Dana Hooper

Executive Director

Dana has been with the Oakland Strokes since he started rowing in 1990. He assumed the role of Executive Director in August of 2018, previously acting as the Managing Director for four years.

During his time as Managing Director, Dana was an assistant coach for the Varsity Women’s team in 2017 and 2018, leading the third and fourth varsity squads. Prior to this Dana coached for the Strokes from 1999 through the 2006 season, acting as the Varsity Men’s Assistant Coach from 1999 through 2000, Novice Mean’s Head Coach in 2001, and Head Men’s Coach from 2002 through 2006. Some of his accomplishments include his crews qualifying for the Youth National Championships from 2003 through 2006, earning a Silver medal in the Boy’s V8+ in 2004 and a Gold medal in the Boy’s V4+ in 2005.

Dana began rowing in 1990 for the Oakland Strokes while attending College Prep in Oakland. He continued rowing at Cornell University where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering in 1997 and a Master’s Degree in Structural Engineering in 1998. Since his graduation he worked full time as a Structural Engineer until 2014 when he returned to the Oakland Strokes. Dana lives in Alameda with his wife and two children.

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Allison Ray

Director of Women’s Rowing

Allison Ray

Allison has been the Head Coach of the Varsity Women at Oakland Strokes since Fall 2014 and the Director of Women's Rowing since 2018. Allison began coaching in 1998 and has experience at all levels of rowing in the USA and Canada, domestically and internationally, including coaching at the Olympic Games.

Allison is proud of her accomplishments prior to working at Oakland which include multiple coaching awards, coaching at 13 international regattas and contributing a chapter in "Real Women, Real Leaders" by Kathleen Hurley and Priscilla Shumway. Allison graduated from the National Coaching Institute with her Canadian Level 4 Coaching Certification.

While at Oakland, Allison has led the team to multiple Youth National Championships, top team performances at the Southwest Regional Championships and outstanding performances at Head of the Charles Regatta. Allison is most proud of all the hard work that Oakland does every day to develop and foster a team environment where everyone belongs, has the opportunity to perform and is a place that the alumni want to come back to.

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Jovan Jovanovic

Director of Men’s Rowing

Jovan was named Director of Men’s Rowing in the summer of 2021 after having coached for the Oakland Strokes since the Fall of 2017. Prior to his current role, Jovan served as a varsity men’s assistant and then Associate Head Coach since 2019. Additionally he served as the Head Coach for the East Bay Masters Competitive Women’s team since august of 2017, and previously at the University of California Berkeley as the Volunteer Assistant Coach. Jovan has rowed for many great international coaches and brings their insight to his coaching on a daily basis. He combines this with a personal approach towards each athlete, working with them to bring out their best performance every day at practice and on the race course.

Jovan began rowing as a high school student for a small club in Serbia and worked his way up onto the Serbian under 23 squad, where he won a gold medal and set a world’s best time in the coxed four at the 2011 U23 World Championship. He subsequently enrolled at Cal and defended his World Championship in 2013, was elected captain at Cal his Sophomore year, is a 3 time PAC-12 All Conference rower, 2 time All American, and won the Henley Royal Regatta in 2015.

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Brian Marcais

Director of Under-15 Programs

Brian was named Head of U15 Programs for Oakland Strokes In the Summer of 2022. He has coached at Master’s and Junior’s teams on both sides of the country, starting with the Rochester Rowing Club master’s program and Brighton High School Rowing in Rochester NY in 1999, and continuing on coaching masters athletes at Boulder Community Rowing in Boulder, CO, at East Bay Rowing Club in Oakland, CA and juniors at Oakland Tech HS, where he coached the Varsity Men from 2019-2021.

He is also is the Head Coach of the Master’s Novice program at East Bay Rowing Club, a role he’s held since 2020. At EBRC he additionally plans and runs the adult Learn to Row programs, and is one of the sculling coaches. He’s been coaching at EBRC since 2018, where he was previously the Assistant Coach for the Master’s Club team.

Brian discovered crew in 1996 at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester NY, where he became the men’s top varsity coxswain. While he was still in college he attended the USRowing Lightweight Development camp at Riverside Boat Club in Boston MA as a coxswain, racing with the top 8+ and 4+. When possible, he still races competitively as a master’s coxswain, most recently with EBRC, and Kent Mitchell Rowing Club.

Rich Lapachet

Under-15 Assistant Coach

Fun facts about Coach Rich coming soon.

Natalie Foster

Women’s Assistant Coach

Boathouse Manager

Natalie started rowing for a small sculling club at 12 years old. After 5 years of sculling she switched to Oakland Strokes in her senior year of high school for a more competitive experience. Natalie has been to Youth Nationals twice; first in 2014 for the lightweight women’s double and secondly with Oakland Strokes lightweight women’s eight. She became a national champion in 2017 with said lightweight eight. Natalie has since gone on to row with multiple colleges. Having been on many teams with many coaches Natalie has in depth knowledge of how to find your place on a team with success and knowing what is best for you. She was always been interested in coaching, so when the opportunity came to she had no hesitation.

Natalie found her way to Boathouse Manager through curiosity. Throughout her rowing career Natalie had a strong interest in how everything worked in rowing. With lots of questions and time she learned how to take care of the equipment. She’s been obsessed with finding out how anything works since she was young.

Natalie studied Art History at Cal Poly Humboldt

Emma Bernou

Women’s Assistant Coach

Administrative Coordinator

2022 is Emma’s first year working with Oakland Strokes. Emma began rowing in 2012 for a small sculling program in Oakland. She qualified for Youth Nationals twice throughout high school, winning the silver medal in the Women’s pair in 2017. Emma was recruited and rowed all four years at Oregon State University. In her final year she helped Oregon State to a 14th place finish at the NCAA Championships. She earned the Suzanne Wilkins Most Inspirational award in 2021.

Emma graduated in 2022 with a degree in Kinesiology. After graduation, she spent the summer working on a farm in Oregon driving tractors and baling hay. She returned to the Bay Area in the fall and is excited to be coaching for Strokes!

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Carla Jourdan

Head of Community Programs

Carla joined Oakland Strokes as Head of Community Programs in 2024. She first worked with Oakland Strokes at the inception of the STEM to Stern program to facilitate program set up and implementation, in addition to coaching support. She also works with East Bay Rowing Club, heading up their Community Outreach programming for Masters rowers.

Carla, a competitive rower with East Bay Rowing Club, began her rowing journey in 2014 and loves to talk about all things rowing. Her hobbies include pottery, lifting and learning to play the piano.

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Keta Price

Stem to Stern Coach

Fun facts about Coach Keta are coming soon.

Isaac Bierer

Assistant Coach

Isaac joined the Oakland Strokes in the fall of 2023. He learned to row in Cambridge, Massachusetts, spending his high school years on the Charles River. He went on to row for two years at Brown University. After graduating in 2018, he spent time away from the sport working in education. He moved to the Bay Area in August.

Sean Gibel

Assistant Coach

Sean joined Oakland Strokes in the Fall of 2023 after relocating to Oakland from the Atlanta area. Prior to Oakland Strokes, Sean was the Men's Head Coach of Atlanta Junior Rowing Association, and the Men's Varsity coach for the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has coached boats to compete at the Youth National Championships (winning two years in the Adaptive and Inclusive 2x), coached boats competing at the Head of the Charles Regatta (winning the Collegiate 4+), and many other national regattas. His coaching approach includes a positive team culture, a growth mindset, and a value of hard and smart work.

Sean began rowing in 2004 as a freshman in high school for St. Andrew Rowing Club, where he placed 4th in the Lightweight 8+ at the Youth National Championships. From there he went and rowed for Georgia Tech as a heavyweight and lightweight, where he won and medaled at events including the Dad Vail Regatta and the Head of the Charles. In 2009, he won the Elite National Championships in the Lightweight 2- with Vesper Rowing Club. After graduating, he trained at Penn AC and CRI, where he then stroked the USA Lightweight 8+ at the 2013 World Rowing Championships, getting a bronze medal.

Izzie Brown

Assistant Coach

2022 is Izzie’s first season with Oakland Strokes. Izzie comes to our program with over 40 years of coaching and rowing experience. Programs coached include the novice women at Temple University and Mount Holyoke College (MHC) and at Craftsbury Sculling Center and Florida Rowing Center. She is most proud of the novice women who earned the title “most successful crew in MHC program history” after winning Eastern Sprints and finishing third at national championships. Izzie is a two-time US National Team member competing in the heavyweight 4X and earning silver in the lightweight 2X, Pan Am Games, 1995. Izzie started rowing as a junior at Northfield Mount Hermon on the Connecticut River in Massachusetts. Izzie’s hopes for Oakland Strokes student-athletes are to help them realize the life-long value in: 1) showing up and 2) trying their best-on-that-day everyday.

In grad school she studied 2K race performance and carbohydrate consumption. Izzie created The Boathouse Row Cookbook; an inspirational example of the strong and uplifting bond among the Philadelphia rowing community. She has been a speaker at USRowing annual conventions and provides nutrition guidance to rowing programs nationally. Previous work includes being a clinical dietitian at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Alta Bates Summit Medical Center.

When not coaching, Izzie can be found sculling at Berkeley Paddle and Rowing Club, teaching nutrition and exercise physiology at San Jose State University or playing with her two daughters; one plays beach volleyball and the other rows.