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2007 - 2009 SOCAL Board of Directors
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Stelle Feuers, EdD
President - SOCAL Sister Cities Board of Directors
Dr. Stelle Feuers has been actively involved with elementary through graduate school education. The first woman president of Los Angeles City College, she managed a faculty and staff of 1200 and a $30,000,000 budget. Dr. Feuers fostered unique employment-based training programs, directed the college’s allied health programs, providing students with clinical training at local hospitals and medical facilities, and promoted an extensive community service program serving more than 15,000 participants.
Elected to two terms on the Board of Sister Cities International, Feuers participated with government officials in Business and Friendship Missions to foreign countries. Currently, she serves as Treasurer for the Los Angeles Mayor’s Council for Sister Cities, and as President of the Southern California Sister Cities (SOCAL). A board member of U.S./Mexico Sister Cities, she is also the president of the Collectors Council of the Bowers Museum and a member of American Women for International Understanding. A worldwide traveler, she has participated in business and education programs in countries moving toward free enterprise economies. |
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David Zanatta
Vice President - SOCAL Sister Cities Board of Directors
Mr. Zanatta's career spans over 25 years of business development, corporate marketing, publishing, communications and international trade. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, Zanatta joined a mid-sized, bay area based publishing company, working his way to company president, annually producing more than 48 marketing, maritime, advertising and legal publications nationally and internationally. He managed day-to-day operations, sales and marketing while overseeing publication design and production. His global network and maritime client base enabled him to transition into executive positions on the east and west coasts in the international maritime and transportation community. He served in port management as director of public affairs at the Port of Jacksonville, Florida and the Port of Long Beach, California.
Returning to the private sector as a partner with JCA Resources, Inc., a Southern California real estate development company, he handles developments including the World Trade Center, Long Beach. He manages JCA's corporate clients and development projects, real estate investments, marketing and trade related programs in the public and private sectors, while representing the company on local, regional and statewide non-profit and charitable boards. Zanatta serves on the International Business Association board; as Chair of Long Beach Sister Cities, Inc., President, Long Beach Qingdao China Association; and a member of the Manta, Ecuador Sister City Association and Mombasa, Kenya Sister Cities. He serves as a board member of the CCEJ; Long Beach Public Library Advisory Board; International City Theater and other local and regional non-profit organizations. Zanatta is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley. |
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Barbara Ryon
Secretary - SOCAL Sister Cities Board of Directors
Barb Ryon, a graduate of UC Riverside with a degree in Geography and Anthroplogy and a life teaching credential, is currently serving a second term as Riverside's representative to the SoCal Sister City Board. Barb retired after 36 yers experience with the Riverside Unified School District, and 2 years in Sagamihara, Japan at Camp Zama, which is the Army headquarters for the Pacific. She has been involved with SCI for over 20 years and served as secretary for the Main Board and 4 of the existing partnerships, newsletter editor and treasurer for her local Sister City group ,the IRC International Relations Council of Riverside). Aside from being a host family numerous times she has also been a guest in homes in Sendai, Japan and Gangnam, Korea where she visited schools and set up student pen pal and e-mail buddy programs with her school children in Riverside
In 2007 Riverside celebrated our 50th anniversary with Sendai, Japan. In 2009 we celebrated our 40th with Cuautla, Mexico and 10th with Gangnam, Korea. Currently Barb is President and past treasurer of the CalRTA (California Retired Teachers Association) and International Chair of the local AAUW organization.
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Jacquie Thye
SOCAL Sister Cities Board of Directors
Jacquie Thye, Chair of the Carlsbad Sister City Committee, holds a B.A. from the University of Oregon in Far Eastern Studies. She served as Assistant Director of the Japan-America Society in San Diego, an Assistant to the San Diego-Baja California Consular Corps (40 countries), Assistant to the Hon. Consul from New Zealand and the San Diego-New Zealand Business Association. Retired now, she volunteers as a docent at Carlsbad's Cannon Gallery, and is a member of Friends of the Arts, several art/photography groups, and is an award-winning photographer. She has traveled to Japan, Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic, China, Europe and Africa. She studied Russian and Japanese languages and was instrumental in initiating both the Japan in a Suitcase program for Sister City Futtsu and an international high school photo exhibition with Karlovy Vary. She has home stay hosted students from Japan, Germany and France. Formerly a real estate broker, Jacquie has served in League of Women Voters, Toastmasters and Welcome Wagon. |
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Georgiana McLeod
SOCAL Sister Cities Board of Directors State Coordinator
Georgiana McCleod, Member, Strategic Planning Committee SCI, holds her BA from Whittier College and an M.S. in Administration from USC. Her credentials, too numerous to fully list here, include: Member, ACSA, Region XVII; Chair, WASC Accreditation Team; Chair ACSA Region XVII Jr. High School Committee; Chair Newport-Mesa USD Management Team; N-MUSD representative, ACSA Legislative Action Committee; Facilitator, Conference on Academic Excellence, Orange County Dept. of Education; N-MUSD Liaison for Business Education Programs, CROP/ROP Steering Committee and Liaison, UC, Irvine/ Newport-Mesa USD Student Teacher/Intern Program. Her Community Activities include Orange Co. Real Estate Board and Director and Member of Governmental Business and Education Committees. Her committee work and experience in national and international organizations for Sister Cities Relationships are also far too numerous to mention here. Georgiana served on the Board of Directors for Sister Cities International for six years and is Past President of SOCAL having served for three years in that capacity. |
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Alan Lamson
SOCAL Sister Cities Board of Directors Chair, SOCAL Scholarship Committee
Alan Lamson taught English at Pasadena City College for over 35 years, serving his last four years as President of the Academic Senate at the College. A member of the Pasadena Sister Cities Committee for over twenty years, he has been especially active with the Japanese and Chinese sister cities. From 1987-88, he and his wife lived in Mishima, Japan where he taught English at Nihon University and was active, along with his wife, in the activities of the Mishima International Relations Committee. Since 1997 he has helped to promote and sustain an active sister city relationship between Pasadena and Xicheng District, Beijing. He has served as Chair of the China Subcommittee for four years, 2003-2007, during which time the two cities participated in numerous cultural, educational, and governmental exchanges. In addition, Alan headed up a special “Perfecting English Project” to improve the written English on signs and other documents in Xicheng District in preparation for the Beijing Olympics. In 2007 he helped organize a major US-China Conference at the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino that included a special tour of the Huntington Chinese garden that opened to the public in February of 2008. Alan is currently Student Coordinator for the five Pasadena Sister Cities as well as the Chair of the Socal Scholarship Committee. |
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Frank Tripicchio
SOCAL Sister Cities Board of Directors, Sister Cities International, Board of Directors
Frank Tripicchio is a member of the Bakersfield Sister City Project Corp (BSCPC), a member of SoCal and on the Board of Sister Cities International. After serving on the first official delegation from Bakersfield to its Chinese Sister City, Cixi, Frank joined the Bakersfield Sister City Board of Directors in 1998. He served as President of the Bakersfield BSCPC from 2003 to 2006. In the past 5 years Frank guided the forging of Sister City relationships with the cities of Santiago De Queretaro, Mexico and Bucheon, So. Korea. He is presently developing a Sister City relationship between Bakersfield, CA and Amritsar, India. In 2003 Frank was elected to a seat on the SoCal Board of Directors and in 2006 he was elected to a 3 year term on the Sister Cities International BoD. In May 2008, during an official visit to the city of Bucheon, Frank was designated Honorary Citizen by the Mayor and City Council of Bucheon. A member of Rotary International, Frank plans to develop a strategic alliance between Rotary International’s community and international services and benefits with those of SCI. A licensed Real Estate Broker, Frank was born in Italy and has lived in the USA since 1961. |
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Debbie Kukta, CPA
SOCAL Sister Cities Board of Directors
Debbie Kukta is president of Trojan Rivet Corporation, a small manufacturing company with customers throughout the US, Mexico and China. She earned a BS in Business Administration (Accounting) from Cal State Northridge and upon graduation spent four years with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell Co. (now KPMG) specializing in the insurance industry and municipalities. A member of the Burbank Sister City Committee, Debbie has served as treasurer and newsletter editor and currently serves as the Committee’s representative to the SoCal Sister City board. Debbie is a member of the Burbank Board of Education and serves on other various boards including the Verdugo Workforce Investment Board, the Verdugo Regional Development Corporation and the Verdugo School-to-Career Coalition. She currently chairs the audit committee for the Burbank Family YMCA. Debbie has two sons, Nicholas and Matthew; Matthew traveled to Ota, Japan in 2005 with the Burbank Sister City program.
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Lynn Crandall, MA
SOCAL Sister Cities Board of Directors, SOCAL Scholarship Committee
Lynn Crandall, Director of the University of Southern California Institute for Genetic Medicine Art Gallery, holds her BA from Northwestern University and her MA from the University of Notre Dame. She is a member of the LAC+USC Arts Council. Lynn has served as a home stay host since her children were teenagers and is a LANSCA member. She has served the League of Women Voters of Los Angeles as Board of Directors VOTER Editor and as Project Manager of the 2007 Open World/LWVUS Russian Civic Hosting Program. She has taught Leadership, English Literature and Composition in high schools and universities in six states for 17 years, and served as a State of California Master Teacher. Director of the Riordan Leadership Development Program at the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce, she trained over 400 young professionals in the skills of nonprofit board governance. She served on the Los Angeles City Department of Aging Council on Aging and was Tour Curator for the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, organizing multi-city art tours for the TNM Board under Board President, Henry Luce, III and Director, Marcia Tucker. Her extensive travel to international academic medical science conferences and art exhibits has enabled her to advocate for citizen diplomacy, art and culture and to establish sustainable collaborative relationships locally and globally.
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James E. Dunning, PhD SOCAL
Treasurer - Sister Cities Board of Directors
Jim joined the Irvine Sister Cities Foundation Board of Directors in 1992, and has served as president since 1996. During most of those years, he produced publications for the City of Irvine's International Programs Office under an independent contract. In earlier years, he served as a Cultural Affairs Commissioner for the City of Irvine and as President and Chairman of the Board both for the Pacific Chorale and the Orange County Arts Alliance (the County’s arts and cultural affairs planning and coordinating agency in the 1980’s). Retired from the University of California, Irvine, where he worked primarily as Director of Admissions and taught in Social Sciences, his numerous responsibilities with national and regional professional organizations, led him to serve as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Western Region of the College Board, and Chair of the Committee on Undergraduate Admissions for the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. Jim currently, maintains responsibilities with the Irvine Sister Cities Foundation and Japan America Society's Orange County Advisory Council and is an active performer with the Pacific Chorale. Three years ago he was named Honorary Co-chair of Irvine’s Global Village Multicultural Festival. Jim has traveled widely, recently, primarily to, Japan, Mexico, and Taiwan, where Irvine has sister cities. He’s served on three fact finding delegations to China and one to South Korea. Jim’s wife, Yuko, is a Japanese national and works for Hitachi Chemical Research Center at UC Irvine.
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Fred Alcantar, Jr., BS
SOCAL Sister Cities Board of Directors
Fred Alcantar, Jr., President of the Pasadena Sister Cities Committee, is retired after 39 years serving L.A. City in the Bureaus of Engineering, Structural Engineering and Contract Administration, and the Los Angeles World Airports. He has a degree in Civil engineering from Cal State University, Los Angeles. Active in PSCC since the late-1980s, his involvement began as a member of the German Subcommittee, followed by terms as Intern Coordinator, Chair of the German Subcommittee, and, currently, as President of the committee.
Fred is a docent at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, touring grade school age children in the People Places in Art tour. He served as Co-Chair for the Docent Council Newsletter for the 2007-2008 touring year, and will be Chair of the People Places in Art tour for the 2008-2009. He is also involved with the American Construction Inspectors Association, Los Angeles Chapter, having been Secretary, President, and currently, Programs Chair.
PSCC’s subcommittees represent Germany, Japan, Finland, Armenia and China and present programs that promote the particular sister city’s music, culture and history. In 2007 PSCC celebrated the 50th anniversary of the relationship with their Japanese sister city, Mishima, Japan. In 2008, PSCC celebrates the 25th anniversary with Yärvenpää, Finland, and the 60th anniversary with Ludwigshafen, Germany. In 2009, PSCC celebrates the 10th anniversary with Xicheng, East District Beijing, China. PSCC subcommittees organize student and intern exchanges and cultural and educational exchanges. These activities keep Fred and the subcommittees busy finding housing, internship positions and exchange students.
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Harriet Norris, MA
SOCAL Sister Cities Board of Directors
Harriet earned a BS from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln and an MA from San Diego State University. After retiring from the Oceanside Unified School District, Harriet went to Seoul, Korea to help organize and implement a 50% English immersion program in a private Korean elementary school where she taught for 9 1/2 years. Harriet Norris was recently appointed to the Carlsbad Sister Cities Committee. She has been a home stay hostess for Futtsu visitors as well as for students from France and an artist from Korea. She is a member of the Carlsbad Oceanside Art League, Oceanside Museum of Art and American Women for International Understanding. Harriet is a volunteer at the Carlsbad Adult Learning Library and the Museum of Making Music and is enrolled in painting and drawing classes. Harriet and her husband lived in England for 2 years. In addition she has traveled in Europe, Asia, Colombia and the Former Soviet Union.
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William (Bill) Preston
SOCAL Sister Cities Board of Directors
William (Bill) Preston is the President and CEO of Roots Worldwide Business Development and Consulting Services. He has over 21 years of sales and marketing experience in the health care industry. Bill has traveled the world extensively and has a wealth of knowledge of global markets. He offers professional business development and consulting services to healthcare professionals and entrepreneurs that seek to expand their businesses both domestically and internationally.
Bill is committed to dedicating himself to many nonprofit organizations. He is a member of the Africa USA Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Bill is also an Executive Board Member of Legacy Roundtable, an accelerated math program for inner city teens, and currently serves as Chairman of the Long Beach, California/Mombasa, Kenya Sister Cities Association. He also makes time to invest in the future by mentoring students through the American Association of Advertising Agencies Multicultural Advertising Program and through alumni programs at the University of Southern California. Bill received his degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing from the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business.
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Uttam K. Sinha , MD
SOCAL Sister Cities Board of Directors
Dr. Uttam K. Sinha - Associate Professor, Residency Training Program Director, Department of Otolaryngology, USC Keck School of Medicine, graduated with distinction from Calcutta University, India in 1985. He completed his residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at USC and clinical fellowships in Micro Vascular and Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York and in laryngology in Leon, France. Subsequently, he joined the faculty of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at USC. His major areas of research are head and neck cancer, thyroid cancer, plastic and reconstructive surgery, trauma, and speech and swallowing. A recipient of multiple federal and foundation grants, his dedication to patient care and research have earned him respect as a world authority in head and neck diseases. Dr. Sinha has established collaboration with multiple national and international institutes from England, France, India, China and Mexico. For five years, Dr. Sinha has organized an annual international conference on head and neck surgery at USC and three years ago he launched a Patient Survivorship Program (http://hncsupport.org). The Support Group is actively involved in patient education and promoting awareness about head and neck cancer. Dr. Sinha is a member of the Los Angeles/Mumbai Sister Cities Affiliation.
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