Officers & Directors
Bob Silvestri
President - Chairman of the Board
Bob has dedicated the past 2 decades to community service and charitable and philanthropic work in Marin County, California, where he resides.
In his 50-year career, Bob has been extensively involved in architecture and design, construction, planning, real estate development, and finance. His experience includes providing design and partnership management services to develop approximately 2,000 units of Section 8 affordable housing using low-income housing tax credit financing. He has also acted as a real estate investment advisor to a variety of private, corporate, and institutional clients. Over the years, he has served on planning boards and committees, including 2 years as chairman of the Castle Pines Village Design & Development Committee, a 5,000-home mixed-use residential/commercial/ hospitality development.
Click PDF to see full real estate, development, and architecture CV
Mr. Silvestri the founder, president, and Chairman of Community Venture Partners, Inc. and the founder and editor of the Marin Post. He is a licensed, NCARB-certified, architect (Colorado) and holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the Cooper Union School of Architecture in New York City. In his career, he has been a member of the American Institute of Architects and the National Association of Realtors, and several national environmental organizations. Since 2005, Bob’s nonprofit, public benefit initiatives in media, technology, and community advocacy have enjoyed pro bono legal counsel by Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati of Palo Alto, California.
He is the founder and Editor in Chief of the Marin Post, an online, citizen journalist news magazine, and has published numerous investigative pieces and commentary on sustainable planning and affordable housing solutions. He has published two books, "Marin 2016: Dispatches from the front" and "The Best Laid Plans: Our Planning and Affordable Housing Challenges in Marin."
In 2003, Bob founded Environmental Media Fund (EMF), a 501(c)(3), California nonprofit corporation. From its founding until 2013, Mr. Silvestri and EMF’s distinguished board of directors worked as a catalyst organization that helped to create, develop, produce, finance and distribute documentaries and television programming about social justice, human health and the environment. Projects included PBS television and award winning films and educational initiatives about “green” building, sustainable planning and development. In his career, Bob has also scripted and developed feature film projects for Paul Monash / Warner Brothers, Cannon / Golan Globus Productions, and Rastar / Sony / Columbia Pictures, and other film ventures.
Bob founded the doGoodr Fund in 2005, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that developed the proprietary doGoodr Search/Match technology. The Internet "cloud" application allowed anyone in the world needing something to be matched instantly with anyone wanting to give something away for charitable purposes. doGoodr technology was acquired by CVP in April of 2015.
Maurice H. Bennett
Treasurer - Board Member
Maurice Bennett’s ongoing business interests include the development and finance of multifamily and commercial real estate in the Denver, Colorado, metropolitan area. Among other properties, he currently owns and manages Section 8 low and very low income affordable housing properties.
Maurice acted as the secretary and a board member of Environmental Media Fund, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, for ten years before joining Community Venture Partners. Mr. Bennett has a demonstrated history of commitment to charitable and educational nonprofit work.
Mr. Bennett attended Colorado State University and received a degree in Economics, and an MBA from San Francisco State University. In addition to his business activities and charitable work, Maurice has taught economics at the Community College of Denver, Colorado for the past 20 years.
Sid Baskin
Board Member
Sid Baskin has been a resident of Marin for over fifty years. Before retiring from AT&T, Sid’s organizational team was instrumental in the development and deployment of major domestic and global private data networking solutions until his retirement in 1998.
A San Francisco native, Sid moved from the City to Marin County in 1964 residing in Mill Valley, San Anselmo and currently a resident of Mont Marin in the Lucas Valley area. He became involved in political local issues soon after moving to Marin and has remained active throughout the years in efforts to preserve the character of Marin, advocating environmentally friendly, sensible development to meet Marin’s growing population.
Sid was involved in one of the first open space acquisitions in Marin County in the 1970’s.
Sid is currently on the Board of Directors of the Tamalpais Conservation Club, an active member of the West Marin Sonoma Coastal Advocates, and on the Board of Directors of the Mont Marin Home Owners Association. Sid previously was Vice President of the College of Marin Foundation (2012) and a member of the 2011-2012 MMWD Citizens’ Water Rate Advisory Committee.
Joan Bennett
Corporate Secretary - Board Member
Joan Bennett is a practicing attorney and a fifth generation San Franciscan, who grew up in Kentfield. Weaned on politics and activism by her family, at an early age, Ms. Bennett has been involved in local political issues in Marin and the San Francisco Bay Area for decades. Her experiences in local public service include being past Chairperson of the Committee to Save King Mountain, a member of the 1999-2000 Marin Municipal Water District Citizens Advisory Committee, working to find long term solutions to Marin’s water supply and overall District challenges, director of the Tamalpais Conservation Club, Ross (2005-present), director of the Trails Preservation Council, Mill Valley, and past President of the College of Marin Foundation (2012).
Joan worked in the Criminal Appellate Division of the Office of the Attorney General, State of California, San Francisco, before founding the Law Offices of Bennett & Bennett in San Francisco, in 1985, specializing in insurance, personal injury and real property claims. From 1994 to 1999, she served as House Counsel to State Farm Insurance Company first San Francisco office, and then went on to found the Law Offices of Joan P. Bennett in 1999 in San Francisco. In her career she has been involved in numerous trials and overseen hundreds of cases on a broad spectrum of issues. Ms. Bennett is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley with honors, with a B. A. in history, minor in European art history, and holds post graduate degree from Hastings College of the Law.
Ann Peckenpaugh Becker
Board Member
Ann Peckenpaugh was a leading executive search consultant in Silicon Valley for 26 years beginning in 1982. Most recently, she was President of Board Search Partners LLC, the only search firm specializing in recruiting boards of directors for public and private high technology companies. Previously, Ann was Senior Vice President, Recruiting and Human Capital Partner at Highland Capital Partners, a leading venture capital firm headquartered in the Boston Area.
Prior to Highland Capital, Ann was a Partner with Schweichler Associates, a leading retained search firm serving Silicon Valley, from 1990 to 2000. Earlier in her career, she was a Vice President with David Powell Associates.
Since retiring in 2007, Ann has served on several non-profit boards, including the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Pensinsula, Marin, and Sonoma Counties. She also serves as President of the Kent Woodlands Property Owners Association Board. She is a co-founder of MarinAgainstDensity, a local community organization which champions sustainable affordable housing solutions for Marin County.
Ann holds an MBA from Harvard Business School (1980) and a Bachelor’s degree with High Distinction from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (1976). Ann is married to David Becker, has two teenage sons, and lives in Marin County, California.