Our Story

This story begins with kindness

From early childhood, I was deeply impacted by the kindness of my grandmother, Marcella. 

Marcella Fannan was my grandmother, and not just any grandma, she was the kindest human I ever met. As the daughter of immigrants from Eastern Europe, she faced discrimination not only because of her Jewish heritage, but because she was significantly hearing impaired. Attending school, she was made to wear a headset that allowed her to hear but also brought the accompanying ridicule from classmates. Her life’s challenges were many, including being a single mom, managing a rental property on her own, and many other hardships. She was an avid reader her entire life, and introduced both of her sons to reading very early, reading to them at home before bed and taking them to the Los Angeles Public Library at Fifth and Grand Avenue in downtown L.A. every two weeks. This was a ritual that was never missed and always loved. She was very kind to all the people she met and always had the nicest things to say about everyone..

But through it all, Marcella had a generous heart and kind disposition that made an indelible mark on my entire family. 

That’s why, when I had the opportunity to create a foundation I had to name it after her. Marcella embodied the kindness that I want my foundation to convey. 

Growing up in Tahoe, I was like any other Tahoe kid: my parents moved to Tahoe enamored with its beauty. They worked at the casinos, started a family, and my dad went on to become a 5th grade teacher at Bijou Elementary School.

Of course, my family moved to Tahoe for the great outdoors…and like every kid my age…I just wanted to play video games.

So, when I got into UC Santa Barbara during some of the most transformative years in tech, I had no idea that I would go on to create one of the biggest mobile advertising businesses in the world….It started with working on everything from the #1 game on the iPhone at the time, Tap Tap Revenge and culminated with co-founding Chartboost which we sold to Zynga in 2021.

The mission of the Marcella Foundation is simple: Think Big and Make a Difference in South Lake Tahoe. My hope is that the spirit of entrepreneurship, creativity, and impact comes through in every scholarship, grant, and new program that we support. May Marcella’s kindness touch the lives of many in our community.