Leadership

Ciara Shuttleworth is the Polly Klaas Foundation and Polly Klaas Community Theater’s incoming Executive Director as of May 19, 2025!

For more than 25 years, Ciara has held diverse roles across the nonprofit sector, bringing a deep commitment to community service. Most recently, she served as Associate Director of Donor Engagement at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, where she developed and led a comprehensive donor stewardship program from the ground up. Her passion for community impact is reflected in the innovative donor engagement and stewardship model she designed – one that continues to support essential programs and services for families facing food insecurity.

Ciara specializes in crafting and executing strategic plans that strengthen nonprofit organizations through fund development, community outreach, engagement, and programming. She brings a particular passion for the well-being of youth and is thrilled to step into a leadership role with the PKF team.

In addition to her nonprofit work, Ciara has a background in fine arts, film & television, and education. She holds degrees from Gustavus Adolphus College and the San Francisco Art Institute and earned her MFA in Poetry from the University of Idaho. She is the author of 4,500 Miles: Taking Jack Back on the Road, a gonzo-prose memoir, and Rabbit Heart, a collection of poetry.

Cindy Rudometkin, Response Department Manager, was born and raised in Novato, California, a small town outside Petaluma. She had just graduated from high school in 1992 when she learned of Polly Klaas' abduction. As she followed the kidnapping and recovery, she grew frustrated with not being able to do more to stop child abductions.

Six years after Polly's kidnapping and murder, a job opening at the Foundation gave Rudometkin her opportunity. She joined the Foundation in 1999 as a nighttime caseworker, working as a liaison between families, law enforcement and other social service agencies to help find missing children.

In her present role as the Response Department Manager, Rudometkin oversees the Foundation's caseworkers and all missing child cases. She also works with leaders in the field to identify innovative ways to find missing children. Rudometkin acts as a contact for other agencies involved in investigations, including law enforcement, missing child organizations and social service agencies. She is a member of the Sonoma County Human Trafficking Task Force, and serves on the Education Committee.

Throughout her tenure with the Foundation, Rudometkin has provided support, guidance and hope to over 8,000 families. While her heart still breaks for those desperately searching for a missing child, she has taken the level of compassion, service and expertise in her department to new levels.

In 2008 The Association of Missing and Exploited Children’s Organizations (AMECO) honored by Rudometkin with the 2008 Joan Taavon Award, an award that celebrates extraordinary passion and commitment to the needs of missing and exploited children.

Prior to the Polly Klaas Foundation, Rudometkin, worked as a case clerk coordinator for the Brayton Purcell Law Firm and as a volunteer research assistant for the Buck Center for Research in Aging.

Rudometkin holds a BA in Psychology from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and an MA in Forensic Psychology from Argosy University.

Lyn Romstad has been dedicated to protecting and promoting the well-being of children for nearly 20 years. Before coming to the Polly Klaas Foundation to direct our Social Media Safety (SMSE) Program, Lyn worked with Mentor Me for over a decade.

Since coming to the Polly Klaas Foundation in August of 2024, she has delivered the SMSE program to over 5,000 middle-school students in Sonoma and Marin Counties.

Lyn has worked with students in grades ranging from Kindergarten to High School. Her philosophy for engaging students in our SMSE program is to create an inclusive interactive environment ,while empowering them to be responsible for their online safety and digital footprint.

Alfie Turnshek has worked with the Polly Klaas Foundation and Community Theater since 2023, before becoming the theater manager in Spring of 2025. Bringing with him a long career in the hospitality industry, he has a deep understanding of creating the kinds of spaces in which community thrives, and running events that are fun and edifying. With a personal background in the performing arts as a musician and singer, his love of creative expression and the empowerment and joy it offers kids and the community are the driving forces behind his work here at the theater.