Here are the credentials of the executives who donate their time to ECofOC in order to coach and mentor nonprofit managers in Orange County.
Marguerite E. Adams was the HR Business Manager at County of Orange Human Resource Services, which provides HR support services for over 17,000 county employees. She has expertise in organization development, performance management and HR systems. Marguerite was also the Interim Chairperson, Board of Directors at Hope Center for the Arts.
Maria Arakaki started her career as a CPA with Grant Thornton. She subsequently went into community banking industry in Orange County, held executive management positions as Treasurer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Operating Officer.
She co-founded an independent community bank in 2004, and saw it successfully merged into another bank in 2015.
After her banking career, Maria joined a small business education non-profit organization as its executive director and initiated education programs for Orange and Los Angeles counties’ low-income small business owners. Currently she works with a local non-profit organization as a life coach and meditation facilitator.
John Benner started his career as a CPA with Price Waterhouse and held financial and general management positions with major retailers, finishing his career as Senior Vice-President Administration, Lucky Stores Division of American Stores. Since 1995 he has been a strategic planning consultant to non-profit organizations.
George Blanc owned and operated a gourmet French restaurant on Sunset Strip for 14 years. He then spent 24 years managing $4.5 million of Orange Coast College’s non-academic programs including five non-profit businesses, its week-end swap meet, its performing arts events and its adult education program.
Dave Blankenhorn was the President, CEO and a Director of the American Security Bank in Newport Beach, which under his leadership grew from $260 million in 2004 to $430 million in 2012.
Dave is also on the Board of Second Harvest Food Bank and the Orange County Council of Boy Scouts of America.
Greta Boye is a professional and personal development coach and an international economic development consultant. As a coach, clients come to her mainly with issues related to their businesses and careers.
As a consultant, she leads and supports project teams to improve the lives of others in developing countries. Often Greta blends coaching and consulting for clients who want both services. ECofOC clients have told her that this “consultative coaching” skill along with her international work and life experiences have been very helpful.
LaVasha Cain-Lobbins has 15+ years of experience in education/training operations. She is passionate about developing and coaching talent to increase team dynamics while driving toward business outcomes. She was a Principle Consultant at Valagent Consulting in Minniapolis and is a Business and Management Instructor in UCI’s Continuing Education Program.
Lois Carson, Executive Coach, works with leaders to bring their teams together for increased communication, effectiveness, productivity and job satisfaction! She empowers people with the mindset, tools and talents to transform personally and professionally.
An ICF Associate Certified Coach, Lois has been coaching over 15 years. Previously, she was a senior leader in Product Development, for restaurant chains such as, Taco Bell, Carl’s Jr. and Godfather’s Pizza.
May Chan was the CFO and COO of the Orange Catholic Foundation. Prior to that she was the CFO of the American Red Cross- Orange County.
In these positions, whether speaking to the Board or talking to donors and employees, her passion for her nonprofit made her a successful fundraiser and team builder.
Bob Chester was the General Manager of Climatee, a $90M commercial building contracting company. He previously held General Manager Positions at Carrier, Siemens and Honeywell. His recognized skills include creating and motivating strong teams, developing shared visions and strategies, and developing individuals to meet strategic goals.
Renee Christensen, Ph.D., CEAP, HHP – has thirty five years’ experience in the areas of Leadership, Sales, Accounting, Organizational Development, Human Resources and Training. Her multiple degrees include a Ph.D. in Industrial Management as well as a Masters and Bachelors in Industrial Psychology.
In addition she also holds training and organizational development certifications with Franklin Covey and Teleometrics and being an Honored Professional of the National Who’s Who of Executives and Professionals.
Renee has owned or managed businesses and is considered a leading expert in the arenas of organizational development, mergers and acquisitions, change management and critical incident stress debriefings. With Renee’s work experience, she is fully equipped to work with the senior ranks of an organization and the complexities of their unique responsibilities, while having a down to earth presence that gives her unique opportunities for mentorship with lower levels.
Dave Coffaro is Principal of Strategic Advisory Consulting Group, a management consulting firm focused on helping organizations define, design and deliver their vision.
In addition to consulting, Dave’s experience includes leading financial services businesses at Wells Fargo and Bank of America, serving on non profit boards and as interim CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County and teaching strategic management at California State University, Fullerton.
Victoria Collins, Ph.D, brings three decades of corporate experience and philanthropic leadership to her coaching clients. As a co-founder and managing director of First Foundation Inc. (NASDQ FFWM), a comprehensive wealth management firm managing more than $4 billion, she helped clients set goals and achieve positive results.
Named “Outstanding Philanthropist of the Year” at AFP’s National Philanthropy Day, Victoria has served on multiple non-profit boards and brings insights on leadership, fundraising, board development and marketing.
With a Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology, Victoria has authored or co-authored seven books on how emotions drive financial behavior. She has been interviewed on major TV shows and is quoted in multiple national publications.
Judy Combs was the Executive Director of the California Academic Decathlon and consultant to other local and national Academic Decathlon organizations.
She has over twenty-five years of experience in nonprofit organizations as an Executive Director, Development Director or Marketing Director.
Bob Cryer worked for Procter & Gamble for 34 years managing departments that provided consulting services to P&G’s financial, sales, marketing and product development divisions.
In 1994, he founded an Investment Advisory firm that built its assets under management to $60 million. In 2002, he founded ECofOC.
Sam Dawson had her own public relations company for more than 25 years working primarily with nonprofit and arts organizations and is retired from the Ahmanson Foundation. She has volunteered with numerous nonprofit organizations and serves on the board of Working Wardrobes and Girls Inc. of Orange County. She is a founding partner and board member of Impact Giving, a woman’s collective giving organization.
Adrianne Geiger DuMond was responsible for Executive Development and Succession Planning at Owens-Illinois, First Interstate Bancorp and McDonnell-Douglas. Later she started her own consulting company, the DuMond Group, and worked as adjunct faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership.
She has an MPA and a PhD in Organization Development from USC and has served on the Boards of the United Way, Family Services of Orange County, Wiseplace, and St. Jude Memorial Foundation.
Rafael Durand is an international executive coach with broad experience in coaching executives, managers and emerging leaders. Born and raised in Mexico, he combines a corporate lawyers’ mindset with an extensive international senior Human Resources experience in global multinational and non-profit organizations.
Rafael has over thirty-five years of experience working in five different countries: Mexico, Turkey, Chile, Brazil, and the United States. Rafael retired in March 2019 to establish Dxpat Consulting, his coaching and consulting business.
Jim Evans, after getting his Ph.D. in Executive Management from Claremont, had a thirty year career in city management. The last 15 years were as City Manager and Executive Director of Development for Eureka and Glendora. He is currently a Senior Associate at Citygate where he specializes in municipal consulting.
Mike Flores. Founder and President/Head Coach of INNER CHAMPION CONSULTING, providing executive coaching and leadership training to upper level executives in the sports, corporate and non-profit sectors.
Mike has been involved in coaching, both individual and group, since graduation from UCLA, including 15 years in the university setting. He has experience coaching executive directors and directors of development for numerous non-profits. As a volunteer, he has sat on over 15 non-profit Boards including serving a Chairman of the Board.
Mike is a graduate of CTI, Coaches Training International, and has completed his hours for certification as an Executive Coach. Mike is fully bi-lingual (English – Spanish).
Amanda Graham is a seasoned nonprofit executive having spent over 15 years in the not-for-profit sector.
Graduating from New York University with a master’s in nonprofit management, Amanda has worked across North America in fundraising, executive management and consulting.
Her specialties are strategic planning, fundraising, grant writing, case writing, board development and executive management.
Erik Hansen was the Senior Vice President of LNR Property Corporation where he managed the acquisition of retail, industrial, office and land development projects in Southern Ca, including the El Toro Marine Base. He was a member of the Urban Land Institute, the International Council of Shopping Centers and has served on various charitable and church boards.
Karen Haren was the CEO of Harvesters Community Food Network. She has a track record of success in mission driven strategic planning and performance management, leadership development and succession planning, fund raising and community engagement, board development, capacity building and organizational effectiveness.
Frank Hathaway was a Senior Supply Chain Executive in consumer products and biotech at Genentech and Amgen, and was as a Vice-President at Avery Dennison, Unilever and Nestle. He is currently a board member and secretary at South County Outreach, and served of the board of the One World’s Children’s Fund.
Monica Horner was the Director of Strategic Giving at the Second Harvest Food Bank where she personally solicited all major gift donors ($5K+) and worked with Board Members, the CEO and her Development team to fundraise over $5 Million annually plus raised $8.5 Million for a Capital Campaign.
Monica has over 13 years of experience as a professional fundraiser.
Heidi Kasevich, PhD, is the founder of Kase Leadership Method, where she is a Quiet Empowerment Educator and Coach.
A national keynote speaker, she works with schools and companies to foster inclusive environments where introverts can thrive.
Heidi has served as Educational Director at Quiet Revolution, and History Chair and Leadership Program Designer at several schools and universities in New York City.
Richard Kaufman had a 50 year career with a Credit Management Association where he managed insolvency cases, published bulletins, was an asset liquidation agent and auctioneer, served as secretary to creditor committees and was the President and Chief Operating Officer for the last 21 years of his career.
Patrick Kelly spent 35 years in the insurance industry in various management and executive positions. After retirement he was a management consultant to the health industry, advising CEOs and management teams on operational issues, corporate governance and board related matters. For the past 25 years, Patrick has served on various company boards and numerous not-for-profit boards, serving on the Orange County Red Cross board, chair of the board and member of the finance committee, St. Joseph Hospital, Orange CA., member of the board, mission regional hospital, board member of Access Orange County, a not-for-profit providing surgical care for the underserved community in Orange County.
Patrick has a B.S. degree in business administration and finance from the University of Southern California.
Michael Kogutek received an Ed.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Northern Colorado. He retired after 33 years in private practice specializing among other areas in executive and life coaching. He worked with Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) and taught part time for the Human Services Department at CSU-Fullerton.
Moty Koppes is an Executive Master Certified Coach and a Professional Mentor Coach. As a psychologist, counselor and coach for the last twenty years, she brings the wisdom, life experience, and proven processes to move individuals and leaders to higher stages of personal and professional awareness and effectiveness.
Namita Kutty is a Gallup certified Strengths Finder Executive Coach with over 14 years of experience in the field of Organization Development & HR. Namita has been in HR leadership positions with companies like Target & Deutsche Bank. In her last assignment, she was heading Human resources for Odessa, a FinTech product company.
Joanne Larson is currently a management consultant and Executive Coach, and has completed the 60 hours of coursework required for The Associate Certified Coach credential from ICF. From 2001 to 2013 she was Director of Client Services at Larson Retirement Planning Services. Prior to that, she was Director of Operations at Employee Support Systems Co. in Orange, CA.
Joel Mascitelli was the Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer of Ultramar Inc., which was a $1.5 billion, 2000 person petroleum refining and marketing operation of Ultramar Corp., a NYSE traded company in the Fortune 200.
Joel has served as Chairman of ECofOC and is a member of the ECofOC Board of Directors and the current Treasurer.
Dave McKeown helps leaders escape the mediocrity and false urgency of day-to-day firefighting to focus on what’s truly important; the long-term vision for their team and development of their people.
His delivery style has been described as “the perfect mix between Simon Sinek and Gary Vaynerchuk” (which is probably the greatest thing anyone has said to him) and his work has been endorsed by some of the world’s foremost leadership experts including Marshall Goldsmith, Michael Bungay Stanier and Nancy Duarte.
Dave is the Founder of Outfield Leadership, author of The Self-Evolved Leader and a sought after keynote speaker, leadership trainer and growth advisor. He has shared his leadership strategies at the Inc. 5000 and Growco conferences, at Bank of America, for the British Government, Entrepreneur’s Organization, Bamboo HR and countless others.
He has worked with leaders at Spectrum Health, Renewal by Andersen, Akamai, Salesforce, the New York Stock Exchange and many smaller, fast-growing organizations.
Dave is the host of the podcast ‘Lead Like you Give a Damn’ and writes a weekly column for Inc.Com.
Originally from Northern Ireland, Dave traded in the rain for the sunshine of Southern California where he now lives with his wonderful wife, Paris and awesome Staffie, Maggie.
Barry Menzel is the managing director of Training Funding Source that obtains $4-5M of California Training Funds for clients to help their employees improve their efficiency, effectiveness and productivity. Prior to that, he was the Human Resources Director at Valero Energy and VP of Human Resources at International Paper.
Rachel Mohr. For Rachel, life is about learning, growing and progressing. She is passionate about pursuing these and loves helping others seeking to do the same. Her mission is helping others bring their goals of growth, improvement and excellence to fruition with ease in a positive way that truly sticks long-term for them.
Rachel is an experienced executive coach, life transformation coach, speaker, facilitator and trainer. She is an internationally credentialed and certified professional coach who holds an ICF (ACC) credential, a coaching certification from one of the top ranked coaching academies in the world and degrees in both Psychology and Spanish. Rachel’s career paths have included being the #1 nationally ranked high-performing senior sales executive for a pharmaceutical company multiple times where she also worked on the marketing team for two of the products, founding and running two companies, teaching, training, speaking, coaching for individuals and organizations as well as being the CEO of Mohr Enterprises where she gets to be a wife and mother to two little ones who keep her on her toes.
Rachel has a demonstrated history of teaching others, improving personal and team performance and guiding others to excellence. As a personal excellence and success coach, Rachel loves helping empower achievement-oriented individuals struggling with feeling stuck whether in their career, in relationships or personally to finally break free, gain the traction needed and get the forward momentum they crave to produce massive results and live the fulfilling and intentional lives they’re meant to live for themselves and those they love.
Robin Noah was the Executive VP of Human Resources of a commercial insurance company. Prior to that, she managed field and staff operations for Pacific Telephone for 30 years.
Robin is a certified mediator and has an independent consulting company specializing in management and personal growth systems.
Tara Norton has over 25 years’ experience as a Sr. Executive Coach, Career Coach, Leadership and Organization Development professional. She has partnered with global Fortune 100 internal and external clients such as Cisco Systems, Walt Disney World, PepsiCo, Gateway, Hard Rock Café, and Warner Brothers to successfully accelerate individuals, teams and organizations to achieve their goals and increase overall effectiveness. She is an insightful coach who works with individuals who are looking to achieve a greater degree of professional and/or personal leadership success by enhancing their leadership style, communication skills, interpersonal savvy, executive presence, and/or career development.
Tara is an ICF Associate Certified Coach, holds a Master’s degree of Human Resource Management, member/past board member of ECofOC for the last 15 years, an instructor for UC San Diego, and is certified in 9 assessments and leadership programs.
David Riley was the Director of the Orange County Health Care Agency where he was instrumental in improving the indigent health care system in the county. David possesses in-depth administrative experience in finance and budget, board relations, human resources, and legal compliance.
Martha Ryan has over 30 years experience as a proven leader in Information Technology.
She has served on various non profit boards as Chair Fund Development and Board Chair. Her expertise in personal coaching includes leadership development, fund development, board development and marketing.
She is on the ECofOC Board of Directors, Marketing Committee and Leadership Committee and served as President for 2 years.
Joe Schoeningh joined the Second Harvest Food Bank as a volunteer coordinator in 1995 (after a 35 year career in the office products industry), and became the Executive Director in 2003. As the ED, Joe spearheaded a capital campaign of $8.5 million to renovate a 126,000 sq. ft. warehouse office facility for the nonprofit.
John Seelinger was the Executive Vice President and Senior Lending Officer of New Jersey’s largest state bank. Prior to that, he was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Banking for an east coast regional bank. John was also a trustee of the Tri-County Scholarship Fund which awarded scholarships to inner city youth.
Diane Shank was the Chief Operating officer of the Sage Hill School in Newport Coast. She has expertise in finance, HR, technology, construction, and the analysis, planning and leadership skills needed to build organizations that are mission driven and financially sound.
Mary Sidhom has over 17 years of experience in the management consultancy and coaching field, focusing on organizational excellence & leadership management. Mary focuses on effective strategic planning and transformational change management roadmaps. She has helped businesses build world class organizations by developing innovative business strategies, while cultivating partnerships and stakeholder management across the organization. She has worked in the fields of Financial Services, Telecommunication, Information Technology, Insurance, Automobile, Retail, Engineering and Government sectors. She hold an MBA degree and PMP certification.
Steve Smith has been the president of GrowthSource Coaching since 2011. They focus on three primary areas that drive growth and sustainability: mindset coaching, management consulting and marketing strategies. Their process is well suited to organizations with stagnant or declining growth and executives who need to improve their staff’s performance.
Ernest Stambouly did product development in the aerospace and defense industries. He then worked as a business consultant on incubating, launching and managing change in small technology companies. Ernest also has ten years experience in coaching corporate teams in professional development and in using social media to promote his business.
Valerie Strauch is the Chief Operating Officer of BrightCoach, a group of Executive Coaches, Life Coaches and support personnel. Previously, Valerie had a 25 year career in the property management industry where she rose to becoming a regional vice-president of Merit Property Management.
Jason Stern is a business advisor- executive/leadership coach at Gift of Time which helps executives navigate critical decisions so that they can thrive rather than just survive. Prior to that he was President of Xceliware, a system integration company focused on the supply chain and specifically on the warehouse’s management system.
Daniel Stetson is the Executive Director of The Nicholas Endowment which supports the performing and visual arts and assists in the advancement of science and education. Previously, he was President and CEO of the $9M Ocean Institute which under his leadership won the Walter Cronkite Award for excellence in Maritime Education.
Martha Szufnarowski was the founder, CEO and head coach of TriLaVie Triathion and Running, Orange County’s largest triathlon team. More than 5000 atheletes have joined TriLaVie for training, clinics, events and race preparation. Martha is now a business development consultant for startups and fast growth companies.
Showleh Tolbert is the Principal of Success Coach, LLC, a coaching and training company specializing in helping people identify and achieve their personal and professional goals by getting rid of the issues that are causing them distress, anxiety, and stress.
Showleh is a certified master coach and trainer of Neuro Linguistic Programming, Time Line Therapy® and instructor of Hypnotherapy with over thirty years of experience in corporate and nonprofit organizations as COO, Executive Director, Development Director and Marketing Consultant.
Larry Tucker had a 25 year career with Hewitt Associates, a human resources consulting firm, as one of its principal owners, as a consultant, as a manager, and as a coach to executives. In the last decade, Larry has coached several nonprofit leaders, founded ECofOC’s Executive Director Forum program and facilitated dozens of nonprofit board strategy sessions.
David Wild had a 30 year career in sales and market for the #1 toymaker Hasbro, selling leading brands such as Star Wars, Play-Doh, GI Joe, Monopoly and Sesame Street. He has worked with design and marketing teams to develop business plans to introduce new products and created strategic brand presentations that sell.
Joan Wise is an ICF credential coach since 2015, working with families and couples to discover positive communication and conflict resolution skills. She has also worked in the field of domestic violence prevention for over 14 years, as a Batterer’s Intervention Specialist and Parenting Facilitator. She designed the Families ‘R Forever Program to develop the healthy co-parenting skills that children of separation and divorce deserve. From 2011-2016 Joan was on staff at the Life Coach Institute, an ICF certified training program. In 2017 she co-founder of the Benoit-Wise School of Coaching to continue to advance ICF standards of coaching.
Dr. Nelson Zagalsky is the founder and principal coach at High-Tech Focus, an executive coaching firm, and is also an adjunct coach for several leadership development firms including Cambria Consulting and Skyline Group. Coaching clients have included NASA, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Parker Aerospace. More information about his coaching background and leadership experience can be found at www.hightechfocus.com.
Nelson’s extensive cross-functional and general-management experience, a Ph.D. in Control Sciences, and training as a certified behavioral-coach, enable him to simultaneously coach his clients on two tracks; a challenge track that is focused on helping the nonprofit leader gain new insights into a leadership or management challenge, and a developmental coaching-track. Observations about obstacles encountered on the challenge track inform the developmental track of needed new competencies or behavior shifts. His additional training in Enneagram Personality Typing makes him especially well qualified to address any personality-rooted behaviors that limit leadership effectiveness.