of Our Redeemer’s Lutheran Church in South San Francisco since 1995 and is secretary of the San Francisco American Guild of Organists executive committee.
For many years, Ms. Cool provided business management for entrepreneurs. This work led her to a very special client: Sam Mazza. She immensely enjoyed her long tenure and relationship with Mr. Mazza, whose idiosyncratic ways and sure-footed independence set the stage for an enduring and distinct legacy in the Sam Mazza Foundation.
As the foundation’s executive director, Ms. Cool takes great pride in honoring Mr. Mazza by shaping his legacy to have visibility and long-lasting impact.
Dede Estey, Director
Ms. Estey grew up in a sleepy beach town in Southern California. She moved to London in the late 1960s and worked in film production before returning to college and earning a teaching credential. She worked at the Anna Freud Nursery School for a few years and then settled down to motherhood. Now the mother of two grown children, Ms. Estey has been a volunteer for many school events and is a strong supporter of the arts in public schools.
While her children were young, Ms. Estey got a diploma in pastoral and psychodynamic counseling. Upon her return to the United States after 18 years abroad, she earned a master’s degree in clinical psychology. She has worked for local nonprofits and maintained a private practice as a marriage and family therapist since 1992.
Ms. Estey continues to enjoy music, theater, art and travel. She lives in San Francisco.
Robert C. Hood, Treasurer
Mr. Hood has 25 years of experience working in management information systems and systems theory for global transportation and finance. He has also spent 15 years as a personal financial manager and enrolled agent for individuals and small nonprofits. A Buddhist practitioner for more than 40 years, he took ordination as a Buddhist monk in the Tibetan tradition in 1999.
David Mazza, Director
Mr. Mazza was born and raised in the Bay Area, and after a stint in Los Angeles, he continues to call San Francisco home. He earned degrees in political science and history at the University of California, Los Angeles with aspirations of earning a law degree and going into politics, but the technology boom in Silicon Valley inspired him to change course. After working for Internet giants such as Google and eBay, Mr. Mazza now manages marketing programs for startup companies.
A product of the California public school system, Mr. Mazza recognizes the implications of budget cuts on youth development. Through the foundation created by his great-uncle Sam Mazza, he feels blessed to provide young people with opportunities to grow and excel through community projects, education and the arts.
Angelo Mazza, Director Emeritus
Mr. Mazza is the youngest of Sam Mazza’s six siblings and one of two of the siblings who are still alive. A veteran of the U.S. Navy who saw combat during World War II, Mr. Mazza began his professional life in the family grocery business and went on to a distinguished career in real estate in the Bay Area. He was a top executive for City S&L, Gibraltar S&L and Continental S&L, and he served as president of the Savings Association Mortgage Company (SAMCO), which sought to reverse patterns of discrimination by assisting racial minorities in securing home loans. Mr. Mazza came out of retirement to turn around negative earnings at Continental S&L, where he returned as president for two years before retiring again in 1982.
Mr. Mazza played a vital role in establishing the Sam Mazza Foundation and continues to contribute to our success through his wisdom, wit and insight.