Staff & Board

Laura Marcus | Chief Executive Officer

Laura rejoined Dientes Community Dental Care as Executive Director in May 2011, after serving as the Vice President of risk at Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group in Santa Cruz. A graduate of Leadership Santa Cruz County, she earned a bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University and is a fellow of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, Leadership Institute for Nonprofit Executives. She is currently pursuing her Master’s in Public Health at UC Berkeley. Ms. Marcus started her career in nonprofits as part of an HIV/AIDS prevention project in South Africa, became Executive Director of the Human Care Alliance, then joined Dientes in 2004 and served as Executive Director from 2006-2008. She serves on the boards of the Health Improvement Partnership and the United Way of Santa Cruz County. She is a 2013 graduate of Focus Agriculture and a 2015 recipient of the Community Assessment Project Community Hero Award.

Dr. Sepi Taghvaei | Chief Dental Officer

Dr. Sepi Taghvaei attended San Jose State University for her undergraduate studies and obtained her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from New York University College of Dentistry in 2009. She completed a one year General Practice Residency at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, CA where she learned the importance of access to care and providing underserved patients with dental care and education as early as possible to ensure a lifetime of great dental health. In 2014, after spending several years in a corporate dentistry environment in a leadership role, Dr. Taghvaei was excited to return to her passion of community dentistry as Dientes’ Dental Director. As the co-chair of Oral Health Access Santa Cruz County, Sepi has found great pleasure in leading a multi-partnership effort in improving the oral health of Santa Cruz County residents. Dr. Taghvaei lives in Aptos with her son and their pug, Squirt. They love Santa Cruz and spend their free time exploring all that our beautiful county has to offer.

Julianne Carroll | Chief Human Resources Officer

Julianne joined the Dientes’ team after relocating with her family from Seattle, WA. Originally from California, she’s beyond thrilled to join the Santa Cruz community and be back in the sun! Julianne started her career as an HR Intern for Thermo Fisher Scientific and has continued to grow within the field ever since. From 2014-2017, she worked on the HR team at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA, but her background includes international HR roles from Tokyo, Japan, to Glasgow, Scotland. Julianne has a B.S. degree in Global Business Management from CSU San Marcos and a Master’s in Social Work from San Diego State University. She obtained her SPHR certification earlier this year, and received the SHRM Foundational Scholarship Award towards her SHRM-SCP in 2017. She is most passionate about the aspects of HR that focus on employee engagement, satisfaction, and development.

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Pauline Gebauer | Chief Financial Officer

Pauline joined the Dientes team from Pago Pago, American Samoa, and brings over 15 years of experience within the medical field. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Accounting, and is currently pursuing her Master’s degree. She has worked as Chief Financial Officer at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Tropical Medical Center in American Samoa, and previously worked in the United States as Finance Manager for Kaiser Permanente. In both positions she helped to implement new electronic health record systems. Her passion within the field has given her a familiarity with the healthcare system that enables her to ensure quality care for all patients.

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Sheree Storm | Chief Development Officer

A marketing professional with over 25 years of experience, Sheree brings a business perspective to the non-profit world in her position as Development Director. Prior to joining Dientes, she worked at ReSurge International, Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County, Oracle, Marine Terminals Corporation and Global Business Access. Sheree also worked in Japan promoting U.S. agricultural products to the Japanese market. She holds a Masters of Business Administration in International Business from The George Washington University and a Bachelors of Science in Marketing from California State University, Fresno. She is a 2007 graduate of Focus Agriculture and a 2018 graduate of Leadership for Community Transformation.

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