Board of Directors

  • Karly Katona (Chair)

    As Managing Director at Trifiletti Consulting, Karly Katona is focused on utilizing her extensive experience in the public sector to support catalytic community development and infrastructure improvements that will benefit the region at-large. With experience in land use, infrastructure, homelessness, and housing policy and projects, as well as civic engagement, Karly brings a strong foundation in effective project management across a broad range of disciplines. Prior to joining the team, Karly served as the Caretaker for the 10th Council District and Chief of Staff to Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas. In this role, she oversaw all policy, programmatic, and operational issues of the Council Office, with a specific focus on advancing community development initiatives, addressing homelessness, and facilitating housing development. Prior to her service at the City of Los Angeles, Karly spent over 14 years working for the Second District of the County of Los Angeles, where she was responsible for liaising with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), as well as the Departments of Regional Planning, Public Works, Office of Sustainability, Public Library, Department of Health Services, and the Los Angeles Community Development Authority. At the County, Karly oversaw more than a hundred capital and infrastructure projects. Karly holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master in Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is a member of the Coro Southern California Board of Directors, after serving as a Coro Fellow in Los Angeles in 2005/2006.

  • Linda Griego (VC & Founder)

    Linda Griego’s diverse career encompasses civic leadership, business, philanthropy and government service. In 2016, Ms. Griego founded the MLK Health and Wellness Community Development Corp. She also served on the boards of trustees of the MLK Community Hospital, the MLK Community Foundation (chair/founder), and the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (all located on the MLK Campus). For thirty years, Ms. Griego was president and chief executive officer of Griego Enterprises, Inc. responsible for several development projects including the historical adaptive reuse of a 1912 three-story abandoned firehouse in downtown Los Angeles that included a full-service restaurant, Engine Co. No. 28, that she operated for over twenty years. For more than two decades, she has held corporate directorships including current service on Paramount Global, Inc.; and prior service on the boards of American Funds/Capital Group, AECOM, City National Bank, Southwest Water, and Granite Construction. She also served as a Los Angeles director of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Ms. Griego has served as a trustee of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, and the California Community Foundation. Over the past twenty years, her government appointments include the Los Angeles County Economic Taskforce, deputy mayor of Los Angeles, president and CEO of Rebuild LA, CEO of the LA Community Development Bank, and several local, state, and national commissions. She has received numerous awards including the 2022 Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Civic Medal of Honor. Ms. Griego holds a B.A. in history from UCLA; and in 2008 was awarded the UCLA Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the University.

  • Renata Simril (Treasurer)

    Renata Simril is President & CEO of the LA84 Foundation, the youth-serving organization transforming lives through sports and play – as well as investments in infrastructure and education – as a legacy of the 1984 Summer Olympics. Since her appointment in 2016, Mrs. Simril has elevated the LA84 Foundation into a national leader advocating for the role of sports in positive youth development. She is also president of the Play Equity Fund, a 501(c)(3) charity founded by the LA84 Foundation, and through its partnerships and advocacy removes barriers so kids from all backgrounds can play. Mrs. Simril previously was Senior VP & Chief of Staff of the Los Angeles Times, Senior Vice President of External Affairs for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and worked for over a decade in mixed-use real estate development with Jones Lang LaSalle, Forest City Development, and LCOR, Inc. As Deputy Mayor for Economic Development & Housing in the Hahn Administration, she worked to expand affordable housing and economic policies. Mrs. Simril worked in South Los Angeles as the Development Deputy to an LA City Councilman following the 1992 civil unrest. She began her career serving in the U.S. Army as a Military Police Officer in Germany and domestically. A third-generation Angeleno, she earned a bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies from Loyola Marymount, as well as a Master’s in Real Estate Development from USC. Mrs. Simril lives in Studio City with her husband and two sons.

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  • Brenda A. Levin, FAIA

    President and principal of Levin & Associates Architects in Los Angeles, which she established in 1980. She is an urban revitalization pioneer, achieving worldwide recognition for her historic preservation and adaptive re-use work, including the restoration of the John Anson Ford Amphitheater, Wilshire Boulevard Temple, City Hall, Griffith Observatory and the Wiltern Theatre. Recent and current projects include the Centerfield Plaza at Dodger Stadium; a pedestrian bridge, kitchen/servery and Visual Arts building for Oakwood School; ongoing transformation of Grand Central Market; the renovation and reinvention of seven former Howard Hughes buildings for creative office space at Hercules Campus at Playa Vista; buildings at Occidental and Scripps Colleges; galleries at the Huntington; and housing at the Downtown Women’s Center and Adams Congress Apartments. The firm has received recognition and awards from professional, national, and California preservation organizations, as well as business and governmental agencies. Ms. Levin has received many awards including the LA Architectural Angel Award from Project Restore and AIA/Los Angeles’ Gold Medal, which is the highest honor it can bestow on an individual. Ms. Levin was educated in graphic design at Carnegie Mellon and New York Universities and in architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. The firm’s archives are now housed at the Getty.

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  • Yolanda Vera

    Yolanda Vera is the Senior Deputy for Health & Wellness for LA County Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell. Previously, she was the Chief Executive Officer of the MLK Outpatient Center located on the medical campus. She also served as Senior Policy Advisor for former Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. She has an extensive background in civil rights and health-related matters. She is an attorney whose legal work includes positions with the Legal Aid Foundation, the National Health Law Program, and the Western Center on Law and Poverty. She also served as the Director of LA Health Action, a California Endowment-funded non-profit dedicated to improving the health of low-income LA County communities, and as a member of the boards of the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California and the Child Health Initiative of Greater LA. She earned a B.A. in English from Loyola Marymount and a J.D. from UCLA.

  • Denise Rios Rodriguez

    retired partner and health care lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP, where she focused her practice on payment issues arising under government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Her considerable knowledge in health-related laws and regulations has been applied in advising clients on the complexities of federal, state and local health care funding, as well as strategic planning for health care systems. Ms. Rodriguez was a member of the Health Care Industry Team. In her early legal career, Ms. Rodriguez was an attorney for the United States Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., where she served as counsel to the Health Care Financing Administration (now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) and other agencies within the Department. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School (J.D., cum laude, 1979) and Wayne State University (B.A., with distinction, 1975).

  • Gerard McCallum II

    Over 20 years of experience in strategic marketing and planning, multi-tiered operations and risk management, as well as, creating and implementing community and municipal development programming. At Wilson Meany, Gerard serves as Senior Project Manager responsible for entitlement and development of commercial retail space and residential units. He is responsible for conducting all community outreach and public affairs for the Southern California and works in the capacity of sourcing new development opportunities, partnerships, and untapped real estate alignments. He currently serves on the Board of Commissioners for both the California Association of Local Agency Formation Commission (CALAFCO) and the Local Agency Formation Commission of Los Angeles County, (LAFCO), which is responsible for coordinating logical and timely changes in local governmental boundaries, and reviewing ways to streamline governmental structure. He serves on number of boards including the Inglewood Chamber of Commerce, The Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust and USC Ross Minority Program in Real Estate. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Biola University, Summa Cum Laude, has a certificate in Economic Literacy Business Administration at The New York Stock Exchange and one in Biblical Studies at Oxford University, Oxford, England.

  • Derric J. Johnson

    Derric J. Johnson is the Principal of Maroon Colony L.L.C., a consultancy platform to reimagine social enterprise opportunities across industries, with an intentional change management framework for broad diversification, equity, and improved access. Previously, Derric was the Founding Director of The Equity and Justice Institute (E&JI) and served as a member of the senior administrative team at The Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences. Under his leadership, the Institute oversaw social justice advocacy and equity education. Prior, Derric was Senior Deputy, Public Safety and Justice for the Office of Los Angeles County Board Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. During his tenure, Derric led efforts to establish the Civilian Oversight Commission of the Sheriff’s Department; reformed oversight policies for the largest Probation Department in the United States; advanced initiatives to improve deficiencies in cultural competency and systemic implicit biases, and instituted the Fair Chance Ordinance for LA County that would eliminate restrictions on employment opportunities based solely on criminal convictions. Derric was also appointed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to represent the Second District as a Commissioner/Vice President for the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission. Additionally, Derric serves as a Board Member for several non-profit organizations: United Friends of the Children, Pitzer College Alumni Board, and is an inaugural Executive Council Member of the Children’s Defense Fund-CA. As a National Urban Fellow, Derric earned his secondary master’s in public administration from Baruch College-City University of New York, completed a master’s in business management from Azusa Pacific University, and earned his bachelor’s from Pitzer.

Thank you to former Board Members Honorable Candace Bond, U. S. Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago; Fred Ali, retired President & CEO, Weingart Foundation; and Mark A. Ghaly, MD, Secretary of the California Health & Human Services Agency for all your support!

 
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