Board Members

Fundraising Chair

With over 20 years of executive experience in the technology sector, Julia brings a unique blend of innovation, leadership, and strategic insight to the nonprofit’s board. As a dedicated humanitarian, she is deeply committed to advancing initiatives that create meaningful social impact and strengthen community well-being. A lifelong lover of music, she believes in the power of creativity and connection to inspire collaboration, compassion, and positive change.

Joyce Brenner was born and raised in Northern California. After 2 years of working on a construction crew building campgrounds, she returned to college and obtained her Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. She worked for over 30 years in the field, primarily in government positions, as a professional engineer. She worked as a contract manager on projects from $10K to $100 Million. Her responsibilities ranged from resolving environmental concerns, design, construction, utilities coordination and ongoing maintenance of road construction projects. During an 8-year period working for the Caltrans Environmental Division, she oversaw research projects aimed at improving the environmental quality of permanent Caltrans facilities, specifically addressing stormwater runoff. Joyce retired from her engineering work in 2017 and began work for multiple non-profits in the Sacramento area, including NorCal Resists, Abuelas Responden, and the Sacramento LGBT Center. She returned to live in the Bay Area in 2022. Joyce has always enjoyed musical events, for the happiness it brings and for the community spirit it provides. She is excited about the possibilities of bringing more music to more people, for both enjoyment and community support, through working with SunJams.  

Tawfic Halaby brings a lifelong passion for music and its power to connect people across cultures to his work on the SunJams Board of Directors. A longtime vocalist, he spent years with the World Harmony Chorus, including a cultural music exchange to Cuba, and has worked with Expressive Arts Refuge on refugee music programs across France, Greece, and Lebanon. As a collaborator, he has lent his voice to productions including The Prepared Table and The Lost American Jazzbook, and has performed with the Bay Area's ASWAT Arabic ensemble. Tawfic co-hosts 94.1 KPFA's Music of the World radio program.

Event Production & Communications

I am a recent college graduate and proud daughter of Amer and Anna. I have been working for the foundation since its inception over ten years ago. I specialize in volunteer coordination and social media management. When I’m not studying, I enjoy music and cooking.

Chris Siebert is a jazz musician who plays piano and Hammond organ. He is the co-founder and musical director of Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers. 

Chris loves to travel and loves music from around the world, especially from Brazil and Cuba. He is a big fan of the music that SunJams presents, and a big believer in SunJam’s mission to fund music education in under-served schools.  

Helping public schools offer arts-integrated learning became a passion of Basil's during his children's primary school education, when he witnessed how music education impacted students' engagement in teamwork, reading, math, and focus. He joined the SunJams board to help bring some of those benefits to other schools and to share his untapped talent for benefit auctioneering to assist SunJams in reaching its goals.