Misty Avila

Misty Avila is the Chief Impact Officer for the James B. McClatchy Foundation leading a unified program team for the Central Valley quality of life, education, and the First Amendment. She is a nonprofit leadership and community development professional who strives to lead with an inclusive, people-centered approach. Born in Sacramento, Misty cares deeply about uplifting voices in the Central Valley of California. As a nonprofit program director, Misty has over 13 years of experience guiding nonprofit and community initiatives with strategic planning, fund development and community capacity building, including founding a Central Valley Capacity Building Network in 2011 to enable grassroots organizations to amplify their work and voices. As a participatory design facilitator, Misty has delivered over 100 local and global convenings in multiple languages across 11 countries spanning issues of environment, immigration, women’s advocacy, art and culture, and youth media. She most recently served as the Chief Administrative Officer for UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education and actively serves on the Board of Directors for Aspiration, a nonprofit which supports movements with technology. She graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in Nutrition and Food Science and brings her family restaurant roots into her everyday work. Misty is also a proud mom and enjoys advocating for systems change led by youth voices.