Applied Materials’ ‘face of philanthropy’ stepping down in 2024

Siobhan Kenney, Applied Materials' senior director of Global Community Affairs, has been an advocate for nonprofits in Silicon Valley and beyond for 25 years.

For the past 25 years, Siobhan Kenney has been the face of philanthropy for Applied Materials, heading up food drives and getting up on chilly Thanksgiving mornings to lead the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot. But in early 2024, she’ll be retiring from her positions as Applied’s senior director of global community affairs and executive director of the Applied Materials Foundation.

“I’m going to miss colleagues here at Applied and the philanthropic world,” she said. “I’m going to miss the leaders in the nonprofit community working on important issues. They’ve always been so generous with their time in helping us to understand the community and understand what their vision is in meeting community needs.”

Kenney has been a familiar and welcomed presence at countless nonprofit events where she represents Applied, but her experience with the sector stretches even further back. She spent 10 years as executive director of the Volunteer Exchange of Silicon Valley, and she believes that background helped her translate the perspective of nonprofit leaders for the Santa Clara tech company’s leadership.

“Much of our employees’ pride in Applied Materials’ commitment to the community and our tradition of giving back, is rooted in programs and initiatives pioneered and championed by Siobhan,” said Applied Materials Vice President Joe Pon.

That tradition won’t be ending with Kenney’s departure, either: Applied has hired Katie Ferrick, who worked on community development initiatives at LinkedIn, to be the new managing director of Global Community Affairs. Kenney will stay on for a few months in an advisory role during the transition.

Kenney says it has always been important to Applied to keep most of its giving here and she appreciated the flexibility she had to deviate from trends in corporate giving that may focus primarily on education programs over feeding people or supporting the arts. “We see a clear connection between the innovation tech firms rely on to the creativity of the arts, and so we’ve been able to go beyond what some funders are able to do,” she said.

She’s also proud of the long-term impact of those programs. That includes working with the San Jose-based nonprofit Breakthrough Silicon Valley to get students ready for college, helping launch the Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot in 2005 and carrying on the tradition of Helping Hands Day at Second Harvest of Silicon Valley, in which hundreds of employees have been showing up on the first Saturday of December for the past 26 years to pack food boxes for the hungry.

“It’s really gratifying to see something grow,” she said. “I’m tremendously grateful to work for a company that has maintained its commitment and brought Katie on to continue this work.”

Kenney says she has already started a list of travel destination she wants to visit during her retirement. She plans to keep her hand in the community in some way and expects she’ll be in downtown San Jose for next year’s Turkey Trot. But this time — for the first time in the event’s 20 years — she might just get to walk the course as a participant.

GRINCH STRIKES RECOVERY CAFE: Recovery Café San Jose is not having a happy holiday season after the van the nonprofit uses to pick up donations and to transport people was stolen Sunday from in front of a home in Naglee Park.

“Recovery Café tries to be a light in the life of community members experiencing the darkness of trauma,” Executive Director, Kathy Cordova said. “Unfortunately, the theft of the van, especially during this busy holiday week will hamper our ability to pick up food, gifts and other items.”

Recovery Café, which is based on South Fifth Street right behind San Jose City Hall, has been putting a lot of miles on the van since it got it five years ago. It’s used to pick up food from Second Harvest of Silicon Valley to prepare more than 100 meals every day, and it’s also used to take people recovering from trauma, addiction and other challenges to classes and community outings.

Cordova says the group will need to raise money to purchase a used van so those services can continue in the new year. Anyone interested in donating can do so at recoverycafesj.networkforgood.com.

SPECIAL DELIVERY: Thirteen members of San Jose State’s football team had to miss out on Winter Commencement ceremonies on campus this past week because of the Spartans’ appearance in the Hawaii Bowl this weekend. So San Jose State took commencement to them, conducting a special ceremony in Hawaii on Wednesday.

GOOD DEED DEPT.: It’s been a busy month for Community Cycles of California, the nonprofit bike organization started by Collin Bruce and Cindy Ahola, as they have been distributing bikes at various events around San Jose throughout the month. They took 60 new bikes to the Santa Visits Alviso event on Dec. 9, gave away more than two dozen bikes at the Laurel Grove Apartments on Dec. 11, delivered another 60 bikes at the Sheriff Claus event at Luther Burbank School District offices on Dec. 15 and wrapped things up with 60 bikes given away at Mayfair Community Center on Dec. 21.

Of course, that’s just a fraction of what they do all year. Since its inception in 2017, Community Cycles has given away more than 1,400 bicycles and provided more than 3,400 bike repairs. You can check out their work at www.communitycyclesca.org.