The What Matters Now Team

What Matters Now was created by a team of friends who donated their time and expertise in software engineering, graphic design, and nonprofit operations to be of service to people facing serious illness, their caregivers, and their communities of family and friends.

The members of our team bring a depth of experience to the project from their work for software startups and Silicon Valley's leading companies, including Google, Dell, eBay, and Citrix.

Leadership

Our Executive Director, Vanessa Callison-Burch, recently witnessed the final years of her grandparents' lives and the amazing dedication of her mom and her aunts as they cared for their parents. Having worked on web technology projects for organizations ranging from software startups to major financial institutions, Vanessa is happy to put her technology experience and leadership skills to great use through serving families who face serious illness.

Our CTO, Luisa Magarian, brings extensive product design and development experience to What Matters Now, as well as personal experience facing serious illness.

Our Director of Engineering, Marina Esterlis, is an outstanding engineer who loves mentoring developers and bringing products to the world. Marina's life was touched by serious illness in 2007, when she cared for her mother who was diagnosed with cancer.