PATRICIA WILLIAMS

Patricia Williams is a successful entrepreneur who owns and operates 14 McDonald’s restaurants in the Los Angeles area.

Owning a McDonald’s restaurant was nowhere on Patricia Williams’ radar in 1962 when she left her native New Orleans and headed for college in California.

But today Williams, of Inglewood, Calif., is a successful entrepreneur who owns and operates 14 McDonald’s restaurants in the Los Angeles area with her daughter, Nicole Enearu. Williams cites not being afraid to work hard among factors contributing to her success...(more)

CARLITO JOCSON

Meet Carlito Jocson, one of the partners and Corporate Executive Chef of Yard House Restaurants. A simple fellow with grand taste, this forty-year-old lives to love his family and cook astounding dishes that will floor any food connoisseur. But there is also something behind this relaxed chef, a certain peace and profundity that is as inspiring as the food he lays at your table. This is his story.

The saga begins
“Being Filipino, we love to eat,” begins Carlito’s tale. This food-loving household provided an interesting environment for Carlito. While other kids were taking out the trash, the Jocson kids were prepping food for their mother’s dishes. As his teen years came, he found himself seeking the kitchen even... (more)

ELISE KIM

Elise Kim is the co-founder of Athletes & Entertainers for Kids (AEFK) and serves as volunteer executive director to both AEFK and 9-1-1 for Kids since their respective inceptions.
Elise was headed down a championship path in her sports and entertainment career when her life was abruptly halted by the discovery of her mother, Helen Kim’s breast cancer. Elise and her family fought a 14 year battle against the catastrophic illness with Helen which eventually took her life in 1993.  Helen was both the inspiration and founding patron of the charity.
Elise served as an Assistant Athletic Director for the University of Southern California from 1980 to 1986. She was one of the pioneer women who boldly moved into the “old boys” network of sports. Recognized in the NCAA for her “Hollywood-style” public relations and media work with Cheryl Miller and the USC women’s basketball team, Elise helped pave the way for future media coverage for women’s athletics. Prior to her USC stint she had been appointed as Executive Director of the W.A.I.A.W. (Western Assn...(more)

JACK FLANIGAN, Esquire

Jack Flanigan is one of the patriarchs in the world of California’s public affairs and political strategists. During the last three decades, he has been a key political advisor in numerous statewide campaigns at the presidential, gubernatorial and US senate levels. As a founder of California Strategies and a member of the Flanigan Law Firm, he has been an advisor to some of the largest and most influential companies in the country.
Over the course of his career, Flanigan has developed a special expertise in the management of real estate issues impacted by the public process. He is a former Executive Director and subsequently a board member of the California Housing Council, a coalition of the state’s largest owners and operators of multi-family housing...(more)

CHARLES CULLEN

Charles Cullen is the Director of the Technical Services Division of the Palo Alto Police Department. The division includes 9-1-1, Records, Crime Analysis and public safety technology for Police and Fire. Charles has been with the Department for 17 years and worked for the Oregon State Police in Medford OR prior to being hired by Palo Alto.

Charles has worked on a number of regional, state and national projects. He was the Bay Area Wireless Coordinator for wireless 9-1-1 implementation from 2003-2008. He served on the board of the California Chapter of the National Emergency Number Association (CALNENA) from 2006-2012 and as President of the association in 2008...(more)

MARK JOHNSON

Mark is the Executive Vice President of Grace Management Group. Grace manages a portfolio of companies comprised of home fragrance Brands in varying market segments. Some of the Brands include VOTIVO, Greenleaf, Bridgewater Candle Co. and The Willowbrook Company.

Bridgewater Candle Company was the recipient of:
2013 ICON Honor Award for Community Contribution & Influence
Through its Light a Candle, Feed a Child mission, Bridgewater Candle Company sustains an ongoing program with Rice Bowls by providing a needed meal for every jar candle sold...(more)

STEVE MAULDIN

Steve Mauldin was named President and General Manager of CBS 2 and KCAL 9 in Los Angeles, the largest local television duopoly in the country, in December 2009.

Building on his long track record of significantly improving the performance of local stations and leading them to first place in late news, Mauldin has been responsible for overseeing a renaissance at CBS 2 and KCAL 9, highlighted by dramatic across-the-board ratings growth for the stations’ daily 11-and-a-half hours of local newscasts, the addition of weekend morning newscasts and “Eye on Our Community” news specials...(more)

RICHARD “Dick” McCARTHY

Richard McCarthy has served as the Executive Director for the California Seismic Safety Commission since 1995. The California Seismic Safety Commission was established by legislation in January 1975 to set goals and priorities for earthquake safety and advises the Governor and the State Legislature on earthquake risk reduction issues. In addition, the Commission is responsible for developing and maintaining the California Earthquake Loss Reduction Plan. This document is a comprehensive strategic plan that sets forth statewide policy and direction in pursuit of the vision for a safer California.

Prior to joining the Seismic Safety Commission, Mr. McCarthy worked as the senior engineering geologist for the California Coastal Commission from 1979 to 1990...(more)

KIT MIYAMOTO, S.E., Ph.D.

Dr. H. Kit Miyamoto, CEO of Miyamoto International, president of nonprofit Miyamoto Global Disaster Relief, a director of the World Trade Center, Northern California, and a California Seismic Safety Commissioner, built a global earthquake engineering firm with one simple mission: make the world a better place.
To Kit, this is much more than a catchy tagline. While assessing earthquake damaged houses in Haiti after the 2010 killer quake there, he saw children attending dangerous schools he knew could collapse in the next earthquake – and formed a nonprofit, Miyamoto Global Disaster Relief -- to help the government and communities there repair these public schools.
From signature high-performance engineering projects such as the iconic Theme Building at LAX to helping developing countries mitigate disaster risk, more than 15,000 projects have been successfully completed under his leadership worldwide...(more)

WILLIAM “Billy” ZAGGER

William “Billy” Zagger is the founder and CEO of B-Train Films, an Emmy Award-winning production company, that creates original, compelling and visually stimulating programming that connects audiences with stories that resonate. B-Train’s narrator-free documentary-style is the truest form of reality television: untainted by viewpoints, preferences or prejudices. B-Train’s philosophy is to act as a conduit, delivering inspirational and enlightening messages from the screen to the audience.

Billy’s storytelling methods were the backbone of such programs as ESPN’s SportsCentury and the revolutionary 24/7 series featuring the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns and Oakland Raiders. One look at NFL Network’s Six Days to Sunday or HBO Boxing’s 24/7 series and the impact of Billy’s work is clear...(more)

MARK ZAVERL

Mark Zaverl and US Best Repair Service, Inc. have been at the forefront of community issues since its 2006 inception, beginning as a small default mortgage field services business focused on preserving the values of local neighborhoods by remedying residential blight. He established the benchmark of excellence in his industry by expediting quality services for hundreds of thousands of properties throughout communities in all 50 states with the U.S. Best proprietary methodology.

One word that undoubtedly characterizes Mark is grit. Examples of this grit are prevalent throughout the early years, beginning with waking up at 5am at 9 years of age to complete his paper route before beginning elementary school. During high school, Mark continued this dynamic of hard work & dedication by filling his typical 14 hour day delicately balancing a full time course schedule and managing a gas station...(more)

DAVID QUINTO, Esquire

David W. Quinto has been part of the firm since its creation on January 1, 1986. His practice focuses on intellectual property matters, with an emphasis on copyright, trademark, trade secret and Internet-related claims. He is principally responsible for protecting the rights of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the OSCAR and ACADEMY AWARDS marks. He has also protected intellectual properties owned by Lockheed Martin, Mattel, Avery Dennison, the World Wrestling Federation, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Producers Guild of America, and the America’s Cup Organizing Committee.

Mr. Quinto’s most recent book, Trade Secrets: Law and Practice (co-authored with Stuart Singer) was published by Oxford University Press in 2009, second edition 2012, third edition expected in 2014 (to be published by Lexis/Nexis)...(more)

KELLI PERROT

DEBBIE RAMIREZ

LISA HOFFMAN, ENP

Although retired, Lisa Hoffmann is the western regional director of NENA (Natl. Emergency Number Assn.), representing every state from Colorado to Hawaii, and north to Alaska. It is a volunteer job that Hoffmann has been doing for 13 years, and she is running for another two-year term in June. So, she’ll still be working. She just won’t be getting paid for it.

Lisa lives in El Sobrante with her husband, Erik Hoffmann, who runs a hardware store in Oakland. She never thought she’d be in the 911 industry, either. When she started her career, 911 did not even exist in Contra Costa County, where she grew up, graduated from Antioch High (as Linda Murray) and still lives. She was a single mom and college dropout who needed a job with security and benefits. She applied to be a sheriff’s deputy in Contra Costa County, but the clerk read the application wrong, thinking she was applying to be a dispatcher.So she took the dispatch test, and the next thing she knew she was handed a headset in the Martinez dispatch center. She can still remember the day, April 12, 1982.