Board Of Directors

Manuel Abascal

Partner
Latham & Watkins

Manny Abascal is a partner in the Litigation & Trial Practice of Latham & Watkins and is based in Los Angeles. Mr. Abascal handles complex and high-stakes litigation and government investigations matters for clients in several industries. Over his 20-year career at Latham, he has represented clients from several industries in their most important and challenging legal matters. Prior to joining Latham in 2000, Mr. Abascal was an assistant United States attorney in Los Angeles, where he prosecuted and tried numerous and diverse fraud cases. Mr. Abascal has played a leading role in various non-profit and philanthropic organizations in Los Angeles, including serving as the founding Chairman of Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital, a safety net hospital based in Watts/Willowbrook.

Robert Abernethy

Founder and President Tech Center
President Tech Center

Robert J. Abernethy is Chairman of American Standard Development Company. He received a BA from Johns Hopkins University, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, certificates in Real Estate and Construction from UCLA and was formerly the Controller of the Technology Division of Hughes Aircraft Company. He is on the boards of Johns Hopkins, Brookings and New America. He serves as a Vice Chairman of The Atlantic Council and of The Los Angeles Music Center.

Cecile Ablack

International Communications Consultant

Cécile Ablack is a leading international communications and public affairs strategist with experience spanning the public, private, and academic sectors. She has worked with governments, heads-of-state, multi-national companies, and universities in the United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

In the public arena, Cecile was Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, serving as the chief communications official for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. In that capacity, she built a long- term strategic communications operation and managed teams of public information officers faced with the daily media and crisis communications challenges associated with running the second largest city in the U.S.

In the first Clinton Administration, Cecile served as Director of International CommunicationsandGovernmentAffairsattheU.S.DepartmentofCommerce. Asenior presidential appointee, she was responsible for defining and building the communications, congressional, and intergovernmental activities for international trade affairs. Cecile ran the departments that oversaw government relations, media strategy, press conferences, and briefings for Presidential trade missions and trade negotiations including intellectual property rights, market access, anti-dumping duties, China-MFN, US-Japan auto, GATT, WTO, and NAFTA.

In the private sector, Cecile has worked as a senior executive for leading public affairs and advertising agencies, including APCO Associates, the GCI Group, and Grey Advertising. Her clients have included Mars Inc., Xerox, Smith Kline Beecham, and British Telecom. She has advised the governments of Japan, Hong Kong, and Mexico and the Prime Ministers of Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago.

In 2010, Cecile was literally the last woman standing in a bitterly contested election in her native Trinidad and Tobago, when the foreign consultants hired by the Coalition Party, challenging the powerful incumbent political rulers, were summarily deported by the government. Protected by her own security team, Cecile stayed on the island, where she had grown up, to continue the work of democracy, and took over the lead role in what was the first new media and social networking election campaign in the Caribbean. Cecile’s social media campaign became the nation’s main source for information since local media coverage was suppressed by the ruling party. Her client, the underdog Coalition Party, rose dramatically in the polls, won the election in a landslide, and installed Trinidad and Tobago’s first female Prime Minister.

Cecile also was an Associate Dean for Public Affairs and Strategic Planning at Yale University. During her ten years in that role, she initiated and directed efforts to restructure and enhance the profile and public exposure of Yale’s business school. Cecile trained and led teams that ran new media, public affairs, media relations, advertising, internal relations, and special events. Applications increased 80 percent and for the first time in its history, the Yale School of Management was ranked as a top ten business school by leading media organizations.

Early in her career, Cecile lived and work in Jamaica where she created and ran grassroots communications and training programs to involve rural communities in healthcare, education, cooperative farming, tourism, and political advocacy.

Cecile is married to prominent political communications analyst Daniel Schnur and is the mother of two children, Rob, a technology consultant with a leading Los Angeles realty firm, and Tessa, an actress and professional commercial voiceover artist. She was born in London, England, attended primary through secondary school in Trinidad and Tobago and has a B.A. from Yale University. Cecile holds citizenship in three countries and is proud that long before it became the norm, she has never joined a political party and has voted for candidates from all parties in every election in which she has participated, from the U.K. to the U.S. to Trinidad and Tobago.

David G. Adishian

Managing Director, Senior Financial Advisor, Senior Portfolio Manager
Merrill Lynch Wealth Management

David is a Managing Director, Senior Financial Advisor and Senior Portfolio Manager who leads Merrill Lynch Wealth Management’s Adishian Group. For over twenty years, their Group has advised successful individuals, executives, entrepreneurs, and their families on strategies to help protect and grow their investment assets. Clients often seek David’s counsel following a meaningful financial event such as sale of their business and real estate as well as life events including relocation, changing advisors, passing of loved ones, divorce, inheritance, and other family planning matters. For their businesses, clients seek David and his team’s access to distinctive resources and subject matter experts who support companies with business loans, lines of credit, real estate financing, and cash management. David graduated with Omicron Delta Epsilon honors from the University of California at Santa Barbara with a degree in Business Economics and received his Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law where he was a Margaret Brock Scholar. David holds the Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor™ and the Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor® designations and he is also member of the State Bar of California.

Jonathon Allen

Director of Studies
Marlborough School

Jonathon Allen, a native of Charleston, South Carolina, is the Director of Studies at Marlborough School in Hancock Park.  His current practice melds his prior experience as a History Department Head at the International School of Los Angeles and his passion for educational leadership. Jonathon’s professional background also includes working as a World Languages and World History instructor in both the Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs and includes working as a participant and consultant for historical documentaries for PBS.  As the Director of Studies, Jonathon oversees the academic program for the Middle and Upper School at Marlborough, advising faculty in areas of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. He is the co-chair of the Professional Growth and Development Committee and serves on the Equity, Enrollment, and Education Committee to support Marlborough’s vision statement of equity leading education.  His professional organizations include the National Association of Independent Schools, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the California Teacher Development Collaborative. 

Rand S. April

Retired Partner – Los Angeles Office Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Mr. April is one of our Class III directors and currently serves as a member of the compensation committee and the nominating and governance committee. Mr. April was a Partner of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, an international law firm, for three decades until 2013 and Mr. April served as the leader of Skadden’s Los Angeles office from 1994 until 2012. Subsequent to Mr. April’s retirement as a Partner in 2013, he was Of Counsel to Skadden until April 2016. During his time at Skadden, Mr. April had an extensive real estate and finance practice, regularly advising both U.S. and international clients in transactions involving a wide variety of real estate asset classes. He has considerable experience with the public and private offering of various types of real estate securities, including REIT and securitized debt offerings. Mr. April serves as a consultant to various real estate related companies, from time to time. In addition, Mr. April is a longtime board member and former Chairman of Public Counsel Law Center, the nation’s largest pro bono law firm serving the indigent, where he was interim President and Chief Executive Officer in 2015. Mr. April is also a board member of Town Hall Los Angeles, where he served as Chairman from 2010 to 2011, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission. Since July 2016, Mr. April has served as general counsel to the Karsh Family Social Service Center, Inc., an organization that provides comprehensive support services for indigent clients and other individuals in the surrounding community. Mr. April holds a B.A., phi beta kappa, from Northwestern University and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.

Gene Block

Chancellor University of California, Los Angeles

Gene Block became chancellor of UCLA in August 2007. As chief executive officer, he oversees the university’s three-part mission of education, research and service.
He has defined academic excellence, civic engagement, diversity and financial security as top priorities for his administration. A champion of public universities, his dedication to access and affordability has enhanced UCLA’s position as a national leader in enrolling undergraduates who are Pell Grant recipients, come from underrepresented groups and go on to become first-generation college graduates. Under Chancellor Block’s leadership, UCLA has been named the number one public university in the United States, has grown its profile internationally and receives $1 billion annually in research grants. In one of the largest capital campaigns ever undertaken by a public university, UCLA surpassed its $4.2 billion Centennial fundraising goal more than a year ahead of schedule, raising $5.49 billion total. An expert in neuroscience, Chancellor Block’s current research focuses on the effects of aging in the nervous system and how it impacts biological timing in mammals, including humans. He holds faculty appointments in psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and in integrative biology and physiology in the UCLA College of Letters and Science.

Lynda Boone Fetter

Principal
Boone Fetter LLC

Maryam Brown

President
Southern California Gas Company

Maryam Brown is president of Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), the nation’s largest gas distribution utility. SoCalGas’ 8,000 employees serve 22 million consumers in 500 communities from California’s Central Valley in the north to the San Diego County line in the south.

As president, Brown develops and executes SoCalGas’ strategic vision with a focus on SoCalGas’ aspiration to achieve carbon neutral operations and delivery of energy by 2045.

Brown started her career as an engineer in the petroleum refining sector and has 25 years of experience in the energy industry across engineering, legal, policy, and regulatory roles. She joined SoCalGas in 2019 from SoCalGas’ corporate parent Sempra, a diversified energy services company based in San Diego, where she was vice president, federal government affairs.

Prior to joining Sempra, Brown amassed a decade of legislative and policy expertise working on Capitol Hill, serving in senior staff roles in both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. During this period, she served as chief energy counsel to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and subsequently as senior energy and environment counsel for two speakers of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Prior to this, she was a corporate securities associate attorney in the San Francisco office of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.

Brown is chair of the American Gas Association Foundation, serves on the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Petroleum Council, and is on the Board and Executive Committee of the California Chamber of Commerce.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and her law degree (Order of the Coif) from Louisiana State University.

At SoCalGas Brown is guiding the company through the domestic clean energy transition and helping California reach its climate goals while delivering energy that is reliable and affordable.

Qiana Charles

Vice President and Regional Executive
Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Qiana Charles is vice president and regional executive of the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. In this role, Qiana engages with members of the business and banking sectors, as well as with community and government leaders in Southern California, Arizona, and Southern Nevada as part of the Bank’s commitment to understanding and reflecting the communities it serves. She is a senior leader who represents the San Francisco Fed in the region and oversees the Los Angeles Board of Directors and Advisory Councils, including their contribution to monetary policy decisions.

Before joining the San Francisco Fed, Qiana served as a government relations principal manager at Southern California Edison (SCE), where she was responsible for overseeing government relations and public affairs functions in Los Angeles and Orange County. She also served as the chief of staff for the Office of the President at SCE, directing the day-to-day activities and coordinating the external affairs functions of the office.

Qiana has also worked in various roles in the California State Legislature. She started her public service career by participating in the Jesse M. Unruh Assembly Fellowship Program, the nation’s oldest legislative fellowship program, which offers experiential learning opportunities in policymaking and development in the California State Legislature.

She currently serves on the Leadership California and Community Coalition boards and is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.

Qiana received a master’s degree in organizational communication from Howard University and a bachelor’s degree in communication studies from California State University, San Bernardino. She enjoys traveling, attending outdoor concerts, and anything James Bond.

Robert Dalrymple

Founder & Producer
Robert Dalrymple Productions

Robert Dalrymple is an award-winning television producer who has won one Peabody and two Emmy Awards among many nominations for shows that he has conceived and produced. His most recent productions include “Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials” on CBS, Genesis GV80 “Shutter Speed” on Discovery Channel and Motor Trend, Porsche’s “The Heist” half-hour special on Discovery, and “Shut Up And Drive” on Fox Sports. He was also the Executive Producer of the Showtime special featuring Bruce Willis in Sam Sheppard’s “True West.” Robert also co-founded and was the Executive Producer of the Screen Actors Guild Awards for NBC and TNT.

Robert Dalrymple Productions specializes in entertainment specials, motorsport shows, and branded content for a number of clients including Porsche, Hyundai, Lexus, and Genesis. Robert made a name for himself as being one of the first producers to go behind the Iron Curtain where he ultimately produced eight films in Russia. He is perhaps best known for Billy Joel’s tour in Russia, as memorialized in the HBO and ABC broadcasts of his journey; the first comedy special from Russia in which Billy Crystal starred, “Midnight Train to Moscow,” for HBO; and the CBS production of pianist Vladmir Horowitz’s return to Moscow after 62 years. Robert won Emmy’s for his ABC special, “Free to be a Family” with Robin Williams and Marlo Thomas, and his PBS documentary on Itzhak Perlman’s tour of Russia. He was also an Emmy nominee for PBS’ “The King and I – Recording a Hollywood Dream” with Julie Andrews and Ben Kingsley. He is also known for producing Hyundai’s Pole Position – Pike’s Peak on Discovery Channel and Motor Trend, executive producing on “Funniest Commercials of the Year” on TBS, and “Test Drive” on Fox Sports. Robert expanded his company into producing television movies with “Shame” for the Lifetime Network, starring Amanda Donohoe and Dean Stockwell. Other credits include NBC’s “Baby Brokers” starring Cybil Shepherd, and the CBS holiday movie, “A Christmas Romance,” starring Olivia Newton John.

Carl E. Dickerson

Founder and Chairman
Dickerson Employee Benefits

Carl Dickerson is the chairman and founder of Dickerson Insurance Services, which he started in 1965 after working as a teacher and educator for four years at UC San Francisco and West Philadelphia High School. He is involved in various civic groups, including service as a board member and vice chair of Town Hall Los Angeles, a downtown-based nonprofit that has been “presenting issues that affect the Los Angeles community and providing a platform for public discussion from a nonpartisan point of view” for 80 years. He also is an advisory board member for Irvine-based Acorns Grow Inc.’s Acorns Micro- Investing App, which raised $50 million funding round led by New York-based Black Rock Inc. earlier this year. The app brings microinvesting to the masses at nominal fees with no minimums. Dickerson is a graduate of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, the first degree-granting Historically Black College and University.

Hans Getty

Corporate & Commercial Banking Regional Manager (Senior Vice President) U.S. Bank

Kevin Goetz

Founder and CEO Screen Engine

Dr. Julian A. Gold

Councilmember & former Mayor
City of Beverly Hills

Brendan Heisler

Sr. Client Experience Specialist
Capital Group Private Client Services

Brendan Heisler is a senior client experience specialist responsible for developing, executing and analyzing marketing strategies for Capital Group Private Client Services. With more than 15 years of marketing, event and analytics experience, Brendan aims to deliver proven, data-driven strategies aimed at creating lasting and meaningful relationships with clients. Prior to joining Capital Group in 2015, Brendan held various marketing and event management roles within the consumer goods sector. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing from Christopher Newport University. Brendan is based in Los Angeles where he lives with his wife and two kids

Sana U. Khan, M.D.

Radiologist & Neurophysiologist
ExpertMRI Medical Group

Dr. Sana Khan is an accomplished radiologist, researcher, teacher and entrepreneur.

After graduating from University of California, Irvine in 1986, he attended medical school at UCLA and graduated as a Dean’s Scholar with M.D. and Ph.D. degrees in Anatomy and Clinical Neurophysiology.

He was the first radiologist in the U.S. with the Stand-Up Weight-Bearing MRI and has contributed significantly to the advancement of this technology. In addition, he has extensive expertise in Traumatic Brain Injury imaging where his “Med-School for Attorneys” Zoominars regularly attract over a thousand plus attendees weekly.

He serves or has served in leadership positions on several medical societies and is currently Co- Chair of Education for The California Society of Industrial Medicine and Surgery.

Dr. Khan is also a prolific lecturer and a nationally renowned scientist conducting collaborative research with professors at UCLA, USC and UC San Diego with the US Department of Defense.

Dr. Khan has received numerous awards for his accomplishments such as U.S. Congressional Medal of Distinction, 2008 for Advancement of Medical Science (Radiology) and in 2013 induction into the President’s Circle of the Radiological Society of North America for contribution to research in Radiology. More recently, he received The Punjab “Governor’s Award” in 2021 for pioneering college degree programs between California and Punjab and recently he was the first Pakistani Muslim recipient of UC Irvine’s Distinguished Alumni Award for 2024.

In addition to his academic and research accomplishments, Dr. Khan is also a serial entrepreneur having built diagnostic centers nationally and garnered such awards as “Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, 2008 Finalist in California” and “Keys to the City of Houston from Mayor Bill White, for financial and academic contributions to the city.

Dr. Khan’s contributions are not limited to academia and business. He also currently serves as the Vice President of the Islamic Institute of Orange County as well as the largest non-profit, Muslim owned fitness and community center, The Meridian Qube. He also served as the President of UCLA’s Academy for Judaic, Christian and Islamic Studies from 2017-2019 and continues to serve on its Board as well as the Board of Uplift Charity.

Dr. Khan resides in Orange County, California with his wife Safura and 4 children. His contributions to the medical field and dedication to societal welfare make him a true visionary. Dr. Sana Khan continues to inspire and innovate, proving that dedication and expertise can indeed change the world.

Elizabeth H. Lowe

Child Advocate

Elizabeth (Beth) Lowe is dedicated to citizen advocacy at all levels of government. Vigilant on behalf of children’s rights, she was an active member of the Los Angeles County Commission for Children and Families from its inception in 1984 until 1999, and twice served as its Chair. In that capacity, she advocated intensively in Sacramento and Washington to ensure a safety net for children in the wake of welfare reform. Due to the success of these efforts, she received from the U.S. Department of Health and Human services Administration on Children, Youth and Families the 1998 Commissioner’s Award for the State of California. In 1993, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan appointed her to the Los Angeles Board of Fire Commissioners where she served as President for two years. During that time, the city experienced both firestorms, and a major earthquake. From 1999 to 2004, she served on First Five Los Angeles, the Commission that is responsible for the distribution of the county’s share of Sate-tobacco tax revenue for initiatives targeted to children – ages 0 to 5. As a Vice Chair, she led the commission to adopt a 600 million dollar initiative to provide access to pre-school for all four year olds in Los Angeles County.

In August 2004, she was appointed to the Board of Los Angeles Universal Pre-school. For the initial three years she chaired the board of this public benefit corporation designated to implement the initiate and saw the number of children receiving access to preschool grow by 10,000. She is a member of the Foundation Board of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and a past member of the Board of Children’s Institute, Inc., and she advocates extensively for government focus on Children’s health and well-being.

Joe Lumarda

Senior Vice President/Investment Counselor Capital Group Private Client Services

Joe Lumarda is a Senior Vice President and Investment Counselor for Capital Group Private Client Services. He works directly with high net worth individuals and families to create customized plans for protecting and growing their wealth, often across multiple generations. Joe also helps nonprofit foundations and endowments to pursue their long term financial objectives through effective planning and investment management. Prior to joining our organization in 2006, Joe spent 16 years at the California Community Foundation as a vice president for development, executive vice president and chief operating officer. He also served as an independent director for Capital Research and Management Company’s Endowment funds, a series of investment portfolios designed exclusively for nonprofit organizations. Joe also served as an officer in the U.S. Navy active duty and reserves for eight years.

Richard “RP” Mader

Entrepreneur & Small Business Mentor

Born in the Midwest, RP Mader started as an entrepreneur selling newspapers on street corners at the age of 8. He came to Los Angeles to sell newspapers and magazines in a larger market and with his family build the largest privately owned media logistics company west of the Mississippi. He is a graduate from the School of Hard Knocks, returning several times for advanced degrees.

RP is a SCORE mentor and workshop presenter, helping entrepreneurs prepare business plans and find fund for start-up business. He continues to mentor his son Evan who is expanding the family business. He also manages several properties.

Along with his spouse Mary and daughter Elaina, travel now includes his grandchildren and a great grandchild in learning about the world and its challenges and wonder. He and his family have traveled with the Council to Iran, Saudi Arabia, Morrocco, as well as several trips to Washington D.C.

Jason Matheny

President and CEO
RAND Corporation

Jason Matheny (he/him) is president and chief executive officer of the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that helps improve policy and decision making through research and analysis.

Prior to becoming RAND’s president and CEO in July 2022, he led White House policy on technology and national security at the National Security Council and the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Previously, he was founding director of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University and director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), where he was responsible for developing advanced technologies for the U.S. intelligence community. Before IARPA, he worked for Oxford University, the World Bank, the Applied Physics Laboratory, the Center for Biosecurity, and Princeton University.

Matheny has served on many nonpartisan boards and committees, including the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, to which he was appointed by Congress in 2018. He is a recipient of the Intelligence Community’s Award for Individual Achievement in Science and Technology, the National Intelligence Superior Service Medal, and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. He was also named one of Foreign Policy’s “Top 50 Global Thinkers.”

Matheny holds a Ph.D. in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University, an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University, an M.B.A. from Duke University, and a B.A. in art history from the University of Chicago.

Thomas C. Malayil

Managing Director
TCM Property

Thomas C. Malayil is a commercial real estate professional, executive and entrepreneur. He started his career with a private shopping center developer in the US Midwest, Dial Companies. Malayil subsequently entered law school and obtained real-estate related experience at several large law firms. He returned to the commercial side and spent over a decade with one of America’s largest shopping mall companies, NYSE-listed REIT Macerich. Malayil served in various roles at Macerich concluding as a Vice President of Real Estate. Before joining Lippo Karawaci as CEO of Lippo Malls Indonesia, he founded a private consultancy focused on the commercial and retail real estate industry. Malayil is also the Managing Director of Indo-Pacific Partners where he advises and conducts business related to that region. He has also been a Senior Advisor to The Jerde Partnership, SM Legal Group (including predecessors) and Elavare Global Advisors.

Malayil holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accountancy from the W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU, a Juris Doctor from the University of Oregon School of Law and MBA degrees from the National University of Singapore and UCLA Anderson. He is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (and served on its Asia Pacific Advisory Board & earned its Certified Retail Real Estate Executive credential), Urban Land Institute, LA World Affairs Council (and serves on its Board of Directors), Pacific Council on International Policy, UCLA Real Estate Alumni Group (and serves on its Board as well as the Ziman Center Board) and American & Washington State Bar Associations.

Steven A. Nissen

President & CEO Nissen Consulting Group

Steve Nissen is the President and CEO of Nissen Consulting Group.  For the previous 12 years until his retirement as a Senior Vice President of NBCUniversal in January 2020, Nissen was responsible for state and local government affairs for NBCUniversal, from intellectual property protection, First Amendment and film production to land use and government compliance.  Mr. Nissen is the immediate past Chair of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., was the 2017 Chair of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, and past Chair of the Central City Association, FilmLA and the L.A. BioMed (now known as the Lundquist Institute).  Nissen also is one of 9 Board Members of one of California’s largest charitable foundations, the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation. He has also served on the Executive Committees of the L.A. Police Foundation and Valley Industries and Commerce Association and is a Board Member of the Metropolitan YMCA.

Prior to NBCUniversal, Mr. Nissen was a partner in the national law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, representing a wide range of clients, from Fortune 500 companies to nonprofit entities. 

From 1999-2002, Nissen was a senior official with California Governor Gray Davis. Nissen served as the Governor’s Interim Staff Director, as Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, and as Senior Special Assistant for Innovation in Government. Among other tasks, he served as the Governor’s liaison to the Blue Ribbon Panel on Hate Groups, chaired by former Secretary of State Warren Christopher and former California Governor George Deukmejian.

Before joining Governor Davis’ staff, Nissen was Executive Director of the State Bar of California, then the largest private regulatory body in the nation.  He took charge in the midst of a political crisis triggered by a veto of the legislation to fund the Bar.   He worked closely with then Governor Pete Wilson’s office, the California Legislature and the state Supreme Court to restore funding to the State Bar while at the same time streamlining the organization’s multiple functions.

Prior to that, Nissen was President of Public Counsel Law Center, which he built into the country’s largest pro bono law firm. Under his leadership, Public Counsel grew to a staff of some 50 dedicated individuals and a cadre of 10,000 volunteer attorneys providing over $200 million worth of legal services to children, the elderly, low-income families, and nonprofit organizations.  During his tenure at Public Counsel, he was also an adjunct professor at USC School of Law.   He has maintained his commitment to legal services to the indigent by serving as Co-Chair of the California State Bar Legal Services Trust Fund Commission and Standing Committee member of the American Bar Association Pro Bono and Public Service Committee.  He has received numerous awards for his contributions to the community in the civic, government, nonprofit, corporate and legal sectors.

Joan Payden

President and CEO
Payden & Rygel

Pete Peterson

Dean
Pepperdine University School of Public Policy

Pete Peterson is a leading national speaker and writer on issues related to civic participation, and the use of technology to make government more responsive and transparent. He was the first executive director of the bi-partisan organization, Common Sense California, which in 2010 joined with the Davenport Institute at the School of Public Policy to become the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic
Leadership. He has co-created and currently co-facilitates the training seminar, “Public Engagement: The Vital Leadership Skill in Difficult Times” a program that has been attended by over 4,500 municipal officials, and he also helped to develop the program, “Leading Smart Communities,” which explores the ways in which technology is changing local government processes. Peterson has served as the chair of the
Governance Committee for the Public Interest Technology-University Network. In 2017, SPP launched a new initiative titled the “American Project: On the Future of Conservatism”, which is co-directed by Dean Peterson and Rich Tafel. The “Project” is a unique effort to gather scholars and activists from a variety points on the conservative spectrum to deliberate over, write about, and discuss the future of the conservative movement. In 2022, through a $10 million endowment gift, the “Project” transitioned into the academic center, Meese Institute for Liberty and the American Project. Peterson writes widely on public engagement for a variety major news outlets including the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and San Francisco Chronicle, as well as numerous blogs. He contributed the chapter, “Place As Pragmatic Policy” to the edited volume, Why Place Matters: Geography, Identity, and Civic Life in Modern America (New Atlantis Books, 2014), and the chapter “Do-It Ourselves Citizenship” in the volume, Localism in the Mass Age (Wipf & Stock, 2018). Peterson has been a public affairs fellow at The Hoover Institution, and he serves on the Leadership Council of the bipartisan nonprofit, California Forward, on the National Advisory Council for the Ashbrook Center, as well as on the Scholars Council for Braver Angels. Peterson has served as a member of the Commission on the Practice of Democratic Citizenship, which is organized by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, as well as the nonprofit, Sophos Africa. Peterson was the Republican candidate for California Secretary of State in 2014.

Dr. Jane G. Pisano

President Emerita Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Elliot Ponchick

President The William C. Bannerman Foundation

Scott Porter

Partner, Advisory Services Ernst & Young LLP

Scott has over 20 years of experience providing assurance, operations and technology consulting services to a broad range of global public and privately held companies. Prior to joining EY in 2003, Scott spent eight years with a global business consulting firm. Scott serves on the Board of Directors for the Los Angeles World Affairs Council and currently serves as co-chair for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation’s Digital Medial & Entertainment Council. He has also been involved in numerous consulting boards at the University of Southern California including the past chairman of the USC Marshall Partners (SF/SG Valleys), past president of the USC Accounting Circle Board and past member of the USC Alumni Association Board of Governors. Scott received a BS in Accounting from the USC Leventhal School of Accounting and an MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business. He is a certified public accountant (California) and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts.

Michael P. Reilly

Chief Investment Officer, Equities Director of U.S. Equity Research TCW

Mr. Reilly is the Chief Investment Officer of the Equities Group and Director of U.S. Equity Research. He joined TCW in 1992 as an Equity Analyst after working four years in corporate finance at Security Pacific Bank. In 1995, he assumed co-portfolio management responsibility for TCW’s Latin America, Emerging Markets and International Equities investment strategies. Subsequently, from 2002-2005, he was co-Portfolio Manager of the Société Générale Asset Management (SGAM) global equities team prior to assuming leadership of the U.S. Equity Research department in 2006. Mr. Reilly graduated valedictorian of the University of Southern California with a BS in Finance and a BA in Spanish and also received his MBA from the University of Southern California. He was recipient of the Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Fellowship for a year of postgraduate studies at Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain. He is a CFA charterholder.

Thomas Rosenbaum

President
CalTech

Thomas F. Rosenbaum is the ninth president of the California Institute of Technology and Professor of Physics. He is an expert on the quantum mechanical nature of materials, conducting research at Bell Laboratories, IBM Watson Research Center, and the University of Chicago, where he served as Vice President for Research and for Argonne National Laboratory and then provost, before moving to Caltech in 2014. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics with honors from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University. He serves on the Board of Governors for Argonne National Laboratory, the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board, on the Society for Science & the Public’s Board of Trustees, as General Member of the Aspen Center for Physics, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences Los Angeles Program Committee.

Barry A. Sanders

Author & Communications Professor
University of California, Los Angeles

Barry A. Sanders is an adjunct professor of Communications at UCLA teaching courses entitled “The Images of America around the World,” “Public Diplomacy,” and “Architecture as Non-Verbal Communication.” He also is on the faculty of the UCLA law school. He is the author of three books: American Avatar: The United States in the Global Imagination (Potomac Books, 2011), The Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games (Arcadia Publishing, 2013), and Bringing the Olympics Back to Los Angeles (with Ann Owens) (Amazon, 2021).

Sanders practiced international corporate law at the global law firm of Latham & Watkins from 1970 to 2007, where he founded the firm’s international practice group. In 2019 the California Lawyers Association awarded him its Warren Christopher Award as “International Lawyer of the Year.” He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Pacific Council on International Policy, and is Chairman of the Board of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy. He served on the RAND Center for Global Risk and Security Advisory Board.

Sanders is Chairman Emeritus of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games and served as a director of LA2028, the non-profit corporation that successfully bid to return the Olympic Games to Los Angeles. In September 2007 he received the Olympic Spirit Award from the United States Olympic Committee and the William May Garland Award from the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games. He served on the board of Special Olympics of California and the board of the Special Olympics World Games 2015. He served for many years as a director of the Los Angeles Sports Council and of the Los Angeles Sports Council Foundation. He currently acts as an arbitrator at the International Court of Arbitration for Sport in its Anti-Doping Division.

In 2014, he completed an eight-year term as president of the Board of Commissioners of the Recreation and Parks Department of the City of Los Angeles and as a member of the Board of Commissioners of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. He is the Founder and chairman emeritus of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation.

Sanders’ community service career spans many subjects. In early 1992, he served as executive editor and general counsel to the California Council on Competitiveness. From 1979 to 1984, he acted as primary outside counsel to the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee. After the riots in Los Angeles in 1992, he was co-chair of Rebuild LA, the public-private organization established to deal with the problems of LA’s inner city. While co-chair of RLA, he was chairman of the board of the RLA Community Lending Corporation. In 2011 the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce awarded him its Civic Medal of Honor. He received the 1999 Medal of Honor for contributions to the arts from the Thornton School of Music of the University of Southern California. He received “Man of the Year” honors by People for Parks and by Shane’s Inspiration for his work in expanding recreational opportunities for children with disabilities. He has been chairman of the board and president of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and chairman of the Los Angeles Public Library Foundation. He is presently on the executive committee of the board of directors of the Los Angeles Opera. He also serves as Vice-Chair of the Board of the Ojai Music Festival. Sanders has served on the boards of directors of the Los Angeles Music Center, the Music Center Foundation, The Walt Disney Concert Hall Corporation, the League of American Orchestras, the Joffrey Ballet, the Aman Dance Company, the Geffen Playhouse, the Otis Art Institute, and the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, among others.

He was born in Philadelphia and earned degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Yale Law School.

Josh Schimmels

CEO & Publisher
Los Angeles Business Journal

Josh Schimmels is the Publisher and CEO of the Los Angeles Business Journal (LABJ).  Having previously served as an executive with the LABJ, he returned to the company in April of 2020.

Schimmels was Associate Publisher and Vice President at the Business Journal from 2010 to 2015. He began his career in 1999 with a five-year turn at the Business Journal’s sister publication, the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.

Prior to returning to Los Angeles last year, he was with Phoenix-based AZ Big Media, where he served as publisher, contributing six years at the company in two different roles.  Schimmels also spent nearly four years as business group publisher at D Magazine Partners in Dallas. There he oversaw a portfolio of publications that included D CEO magazine, D CEO Real Estate Annual, Dallas 500, D CEO Healthcare, along with its custom publishing division.

Josh holds an MBA from Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business. He has an undergraduate degree in broadcasting from Arizona State’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

He’s passionate about his work in the community. As a Stage IV blood cancer survivor, he works as a patient advocate to help cancer patients and families through volunteering with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).  He has served on numerous community boards and committees including AABP, LLS, and the Los Angeles World Affairs Council and Town Hall.

Dan Schnur

Politics Professor
USC, UC-Berkeley, Pepperdine

Dan is a Professor at the University of California – Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Public Policy, and the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communications, where he teaches courses in politics, communications and leadership. Earlier in his career, Dan worked on four presidential and three gubernatorial campaigns as one of California’s leading political strategists. He is now registered as a No Party Preference voter, but previously served as the national Director of Communications for the 2000 presidential campaign of U.S. Senator John McCain and was the chief media spokesman for California Governor Pete Wilson. He is the founder of the USC/LA Times statewide political poll.

Parker Shi

Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
East West Bank

Parker Shi is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of East West Bank. Mr. Shi is responsible for the overall strategy for the bank, enterprise operations and technology, and the bank’s consumer banking business, including digital banking, retail lending, and wealth management. Mr. Shi joined the Company in March 2021, starting first as a consultant before joining as a full-time employee. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Shi served as Senior Advisor to the CEO of a major pharmacy chain in 2020. From 2018 to 2019, Mr. Shi was a Senior Managing Director at Accenture where he led the Technology Strategy Practices globally and in North America. Prior to joining Accenture, Mr. Shi worked at McKinsey & Company for 11 years where he was a Senior Partner and led the Technology Strategy & Architecture Practice in North America, the Insurance Practice in Greater China, and the Operations & Technology Practices for Financial Services across Asia Pacific. He worked extensively with client CEOs to create enterprise strategy, innovate on technology adoption, and drive large scale enterprise transformation. Mr. Shi started his consulting career with DiamondCluster International, a firm that specialized in digital strategy. He led the CIO practice areas for DiamondCluster and assisted clients in using technology to create business impact. He worked with numerous financial services clients to improve IT efficiency and effectiveness. DiamondCluster International was acquired by PwC in 2010.

Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D.

President Loyola Marymount University

Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D., was named the 16th president of Loyola Marymount University in March 2015 and assumed his responsibilities on June 1, 2015. Snyder has been a professor and administrator for nearly 30 years at Jesuit institutions, most recently as vice president for academic affairs at Loyola University Maryland from 2007-14. He was also dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Fairfield University from 2001-07 and dean of science at Georgetown University from 1995-99. Snyder earned his M.A. and his Ph.D. in applied and computational mathematics from Princeton University. He holds a B.A. in psychology and a B.S. in mathematics, and an M.S. in mathematics from the University of Toledo. He has published and presented widely on his research interests, including computational mathematics, data structures, design and analysis of algorithms, geometric probability, digital processing and computer music. Recently, he has been working on risk assessment, with applications in commercial air travel, HIV and other areas. He has spoken nationwide about the Millennial Generation and ways to educate them. He has practiced “technogogy” for more than 20 years and created LCAST, a series of podcasts aimed at helping students. The podcasts also feature original music he has written, arranged, recorded, produced, mixed and mastered; his music can also be found on iTunes.

Candy Spelling

President Candyland, Inc

Candy Spelling is a Tony Award-winning Broadway producer, television producer, best-selling author, and philanthropist.

Candy began her producing career in 2010 with the Tony Award-winning musical, “Promises, Promises” and will soon be opening her 14^th Broadway production, “MJ The Musical” later this year.

Her television producing credits include the highly successful HGTV docuseries “Selling Spelling Manor” and the follow up “Beyond Spelling Manor”.  Viewers tuned in to see Candy moving out of the legendary 56,000 square foot Hollywood mansion she built and shared with her husband and family for more than 20 years and later the construction of her new home in Los Angeles and her search for an apartment in New York City.

Candy has written two autobiographical books chronicling her experiences as the wife of a Hollywood mogul, a mother and more recently her new life as a single woman, creating a successful new career as a Broadway producer while enjoying her favorite role of all – as grandmother to seven beautiful grandchildren.  Stories from Candyland and Candy at Last, both topped the New York Times best-seller list.

Working in a variety of volunteer and civic roles, Candy proudly continues to expand her public service work.  She is Vice-Chair of the Board of American Humane, on which she has served since 2012 and currently serves as a member of the UCLA Health System Board.  A founding board member of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation, she was instrumental in creating the first non-profit Parks Foundation in Los Angeles. She is Commissioner Emeritus for the Board of Recreation and Parks for Los Angeles, a panel overseeing public parks and recreational areas.  Candy served for ten years as a Board of Governors Member of LA’s Best, the after-school enrichment program that helps children in need through partnerships with the Los Angeles Unified School District, the City of Los Angeles, and private sector.  Having sat on the Board of Directors for LA Inc., the Los Angeles Convention, and the Visitors Bureau, she became “Ambassador for Tourism” for Los Angeles.  Candy most recently joined the board for the Los Angeles Ballet.

Nick Stonnington

President
Stonnington Group

Nicholas H. Stonnington is President of Stonnington Group LLC (Registered Investment Advisor) providing wealth management, benefits administration, and asset management. He graduated from Dartmouth College. He lives in San Marino, California with his wife Amanda. They have five children.

Douglas Suddarth

Chief Operating Officer
Gehr Industries

Doug leads Gehr Industries and Gehr Power Systems, privately held Wire & Cable and Electrical Controls businesses headquartered in Los Angeles, and part of the Gehr Group of companies. He is responsible for business growth, care of customers and all Gehr teams, plus strategic planning and capital employment. Doug works with executive leadership and the company board to leverage a 60-year-old company’s values into building a world-class power business.

Prior to joining Gehr Doug served in a variety of executive management roles in global manufacturing and third-party logistics companies. He is a veteran of the United States Navy who earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and his master’s degree in business administration from The College of William and Mary. In addition to Board membership with the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, Doug is an active member of geopolitics and business forums; the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM); the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP); other non-profit boards, leadership and advisory groups.

Andrew Tavakoli

Chief Executive Officer
Tavaco Capital Management

Mr. Tavakoli is a highly accomplished professional in the commercial real estate industry with over 35
years of experience. He has successfully invested his own capital and expanded his portfolio nationwide
under Tavaco Properties and has transacted over $2.3 billion in investments.

In addition to his real estate ventures, Mr. Tavakoli has also invested in early growth companies through
Tavaco Capital Management. He holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the
University of Pittsburgh, an MBA from California State University, and an MSBA/Finance degree from the
University of Southern California.

Mr. Tavakoli’s leadership roles include having been appointed by the White House to serve as a Board
member on the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts, a Board member of the USC Marshall
School of Business Board of Leaders, a Board member of the Cedars Sinai Medical Center Board of
Counselors, and a Board member of the LAWAC. He is also a Co-Founding member of Tiger 21 LA-04
Group and was an active member of the Vistage CEO Peer Group. Mr. Tavakoli is actively involved in
philanthropy, supporting initiatives such as the USC Master of Business for Veterans Program, and Cyrus
the Great Chair in Timeless Leadership. He has received recognition for his entrepreneurial leadership
and was a keynote speaker for the 2021 Annual USC Marshall Scholarship Celebration.

James Thomson

Former President and CEO RAND

Jim Thomson is president emeritus of the RAND Corporation and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Thomson describes his career in four phases. In the first phase, he was an experimental nuclear physicist and published numerous scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. In the second, he was a government official dealing with defense and arms control matters, serving in the U.S. Defense Department and at the White House. In the third phase, he focused on policy research covering a range of strategic issues. In the fourth phase, while continuing his research, Thomson moved into research leadership positions at RAND. He served as RAND’s fourth president from 1989 to 2011. Under his leadership, RAND grew by 60 percent, expanded its research agenda, increased its policy impact, and become an international organization with offices in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Thomson is a member of several for-profit and nonprofit boards.

Barbara Wachsman

Senior Adviser
Frazier Healthcare Partners

Ms. Wachsman currently serves as a Senior Advisor to a $4 billion growth-buyout private equity firm specializing in healthcare, as well as participates in NearWater Growth, a fund in very early-stage healthcare financing. She serves on the Board of Wondr and on the advisory boards of five healthcare early stage/startups (vision, women’s primary care, mental health, fertility financing and virtual multispecialty care)

Ms. Wachsman is the former Director of Strategy and Engagement for Enterprise Benefits for the Walt Disney Company and was responsible for a $2.5 billion annual spend. In that position, she led the strategic initiatives and designed benefits programs that addressed Disney’s long-term healthcare and goals and objectives, including directing the largest full-risk, direct deal in the country. Other responsibilities included the operations of large on-site clinics and other local physician group partnerships with Disney.

Prior to joining Disney, Ms. Wachsman held senior management positions with two international benefit consulting firms, as well as served as a Principal with Arthur Andersen, where she ran the West Regional Human Capital practice. She began her career with a consulting firm providing financial feasibility analysis for hospitals going into the bond market.

Ms. Wachsman is a national speaker on topics such as hospital/physician/employer relations, effective managed care and provider reimbursement models, employee engagement and incentives and has published articles specialty health care journals about the value of managed care. Much of her work has involved helping employers and providers create more effective, direct partnerships. From 2013-2018 she served as the Chair of the Pacific Business Group on Health, one of the most established employer coalitions of large employers in the country, as well as served on the Executive Committee of Integrated Healthcare Association, one of the largest associations of large medical groups. She served as Chair of the first Employer Advisory Board at Kaiser and was a member of the Advisory Board of a national commercial health insurer. She remains an active Senior Advisor and Founding Member for the Employer Healthcare Innovation Roundtable (EHIR), a group of select large, national employers that evaluate and pilot healthcare startups she leads a division of EHIR focused on innovation for large health systems (Provider Healthcare Innovation Roundtable) and is a faculty member of the EHIR Academy. She is a senior advisor to the Silicon Valley Employers Forum and also serves on the Executive Committee of the American Board of Medical Specialties, which Board Certifies every physician in this country.

Ms. Wachsman sits on the Boards of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy and the charitable foundation of QueensCare and QueensCare Health Centers, a non-profit charity and large FQHC serving the low income and underserved population of Los Angeles.

She holds Master of Public Health and Master of City and Regional Planning/Architecture degrees from the University of California, Berkeley and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Scripps College in Claremont, California where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree.

She and her husband l Andrew live in Pasadena, CA.

Tracy Williams

CEO and President
Olmstead Williams Communications

Tracy Williams founded Olmstead Williams Communications in 2008 to provide focused public relations counsel to high-growth tech and healthcare companies, and the professional service firms that work with them. Her strategic insights have been responsible for new revenue, investors and partners for hundreds of organizations. She is sought after when crisis hits or a lawsuit threatens brands and reputations. Tracy trains CEOs, politicians, scientists, lawyers and professors to become savvy, in-demand media sources. She began her career at Hill & Knowlton in Washington, D.C. and worked with U.S. and European giants in aerospace and defense. After moving to LA, she built a public relations practice for tech firms such as Hewlett-Packard, Acer Inc. and Computer Sciences Corporation. She serves on the executive committees of the California Council on Economic Education and Town Hall Los Angeles. She was a member of the Workforce Investment Board of Los Angeles; the Board of Directors of the Downtown Women’s Center; the board of governors of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation and the Board of Trustees of St. Matthew’s Parish School.

Jeff Wilson

Manager Policy, Government & Public Affairs Chevron Corporation