We are thrilled to welcome the newest group of Trustees to the Board of the Exploratorium!
These five incredible individuals bring a broad range of backgrounds, skills, experiences, and perspectives to the leadership of our organization—from deep education expertise to knowledge of space use and facilities. Starting right away, they will be involved in providing strategic guidance for the organization by serving on standing committees and ad-hoc task forces, and they are looking forward to meeting more members of the Exploratorium community when we’re able to safely welcome you back to Pier 15.
Read on to learn about these incredible new members of the Exploratorium family.
Darren Bechtel
Darren Bechtel is the founder and Managing Director of Brick & Mortar Ventures, the leading sector-specific venture capital fund focused on emerging technologies to improve the way we design, build, and maintain our built environment. He has been the single most active early stage investor in AEC and FM tech over the past five years, with his first four construction tech deals being Seed round investments into PlanGrid, BuildZoom, BuildingConnected, and Rhumbix. Since then, Darren and the Brick & Mortar team have invested in over 25 startups aiming to improve productivity, safety, and environmental impact of constructing and caring for the built environment. He brings over seven years of engineering, product and architectural design, and construction management professional experience to the Brick & Mortar team, as well as over eight years of venture investing as the founder and managing director of South Park Ventures. Darren holds a BS in mechanical engineering with a product design focus from Stanford University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He has served as a board member on the Oak Meadow Foundation. He also serves on two private family foundations: Third Horizon Foundation and DHB (also known as the Samantha and Darren Bechtel Family Foundation).
LaMar Bunts
LaMar Bunts is the CEO of The Beanstalk Initiative. He spent the earlier part of his career driving growth and global expansion at technology companies such as Dell, Silicon Graphics (SGI), and ITM Software (a startup acquired by BMC Software). More recently, LaMar has worked to drive social impact through education technology including remote learning, artificial intelligence, and data analytics at companies like ACT, Calbright (the California Online College), and Viridis Learning. He serves as a board member for several social impact organizations focused on empowering millions of people through education including The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, BUILD, and Olodum (Brazil). LaMar earned an Honors Degree in Economics from Harvard College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He speaks Portuguese and Spanish, and has longtime business and personal connections to Latin America, especially Brazil. LaMar grew up in Oakland and has fond memories of visits to the Exploratorium. His daughter's favorite school subject is science, and he looks forward to her experiencing the magic of the Exploratorium
Remy Fisher
Remy Fisher is a design researcher and strategist at Google, where she has worked on both the Google Shopping and Google Cloud teams. Previously, she worked in design research and business development at IDEO. Remy also serves on the Next Council Board for Peer Health Exchange, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering young people to make healthy decisions.
She is the daughter of former Exploratorium Trustees Sakurako and Bill Fisher and grew up spending weekends at the Exploratorium convincing her parents to let her go through the Tactile Dome again and again.
Remy earned a BA in anthropology from Princeton. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and beloved poodle, Rainier.
Gregory Hunter
Gregory Hunter is Vice President of Brokerage Services for Colliers International, overseeing the office, retail, and industrial real estate sectors of Oakland and the East Bay. He previously served as Director of the City of Oakland Redevelopment Agency, leading efforts to attract tenants to Oakland’s commercial corridors, improve grocery presence in the city’s food deserts, and advance more than 100,000 square feet of new retail construction. Gregory earned a BS in geography and urban planning from Southwest Texas State University, and an MA in public administration from Baruch College, CUNY. He lives in Oakland with his wife and daughter.
Rachel Skiffer
Rachel was named Head of School at the Khan Lab School in 2018. Previously, Rachel worked at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, where she spent five years as the school's Dean of Policy and Strategic Planning. She has also held administrative leadership positions at San Francisco University High School and The Latin School of Chicago and worked in admissions and financial aid at Harvard College. Prior to her career in education, Rachel spent time as a commercial real estate attorney with Kirkland & Ellis, and as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company. She holds a JD from Harvard Law School, where she was on the Harvard Law Review and a BA from Harvard-Radcliffe College. Rachel had served on the board of the Katherine Delmar Burke School, San Francisco University High School and Fessenden School in MA.