Menlo Park, California, March 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- LifeMoves, the largest Silicon Valley organization dedicated to helping homeless families and individuals find stable housing and self-sufficiency, has announced the appointment of Lori Castillo Martinez to its Board of Directors. Lori is the Executive Vice President and Chief Equality Officer at Salesforce, leading the company's global equality efforts.
Lori's appointment comes as LifeMoves continues its ambitious five-year plan to end homelessness in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. One of the LifeMoves strategic plans' pillars is accelerating its DEIB initiatives that build equity across the organization. Lori's perspective will prove invaluable. She works to increase representation with aggressive multi-year representation goals and create a more inclusive culture through equity-focused processes and programs at Salesforce.
In her previous role as the head of Global Employee Relations and Equality at Salesforce, Lori focused on performance and employee relations management across the globe and drove equality initiatives at the company. She is also the co-chair of Salesforce's Racial Equality and Justice Task Force.
Aubrey Merriman, CEO of LifeMoves, said, "Lori joining the LifeMoves Board of Directors is a game-changer. Lori's passion and expertise fuel the belief that LifeMoves will be better able to do this work effectively and with authenticity, if a diverse, inclusive board leads it focused on equity and belonging. I am excited about how we will continue to build an awareness of how systemic inequities have affected our society, and those LifeMoves serves throughout Silicon Valley. It will enable LifeMoves to avoid unintentional biases leading to flawed strategies and create powerful opportunities to deepen our impact, relevance, and mission advancement."
Patrick Heron, Chair of the LifeMoves Board, said, "We are delighted to welcome Lori to the LifeMoves Board of Directors. Her extensive experience driving equality initiatives and creating inclusive cultures will be invaluable as we work towards ending homelessness in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties."
Lori is also passionate about improving the way women live and work. She serves on the Board of How Women Lead, a community of women executives working to redefine female leadership. She also spent nearly a decade at a Fortune 5 healthcare company, where she created the first enterprise-wide strategy, processes, and systems for critical legal, ethics, and regulatory risk areas. She also led the company's Latinx Employee Resource group, helping to advocate and create a community for women and people of color.
"I'm inspired by LifeMoves' mission to create pathways to stable housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, and I'm proud to join their board," said Lori. "Access to safe and affordable shelter is a basic human right, and we must provide that access to our most vulnerable populations."
With 26 sites and more underway, LifeMoves is the largest Silicon Valley organization dedicated to helping homeless families and individuals find stable housing and self-sufficiency. Its ambitious mission is to end homelessness in Silicon Valley through an evidence-based model that provides supportive services and interim housing while building collaborative partnerships.
In 2021, LifeMoves found stable housing for 2,100 people, provided 288,000 shelter nights to 7,000 clients, and completed 1.6 million hours of Case Management. It also partnered with the State of California and the City of Mountain View to open an interim housing complex, completed in May 2021. It supported 128 people per year and was operational in eight months. On the heels of that success, LifeMoves has won contracts for five more developments that will move 1,614 people off the streets yearly. With Lori on the board, LifeMoves is poised to make an even more significant impact in the community.
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