Board of Directors
Freddie Park Wheeler, President
Freddie Park Wheeler is a retired attorney who most recently served as Vice President, Legal Affairs of a pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturer. Prior to practicing law for 30 years, she served as Vice President Research & Development for a medical device manufacturer and a research microbiologist at The Ohio State University Medical Center.
Ms. Wheeler serves on the board of Pets In Need. She has served as a Court-Appointed Child Advocate (CASA) for Child Advocates of Silicon Valley since 2018. She is the chair of Los Altos Residents, a local grassroots advocacy organization. Ms. Wheeler is a Sworn CERT Member and Disaster Service Worker serving the City of Los Altos and was appointed to the Los Altos Library Commission from 2019-2023. She is a Fellow of and served on the board of the American Intellectual Property Law Association. Ms. Wheeler graduated from Texas Tech University with a B.S. in Microbiology and Chemistry and graduated with a JD from the George Mason University Antonin Scalia School of Law.
Suresh Shanmugham, Treasurer
Suresh Shanmugham is a venture capital investor with over 30 years of experience. He is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Saama Capital, an early stage VC firm. He has previously worked at SVB and McKinsey & Company.
Suresh is a firm believer in the power of mentorship and the importance of being involved with his local community. Suresh is a mentor in the AVID program at Mountain View High School. He is also a mentor with The Peninsula College Fund where he works with first generation college students. Suresh has previously served on the Grants Committee of the Los Altos Mountain View Community Foundation.
Suresh graduated from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania with a BS in Economics with concentrations in Finance and Accounting.
Jason May, Secretary
Jason May is a veteran Silicon Valley software architect and technology executive, currently serving as CTO of Propel(x).
Jason serves on the board of Golden State Youth Orchestra, and volunteers with Mentor Tutor Connection, supporting elementary and middle school students in the Mountain View Whisman School District. He graduated from Harvard University with a BA in Computer Science.
Nancy Bhagat, Vice President
Nancy Bhagat is a seasoned marketing and business executive who worked at Intel, Macromedia and most recently at Serviceaide, an AI based enterprise software company. She spent many years in the technology industry across software and hardware companies. She is committed to making a difference professionally as well as personally.
Over the years, Nancy contributed to various non-profit organizations ranging from teaching English as a second language, to mentoring at-risk youth. As a lifelong learner, she joined the Los Altos Library Endowment Board in 2018 and currently serves as the Vice President. She served in many different roles on the board over the years from Treasurer to head of the Nominating and Governance Committee. Nancy graduated from Gettysburg College with a double major in Business Administration and Political Science.
Cindy Hill
Cindy is an experienced corporate library executive and recently led the Research Library team at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Cindy is committed to improving literacy and is passionate about continual learning. She volunteered with Vision Literacy to work with incarcerated individuals to improve and strengthen their literacy skills.
Cindy is very active in the Los Altos and Los Altos Hills communities, currently serving with on many non-profit boards and task forces including Silicon Valley Reads. She served on the board of the North County Library Authority (ended 2024) and Los Altos Library Commission (ended 2019). Cindy is a past-president and Fellow of the international Special Libraries Association. One of Cindy’s favorite countries is Iceland because the first astronauts trained in their rugged terrain.
Nelvin Gee
Nelvin Gee is a retired business professional whose career experience includes control systems engineering for a major domestic automotive manufacturer, management consultant for Booz, Allen & Hamilton, and in various business development & operations roles at local technology companies, most recently NetApp.
Nelvin has a deep passion for what a library can mean and do for a community. He served a term as Los Altos Library Commissioner from 2019-2023.
His education background is a Bachelors of Engineering in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Disciplines from Kettering University (formerly General Motors Institute) and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Suzanne Ambiel
Suzanne Ambiel is a long-time Los Altos resident, with a history of community involvement. She joins the LALE Board after a 14-year stint on the Los Altos Complete Streets and Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Commission. Suzanne's professional career features stops at many Silicon Valley tech companies, most recently at VMware where she led the company's strategy and marketing in Open Source and served as a Board Member of the Linux Foundation. Her love of libraries and reading stretches all the way back to kindergarten when she'd steal her big brother's books and read them front to back again and again. Suzanne has a BA in Economics/English from UC Davis and an MBA from Santa Clara University.
Jane Duperrault
Jane Duperrault is a retired senior administrator of Stanford University School of Medicine. She most recently served as the Vice Chair and Director of Finance and Administration for the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine. She was also Director of Physician Practice Development for the School of Medicine. Previously, she held senior financial management positions at Stanford School of Medicine as well as at the University of Michigan School of Medicine.
Jane was on the board of the Stanford Federal Credit Union for 27 years and was the Chair of the Board for 7 of those years. Jane also has served on boards of home owners associations and a Los Altos youth soccer organization.
Jane graduated from the University of Michigan School of Business with an MBA and from American University with a BA in Economics.
Tiffany Chou
Tiffany Chou is a dedicated marketing specialist and passionate community leader. She joined the board of the Los Altos Library Endowment in 2024, inspired by her deep appreciation for libraries and strong ties to the Los Altos community. Beyond her board contributions, Tiffany serves as a Girl Scout troop leader, a youth counselor at her church, and a parent volunteer for the Los Altos School District. With over a decade of experience at organizations such as Google, Intel Security, and Seagate, Tiffany has excelled in leading impactful marketing campaigns, boosting social media engagement, and managing high-profile branding initiatives. She holds a B.A. in Sociology and Mass Communications from UC Berkeley.
Join our Board of Directors!
Our library is a vital part of this community, and you can channel your enthusiasm for the library by working on the Los Altos Library Endowment Board.
We are seeking candidates with a passion for making a difference and have positions open that require a variety of skill sets. Preferred skills include Communications & Marketing, Finance and Operations.