OUR TEAM
Cook Silverman brings more than two hundred combined years of nonprofit experience, spanning all aspects of development, advancement, communications, and executive management. Our team includes individuals who have served as executive directors, development and marketing directors and other senior positions in nonprofits, and therefore have unique knowledge and abilities to evaluate skill sets of nonprofit executives.
We have worked in the positions our clients hope to fill, which gives us a unique perspective on evaluation of the candidates.
VICTORIA SCHIFF SILVERMAN, CDR (she, her, hers)
Victoria is the Managing Founder and CEO of Cook Silverman Search. Victoria has served the nonprofit sector for almost forty years. Throughout her career, Victoria has worked in senior fundraising, advancement and management positions in higher education, arts, biotech, engineering and environment sectors at Stanford University, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of California, the American Film Institute, the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Marine Mammal Center, and the Buck Institute for Age Research, among others. She has worked with heads of state, CEOs of major corporations, scientists, Hollywood celebrities, and leaders of industry. Victoria is an AIRS© Certified Diversity and Inclusion Recruiter.
Victoria is a proud first-generation American which ignited her passion for and commitment to equity and inclusiveness throughout her life. Victoria is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and attended St. Louis University School of Law. She has been a "heavy hitter" speaker for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and has served on fundraising advisory committees for several nonprofit organizations. She has served as a pro bono instructor for the YWCA, CANDID, AFP, Women of Color in Philanthropy (WOC) and Development Executives Roundtable. Victoria has served as an AIRI conference presenter, a YMCA volunteer, and a former member of the Reed Union School District advisory council.
Victoria is a Past President (2020) of the board of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Golden Gate Chapter and a member of the Oregon & S.W. Washington, Silicon Valley, and GLAC (Greater Los Angeles) chapters. She is a member of Development Executives Roundtable, and Northern California Planned Giving Council and the Network for Nonprofit Search Consultants. Victoria serves on the steering committee for Women of Color’s Allies in Action Network.
Victoria is an avid hiker and enjoys the beautiful Marin hills. She is also a proud mother of two amazing young women.
PAMELA COOK (she, her, hers)
Pam Cook, co-founder of Cook Silverman Search, has conducted searches for nonprofits since 2000. Prior to Cook Silverman, she founded and was principal of Pamela Cook Development Search.
Pam has more than thirty years of experience in philanthropy. She managed The Clorox Company Foundation and worked in senior development positions at the Stanford University School of Engineering, the California Academy of Sciences, the University of Virginia, and the United Way.
Pam co-founded a women's giving circle in 2006 which supports international nonprofits that benefit women and children. She is on the board of the College of Marin Foundation and chairs the College's Program Advisory Committee, serves on the Marin Advisory Board of 10,000 Degrees, and is a Steering Committee Member of the Marin Student Elections Ambassador Program (SEAP). Pam was president of the board of the Golden Gate Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP-GGC) and wrote fourteen articles about search and nonprofits published in AFP's international magazine, Advancing Philanthropy. A Big Sister for ten years, she previously served on governing boards of the Fulbright Association and the SEMI Foundation and on the West Coast advisory board of the Institute of International Education.
A graduate of Duke University (B.A.), University of Virginia (M.A.), and a Fulbright Scholar at the Australian National University, Pam is an ACFRE (Advanced Certified Fundraising Executive), one of only 115 in the world. She received a certificate in corporate community relations from Boston College. and completed the Coro Community Leaders Program, Leadership Oakland, the Environmental Forum of Marin, and Stanford Advanced Management College.
Pam was named as the 2003 Hank Rosso Outstanding Fundraising Professional by the Golden Gate Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and Northern California Grantmakers.
Pam founded her book group in 1997. She loves to hike, swim, play pickleball and being a grandmother.
KELLEY COE (she, her, hers)
For over a decade, Kelley has been working in the nonprofit sector, starting her professional journey with local Santa Barbara organizations while attending the University of California, Santa Barbara. After finishing her undergraduate education, she moved to the Bay Area and worked for the Silicon Valley Community Foundation and Stanford Medical Center Development. She currently works for an international peacebuilding organization called Search for Common Ground. She manages a team of gift officers and works closely with major donors on the West Coast. Kelley now lives in Los Angeles, and in her free time, she loves to spend time with her family, listen to podcasts, go to music festivals, play volleyball, and travel.
PATRICIA DALAO (she, her, hers)
For four years, Patricia "Pat" has discovered her true purpose in the nonprofit sector, specializing in fund development through events, grants, and relationship-building that fosters human connections. After graduating from Mills College with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Psychology, she began her career as a frontline crisis intervention service provider at a youth homeless shelter. Pat developed a passion for building sustainable nonprofit organizations, ethical decision-making, and fund development, growing from a grants writer to the development manager for a mental health agency.
Currently, Pat serves as the Institutional Giving Manager at Students Rising Above, where she focuses on cultivating and maintaining relationships with foundations and donors to achieve equitable access for first-generation students from low-income backgrounds. She finds deep purpose in her work, drawing from her own experience as an immigrant.
As a current Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility Fellow for the AFP Golden Gate Chapter, Pat is driven by a commitment to service, connection, and addressing community inequities. She aims to bring exceptional talent sourcing to the Cook Silverman team, collaborating with clients to fulfill their organizational needs and contribute to a talented search firm like Cook Silverman.
When Pat is not working, she enjoys deepening her spirituality, working out, and spending time with her golden retriever!
KATE HARLE (she, her, hers)
Kate heads up the marketing, communications, and PR searches at Cook Silverman. With 22+ years of integrated marketing experience from top agencies and nonprofits in London and San Francisco, Kate has developed a valuable perspective on how "marketing for good" can drive change and build communities. Working with teams at all levels and Boards, Kate swiftly steps into leadership, facilitator, motivator, planning, and implementation roles. She helps clients refocus and re-build consumer relationships through story-led, brand-defining, data-smart solutions that support them culturally, strategically, and fiscally. In every role and project, she brings a deep skill set and a marketing and communications ethos that is resourceful, motivational, and results-driven.
Kate has led multi-million-dollar campaigns for top brands from American Express to MINI. She is currently the Director of Marketing (consultant) at Ritter Center, a nonprofit that prevents and resolves homelessness. Consultant and recruitment clients include: The Charlie Cart Project, CuriOdyssey, Quantum Leap Healthcare, Fair Trade USA, SFBATCO, Silicon Valley Urban Debate League, Save The Bay, San Francisco Ballet, Bay.org, Slide Ranch, The Marine Mammal Center, and Wildcare.
Kate graduated from Durham University (UK) with a BA Hons in Linguistics and English Language. She lives in Mill Valley, CA with her husband, two giggly girls, and two adopted cheeky kittens.
JACKSON HARRIS (he/him/his)
Jackson Harris, a linguist from San Francisco, CA, joins the Cook Silverman team as our Interview Scribe.
Following a lifelong passion for language, Jackson graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in Linguistics, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese, and as a member of the Sigma Delta Pi National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society.
As an undergraduate, Jackson held a year-long internship as a legal interpreter and ESL tutor at East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, a nonprofit organization offering legal and social services to low-income immigrants in Berkeley, CA. Jackson returns to the nonprofit sector after working in the tech industry at companies like Samsung Research America, where his team won the R&D Team Star award for their work on the Bixby smart assistant. Jackson strives to apply himself professionally in ways that uplift and empower others.
Jackson is currently pursuing his M.A. in Linguistics with a concentration in Computational Linguistics at San Francisco State University. He is excited about exploring Natural Language Processing (NLP) and sharpening his coding and research skills.
Jackson enjoys cooking and walking his dog, Champ, in his spare time. Jackson’s favorite pastime is bowling, and he is interested in learning Japanese and visiting Japan someday.
TEDDY HOLLOWAY (he/him/his)
Bringing five years in the marketing and customer service industries, Teddy joins our team as the Marketing and Outreach Associate. He is excited to continue developing our marketing tactics to reach wider audiences and bring more people to the nonprofit world. He brings with him his years of knowledge from the customer service industry in the US and more recent positions in market research abroad in various countries.
Teddy earned his B.A. in Arts and Humanities with a concentration in Historical Forces and a minor in Business from Minerva University, a new university dedicated to cultural immersion while students travel the world studying.
Teddy is a native of Arlington, TX and now resides near Boston, MA.
He is a lover of music, the environment, and Star Wars. You'll find him singing along at musicals or laying in the sun in a park on a sunny day.
DARCIE TAYLOR (she/her/hers)
Darcie comes to Cook Silverman Search with more than 25 years in senior level roles in the nonprofit sector and serves as our new Associate Managing Director. Darcie will work closely with clients, managing all aspects of the search process.
Darcie received extensive fundraising training and worked under some of the most respected and well-known fundraisers in higher education during 14 years at Stanford University. She served as a director on the advancement team during Stanford’s $1 billion Campaign For Undergraduate Education and $6.2 billion Stanford Challenge. Additionally, Darcie was a Director at University of California, San Francisco during the $6.2 billion campaign for the new Mission Bay campus and oversaw the Robert Mondavi Teaching and Research Winery campaign at University of California, Davis. Additional positions held include Executive Director of two Bay Area non-profits and Regional Director of Philanthropy at Sutter Health. Darcie is a native of Northern California and resides in Moraga with her husband and two daughters. She lists her career highlight as working on NFL legend Bill Walsh’s book Finding The Winning Edge.
For the past four years, Darcie has been an independent nonprofit consultant and has contracted with non-profits throughout the United States.