People

Jarrett Barrios

Jarrett Barrios serves as the Senior Vice President of Strategic Community & Programmatic Initiatives for the California Community Foundation. At the Foundation, he oversees organizational strategy and leads all CCF programmatic initiatives, marketing, communications, policy, and advocacy.

Prior to CCF, Barrios has served as CEO of American Red Cross of Los Angeles, the Massachusetts Red Cross, GLAAD, and the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation. From 1999 to 2007, he served in the Massachusetts legislature with a focus on progressive policy issues including affordable housing, community safety, health access, and consumer protection. Barrios is an appointed member of the Los Angeles County Advisory Council for the Center for Strategic Partnerships and Covered California Board of Directors, is the immediate past president of the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, and serves on the boards of the Nathan Cummings Foundation in New York City, the Center on Law and Social Policy in Washington, DC, and the Online Progressive Engagement Network (OPEN) in Barcelona, Spain. He has previously served as vice-chair of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund in New York, and on the boards of Families USA, the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, and Preservation of Affordable Housing, Inc.

Barrios earned his A.B. magna cum laude in Social Studies from Harvard College and his J.D. cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center. He is currently a candidate for an M.A. in Spanish Language & Literature from California State University in Los Angeles.

Marsha Bonner

Marsha E. Bonner joined the Annenberg Foundation in 2015 and has close to 40 years of grantmaking experience. At the Annenberg Foundation, she is responsible for oversight of Programs, Grants Administration, the Alchemy program – a capacity building and training initiative – and the impact investing program. A graduate of Princeton University, she has served on the board of more than 20 philanthropic organizations.

Christine Essel

Chris Essel is President and CEO of Southern California Grantmakers. Since her appointment in February 2013, Chris has led SCG to triple its membership base, foster relationships with government agencies, innovate on programming, and build a strong advocacy arm. She brings a wealth of experience to SCG, including a deep knowledge of the region and a passion for forging creative solutions to complex community challenges.

Michael Fleming

Michael Fleming is the Executive Director of the David Bohnett Foundation, a grantmaking foundation charged with “improving society through social activism”. Fleming has served on numerous boards and commissions including the Los Angeles Board of Water Power Commissioners―the five member panel that oversees the nation’s largest public utility. He previously served as the President of the East Los Angeles Area Planning Commission and as a Commissioner on the Board of the Los Angeles Convention Center. In 2010, President Barack Obama named Fleming to the White House Council for Community Solutions. He is the past Chairman of the Board of public radio powerhouse KCRW and an adjunct professor of organizational development and public policy at UCLA.

Julia Orozco

Julia Orozco has over 22 years of experience working for the County of Los Angeles.  She currently works as the Acting Branch Manager over the Policy Implementation and Alignment Branch.  Prior to serving in this role, she has held various positions within the Chief Executive Office, including  Acting Senior Manager over the Economic Development and Affordable Housing Division, Manager of the Economic Development Unit, and as a Principal Analyst under the Office of Cannabis Management and the Unincorporated Area Services Division, researching, analyzing and making recommendations on various operational and policy matters related to cannabis policy and the administration of municipal services in the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County.  Prior to her career at the Chief Executive Office, she spent 8 years as a Senior Deputy to LA County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke advising and making recommendations on Affordable Housing and Economic Development policy.  She has a Bachelor’s in History and Chicana/o Studies and a Master’s in Urban Planning with a concentration on Community Development from the University of California, Los Angeles.  Ms. Orozco is a graduate of the Hispanas for Political Equality’s Leadership Institute and an alumna of the German Marshall Fund’s American Marshall Memorial Fellowship. 

Nina Revoyr

Miguel A. Santana

Miguel A. Santana is the President and CEO of the Weingart Foundation, a private grantmaking foundation that partners with communities across Southern California to advance racial, social, and economic justice for all. The Foundation’s vision is a dynamic and effective social change sector in Southern California that is creating equitable systems and structures needed to achieve justice.

Miguel has over 30 years of experience leading numerous fiscal, legislative, political, and community issues. He served as President and CEO of Fairplex since 2016, a non-profit community benefit regional organization based in Pomona, CA. Previously, Miguel was the City Administrative Officer for the City of Los Angeles, where he oversaw the City’s $9 billion budget and designed the City’s first comprehensive homeless strategy, resulting in a $1.2 billion voter-approved housing bond and a doubling of the City’s general fund investment on programs to end homelessness. Prior to joining the City, Miguel served as one of five Deputy Chief Executive Officers for Los Angeles County overseeing all social service programs supporting children, families, veterans and persons experiencing homelessness.

Miguel has engaged in many civic efforts to create a more equitable Los Angeles region, including serving as Chair of the Committee for Greater LA.  He has served on numerous non-profit boards including the Whittier College Board of Trustees. Miguel has a B.A. in Sociology and Latin American Studies from Whittier College and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University.

John Wagner

John A. Wagner is the Executive Vice President of First 5 LA’s Center for Child and Family Impact (CCFI). In this role, John is responsible for leading the CCFI’s systems change efforts to change policy and practice and build public will to prioritize and improve outcomes for young children in Los Angeles County.

John first joined the early childhood advocacy and public grantmaking organization as Chief Operating Officer in December 2012, building on his nearly two decades of experience in running a number of state departments in the health and human services arena. In August 2016, John was promoted to the position of Executive Vice President. Prior to joining First 5 LA, John served as Director of the California Department of Community Services and Development from 2011-2012, and Director of the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) from 2007-2011. At CDSS, he oversaw a budget of over $20 billion and programs affecting California’s most vulnerable residents including foster children and youth; children and families receiving aid through the California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs); and children and adults in state-licensed community care facilities.

John has served as senior policymaker and advisor to both Republican and Democratic administrations in Wisconsin, Massachusetts and California. Prior to coming to California, he served as the Assistant Secretary for Children, Youth and Families for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, where he coordinated policies and programs across many state agencies. Additionally, John served as the state’s Commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance, overseeing the state welfare agency from 2002 to 2007.

John earned a master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, a master’s degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree from Marquette University.

Winnie Wechsler

Winnie Wechsler is executive director of the Anthony & Jeanne Pritzker Family Foundation, which for over a decade has been investing in strengthening many of the unique institutions that define Los Angeles.  The Foundation aims to enrich our community not just for the present, but for generations to come, with particular focus on medicine, higher education, the environment, and the arts.  In 2014, the foundation launched Pritzker Foster Care Initiative to highlight its commitment to supporting transition age foster youth and the families that care for them.

Winnie’s interest in the potential of technology to improve child welfare stems from her decades of experience in both the public and private sectors.  Before joining the Foundation in 2012, Ms. Wechsler served as executive director of Phoenix Houses of California, a substance abuse treatment and mental health services organization, for nine years. Before working in non-profit management, Ms. Wechsler worked for twenty years in media and communications, including serving as a senior executive at The Walt Disney Company for 14 years. While at Disney, she headed up new business development for the Disney Channel and started up and managed Disney.com.  In 1999, she left Disney to launch Lightspan, an education technology start-up that she helped take public in 2000.

Ms. Wechsler is a board member of Foster Care Counts, a non-profit started by Jeanne Pritzker, which helps raise awareness and serve the needs of foster youth and families in Los Angeles. She has lived with her family for over 20 years in Santa Monica, where she is a commissioner on the City of Santa Monica’s Social Service Commission and a member of the Executive Steering Committee of Community for Excellent Public Schools.  She holds a BA from Wellesley College in Russian Studies and an MBA from The Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.

Rochelle Alley

Rochelle Alley is CEO of Big Orange Splot, LLC, specializing in cross-sector social enterprise management for nonprofit, governmental, philanthropic, and for-profit entities working to realize a better world for children and families. Alley’s commitment to child well-being work started as a tutor to incarcerated mothers. This formative experience sparked a lifelong journey that spanned teaching preschool, coaching gymnastics, overseeing wide portfolios of social services, and ultimately 20+ years leading and consulting for organizations nationwide.

Kate Anderson

Kate is the Executive Director of the Center for Strategic Partnerships where she synergistically and strategically combines LA County government and local philanthropic foundations expertise and resources to improve child welfare. In addition, Anderson develops and strengthens new and existing partnerships to leverage federal, state and private dollars to serve LA’s youth, families and communities. Anderson advocated for better policies and systems while working with area nonprofits and as Director of Children Now, where she connected the organization’s policy work to the community. Anderson previously served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Jane Harman, trained as an attorney and served as Counsel to the U.S. Congress, Government Reform Committee, in Washington, D.C.

Olivia Celis

Olivia Celis worked with the L.A. Department of Mental Health for nearly 15 years, beginning as a child and family therapist and ending as Deputy Director for the Children’s System of Care. After leaving DMH, Olivia worked in a variety of consulting roles, both statewide and with community-based organizations, with an emphasis on underserved communities. Olivia was also an associate professor in the DSW program at USC. She worked with Casey Family Programs and the Center to support L.A. County’s implementation of Continuum of Care reform and 21st Century Child Welfare initiatives, with a special focus in the Antelope Valley. Most recently, she has been leading COVID prevention and vaccine efforts targeting disproportionately affected communities and geographic areas. Olivia recently accepted the position of Los Angeles Field Office Senior Director for Casey Family Programs.

Elizabeth Cohen

Lizzie leads the Center’s Youth Development and Empowerment work, as well as the Center’s faith-based recruitment efforts, working with partners to identify, build, and advance joint initiatives to better serve youth and families throughout the County. Lizzie has both private sector and political experience, formerly serving in the Office of Scheduling and Advance for President Barack Obama and working at Facing History and Ourselves, a major educational nonprofit organization. She is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and Bates College

Jill Currie

Jill Currie is a communications strategist with a passion for equity, community-led solutions, and the written word. She specializes in creating stories and experiences that advance human services systems change and ultimately improve the lives of children, youth, and families.

Sandy Escobedo

Sandy Escobedo is a daughter of immigrants from Mexico and El Salvador. Her identity as a daughter of immigrants is what fuels her desire to make Los Angeles a model for shared prosperity in the 21st century. As a consultant, she enjoys working on strategic planning, project management, and fund development.

Maria de la Luz Garcia

Maria is a seasoned strategist and public administration professional with extensive experience working for local governments in forming public-private partnerships. She currently oversees the LA n Sync Initiative at the California Community Foundation, a civic initiative that utilizes public-private partnerships to spur innovation and attract funding to address the critical needs of Los Angeles County.

Dr. Tamara Hunter

Dr. Hunter is the Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Commission for Children and Families. She is a macro-practitioner deeply invested in transforming the child welfare system and dedicated to improving life outcomes for children and their families.

Piper Kamins

Piper Kamins is a program officer at The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, and strategic liaison to the Center team.  Her previous nonprofit experience includes program management in homeless services and youth development, and consulting in criminal and juvenile justice.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from UC Berkeley, and a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.  Piper was born and raised in Los Angeles.

Kaci Patterson

Kaci Patterson is Owner and Principal of Social Good Solutions, a boutique consulting firm in Los Angeles. Kaci brings over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors and is widely recognized for her expertise in equity-centered grantmaking and community-driven design. In her role as Sr. Director for the LA Partnership for Early Childhood Investment, Kaci organizes philanthropic engagement for the LA County African American Infant and Maternal Mortality Prevention Initiative (AAIMM), a public-private-community partnership working to advance joyous and healthy births for Black mothers and families in LA County.

Tamara Sanders

Tamara joined the Center for Strategic Partnerships team as a Staff Assistant, CEO. She assists with supporting cross-sector collaborations that transform Los Angeles County systems, policies, and practices to improve outcomes for children, youth, and families using an equity lens. She holds degrees in Communications and Social & Behavioral Sciences.

Lisa Watson

Lisa Watson is an experienced leader who supports organizations in their strategic efforts to create positive social impact through collaboration. Passionate about equity, Lisa’s expertise lies in finding solutions to homelessness, with a focus on housing.