Alicia Minana Lovelace, Chair

Alicia Miñana has spent 17 years as a practicing transactional attorney including the areas of formation and dissolution of corporations, affordable housing transactions, and employment agreements. She has worked with a Federal agency and with national law firms, as well as in firms located in Singapore and Puerto Rico.

Alicia was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and attended the Academia del Perpetuo Socorro until graduation. Subsequently, she attended and graduated from Princeton University in 1984 with an A.B. in Biology and a Certificate of Proficiency in Latin American Studies. She obtained her Juris Doctor from the UCLA School of Law in 1987. Alicia is a member in good standing with the California State Bar.

Alicia serves as President of the UCLA Law School La Raza Law Alumni Association and received the La Raza Law Alumni Award from UCLA Law School in April 2004.

She is currently a co-chair of the Diversity and Access Committee for Vistamar School, a high school in the South Bay of Los Angeles. She has also served as a Vice-President of the Board of Directors of the Western Law Center for Disability. She’s a former president of the Puerto Rican Bar Association of California, a member of the Cuban American Bar Association of Los Angeles, a member of the Latina Lawyers Bar Association, and former Co-Chair of the Via Pacifica Parents’ Association. She was also named to the Advisory Board of the Puerto Rican Federal Affairs Administration, Los Angeles Office.

Alicia lives in Hermosa Beach with her husband Rob Lovelace and their two children.

Tina Steck, Board Member

Tina Steck is an attorney currently residing in Summit, NJ. She is a member of the New York State Bar.

Her legal career is highlighted by her service as an Assistant District Attorney for the County of New York (1984 – 1987) and as a federal prosecutor for the U.S. Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division (1990 – 1994). Tina also served as a staff attorney in the Civil Division of DOJ, defending the U.S. in toxic tort litigation (1998 – 1990). After moving to Los Angeles in 1995, she worked part time doing corporate litigation (1996-1998).

Tina was born in Summit, NJ, and attended Newark Academy (1976). She received a B.A. in Political Science from Barnard College in New York (1980) and a J.D. from George Washington University in Washington D.C. (1984).

Jill H. Gordon, Board Member

Jill Gordon is Partner with Davis Wright Tremaine LLP in Los Angeles, primarily representing healthcare providers and related businesses in connection with transactional and regulatory matters, including the formation and operation of joint ventures and other alliances; structuring mergers and acquisitions; advising in connection with entity formation and financing; counseling in connection with health care compliance matters such as fraud and abuse, physician self-referral and other regulatory matters; and assisting with facility licensing and Medicare and Medi-Cal enrollment issues.

Jill was born and lived in Las Vegas, Nevada until she attended Cate School in Carpenteria, California.  Thereafter, she received her A.B. in liberal arts from Sarah Lawrence College in 1991 and subsequently, she moved to St. Louis, Missouri and received her Juris Doctor from Washington University School of Medicine in 1996.  After an externship with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Division in Washington, D.C., Jill relocated to Los Angeles in 1996 and entered private practice.

Jill is a member of the American Health Lawyers Association and an Editor of its Physician Organizations Practice Group e-Newsletter as well as a member of the Executive Committee of the Health Law Section of the LA County Bar Association.  Jill is also a member and former Board Member of the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles.  She was selected by Law & Politics and Los Angeles Magazine in 2004-2007 as a “Rising Star for Southern California”, and she was named as one of Nightingale’s Healthcare News’ Outstanding Healthcare Transactional Lawyers for 2004.

Currently, Jill volunteers her time with Play Mountain Place, a humanistic school and parenting institute in Culver City, and serves as a pro bono attorney for the Alliance for Children’s Rights, representing families in adopting children from the foster care system.  Jill lives in West Los Angeles with her husband, David Price, and their daughter.

Loralie Ogden, Board Member

Loralie Ogden has spent 20 plus years as a licensed commercial real estate broker with CB Richard Ellis, Beverly Hills/Century City office. Loralie specializes in commercial sales and leasing in the greater Los Angeles area. Prior to her commercial real estate career Loralie spent seven years in the advertising/broadcast industry in both Los Angeles and in the San Francisco Bay area.

Loralie was born in San Mateo, California and attended Castilleja School in Palo Alto. Loralie attended UCLA for four years and graduated with a BA in Political Science. Loralie’s professional affiliations include California Real Estate License and member of the American Industrial Realtors. Loralie is also actively involved in the Hollywood business community and was a founder of the Hollywood Media District Business Improvement District. Consistent with her devotion to the Hollywood community, Loralie also sits on the Board of Directors for the Youth Actors Theater in Hollywood.

Loralie is active in her home community of Manhattan Beach where she serves on various committees for the Manhattan Beach Council of PTAs. Loralie lives with her husband, Dexter Taylor, and their two children.

Erika Kruger White, Board Member

Erika White was born and raised in Los Angeles.  She received her B.A .with Honors in Political Science from UC Berkeley (1982) and her M.B.A. from UCLA (1987) specializing in public/non-profit finance. She has worked for Bankers Trust and Occidental Petroleum specializing in tax-exempt finance.

Erika currently dedicates her time to her community’s schools. She serves on the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation as Vice President – Fundraising. She is on the  Executive Boards of the Manhattan Beach Middle School and the Mira Costa High School PTSA as their Legislation Representative.  For the past three years, Ericka has served on the Manhattan Beach Unified School District’s Special Education Task Force. She also chairs the Book Fair at the middle school and the Mock Election at the high school.

Erika resides in Manhattan Beach with her husband Paul and their daughter and son.

Claire Zrimc, Secretary

Claire Zrimc is Senior Vice President, Program Planning, Scheduling and Acquisitions for SOAPnet, a division of The Walt Disney Company.  Claire is responsible for the program strategy and overall schedule for the 24-hour network and non-linear platforms.

Previously, Claire served as Vice President, Daytime Research, ABC Television, where she oversaw all the programming and marketing research for ABC Daytime.  Prior to joining ABC Television in June 2001, Claire was Vice President, Worldwide Programming, Acquisitions & Development, Pay TV for Playboy Entertainment Group, where she oversaw new network launches, programming for 15 domestic and international channels, acquisitions, scheduling and development.  She also held research positions at NBC Television, Buena Vista Television/The Walt Disney Company, and The Samuel Goldwyn Company.

Claire earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in cognitive science from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York.  She resides in Los Angeles.

Jeffrey Boxer, Board Member

Jeffrey Boxer (of the Law Offices of Jeffrey R. Boxer, a venture he started in July, 2007) works in all areas of union advocacy.  Jeffrey represents private and public sector unions, in federal and state court, federal and state administrative tribunals, arbitration and mediation.  He has special emphases in, amongst other areas, educational labor law, employee privacy, complex Meyers-Milias-Brown Act matters, and internal union governance.  Jeffrey has provided continuing legal education courses in the connection between unions and disability law, and presented at a American Bar Association conference panel on disability law.  As part of his commitment to increasing the quality of union leadership at all levels, he takes part in teaching various labor law courses, and provides training in areas of specific need for clients, including executive board and shop steward training.  He recently left the Executive Board of the Disability Rights Legal Center at Loyola Law School, as well as serving as President of the Disability Rights Legal Center’s Young Professionals Board.  He graduated from Occidental College and the University of Pittsburgh Law School with respective distinctions from both institutions.

Gary Roberts, Board Member

A member of SNR Denton US LLP, Gary Roberts has extensive complex litigation, advocacy and counseling experience regarding environmental law, product liability and false advertising matters.   His experience includes state and federal litigation, as well as administrative advocacy before a wide range of state and federal regulators.   Gary clerked for Judge David R. Thompson of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and served as Notes Editor of the Stanford Law Review, where he was awarded distinction.

Gary consistently has represented Fortune 500 companies in Proposition 65 litigation matters for over eighteen years.  He has been selected on several occasions by defense groups to serve as liaison counsel in multi-defendant and multi-plaintiff Proposition 65 and related cases.  In addition to litigation under Proposition 65, Gary has defended related failure to warn and failure to disclose allegations of individual plaintiffs and proposed class representatives under California’s Unfair Business Practices Act and California’s Consumers Legal Remedies Act.

Gary has appeared before the California Environmental Protection Agency, the California Air Resources Board, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, the California Integrated Waste Management Board, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, and Region 9 of the US EPA.  He has appeared before various regional water boards and air districts, and he has substantial experience interacting with the California Attorney General’s office and various California District Attorneys.

Graduating in 1984 from Princeton University, Gary went on to Stanford Law School and received his J.D. in 1987.  He resides in Pasadena with his wife Ruth and their children.

Maribeth Towers, Board Member

Maribeth Towers is a marketing and consumer products consultant working primarily in the entertainment and fashion industries with specific expertise in licensing, merchandising, product development and retail.

Maribeth was with Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) for over 12 years, first joining WBCP in 1996 as an Account Executive in their Retail Business Development department.  In 2000 she briefly left Warner Bros. to join Fox Family Worldwide as Vice President of Retail Business Development.  She returned to WBCP in 2001 as Vice President of Licensing for Apparel and Accessories.  In her most recent position as Sr. Vice President, New Initiatives, Towers was a member of a four-person senior management team responsible for new business development.

Prior to joining Warner Bros., Maribeth spent 6 years as a retailer buyer for department and specialty stores.  At various times she has also taught business courses at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles and is currently a member of Pepperdine University’s adjunct faculty, teaching part time in their MBA program.

Outside of work, Maribeth has been involved in various charitable and educational organizations including serving on the Board of Directors for the Art Museum Council at the L.A. County Museum of Art.  She currently serves on the Alumni Advisory Board for Pepperdine University’s School of Business and Management and on the Board of Directors for the Cambodian Children’s Fund, an education based organization serving some of Phnom Penh’s most desperate children.

Maribeth holds a B.S. degree in business from the University of Minnesota and an M.B.A. in international marketing and finance from Pepperdine University’s School of Business and Management.

Joseph Teltser, Board Member

Joseph M. Teltser is a Global Corporate associate at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP. Joseph has extensive experience in transactions involving complex limited partnerships and limited liability companies. His clients include both sponsors and investors in connection with the formation and structuring of funds and other pooled investment vehicles, joint ventures and development companies. A significant portion of his representations involve the renewable energy sector, including the formation, structuring and sale of wind and solar development companies.

Joseph also has significant experience in complex financing transactions. He has represented both borrowers and private equity lenders in connection with complicated secured lending transactions.

Joseph is a member of the State Bar of California, and received his law degree in 2005 from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law. He received a Bachelor of Science and Engineering in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University in 1996. Prior to attending law school, Joseph worked as a process engineer for a manufacturer of medical devices, where he specialized in the development and production of complicated electrochemically active inks and hydrogels.

Marysol Sanchez Velamoor, Board Member

Kate Baggot, Board Member

Ines Kuperschmidt, Board Member

Ines Kuperschmit graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Virginia with High Honors in 1998 and from the UCLA School of Law in 2002, where she was in the Program for Public Interest Law and Policy (PILP). She is an attorney who has been duly licensed to practice in the State of California since 2003 and has been admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

After graduation from the UCLA School of Law, Ms. Kuperschmit was one of only 25 graduating law students nationwide to receive the prestigious Skadden Fellowship to work at Public Counsel, the largest pro bono law firm in the nation.  For five years at Public Counsel she specialized in youth advocacy, focusing on children in the juvenile justice and child welfare system who suffer from mental health problems, learning disabilities, or developmental disabilities.  She is a member of Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Juvenile Courts Task Force.

Ms. Kuperschmit has spent the last eight years becoming a legal expert in the field of child advocacy, in particular education rights and the rights of special needs populations.  In recognition of her achievements in this area of expertise, she has been asked to train over 1,000 other lawyers, law students, judges, and professionals (psychologists, probation officers and social workers) in education and the law.