The Santa Clarita Mentors visited the Santa Clarita Harry Bell memorial at 10 a.m. on Memorial Day, May 25, 2020.
We are so thankful to be able to provide this space for the veterans in Santa Clarita to remember their fallen comrades. This memorial means so much to this group who all continue to give back to veterans in need.
This small group gathered to say a short prayer and honor the memory of veterans they had served with, along with remembering the contributions of Harry Bell.
Jonathon Wolfson will resign his position on the Calabasas City Council effective Dec., 15. He is moving to Bell Canyon, The Acorn has learned.
Wolfson, a lawyer and former member of the city’s planning commission, was elected in March 2005 and re-elected in 2009. He served as mayor of Calabasas from 2009-2010. His term was set to expire in 2013.
“It has been a privilege and honor to be a representative of the residents of Calabasas on the City Council, Wolfson said in a statement.
“I have very much enjoyed my tenure and am proud of the many accomplishments made by our City Council during the last seven years.”
An Agoura High School graduate, Wolfson attended law school in Washington, D.C. before moving to Calabasas with his family in 1997. He served on the Calabasas Planning Commission for two years before being elected to the City Council.
“Although my family and I are sad to be leaving the City of Calabasas, we are looking forward to our new home,” he said, thanking the community for their trust and support.
“(I) know that this city will continue to shine and have a very bright future.”
Mayor James Bozajian said he will miss Wolfson’s expertise and professionalism.
“His intelligent, well-reasoned approach to the issues coming before us was a calming influence at many times when our debates often became quite contentious. In particular, Jonathon’s work in pre-analyzing our annual budgets and his service as our liaison to the school district was exemplary,” Bozajian said.
In coming weeks, the City Council will work publicly to decide whether the vacancy should be filled through an appointment or via special election.
“I’d like to look at all the options and then see what the choices are,” Councilmember Lucy Martin said. “Jonathon has been a dedicated and effective city council official with whom it’s been a pleasure to serve with.”
When Robert Sibilia resigned from the Calabasas council and moved away from the city in 2000, his seat was left vacant and not filled until the 2001 general election. In this year’s city election, Sibilia fell 200 votes shy in his bid to return to the council. Challengers Martha Fritz and Alicia Weintraub followed Sibilia in the voting and might also be potential appointees.
Bozajian said, “I have no intention of voting to leave (the seat) open. I don’t think the public is going to want that.”
A special election would have to wait until April 2012 at the earliest and could cost up to $50,000, The council is likely to save time and money by making an appointment.
The appointment will require votes from three out of the four remaining council members and must be made within 60 days of Wolfson’s departure, or the middle of February.
“I plan to ask the council to hold special meetings to discuss this. If an appointment is decided, we will seek applicants and interview them publicly,” Bozajian said.
Also to be considered is whether or not the council wants a caretaker appointee, one who will fill Wolfson’s term and retire in 2013, or someone who intends to run for a second term, Bozajian said
Mary Sue Maurer, who joined the Calabasas council with Wolfson in 2005, said she will miss her colleague’s kind and thoughtful personna.
“Some of my proudest accomplishments have been projects where I collaborated with Jon including developing a grant funding program for Calabasas schools and creating a number of disaster preparedness programs such as the drive-thru flu clinics and a special needs evacuation contact list,” Maurer said.
Brian is the Principal and founder of Method Campaign Services, Southern California’s leading grassroots solutions shop. Launching Method in 2010 to offer the highest quality field campaigns possible, Method has become the industry leader in the space.
Brian has worked on everything from national presidential campaigns and issue advocacy efforts to local ballot measure efforts and most everything in between. Working across a wide swath of issues and efforts, and with a very large number of consultants and teams across California, Brian either has the best solutions readily available or knows who the best source is to find the most efficient answers possible.
Brian is often asked by press for insights into matters, and has spoken on panels for the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC). Brian and his family reside in Hollywood. Brian grew up in Massachusetts and moved to California while serving in the Marine Corps until 2004.
Responsible for leading the global, commercial strategy for Princess Cruises, a division of Carnival Corp. Total focus on guest experience, including the strategic business transformation of our new and enhanced onboard services using leading edge technology. A 35-year Princess veteran – with diversified leadership experience which includes reinventing our product in many ways through various business cycles, geographies and crises in order to ensure business resilience over time.
Reports to the President of Princess Cruises, currently serves as Chief Commercial Officer accountable for $3B in Cruise Revenue. Leads the Commercial Planning and Strategy teams globally – encompassing new market development, revenue optimization, product management, marketing, sales, and customer service. Developed business cases resulting in significant investments in new ships leading to 20% capacity growth and 40% revenue growth over the past ten years, taking Princess from a largely U.S. domestic brand to a truly global brand.
Recent success has been driven by focusing on the guest – working to reimagine all aspects of the customer journey resulting in strong interest for the Princess brand, and significant improvement in guest satisfaction scores. Diversified experience in demand generation and strategy development of loyalty and vacation club programs, shoreside packages, Food and Beverage offerings, and other guest-centric bundled offerings. As well, crisis management through COVID has provided many personal growth experiences by leading our shipboard and shoreside support teams through the prolonged 18-month pause in operations and now Return to Service. This requires continuous assessment of global risks and opportunities in North America, Australia/New Zealand, Asia, Latin America and Europe considering the new and ever-changing Covid landscape.
Board Member of the Santa Clarita Valley Economic Development Corporation (SCV EDC), recently led a task force to assess and report on future growth plans, impacts from the pandemic, and opportunities to further economic growth of regional businesses in the Santa Clarita Valley. Earned a BA in Marketing with a Minor in French from the University of Utah in 1984, and an MBA from California State University Northridge (CSUN) in 1990. Actively involved with ongoing leadership training and course work at UCLA Business school and continues with personal coaching. Girl Scouts of America member for 15 years; mentors women at Princess and students at CSUN. Based in Los Angeles with husband of 31 years, three grown kids and two dogs. Enthusiastic jazz dancer.
Edward “Eddie” Lorin founded Strategic Realty Holdings, LLC as a culmination of his years of experience in investment real estate and as an offshoot of Strategic Realty Capital (SRC), which he also co-founded. Since 2008, SRC has purchased over 15,000 units in more than 70 transactions valued at over $1 Billion, and has built a strong performing portfolio. All of SRC’s apartment assets were purchased opportunistically and successfully re-positioned into thriving communities. He is an affordable housing preservationist as co-founder of his venture Alliant Strategic to preserve and breathe new life into year 15 LIHTC (Low Income Housing Tax Credit) properties. He is also the founder of Impact Housing REIT, a Reg A+ Crowdfunded Platform to buy and transform neglected apartment buildings into thriving communities that are affordable.
Prior to forming SRC, Eddie Lorin was the exclusive acquisition advisor to a large national apartment company, where he led the acquisition of 110 properties; 25,000+ units contained in over $2 Billion in real estate. He has also handled over $700 million in transactions involving Class A office buildings and retail space for Douglas Emmett/Jon Douglas Commercial, and has sold various sale-leaseback properties with Damon Raike & Company. Eddie Lorin also spent 8 years in the asset management and development of 5 million square feet of shopping centers and industrial complexes while employed by private, entrepreneurial Los Angeles investors.
Eddie Lorin is also the co-founder of the 501C-3 non-profit HAPI Foundation, which was created to promote health and wellness in apartment communities. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and has been a licensed real estate broker since 1988. He is accompanied in life by his Jane and his two college age daughters Jenna and Mara.
Hunt C. Braly has been practicing law in Santa Clarita since 1992, specializing in land use, real estate, and all issues dealing with local and state government.
From July 1983 until December 1992, Hunt served as Chief of Staff to State Senator Ed Davis, the former Los Angeles Police Chief and Vice Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In that capacity, he was integrally involved with the drafting and successful passage of legislation and initiatives.
When Senator Davis retired in 1992, Hunt established his own law and lobbying practice in Santa Clarita. In May 1999, he became a founding partner of Hacker, Kanowsky & Braly, LLP, a full service law firm in Santa Clarita. In 2004, the firm changed its name to HackerBraly, LLP. Mr. Braly specialized in land use, development, and real estate law, along with lobbying matters with the firm until the firm disbanded in July 2011. From July 2011 to 2013, Hunt had his own firm, Hunt C. Braly, Attorney at Law. In 2013 he joined Poole and Shaffery, LLP.
Since 1992, Hunt has been retained as a legislative advocate to represent numerous clients in Sacramento, including the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, Castaic Lake Water Agency, Pacific Voice Track, Voluntary Plan Administrators, Pacific ProVenture Group, Knowaste, The Animal Welfare Alliance, and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority. In addition he is a registered legislative advocate in Los Angeles County, where he has represented the Mountains Conservancy Foundation, Warner Financial Development, the Frawley Family Trust, Premiere Studio Rentals and Hank Arklin. He has performed public affairs work in local communities for clients such as Patrick/Eller Media, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Philip Morris Corporation, Prime West Realty, the Castaic Lake Water Agency, Hank Arklin, Gate/King Partners, Pacific Bay Homes and Public Storage, Inc. Hunt also has worked in conjunction with prominent public affairs firms, such as the Dolphin Group; Stoorza, Metzger and Boyer; and Marathon Communications, on various issues.
In Sacramento, he has been involved in numerous water related legislative issues on behalf of his clients, the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District and the Castaic Lake Water Agency. These activities have included obtaining funding in two statewide bond measures.
He is a graduate in Political Science from the University of Southern California and received his JD from Loyola Law School. He has resided in Santa Clarita since 1989 and is married to Pamela and has two grown daughters, Alex and Morgan.
Donna E. Deutchman is the President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Homes 4 Families where she oversees the development of affordable veteran neighborhoods and comprehensive services that empower low-income veterans and their families to enter the middle class. Donna has more than three decades of experience growing nonprofit organizations and creating the public-private partnerships that empower them to better serve their missions. Through her years of compassionate service to the Southern California community, Donna has developed a rich expertise in fundraising, branding, marketing, advocacy, government affairs, and non-profit business model development.
As CEO of Homes 4 Families, Donna pioneered the outcome-proven Enriched Neighborhood® model, an innovative housing and social service model that addresses the distinct needs of the veteran community. This model was replicated in partnership with the California Department of Veterans Affairs. Donna has overseen the development of more than 144 homes for low-income families in Northern Los Angeles communities including Burbank, Santa Clarita, Pacoima, and Sylmar.
Prior to founding Homes 4 Families, Donna served as the CEO of Habitat for Humanity’s San Fernando/Santa Clarita Valleys chapter, which under her leadership became one of only 5% of Habitat chapters internationally to have built or renovated more than 100 homes – a total of 359 homes. She was responsible for the effective financial, operational and administrative management of the affiliate under the direction of the board of directors, as well as advocacy efforts, development, and construction and governmental affairs.
Donna served as the National Director of Model Development at the Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation where she built partnership models and strategic alliances to support families with members suffering from memory impairment. Donna also served as the President and CEO of ONEgeneration, where she created intergenerational care services and programs for seniors, children, and at-risk youth. This model was nationally recognized as a Congressional Model of Excellence for its success in serving these populations.
Donna has written two pieces of legislation that were passed by the State of California and has helped conduct seminal research for housing and gerontology publications. She is currently a Senior Fellow at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, a past Chair of the Governor’s Interagency Council on Veterans Housing Committee, and past member of the California Department of Housing and Community Development advisory committee. In 2018, she was honored by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal by being named Not-for-Profit Business Woman of the Year.
Bio coming soon..
Jose leads Corporate Development and Strategy at an artificial intelligence software company focused on bringing fairness and transparency to the credit system. He spent several years leading diverse teams of all sizes across different functions as an officer in the United States Marine Corps, where he also served as a helicopter pilot, tactics instructor, and systems development advisor. Jose’s a math geek at heart — driven by purposeful applications of technology that yield accretive social impact. When he’s not nerding out on math or flying helicopters for the Marines, he enjoys traveling with his family and staying active.
Tony has spent the last 25 years as a financial leader in both private and public corporations managing all aspects of finance and accounting. Currently as CFO at The Bouqs Company, the leading farm-to-consumer online floral retailer, Tony manages all aspects of Finance, Accounting, HR and Legal and Administration.
Tony also continues his relationship with CSuite Financial Partners and a marketing partner. With CSuite, Tony has provided senior finance and operations leadership experience in global companies, including SaaS, media and consumer market industries positioning for high growth. He has lead execution of rapidly scaling finance functions and operations support to drive profitability and key drivers of performance. Tony has substantial experience leading negotiation of contracts and business development and executing integration. Tony has served as CFO and CAO for companies including TouchCommerce Inc., a rapidly growing SaaS-based digital interaction technology and service; Efficient Frontier, Inc., a technology-based search engine marketing solutions company; Nextera Enterprises, Inc. and its operating subsidiary, Woodridge Labs, Inc, a publicly-traded consumer products company; Capstone Turbine Corp., a publicly-traded leading producer of low-emission microturbine systems; and, as the Vice President of Finance at ValueClick, Inc., one of the world’s largest integrated online marketing services companies.
Tony began his career at KPMG LLP where he serviced international public and private companies in the manufacturing, retail, distribution, and technology sectors as an assurance senior manager. Tony is a certified public accountant (inactive) with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting from California State University, Northridge.
Rose Rockey has been and owner and CFO of Excel Contractors, Inc. in the Antelope Valley for the past 30 years. Her main duties are to oversee the accounting, contracts, and human resources in the family owned business.
Rose is currently on the Board of Homes 4 Families and has held various Board positions over the last 25 years in Assistance League of Antelope Valley.
Rose resides in the Antelope Valley and is very active in the community. She enjoys golfing, and activities with her family and grandchildren.
Michael has over 35 years of experience in finance and company operations. He has successfully started and operated three companies, several divisions for his employers and has originated, approved or worked out billions of dollars in loans to both corporate and real estate clients. Michael started his career at Union Bank in Los Angeles, where he completed the Management and Credit training program. He has worked for money center, regional and community banks, including Chase Manhattan Bank, Union Bank, Wachovia Bank and China Trust Bank.
Michael is the CEO of Freedom Financial Funds, LLC (Freedom), a Mortgage REIT, dedicated to serving the real estate professional adding value to projects in the western United States. As a leader of a private fund, Michael has overseen the origination of over $1.5 billion in loans and has not taken a loss in nearly twelve years of operations.
Prior to starting Freedom, He successfully started and operated three companies, several divisions for his employers and has originated, approved or worked out billions of dollars in loans to both corporate and real estate clients. Michael started his career at Union Bank in Los Angeles, where he completed the Management and Credit training program. He has worked for money center, regional and community banks, including Chase Manhattan Bank, Union Bank, and China Trust Bank.
Michael serves his community as a board member of Homes 4 Families, as President Elect of Lambda Alpha International, Phoenix Chapter as well as supporting numerous local charities. He Co-chaired, along with Brad Rosenheim, the Citizens Advisory Committee that formulated and gained approval for the Warner Center 2035 Specific Plan, the largest such plan in the City of Los Angeles. He has also served on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for the Building Industry Association of Los Angeles/Ventura and served as a mentor and adjunct professor at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. Michael has a BS in Finance from California State University at Northridge and an MBA from the University of Southern California.
Linda Katz is a Senior Accountant with Katz Accountancy Corporation where she has worked with her husband, Jerry for over 35 years. In her role as a Senior Accountant, she has assisted numerous small businesses with their challenging financial needs.
In addition, Linda & her husband have owned and operated several skilled nursing facilities. In 1999, they began the process of building a 70 unit assisted living. After growing that business into an award-winning community, they made the difficult decision to sell. Even though leaving the residents and amazing staff was heart-wrenching, it allowed her to pursue other interests and form the Jerry N. & Linda J. Katz Foundation where her generosity is felt in the numerous non-profits and individuals that benefit from such an endeavor.
Linda’s other philanthropic work currently includes Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity, an international men’s fraternity, and Harbor House, a homeless program in Thousand Oaks. Because of her devotion and her belief in their Missions, Linda has received recognition for her efforts.
In her spare time, Linda is involved with a woman’s investment club, planning events for charity, bridge, traveling, reading, cooking and spin classes. She and her husband have had the good fortune of having traveled to 70 countries.
Linda is a Mom to her stepson, Jeff, a successful realtor in San Diego.
David Josker is President of Brokerage in the Southwest United States for Colliers International. He is responsible for some of the firm’s most productive offices in the nation, from Colorado, Utah, Nevada and Arizona to Southern California and the islands of Hawaii. Based in Los Angeles, his focus is on advancing Colliers’ growth objectives in the larger region, while ensuring the firm continues to provide best-in-class solutions to our clients.
In his prior role, Mr. Josker was CBRE’s Managing Director of Asset Services for Greater Los Angeles, where he oversaw more than 90 million square feet under management and was responsible for leading more than 225 professionals.
Prior to joining CBRE in Los Angeles, Mr. Josker held a leadership role in the CBRE Phoenix office, where he successfully tripled the size of the Asset Services line of business. Prior to that, he served as a Vice President Operations for Caruso Affiliated Holdings where he was responsible for executive level supervision of the Los Angeles Region.
Mr. Josker is also a veteran, having served in the Infantry in the United States Marines Corps.
Jason Gietter is the Director, Regional Executive for Consumer Banking and Merrill Lynch in the Greater LA Registered Region. Jason and his team are responsible for delivering the enterprise to our customers and clients that visit our Financial Centers each and every day. Jason oversees 12 Market Leaders, 230 Financial Centers and over 200 Financial Solutions Advisors/Bank Financial Advisors across Greater Los Angeles.
In addition to his current role, Jason is the co-chair for the Tri Valley Market President Council, co-chair for the Consumer Investments National Employee Engagement and Diversity & Inclusion council, Line of Business liaison with The Academy and an active member of the Military Support and Assistance Group (MSAG) in the Greater Los Angeles Area. He has been responsible for connecting Bank of America to various Veteran and Active Duty non-profit organizations by providing support and organizing volunteer activities.
Jason is a U.S. Navy Veteran and received his B.A. in Finance from California State University – Northridge. Jason lives in Santa Clarita, CA with his wife Diana and their two children Chloe and Liam.
Richard Doss is one of the founding partners of Pacific Coast Civil, Inc. and has been with the company since its inception in December 1996.
He has worked in the land development field for more than thirty years. He has worked as a design engineer, project planner, and project manager for residential, recreational, municipal and commercial developments throughout Southern California and Nevada. He has served as project engineer and manager on a variety of major developments, including the Lake Sherwood Ranch, Belcaro/Hidden Creek and West Hills/West Creek projects.
As Director of Planning his duties include preparation of project master plans and land use feasibility studies, and coordination with government agencies through the entire approval process. He supervises project design through every phase of responsible development, from the mapping of sensitive species habitat to the creation of long-term restoration plans.
Richard has been a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners since July 1991. He has been a Registered Civil Engineer in California since July 1992.
Eric Steinhauer has 40 years of business experience in diverse industries from general engineering to medical devices to residential construction, both single and multi-family, and metals distribution. As President of Industrial Metal Supply, he has grown the company 8-fold over the last 20 years. At IMS he has led design, construction and financing efforts for over 500,000sq.ft. of concrete tilt-up warehouse space as well as 8 build-out projects.
Eric is currently in the fourth and final phase of developing the 30 acre Prop Park at Van Nuys airport. He has 2 degrees in civil engineering from MIT and an MBA from Stanford. Eric and his wife, Jeanne, have been married 40 years, and enjoy frequent visits from their son and daughter and their spouses, who all live in the LA area.
Mr. Weintraub currently serves as Director of Business Development at ICG Advisors. Offering investment consulting, Outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO), and proprietary multi-manager strategies, ICG Advisors oversees approximately $5 billion in assets for high net worth families, endowments, and foundations.
Previously Mr. Weintraub served as VP, Marketing and Business Development at OSI Digital and Managing Director of Colony American Finance. Mr. Weintraub was a founder of North American Property Preservation Corporation and served as Vice Chairman of Chrysalis Holdings, a provider of early stage capital, infrastructure development and management expertise to growth-oriented companies in the financial services and direct marketing industries.
Mr. Weintraub also served as Managing Director, Corporate Marketing for Countrywide Financial Corporation, and was responsible for all strategy and operations of Countrywide’s Corporate Marketing division, including customer acquisition and retention, branding, sales support, events and sponsorships.
Before joining Countrywide, he served as VP of Business Development at Protocol Services where he was responsible for developing and managing accounts for a 4,000+ employee direct marketing services firm and as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Customer Operations at National Water & Power.
In addition to his work in real estate, marketing and finance, Mr. Weintraub has served as Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of Broadband e2e and Chief Operating Officer of Horizon Foods in Yorba Linda, CA. as well as Managing Partner and CEO of WSDirect a full-service direct response marketing firm whose portfolio of clients included Fortune 500 and prominent California-based companies and organizations.
Brad Rosenheim is President/CEO of the consulting firm of Rosenheim & Associates, Inc. Los Angeles’ premier firm specializing in land-use entitlements and planning, project team management, permit processing and clearances, government and community affairs associated with the land-use entitlement process, strategic planning and public-policy, consulting and analysis for both public- and private-sector clients.
Before he began his own firm, Brad served six years as senior associate in the public policy consulting firm of Emerson & Associates and one year as senior public affairs specialist for C.W. Cook Co., Inc., a land-use planning and public affairs firm in West Los Angeles.
Prior to entering the private sector, Brad served a year as aide, then seven years as deputy, to Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude. As a deputy, he was responsible for the management of the San Fernando Valley portion of Council District 11, serving more than 100,000 constituents. Rosenheim advised the Councilman on all local and regional transportation policy matters, assisted in developing land-use planning policies, strategies and positions and led community outreach and city agency liaison efforts.
As part of his ongoing commitment to the local community, Brad founded The West Valley Boys & Girls Club in January 19951992, and has participated as chairman of the governing board of the Warner Center Children’s Corner, which he helped to create in June 1993. In the summer of 2001, he was honored by the San Fernando Valley Business Journal as one of the San Fernando Valley’s 25 most influential business leaders, and was most recently recognized by the Woodland Hills-Tarzana Chamber of Commerce for his outstanding commitment to community service as the recipient of the 2008 Joseph Staller Award. In 2010 Brad was honored to receive the Clyde Porter Humanitarian Award, presented by the Valley Cultural Center recognizing his commitment to philanthropy and volunteerism.
A graduate of California State University, Northridge, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, he also attended the University of Arizona and the University of Southern California. In 1985, he was the first candidate to graduate from USC with a master’s degree in public administration, a special certification in city management and a focus on public-policy development and implementation.
Brad and his wife, Devon, also a veteran of Los Angeles City Hall, live with their daughter, Whitney, and son, Ryan, in the Los Angeles area.
