Jim Berliner is currently the Chairman of Westmount Partners, a wealth management firm he co-founded in 1990. Based in Century City, Westmount manages approximately $5 billion on behalf of its clients. Westmount primarily serves the investment and planning needs of individuals, families, nonprofits, and pension plans. Prior to establishing Westmount, Jim practiced law in Los Angeles, both in the private sector and as a federal prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. There he served as Assistant Chief of the Criminal Division. Jim is a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School. Westmount is deeply committed to supporting the Los Angeles community, through its financial commitments and the direct involvements of members of its team.  Jim has served on the Investment Committee of the California Community Foundation since 2010, and was a CCF board member for the maximum three terms. During that time Jim also served on several other CCF committees and was Board Chair for two years. Jim and his wife, Diane, have three adult children and one grandchild.

Christy Remey Chin has devoted her career to advancing social entrepreneurship and championing high-impact philanthropy. At the DRK Foundation, she was instrumental in finding, funding and supporting DRK entrepreneurs, as well as cultivating and engaging DRK’s network of donor partners. Prior to DRK, Christy was the Deputy Director at the Hewlett Foundation’s The Philanthropy Workshop West. Christy also served as a Senior Program Officer at the Skoll Foundation. She worked as a research associate at the Harvard Business School, supporting Greg Dees who defined social entrepreneurship.   Christy received her MBA from the Harvard Business School and holds a BA in History from Colgate University. Christy currently serves as the board treasurer on Food Forward, Save The Waves, the Santa Cruz Scholastic Surf League, the NVCA’s Venture Forward and Vote.org.  

Jason Crayne is a financial and operational executive who has served in leadership roles for companies in agriculture, consumer products, media, technology, and professional services. Jason has over fifteen years of experience helping organizations improve operational effectiveness and achieve desired outcomes. He has worked with numerous companies of all sizes (from start-up to multi-national) and developed deep relationships with his clients and partners. Jason can usually be found cooking for his family and friends, roasting coffee, and trying to keep his little girl from sharing her raspberries with the family dog.

Jedd Gold is the CEO & co-founder of Artkive, the leading service and app that solves the problem for parents of what to do with all the art kids create. Previously, Jedd co-founded a gaming company that built virtual training games for corporations and the government. He has held senior executive positions in the entertainment and interactive industries, and received his MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Business. Jedd is the father of two girls and can be found regularly walking farmers markets, in a yoga studio, or cooking for family and friends.

Neil Haltrecht worked at Decurion Corporation for nineteen years ending in 2010. In his roles as chief operating officer and then chief strategy and finance officer, Neil oversaw all business operations and led business planning, strategy development, and value creation processes for Decurion and its businesses: Robertson Properties Group (RPG), Arc Light Cinemas, and Pacific Theatres. He was the president of RPG where he oversaw all activities including the development, acquisition and management of real estate, primarily in California, Seattle and Hawaii. Since leaving Decurion Neil has pursued a variety of philanthropic and personal interests. Since 2010 he has been an active member of Home for Good, an initiative to end chronic and veteran homelessness in Los Angeles County. Neil obtained his master’s degree in business administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. A James McGill Scholar, he received his Bachelor of Commerce degree with distinction from McGill University.

Jeff Harris is the founder of JB Harris Consulting, a firm focused on supporting nonprofit organizations with strategic planning, executive coaching and partnerships. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Golden Globe Foundation, a nonprofit organization supporting underrepresented communities in Southern California seeking to thrive in the creative arts and journalism, film preservation and free speech protections worldwide. He recently served as the Director of School and Community Partnerships for the Compton Unified School District where he brought resources, programs and funding to the students and schools in this award-winning school district. Jeff created opportunities for enrichment and connection for over 20,000 K-12 students in a wide variety of curricular areas—the Arts, technology, literacy, athletics and more. Jeff is the former Chief Executive Officer of The Junior State of America Foundation, an organization that he was involved in for more than 25 years—as a high school student leader, program director, civic educator and mentor to students. Jeff spearheaded JSA’s engagement efforts to schools and students in low-income underrepresented communities.

Brian Lazarus is a partner at Ziffren Brittenham, LLP, an entertainment boutique law firm in Los Angeles, California.  Brian’s practice includes representing content creators of all kinds, including actors, writers, athletes and on-camera media personalities, directors, rights holders, production companies, and independent studios in all aspects of the entertainment and media business.   

Brian has extensive experience in the branding and endorsement space where he has negotiated significant brand partnerships and endorsements for many of his celebrity clients, and in his spare time co-teaches the Name, Image and Likeness Clinic at UCLA Law School providing pro-bono advice and counsel to UCLA student athletes.

Brian graduated from Northwestern in 1996 and attended Georgetown University Law Center, where he was a member of the Georgetown University Law Review and graduated Order of the Coif, Magna Cum Laude in 1999.

In addition to being a member of the Food Forward Board, Brian also is a member of the Advisory Board of UCLA’s Institute for Carbon Management, which pioneers research and technology development to create transformative carbon management solutions.

Brian and his wife Heather live in Los Angeles.  They spend their weekends traveling to wherever the club sports schedule for their two children, Rebecca and Haley, dictates.

Cindy Lee is a government relations professional with experience in legislative advocacy, public policy analysis, community engagement, and program development. She has spent time working in the public and private sector as well as serving local and federal elected officials. In community work, Cindy has engaged with organizations on hunger reduction, leadership development of Asian American young professionals, and youth mentorship. During Cindy’s undergraduate career, she spent time abroad at Peking University in Beijing, China and Lund University in Lund, Sweden to study the intricacies of education policy in the international arena. Cindy has Bachelor’s degrees in Political Science and Social Policy with a Minor in Education Policy from University of California, Irvine, and a Master’s degree in Public Policy with an emphasis in Homeland Security Policy from the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy, where she was awarded the Jane Pisano Award for Exemplary Community Service. In her free time, Cindy enjoys exploring new eateries, reading a book, or trying to catch a sunset.

As a tax lawyer, Shari Leinwand specialized in estate planning, charitable giving and advising nonprofit organizations in their formation and operations. She has served on and consulted with numerous nonprofit boards, both during her legal career and since retirement. She has a strong commitment to the preservation and promotion of human rights. Her love of food and appreciation of fresh produce are in her bones; her brother was a farmer, and her mother a cooking instructor and the first Food Editor of Bon Appetit magazine. As a member of the Board of Food Forward, she has the opportunity to meld these two passions in service of its mission.

Before founding Food Forward in 2009, Rick was an award-winning photographer and writer who focused on the faces and stories of marginalized communities. His formal training as a cook, along with his exploration of California’s agricultural workforce in his body of work entitled “The Migrant Project: Contemporary California Farm Workers” gave him a deep appreciation of and involvement in both the gourmet cooking and food justice worlds. These varied interests, along with his conviction that access to healthy, fresh, nutritious food is a human right, culminated in him coming aboard as full-time Executive Director of Food Forward in 2011.

He’s spoken internationally on food justice and social innovation issues, and his work has been profiled in dozens of media outlets including The Washington Post, PBS NewsHour, The Guardian, Sunset Magazine, NPR, and The Los Angeles Times. Rick has served as a regional delegate to the Slow Food/Terra Madre Conference in Torino and as a Ralph M. Parsons Fellow, and won Fast Pitch competitions for Food Forward in California and Texas. He received an inaugural Trailblazer Award by the International Association of Culinary Professionals in 2016, and the TIAA Difference Maker award in 2018. He was named a Food Champion by LA City Council, a 2017-18 Senior Fellow at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Policy, one of 40 Inspiring Leaders by the Center for Nonprofit Management, and a 2020 Impact-Maker to Watch by Los Angeles City Council & Board of Supervisors. Rick serves on the Leadership Circle of the LA Food Policy Council.

Pamela Schwartz, MPH, is executive director of community health for Kaiser Permanente. She leads the organization’s national food-security strategy and other social health priorities, including ensuring that social health interventions are integrated seamlessly into care and services provided to Medicaid members and across all lines of business. Pam and her team created the organization’s earliest outreach campaigns to help eligible members enroll in public-benefit programs. With deep experience designing, testing and scaling social health interventions and collaborating across sectors to inform and shape public policy, Pam oversees Kaiser Permanente’s $50 million Food is Medicine commitment, made alongside its role in the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health.  As an early advocate in the Food is Medicine movement, Pam has helped establish the evidence base and business case for addressing food and nutrition insecurity at Kaiser Permanente and in health care systems across America. Pam has over 25 years’ experience in community health strategy and evaluation. She serves on many advisory committees and expert panels and has authored several journal articles. She is currently on faculty at the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine. Pam has a master’s degree in public health and completed Kaiser Permanente’s Executive Leadership Program at Harvard Business School. On her free time, Pam enjoys travel, relaxing at the beach, outdoor adventure, playing soccer, and reading.

Rob Valencia is an attorney with 30 years of experience representing nonprofit healthcare organizations including hospitals, community clinics, and medical foundations in the areas acquisitions, regulatory compliance, governance, and strategic planning. A former partner in the healthcare law firm of Hooper, Lundy & Bookman, and senior attorney at Dignity Health, Robert started his own law practice in 2013 so he could better pursue his interest in serving community based nonprofit organizations such as Food Forward, Foothill Family Service, Union Station Homeless Services, and Kids Charities of the Antelope Valley. Robert is a native of Los Angeles and graduate of California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo and the Pepperdine School of Law.

Donella Wilson, CPA, is the nonprofit practice leader at GHJ, an accounting, tax and advisory firm headquartered in Los Angeles. Donella is also President and Chief Philanthropy Officer of GHJ Foundation, GHJ’s vehicle for purposeful and proactive giving to the community. Committed to ending homelessness for women, Donella served for thirteen years on the Board of Directors of the Downtown Women’s Center, one of Food Forward’s partner agencies. She continues to serve on the Downtown Women’s Center’s Audit Committee and is also a member of SoCalGrantmakers Audit Committee. Donella enjoys volunteer work, travel and outdoor adventure, with reading and hiking being her favorite past-times.

Betty Zamorano-Pedregon is Director of the CCRC Head Start 0-5 Program, serving the San Fernando Valley and Antelope Valley, since 2010. She has worked at the Child Care Resource Center for 25 years, since 1994.

In her current role as Head Start/Early Head Start and State Preschool Director at the Child Care Resource Center, Betty is responsible for oversight of over 350 staff and maintenance of twenty-six Head Start centers throughout low-income communities in North Los Angeles County. Her and her current team of 12 managers monitor interconnected projects, formulate strategies and define project objectives. She also directed Project Managers while developing deadlines and budgets that would maximize returns on investment. As an experienced Program Director, Betty has a deep understanding of project management methods. She possesses excellent leadership and communication skills and proven problem-solving abilities.

Betty is a proud graduate of the California State University, Los Angeles and California State University, Northridge. During her time at California State University, Los Angeles, she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Child Development and received a Master’s of Science Degree in Child and Family Studies from California State University, Northridge. In addition, Betty is a graduate of the 2015 UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Head Start Management Fellows Program and the 2016 NIKE STARTingBlock Head Start Management Program. Betty is a recent Riordan Leadership Institute (RLI) Fellow and Graduate. As an RLI Intern, she had the opportunity to work with Food Forward Board members and staff on an 8-month project from November, 2018 to July, 2019.  RLI fellows have the tools to be effective nonprofit board members, including a clear understanding of board governance, fiscal responsibilities, fundraising, giving pro bono service, corporate social responsibility and personal leadership development.