Palo Alto Bridge / 2022 Board of Directors Election

Our unit is led by a nine person board of directors with each volunteer board member serving a 2 year term.  Five board members’ terms are expiring at the end of 2021.  Here are 5 unit members who are volunteering to fill these 5 openings and they are alphabetically: Marc Cervellino, Dianne Giancarlo, Gerry MacDonald, Dan Thatte, Eli Wismer.  Our unit bylaws require us to hold an election in November even if it is an uncontested election, and all unit member are eligible to vote.

This year our election is scheduled from Nov. 1 through Nov. 12 and all unit members are eligible to vote.  Voting will take place from Monday, Nov. 1 through Friday, Nov. 12 at our bridge center at 432 Stierlin Rd, Mountain View.  You will find ballots with instructions, envelops, and voting boxes there.  Due to our Covid protocol you need a proof of vaccination and wear face covering to enter the building.

The candidates are (in alphabetic order):

Results – all five candidates were elected to the board for 2022.


Marc Cervellino (Incumbent)

I have been on the Unit 503 Board of Directors since January, 2020 and have been the Unit’s treasurer since January, 2021.

I am running once again for the Board of Directors because I would like to continue to make a contribution to the Bridge Club, maintain continuity as treasurer during these trying financial times, to ensure the club maintains its high quality, and try to make the club’s experience even more enjoyable for its members.

I am an avid bridge player, typically playing bridge three or more times a week. I consider bridge to be the most enjoyable (and addictive) of all card games, and love the competition and challenge of duplicate bridge. I think the Palo Alto Bridge Club is an outstanding one, with an attractive setting, enjoyable environment, well-run games, exceptionally friendly players, and knowledgeable directors.

I began playing duplicate bridge in college, and continued for several years after graduating school. However, my career and social and family life collided with bridge, and I quit playing for 30 years. After retiring, my fond memories of playing duplicate bridge were too compelling to resist, and in 2015 started playing at The Bridge Center.

I was born and grew-up at the New Jersey Shore (Asbury Park). I attended college at Johns Hopkins University (Economics major) and have an MBA (Finance and Accounting) from the University of Chicago. After graduating school, I worked as a finance manager in the oil (Exxon and British Petroleum) and high-tech industries (Digital Equipment Corporation, Compaq Computer, and Hewlett Packard), retiring in 2012. During that time, I lived in Billings, MT, Houston, Anchorage, San Francisco (1982) and Palo Alto (since 1988).


Dianne Giancarlo

I am a Boston gal who fell in love with northern California when my husband and I moved out here almost 40 years ago. I practiced corporate securities law for over 15 years and ended my career with the law firm of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher and Flom to found the first women owned law firm in San Francisco. I received my JD from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and my BA with First Class Honors from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.

I was the founder and president of The 3rd Door, a novel concept in community, combining fitness, food and friends. During my long days at The 3rd Day, I developed an interest in, and shortly thereafter an obsession with, the great game of bridge. I am an enthusiastic learner and never grow tired of the challenges this game has to offer.

I have been involved in several charitable organizations. I served as a Trustee for Castelleja School and co-founded the Women’s Achievement Network and Development Alliance (WANDA) which matches savings in IDA accounts and provides financial education to single moms. My husband Charlie and I have three children and, as of 8 weeks ago, a beautiful granddaughter.

Gerry MacDonald (Incumbent)

We are so lucky at the Palo Alto Bridge Center. We have an excellent facility and a wonderful group of members. I moved to this area seven years ago and through the Bridge Center I have made excellent friends, played lots of bridge and became a club director and joined the Unit board.

As board President during the last two years I have helped the Unit continue to operate despite the challenges that Covid has presented. We are still a vibrant bridge playing community and hope to keep it that way for many years to come.

As a board member I want help continue our efforts to bring newcomers to the game of bridge and to make our club a welcoming place for everyone at all levels of bridge playing.

I have worked as a volunteer in other organizations, particularly in organizing and running fund raising events and in building charitable contributions. During the past year I have been successful in raising donations to our Unit and to PBEF to help with facility upgrades and with reopening for in person play.

It has been a rewarding experience to work with the excellent team that represents our elected board and our game owners. I am hoping to continue as a member of the Unit board for another two years.


Dan Thatte (Incumbent)

For the last four years I have been a board member and have served as vice president for one year and board president for 2 years. I am running for this next board term to provide continuity during this difficult period for our unit.

After getting degrees in Mechanical Engineering, Metallurgy, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research I had a long career as an Information Technology executive in the Boston area.  After 5 years of retirement, splitting time between New England and South Florida, Manda and I moved to Palo Alto in 2007 to be close to our children and grandchildren. We came to our unit’s bridge games to meet new people and caught the Duplicate Bridge bug. We feel that this bridge community helped ease our move to Palo Alto by providing an opportunity to meet many wonderful people providing mental stimulation and entertainment and I want to continue to contribute and see the unit succeed and grow.

In 2010 while on vacation playing at a club in Florida, I discovered the Bridge Composer software which significantly improved presentation of the results and got our board to implement it here. It has been a staple for all of us to check our results, analyze and improve our game. In 2013-2014 I co-managed the Tuesday Lecture Series and served as a backup for the next couple of years to help. I also volunteered in 2012 as a mentor for the Saturday Morning learning game and helped with 2016 Firecracker tournament.  For the last few years, I have been responsible for bridge center weekend scheduling, unit 503 electronic contact for ACBL, recognition and trophies, welcoming new members and posting member rank achievement on unit 503 Facebook group and bridge center TV display.  I have been chairing the nominating committee and coordinating the board elections.  I look forward to working with everyone to provide safe and enjoyable bridge in person and online to grow this great game that we all love.  


Eli Wismer (Incumbent)

My name is Eli Wismer, aka Eli3333 on BBO.  I started playing bridge in Junior High School in Swarthmore, PA.  Many days I would go hungry after losing my 35¢ lunch money playing bridge for 1/10¢ per point. I continued playing social bridge through college in Ohio, and even played in a few duplicate events in my last two years of school.  Then like so many stories I have heard at the club, I graduated, found a job, got married, and had three wonderful children. Neither my wife Elaine, nor my friends, nor my kids had any interest in bridge, so I literally did not play another hand of bridge for 50 years until the spring of 2019.

We moved to this area in the early 90’s after living all our married life in Northern New Jersey, and a brief 4-year stint in Arizona.   After retiring from a 50-year career first in Social Work and then in Medical Devices, I was looking for something to fill my days.  My back had given out and limited my golf game, and all I was doing was hanging out at home with Elaine – and driving her crazy!  I then saw a notice in the El Camino YMCA that PABC Member Chuck Lane was offering lessons in bridge, and after several weeks he told me about PABC, and the rest is history.  The Club Owners graciously welcomed me, and several very good bridge players agreed to play with me and help me to learn the strange new conventions that had evolved since the Goren days back in the 50’s and 60’s.

I very much enjoyed the 8 months I was able to play F2F bridge at the club before the Pandemic struck, and I do not know what I would have done had there not been online games to keep me occupied during the last two years. For the past year, I served as Co-Chair of the club’s Tuesday Morning Free Lecture Series, and filled a temporary vacancy on the Board of Directors for the last six months.

This is now a challenging time for our club, and for bridge in general.  I believe that the “old way” of play will never return to exactly the way it used to be, and we must prepare for a mixture of online and in-person club and tournament play.  I do not know what that will look like, but I hope to be able to help the board, our club, our owners, and our members as we navigate through this new terrain.