The South Bay Parkland Conservancy Officers and Board of Directors:
The South Bay Parkland Conservancy Advisory Board:
Ted Lieu, State Assembly member 53rd District, Candidate for State Attorney General
Mitch Ward, Mayor Pro-Tem, Manhattan Beach, CA (Candidate – 53rd State Assembly District)
Portia Cohen, Mayor, Manhattan Beach, CA
Michael Keegan, Past City Council Member, Hermosa Beach, CA
Cliff Numark, City Council Member, Torrance CA
Bill Brand, City Council Member, Redondo Beach, CA
Charlie Szymanski, Past Board Member, South Bay Parkland Conservancy
Bianca Chung, Past Board Member, South Bay Parkland Conservancy
Wendy Weber, Past Board Member, South Bay Parkland Conservancy
|
SBPC's Officers and Board of Directors:
Jim Light - President
Jim is a founding Director of the SBPC. He has lived in Redondo Beach since 1989. A former Air Force officer, Jim is now an executive with a local aerospace firm. He has a degree in Aerospace Engineering and an MBA.
With a passion for water sports, Jim got his start in community service as an executive member of the local Surfrider chapter in the 1990’s. He led activities related to water quality, protection of the Ballona Wetlands, localism in Palos Verdes, and Pratte’s Reef. Jim became involved in Redondo land use issues after reading the Heart of the City Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Having worked EIR’s in his Air Force career, Jim quickly identified obvious flaws in the city’s EIR that resulted in dramatic understatement of the traffic impacts. Jim participated in the Heart of the City referendum drive after the City unanimously voted to approve the flawed document despite resident concerns with the impacts of the rezoning.
Since Heart of the City, Jim has focused his energy on protecting and enhancing resident quality of life, public open space, parkland and waterfront recreational uses.
Irene Kurata - Treasurer
Irene Kurata is the Treasurer of the South Bay Parkland Conservancy. Irene is a native Angeleno who grew up in the South Bay enjoying the neighborhood parks with her family. She hopes to enhance and preserve the South Bay parks so that friends, neighbors and family can continue to build memories of the joys the outdoors brings.
Irene graduated from UCSB with a degree in mechanical engineering and currently works for a financial institution.
Dave Wiggins - Secretary
Dave Wiggins is a founding Director of the South Bay Parkland Conservancy and currently serves as the Secretary to the corporation. Dave grew up in the South Bay and has lived in Redondo Beach since 1991. He has been active in conservation and land development issues throughout his adult life.
After a seven year career as a teacher, Dave began practicing law in 1985. He holds a B.A. degree in History from Pomona College, an M.A. degree in Education from Claremont Graduate University, and a law degree from the University of California Hastings College of the Law.
Dave periodically serves as a Judge pro tem for the Los Angeles Superior Court. He also teaches law classes in the paralegal programs at UCLA and Cal. State Los Angeles. From 1999 to 2003, Dave served as a member of the Board of Education of the Redondo Beach Unified School District. He was elected by fellow boardmembers to serve as their President from 2001 to 2002.
Jillaine Force - Board Member
Jillaine Force is a founding director of the SBPC and grew up in the South Bay. She attended the former Aviation High School in Redondo Beach and has lived and worked in the area for most of her life.
Jillaine is married with two school age boys and has been very involved in their education by volunteering in the classroom and assisting with the book fair, yearbook and landscaping committees. Jillaine is an entrepreneur, having patented a line of nursing brassiere wear she designed and now manufacturers for her web site and maternity retailers. In addition, Jillaine makes and sells jewelry using amber, sterling silver, leather and 14K gold. She enjoys camping, volleyball and the ocean. Family is most important to Jillaine and the environment comes a close second.
Jillaine attended the round table meetings at the Crown Plaza regarding “the Heart of the City” and became concerned with the density that was proposed. She became involved with SBPC where she learned of the feasibility of open space along California’s coastline and became inspired about the potential for the South Bay area.
Kevin McCann - Board Member
Kevin moved to the Southland in 1997 to attend film school at Loyola Marymount, and has worked for several years in the world of feature film production. He continues to pursue a career in screenwriting, andbut has expanded his career goals to include matters of environmental justice. He is currently the head writer for EcoMattersDaily.com. A passion for the environment was instilled in him from childhood, and he has long subscribed to the belief that urban green spaces are not only good for the environment, but for the physical and mental health of citizens as well.
David Sundstrom - Board Member
David Sundstrom is a Certified Public Accountant and has been a board member of the California Native Plant Society since 2004, serving in various capacities including Treasurer, Vice President and Webmaster. David previously served as Chair of the Environmental Task Force for Long Beach Strategic Plan 2010, having been appointed by the Mayor.
David has a history of leadership in numerous community and environmental organizations and has been a longtime supporter of open space advocacy organizations such as Friends of the Los Angeles River, the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust for Long Beach and Seal Beach, and the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy.
Florence 'Flo' Swiger - Board Member
Flo works in the health care field and sees first hand what happens in an unhealthy environment and how people's health is affected.
Flo is an RN with a degree in Education Majoring in Public Health. In the past she has worked as an RN in Critical Care and also has taught in a community college. She has set up several Cardiac Rehabilitation Programs. She currently does Cardiology Research working with cardiology patients as they come through the hospital. She clearly sees the need for the public to understand how to lead a healthy life before getting sick.
Flo has an interest in good health and an advocate of bettering the environment we live in. Because of this, she became interested in the SBPC as one good way to give our citizens, our children, and wildlife a better chance in this world by advocating more open space as a start to cleaning up our environment.
Flo has volunteered many hours to the Wayfarers Chapel in PV. She was on the Board of Directors for the Chapel for seven years. During that time, she attended many Palos Verdes City council meetings to convince the council that Wayfarers should be allowed to rebuild their Visitors Center in the northern most location instead of the southern most area where the land had slipped down the hill causing the old VC to be condemned by the city. She subscribes to the Wayfarers philosophy that the beauty of nature celebrates the presence of God in all things; therefore all of nature has its place on this earth & must be taken care of.
She has been an avid tennis and volleyball player as well as cyclist & skier. She loves the out of doors and has done a lot of camping in our great national parks. She is a member of several Ski and Tennis clubs as well as the Sierra Club. She supports several organizations that advocate preserving our environment, such as Rails to Trails, The National Park Foundation and the National Wildlife Federation.
Don Vangeloff - Board Member
Don is a founding Director of the SBPC. Don lives in North Redondo since 1999 and has lived in the South Bay since 1995. A former banker and management consultant with Ernst & Young, Don now works in business development for Infosys Technologies Limited, a global business consulting and technology services company.
Don became involved with the 'Heart Park' concept after attending the City-sponsored Visioning sessions and believes that open space in the South Bay is a financially viable alternative to ever-increasing development and pays off in greater quality of life for everyone. He has a degree in Finance from the University of Miami and an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA. Don is a former Advisory Board Member for IntEnt Media, Inc, a transmedia company and member of Leadership Redondo; currently he is a Recreation and Parks Commissioner for City of Redondo Beach.
Christine Wike - Board Member
Christine is a Hermosa Beach resident who is interested in helping to preserve coastal land resources in the South Bay region. With over eighteen years of experience in marketing and product management, her background includes creating communications pieces, managing marketing campaigns and planning events to effectively reach targeted audiences. She joined the South Bay Parkland Conservancy to help communicate our organization’s key messages and goals.
