Advisory Board California
Marcia Choo has worked in the private and public sectors as well as holding teaching assignments. Currently, she serves as Vice President of Community Relations at Wells Fargo Bank focused on reinvestment in and revitalization of low-income communities. She held director-level positions at two national museums and in municipal government. She holds an MSSW from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts from UCLA. She serves as a board member for the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Genesis LA (CDFI), LA Mas Advisory Board, Los Angeles Business Council, and is affiliated with the Trust for Public Land.
Val is a former Apple executive, now working as a sales and marketing consultant. While at Apple, Val created the iTunes Gift Card program and turned it into a $5B business. Prior to joining Apple, he held leadership positions at Hewlett-Packard and several Silicon Valley start-ups.
Lisa Craypo, MPH, RD, is Principal at Ad Lucem Consulting, has 20+ years of experience in strategic planning, initiative design, philanthropic advising, program evaluation and research. She has successfully led numerous clients through strategic planning processes, conceptualized and managed funding initiatives, designed and conducted program evaluations, provided training and technical assistance, and developed innovative tools to meet client needs.
Lucy Finn is a senior managerial health care consultant for Kaiser Permanente. She works primarily on programs that improve care and support patients with Diabetes, Hypertension, and a history of heart attack or stroke. Lucy graduated with a Masters of Public Health (MPH) from Columbia University. She went on to work at the San Francisco Department of Public Health and to lobby for global rights for the elderly at the UN for AARP before joining Kaiser.
Lawrence N. Gelb is the founder and former President and CEO of CareCounsel, LLC, a pioneer in employer-sponsored healthcare advocacy services headquartered in San Rafael, California. Lawrence N. Gelb founded CareCounsel in 1998 and was CEO until 2014, two years after the firm was acquired by Stanford Health Care. Before founding CareCounsel, Dr. Gelb held senior positions at Foundation Health Corporation, Occupational Health Services, Preferred Health Care and Kaiser Permanente's Total Health Care Program.
Kathryn Welch Howe is the President of KWH Associates, Inc., a preservation and adaptive reuse planning firm. KWH has been responsible for pioneering work transforming historic buildings and resources to affect positive community change and development. Her work with the Getty Conservation Institute on SurveyLA fully linked historic preservation with sound local planning. Her adaptive reuse projects such as New York’s Grand Central Terminal and Los Angeles Cathedral of Saint Vibiana economically restored these city icons with cultural and civic purpose.
Alex M. Johnson is a program director at The California Wellness Foundation where he manages a broad portfolio focused on environmental justice, community safety, gun violence prevention, and youth justice. Prior to Cal Wellness he served as managing director of Californians for Safety and Justice and as executive director of Children’s Defense Fund-California. Alex previously led education, youth development, and public safety efforts for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. He began his career in New York City advocating for domestic violence victims as an assistant district attorney in Bronx County and previously clerked at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia.
Dan Martin, San Francisco, CA, is active in land conservation from the Pacific Ocean to Lake Tahoe.
Michael, from San Francisco CA, has been a Northern California real estate investor for over 30 years. He is the co-chair of California Advisory Board for the Trust for Public Land and a member of the National Board.
Desirée Portillo Rabinov is Senior Transportation Planning Manager for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
As head of Philanthropy & Community Outreach for Twitter, Karl leads the company’s efforts to invest in meaningful, positive and lasting change in the world. These investments focus on equality in workforce development; internet safety and education; freedom of expression and civil liberties; emergency response and disaster recovery; and combating the effects of global climate change.
Laura Shell, Beverly Hills, CA, has maintained a 20-year career working in local government and with environmental organizations.
Vanessa Smith is a Government and Community Relations Specialist for Boeing in Southern California where she manages the company’s environmental portfolio. In this position, Smith partners with non-profit, non-governmental organizations in the region to invest corporate and local resources, supporting sustainable, positive impact in communities where Boeing employees live and work. Prior to this position, Smith was responsible for engaging with employees to address community needs through traditional and skills-based volunteerism.
Bob Valliere is Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer for CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA insurer. With more than 100 years of experience serving AAA members, CSAA Insurance Group offers automobile, homeowners, and other personal lines of insurance to AAA members through AAA clubs in 23 states and the District of Columbia. CSAA Insurance Group, with over $4 billion in annual revenue is one of the top personal lines property and casualty insurers in the United States.
Aaron Vermut is a member of the California Advisory Council.
Francesca Vietor has been a dedicated voice and advocate for the environment for more than three decades from her early days at Rainforest Action Network to the founding of San Francisco’s first Environment Department to her current job as Senior Advisor on the Environment to the San Francisco Foundation. In addition to advising high-net worth individuals on environmental and equity-focused grantmaking, Francesca’s current job includes managing the Youth Access to Nature Fund and Oakland Goes Outdoors Initiative to get Bay Area youth off their screens and into nature.
Trina Villanueva serves as Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, covering Northern California and the Central Valley for MUFG Union Bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility for the Americas group. In this role, Trina manages the philanthropic strategy in the region; oversees employee engagement and volunteer activities for bank employees; and creates opportunities for partnerships with nonprofit organizations as well as government entities and private corporations. She has more than 20 years of community development and community relations experience.
Keith Weaver is Executive Vice President, Global Policy and External Affairs, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE). Mr. Weaver was elevated to this position in August 2011 and started as Vice President for the company in June 2002. Mr. Weaver oversees all of SPE's community affairs as well as its government and public policy activities across the globe. He works closely with SPE's operating units and corporate staff groups to develop a legislative and regulatory agenda that supports the business strategies and initiatives of the Company's motion picture, television, home entertainment and digital entertainment divisions. Mr. Weaver also coordinates SPE’s government activities with Sony’s other U.S. operating companies such as Sony Music, Sony Electronics and Sony Computer Entertainment.
Chris Wimers is a professor of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His research seeks to understand how climate change and habitat alteration impacts wildlife populations such as African lions and leopards in Kenya, wolves in Yellowstone, and pumas in California. In his spare time he is assisting the Wildlife Conservation Network to develop a California program focused on maintaining and restoring wildlife connectivity for species such as pumas and deer.
Ward Wolff is Associate Director of Upstart Co-Lab, a project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors focused on investing for social and environmental impact in creative enterprises and real estate. Ward oversees Upstart’s strategic partnerships, field building efforts, research, and investment pipeline. In this role Ward has worked with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) on the development and launch of the NYC Inclusive Creative Economy Fund and co-authored “The Community Reinvestment Act and the Creative Economy” published by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
Michelynn (Miki) Woodard, Los Angeles, CA is director of Good Robot at Bad Robot Productions, and executive director of the Katie McGrath & J. J. Abrams Family Foundation. At Bad Robot, she leads philanthropic campaigns, employee activations, and crosscutting initiatives that foster an inclusive and diverse company culture. Most recently, she has led the design and implementation of programs intended to immerse employees in histories of marginalization and discrimination, in an effort to bring these stories to the forefront of Bad Robot’s equity and inclusion work.
