Board of Directors

Vice Chair
Ronny Bensimon
Dearden’s

Mr. Bensimon is the senior vice president, COO, and minority partner at Dearden’s, and has been with that company since 1974. In addition to serving on the board of directors of Para Los Niños, he has served on the boards of Dearden’s, the local chapter of the American Red Cross, Associate Volume Buyers, and the Western Home Furnishing Association. Mr. Bensimon also founded the Dearden’s Scholarship Program, which offers college scholarships to underprivileged high school seniors each year. Mr. Bensimon holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from UCLA and an MBA from California State University, Long Beach.

Robin Bieker
Bieker & Co., Inc.

Mr. Bieker is president of Bieker & Co., Inc., an urban real estate firm that specializes in multifamily, loft, adaptive reuse, industrial and commercial real estate in urban environments. In addition to his work on the board of Para Los Niños, Mr. Bieker sits on the board of the South Pasadena/San Marino YMCA, the Region 13/Pasadena AYSO soccer program, and the Southpark Stakeholders Group. Mr. Bieker is a member of the American Industrial Real Estate Association and the Los Angeles Board of Realtors.

Secretary
Laura Fox

Ms. Fox has previously served as the head of business and legal affairs in feature films for Dreamworks SKG, as the vice president/legal affairs for Walt Disney Pictures and Touchtone Pictures, and as an attorney with Latham and Watkins. Ms. Fox received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and her law degree from the University of Chicago.

Dean Gallagher

Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean
Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California

Since becoming Dean in 2000, Dr. Gallagher has led her faculty, students, staff and alumni in a mission of strengthening urban education locally, nationally and globally. Under her leadership, the USC Rossier School has risen to #14 among all universities in U.S. News and World Report 2012 national rankings. Its highly innovative masters and doctoral programs prepare educational leaders to be change agents as teachers, administrators, policy leaders and scholars. In 2009, USC Rossier launched its groundbreaking online Master of Arts in Teaching degree, the first of its kind from a major research university, which now enrolls over 2000 students around the country and internationally. In addition, under Dean Gallagher, USC Rossier has formed many effective and successful partnerships with LAUSD. Currently, funded research, training and teacher development is taking place in dozens of schools, and nearly 400 Rossier students are doing fieldwork in over 200 LAUSD schools. In 2010, Dean Gallagher was awarded the Los Angeles Urban League's Social Responsibility Award.

Zac Guevara

Mr. Guevara is a Chartered Financial Analyst® who recently retired as an investment analyst and executive vice president with Capital International Research, Inc. Mr. Guevara joined Capital in 1992 as a participant in “The Associates Program” after graduating from Harvard University with an AB in government. In addition to his leadership with Para Los Niños, Mr. Guevara also serves on the boards of I Have a Dream-Los Angeles and Self Help Graphics.

Chair
R. Christine Hershey
Hershey l Cause

R. Christine Hershey is the founder and catalyst for Hershey|Cause, guiding its overall strategic and creative vision. Passionate about "Communications for Good," she consults regularly with CEOs and senior executives throughout the country, advising on positioning, identity and strategy. Her work in communications has helped shift debate on issues ranging from social justice, racial equality, health care, domestic abuse, and GLBT rights, to immigration reform. As an author and expert, Ms. Hershey's work has appeared in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, The New York Times and The Chronicle of Philanthropy. As a publisher of Why Bad Ads Happen to Good Causes and Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes, Ms. Hershey has helped educate the philanthropic sector regarding best practices. Her first book, the Communications Toolkit, published in 2005, has been distributed in all 50 states, 24 countries and across six continents.

Mark Hickey
Capital International Research

Mark Hickey is an investment analyst and portfolio manager with Capital International Research, a Los Angeles based investment management company. He has research responsibilities for companies in the food, leisure, and housing industries. Mr. Hickey earned an MBA from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BS in Chemical Engineering from University of California, Santa Barbara.

Peter Lopez
Granite Investment Partners, LLC

Mr. Lopez joined Granite Investment Partners, LLC (“Granite”) in 2011 where he is a Principal, Portfolio Manager and team member for the Large Cap Equity product. Granite is an investment advisor specializing in asset management for institutional clients and high net worth families. Prior to joining Granite in 2011, Mr. Lopez was the CEO, Director of Research, and a Principal and Portfolio Manager at Transamerica Investment Management, LLC, which he joined in 2003. While at TIM, he managed portfolios for Core plus Fixed income strategy and Large Cap equity. Prior to joining TIM, he was a managing director Centre Pacific LLC. He previously served as a senior fixed income analyst for Transamerica Investment Services from 1997-2000. Mr. Lopez also served as an assistant vice president at Alliance Capital and an associate at TIAA-CREF. Mr. Lopez has an MBA from the University of Michigan and a BA in Economics from Arizona State University.

Pedro Martí
Wells Fargo

Pedro Martí is a Senior Vice President and Wealth Advisor with Wells Fargo Private Bank. He provides comprehensive wealth management strategies for high net worth individuals, families and foundations. Part of the Wells Fargo family for many years, Mr. Martí previously served as an Analyst in Wells Fargo’s Corporate Development Division, as Chief of Staff to the company’s COO, and helped to develop and implement a professional training program for a new generation of securities and insurance licensed employees in the LA Metro Region of Wells Fargo. Mr. Martí holds a BBA from Emory Goizueta Business School, concentrating in Finance, Entrepreneurship, Human Resource Management, and Financial Services, and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. Mr. Martí is a Board Member of Amanecer Community Counseling Services.

Treasurer
James J. Morrison
The Morrison Company

Jim Morrison has been a licensed California Real Estate Broker for over 30 years. He established Investor Developer Properties in 1979, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Morrison Company. These firms specialize in the sales and acquisitions of industrial and commercial real estate throughout the State of California. Since their inception, they have consummated transactions in excess of $2 billion. Mr. Morrison received his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Accounting from CSULB. He lives in Irvine with his wife Donna, and is active in a number of charitable and civic organizations in Orange County.

Mark Pan
Gap, Inc.

Mark Pan is a Regional Director for Gap Inc., where he oversees all aspects of Gap store operations in the Southwest US including California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawaii.
Prior to joining Gap Inc., he served many years with Target Corporation and Macy’s Inc. as a district team leader, vice president, general manager and regional merchant. Mr. Pan graduated from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a BS in Economics, with a concentration in Marketing.

Francisco Pinto
KMEX

Francisco Pinto is one of the Anchors of Primera Edición for KMEX-TV, the nation’s number one Spanish-language television station. Mr. Pinto joined the station’s news team in August of 1999. Prior to that, he was news and sports anchor for KUVS-TV, Univision 19, an affiliate of Univision in the Stockton, Modesto, and Sacramento area. During his journalism career at Univision 34, Mr. Pinto has interviewed some of the most important sports figures and has covered the most transcendental sporting events including the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup and the 2006 Germany World Cup. Among his most memorable interviews are those with Pele, who some consider to be the best soccer player in history, and former El Salvador President, Antonio Saca. A native of Chile, Mr. Pinto has degrees in Physical Education and Sports Medicine.

Jose Sarabia
Deloitte & Touche

Jose Sarabia is a senior manager in the Los Angeles office of Deloitte & Touche LLP. Mr. Sarabia is responsible for the delivery of assurance and attestation services to firm clients, specializing in the financial services industry. He is primarily involved with the supervision, training, and evaluation of client service professionals in the execution of financial statement audits. Mr. Sarabia graduated with honors from the University of California, Los Angeles, is an active Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and California Society of CPAs.

Glenn A. Sonnenberg
Latitude Management Real Estate Investors

Mr. Sonnenberg is president of Latitude Management Real Estate Investors, Inc., managing institutional and high-net-worth capital in real estate investing throughout the United States. Mr. Sonnenberg serves on the board of directors and executive committee of Bet Tzedek—the House of Justice, southern California’s pre-eminent legal services firm for the indigent, elderly and immigrants. He is proud of a long-standing involvement with the University of Southern California, serving on the USC Alumni Association board of governors and its executive committee, as well as on the board of directors of the USC Friends of the Libraries. A graduate of the University of Southern California, Mr. Sonnenberg also received his J.D. from USC. He is a member of the California and Los Angeles County Bar Associations, guest-lectures at the USC Law School and regularly lectures in the area of real estate finance to professional organizations.

John A. Sussman

Mr. Sussman served as the vice president and director of human resources with Capital Group Companies, Inc., until his retirement in 1995, and served as chairman of the Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation, as well as chairman of Capital Group’s Human Resources Coordinating Group until 1998. Mr. Sussman currently serves on the board of trustees of the California Science Center and of the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, and in the Society of Fellows for the Huntington Library. Mr. Sussman has received the Martin Luther Human Dignity Award from the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles, the YMCA Ketchum Prize for Community Commitment, and the National Philanthropy Day Award from the California Science Center.

Colleen Sweeney
Nestlé USA

Colleen Sweeney has been employed at Nestlë USA for 15 years and is currently the Director of Talent Acquisition Services. In this role, she is responsible for college recruitment, experienced hiring, succession planning and diversity. Ms. Sweeney and her Talent Acquisition Services team are responsible for attracting and retaining top talent at Nestlë USA. Since joining the company in 1992 as a College Recruitment Consultant, Ms. Sweeney has served in a variety of increasingly important functions throughout the human resources arena. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Arizona State University, and also completed the Human Resource certification program at University of California, Irvine.

Robert Zielinski
Riordan, Lewis & Haden

Mr. Zielinski is currently a General Partner at Riordan, Lewis & Haden. He joined the firm in 2004, bringing with him almost a decade of corporate finance and private equity experience. He was formerly with Lake Capital and Trivest. He focuses on specialty distribution and healthcare. Mr. Zielinski holds a B.A. in accounting, with honors, from Michigan State University and an M.B.A. from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago.

 

 

 

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