Dina is on the Board of Sausalito Sister Cities Inc representing the Sausalito-Sakaide Student Exchange Program Operations Council which she has Co-Chaired since 2011. Dina’s daughter Leah Tabernik was a student delegate to Sakaide in 2009 and has remained involved in the Program ever since then. Dina has hosted Japanese student delegates in her home when they visited Sausalito and has also led Sausalito student delegations to Sakaide several times along with the Sausalito’s Mayors and other chaperons. Along with her Co Chair she oversees program administration and operations, the work of the Recruitment and Program Committees and liaises with the City of Sakaide and their Sister City organizations. As of 2016, Dina oversees the new pilot Sausalito Sakaide Fellowship Program led by Kieth Schellin.
Through her company Hatchuel Tabernik and Associates (HTA), established in 1997 and co-owned with her husband, Dina has been a consultant, trainer and technical assistance provider for public and private/non-profit educational, social service, mental health, and juvenile justice services in program development, planning, training, and evaluation. She also started the Center for Strategic Community Innovation,(CSCi), the non-profit arm of HTA.
Prior to 1997 Dina was an Executive Director for McAuley Behavioral Health Care managing the Adult Inpatient and Partial Hospitalization Psychiatric and Chemical Dependency Programs at St Mary’s Medical Center in San Francisco. She also worked in the field of in residential treatment for emotionally disturbed children and adolescents in the Bay Area.
She comes from Zimbabwe and has an M.Soc.Sc (Clinical Social Work) degree from the University of Cape Town, S. Africa.
Her passions are art, music, travel and learning about other cultures.