Board of Directors

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 and a member in good standing with the state bars of California, New York and the District of Columbia. She is not currently practicing law; in 1998, she decided to stay home full time with her children. She and her husband, Stephen Young, reside in Manhattan Beach with their two sons.

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).


Sonia Mercado, Board Member

Sonia Mercado was raised in Long Island, New York, and came to California for graduate school at UCLA, staying and raising her family in Ladera Heights. She is an attorney specializing in the area of Civil Rights. Her frequent lectures in this area have taken her to lecture abroad on issues of enforcing constitutional rights as a fundamental pillar of social and economic justice. This experience demonstrates the need for our youth to learn about principles of justice and economic growth at home and with our international neighbors. 

Sonia remains active in the community and has received an award from the State Bar of California Board of Governors for her contributions to pro bono work, she has been active with the State Bar Litigation Section Board of Directors, has volunteered on the Inglewood School District Bond Oversight Committee, is a Member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Child Guidance Clinic, and was on the advisory board of “Learning Rights Project” of the Western Center of Law for Disability Rights at Loyola Law School, which assist indigent children obtain indicated educational assistance. Through these educational projects for at risk youth, she hopes to enhance their rights to a better quality education and life.


Stuart Biegel, Board Member

Stuart Biegel has been a member of the faculty at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies since 1985, and at the UCLA School of Law since 1989. Professor Biegel is a recognized expert in the fields of Education Law and Technology Law, and has written extensively in both areas. He has recently completed Education and the Law, a new casebook for Thomson/West (American Casebook Series -- Spring 2006), which focuses on legal controversies at both the K-12 and higher education levels, and includes discussion of technology-related issues in education.

Stuart started his teaching career in a Los Angeles classrooms, teaching in elementary and secondary classes in both public and private schools. He then joined the teacher education faculty a the UCLA Graduate School of Education, eventually serving as Director of Teacher Education (1993-1995). At UCLA, Stuart developed an expertise in Education Law. He has published numerous articles and organized major statewide conferences in this area. He has taught law and education to doctoral students at the UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies since 1987, and to second and third-year law students at the UCLA School of Law since 1989. He has also served as Special Counsel for the California State Department of Education (1988-1996).

Stuart is also a recognized expert in the area of technology law and policy. He was one of the first faculty members nationwide to identify the potential of the Internet for both the legal and education communities, and taught the first official cyberspace law courses offered on the UCLA campus. Stuart has written extensively on Internet-related issues and spoken at conferences and universities in this country and overseas. In 2001, he published Beyond Our Control? Confronting the Limits of Our Legal System in the Age of Cyberspace with MIT Press. Released in paperback in 2003, it has won three awards, including Best Information Science Book of the Year (ASIST 2002).


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 Law and a Masters in Health Administration 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 currenly 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 part of The Walt Disney Company.  In her position, 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.  Before 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

A member of Sonnenschein, Nath and Rosenthal 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.

Kate Baggot, Board Member