Inside Shark Tank V
By David Jacobson
In the moments before guests arrived for Shark Tank V, you could feel the pent-up energy of a four-year pandemic-forced hiatus from the signature fundraising event of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Peninsula (BGCP). That energy released in a chorus of claps and “woo!”s from the staff, volunteers and students who formed a corridor to welcome each guest entering the Peninsula Golf and Country Club on the evening of May 10.
From then on, the highlights of Shark Tank V included:
Welcome remarks from BGCP Board Member Jeff Williams, who created the Shark Tank fundraising concept based on the TV show of the same name, and Peter Chung, the long-time BGCP supporter, past Shark, and CEO of Summit Partners. Each emphasized his connection to the cause, Jeff as a past “club kid” in Southern California, and Peter as a past Pop Warner football coach, whose teams included many club kids.
A dynamic, passionate presentation by Jenny Obiaya, BGCP’s CEO, that covered her background, growing up in Cleveland as the child of a social-worker mother and Nigerian immigrant father, her career-long commitment to educating and developing socio-economically disadvantaged youth, and the challenges facing the 29,000 such children throughout San Mateo County.
She shared fierce facts on the achievement and opportunity gaps those kids confront, and the underlying truth that across the extraordinarily wide spectrum of socio-economic status among San Mateo County students, “talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not.” Jenny then listed the litany of solutions BGCP provides to help close the opportunity gap. Finally, she shouted out staff and the late Peter Fortenbaugh, her predecessor as CEO, who led the merger that now has BGCP spanning San Mateo County from East Palo Alto to Daly City as “ONE community.”
Jenny flipping the script from fierce to funny, recounting her research of low points in the Shark Tank TV show in preparation for the evening’s main event, and then welcoming to the stage the “Sharks”: Sheri Sobrato, The Sobrato Family Foundation; Jeremiah Gordon, CapitalG; Jean-Pierre “J-P” Conte, Genstar Capital; Tom Chavez, super{set}; Shannon Nash, Wing; Jonathan Meeks, TA Associates; and Rich Wong, Accel.
The first pitch, for funding to increase K-8 Expanded Day Programming, which featured BGCP COO Mak Azadi and Ruby Fong, Regional Director Mid- and North Peninsula, plus special guest San Mateo-Foster City School District Superintendent Diego Ochoa, whose extra energy and “raise the roof gestures” raised the room’s temperature.
The second pitch, for funding more Mental Health services, which featured Director of BGCP Mental Health Services Daniela Velasquez and Vidur Malik, BGCP Community-based Psychotherapist, plus special guest Dez Frazier, a former club kid and Youth of the Year award recipient, who delivered a riveting message about how Daniela help righted his path from incarceration to inspiration.
BGCP Board Member Ned Gibbons’ speech that transitioned the evening’s program into statements of investment from the Sharks and event guests. In response to Ned asking guests to raise their hands if it was their first time attending a BGCP event, nearly half of them did, a strong signal of the many new members in BGCP’s “ONE community.”
The Sharks’ level of commitment, not just their generous financial investments, but also their caring, probing questions of the pitch teams and their impassioned and personally revealing explanations of their funding decisions.
The announcement of an anonymous donor’s gift of matching funds and the extraordinary number of guests who raised their glow sticks to invite BGCP staff and volunteers to collect additional pledge cards.
The post-event Warriors watch party, which left the guests to walk away from Shark Tank V, feeling that night like they’d supported two winning teams.
BGCP thanks the members of the Shark Tank V Host Committee and North County Task Force, all of our sponsors, and the guests and volunteers who gave of their time, talent, and treasure.
Watch Shark Tank V Highlights