Board Leadership

Board of Directors

Covenant House California is grateful for the leaders who have made a commitment to our young people. Their support helps us pursue our mission to help youth overcome homelessness and human trafficking.

Michael Kibler

Board Chair
Managing Partner, Kibler Fowler & Cave LLP
Mike Kibler joined the Covenant House California board in October 2013 and has served on its Executive Committee, Governance Committee, as co-chair of the Executive Sleep Out Task Force, and as Chair of the Chief Executive Officer Search Committee. He was elected Vice Board Chair in 2019. Mike is the Managing Partner of Kibler Fowler & Cave LLP, a Los Angeles-based commercial trial and litigation boutique law firm. Prior to co-founding Kibler Fowler & Cave, Mike was a litigation partner at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. In addition to serving on the CHC Board, Mike’s community involvement has included serving as a member of the Western Los Angeles County Council Scout Executive Board, coaching baseball in the Beverly Hills Little League, and serving as an Assistant Scoutmaster of BSA Troop 223 in the Pacific Palisades. He lives with his wife, Ann, and children, Andrew and Beatrice, in Beverly Hills.

Ilene Harker

Vice Chair
Head of Enterprise Risk, Western Asset Management (retired)
Ilene joined Covenant House California’s Board of Directors in 2015 and currently serves as Chair of the Governance Committee. She and her husband Jim live in Newport Beach, CA. Ilene and Jim are proprietors of SoMa Cellars a premium wine brand. Ilene retired in 2014 from Western Asset Management Company, a global investment management firm. While at Western Asset, she was responsible for their Enterprise Risk program. Ilene serves as Chair of the Board of CREST Education Center a non-public school for children with special needs.

Edyth Adedeji

Director, Los Angeles & Southwest Sales at Delta Air Lines
Edyth is responsible for developing and achieving Delta’s key strategic sales objectives across a mix of corporate and agency accounts headquartered primarily in California and Texas. Edyth joined Delta in 2010 as part of Delta’s Finance MBA rotational program in Atlanta and has worked on transformative and strategic projects across Cargo Finance, Joint Venture Finance, and Financial Analysis. She then joined the Sales Organization initially on the Strategic and Analytics team that transitioned Sales Support to a 24/7 operation before moving to New York Sales where she was responsible for maximizing revenue and share. Prior to joining Delta, Edyth spent five years at Accenture leading systems integration and technology projects across multibillion-dollar Oil & Energy and Telecommunication accounts. She holds an MBA from the University of Texas and a B.S in Information Systems from University of Texas in Arlington.

Fred Ali

President & CEO, Weingart Foundation (retired)
 In 1999, Fred left Covenant House to become the President of the Weingart Foundation. He has over 45 years of senior management experience with philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions and government. Fred speaks regularly on issues pertaining to the nonprofit sector including equity, organizational effectiveness and capacity building. In 2021, Fred will step down as President of the Weingart Foundation, but will remain active in social justice and racial equity work. He joined the Board of Covenant House California in 2017.

Paul Daneshrad

Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Starpoint Properties
Paul Daneshrad is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of StarPoint Properties, a private real estate firm, which he founded in 1990 and has built into one of the most respected real estate investment and development firms in the industry with $1.5+ billion of transactions over its history. StarPoint prides itself on delivering, decade after decade, market leading returns to its investors and providing asymmetrical returns that have proven to outperform most alternate investments. Mr. Daneshrad’s 30 year tenure and extensive experience in the real estate industry ultimately built the company into the vertically integrated real estate firm that it is today. Mr. Daneshrad is considered an expert in the real estate investment community, often speaking at national conferences, a noted expert by multiple real estate publications including: Net Lease Forum, Multi-Family Executive, California Real Estate Journal, Multi-Housing News, National Real Estate Investor, Real Estate Southern California, and Commercial Property News. Mr. Daneshrad joined the board of Covenant House California in June of 2022.

Mia DeMontigny

Finance Committee Chair
VP, Controller and CFO, SoCal Gas
Mia DeMontigny is vice president and chief financial officer for Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), a Sempra Energy regulated California utility. She also serves as SoCalGas’ controller, chief accounting officer and treasurer. DeMontigny joined Sempra Energy as assistant controller in 2015. Prior to that, she was U.S. assistant controller for National Grid from 2013 to 2015. In that role, she was responsible for overseeing accounting and financial reporting functions. Before National Grid, she worked at PwC in a variety of roles in the power and utilities industry group, including managing director. Mia joined the board of Covenant House California in 2019, and serves as the Chair of CHC’s Audit Committee.

Landis Graden

CEO of DCG Strategies, A National Real Estate Company
Landis Graden is President, CEO and Founder of DCG Strategies, Inc. (A registered and certified Benefit Corporation.) DCG’s mission is unique in that is focuses exclusively on providing real estate consulting and development solutions for community-benefit organizations such as faith based entities, public-school districts and non-profits.  He is also called to interrupt the school to prison pipeline and as such he helped co-found and is a board member of United Tech Cities, a non-profit focused on preparing underrepresented and marginalized minority youth for careers in the tech sector. Graden says his #1 ministry is as a father to his son and daughter, which often brings with it the title of basketball coach. He is active in his ministry Kingdom Builders Christian Fellowship in Oakland, CA. He received a BS from University of San Francisco, an MBA from Holy Names University and is currently pursuing a Master’s of Divinity from Claremont School of Theology.

Jacqueline Guichelaar

Group Chief Information Officer, Cisco
Jacqueline Guichelaar joined Cisco in February 2019 as Senior Vice President and Group Chief Information Officer.  She is spearheading the creation of a digital architecture to accelerate Cisco’s digital enterprise transformation.  She oversees a multi-billion dollar organization responsible for running and transforming the technology infrastructure, digital platforms, enterprise security, and business applications that enable Cisco’s global workforce to excel and be productive. She joined the board of directors at Covenant House California in 2021.

Paul Hanneman

Development Committee Co-Chair
President of Worldwide Theatrical Marketing & Distribution, Twentieth Century Fox (retired)
Mr. Hanneman’s bio is coming soon.

Ricardo Hartigan

Audit & Investment Committee Chair
Director, BlackRock
Rick joined the Covenant House California’s Board of Director’s in 2015. He is a Director at BlackRock, Inc. and Market Leader in their U.S. Wealth Advisory Business. He and his wife Carolina have two boys, Liam and Aidan, and live in Los Angeles County, CA. Rick graduated from Princeton University, and earned his CIMA from The Wharton School.

Dennis Jilot

CEO, Specializing Technology Resources (posthumous)
Dennis joined the Board of Covenant House California in 2015. He had previously served on the Board of Covenant House New York for over 10 years. Prior to his retirement, Den had been Chairman and CEO of Specialized Technology Resources and had completed a near 25 year executive career at Corning Incorporated/Corning Clinical Labs (now Quest Diagnostics) where he was President and COO. Den also served as a Captain in the USAF. Den and his wife Lynne have been married over 50 years and have their primary residence in Reno, NV where their son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter also reside.

Daryl Kueter

Sr. Vice President Small Business Banking, Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Daryl is a Senior Vice President and Business Planning & Management Executive in Small Business at Bank of America. In his current role, Daryl works closely with Small Business teams’ to create and execute competitive sales plans to exceed market objectives. Since joining BofA in 1984 he has held various managerial positions crossing many lines of businesses within the company including the Consumer Bank, Premier Bank, Small Business and Global Wealth Management. As a member of the board of directors for Covenant House California, he is passionate about providing youth a safe haven from homelessness and helping them achieve their personal goals. He joined the board in 2013.

Kevin MacLellan

Chairman, Global Distribution and International, NBC Universal (retired)
Kevin MacLellan is a senior media, digital, and production executive with over twenty-five years’ experience developing, launching, and managing entertainment businesses around the world. Most recently he served as Chairman, Global Distribution and International at NBCUniversal, where he was responsible for over $5 Billion a year in revenue and managed over 2,500 employees across 36 offices in the US and worldwide. Mr. MacLellan is a founder and Board member of the Soho Recovery Center, one of the largest drug and alcohol recovery centers in Europe. He also proudly serves on the Boards of several charities including Tribute to Humanity, and Covenant House California, which he joined in 2019. Currently lives in LA with his husband of 25+ years and their two wonderful sons, who bring them joy every day.

John Mavredakis

Senior Managing Director, Houlihan, Lokey Howard and Zukin
Mr. Mavredakis has been on the Covenant House Board of Directors since September 2009. John and his wife, Christie, live in Los Angeles and enjoy living at the beach. John is a Managing Director at Houlihan Lokey and Global Head of Financial Sponsors Group. He has over 40 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, private financings, and ESOP buyouts, and he has personally closed more than 500 transactions. Mr. Mavredakis holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an MBA from the University of Denver Graduate School of Business.

Liza Pano

Development Committee Co-Chair
Senior Vice President, Worldwide Distribution Services, Paramount Pictures
Liza Pano is responsible for overseeing global localization operations for all theatrical and non-theatrical product.  Ms. Pano joined Paramount Pictures Corporation in 2006, when DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures Corporation merged.  She began her tenure at DreamWorks in 2005, serving as Vice President, Worldwide Technical Services, supervising the international delivery of all theatrical and non- theatrical DreamWorks product.  In 2014 Ms. Pano was also named one of the most Influential and Powerful Latinos in Entertainment by the Imagen Foundation.  She’s been a member of the Covenant House California Board of Directors since March 2014.

Adam Pettijohn

Business Development Associate at Wedbush Securities
A dynamic bilingual professional with a progressive technical background and hands-on experience handling/managing multi-tiered technical issues. Dedicated technician that thrives in fast paced environments requiring critical thinking and strong problem-solving skills.  Adam has lived experience with homelessness and as a foster youth and brings critical perspective to our work at CHC. His passion for advocacy is demonstrated through his volunteerism and years in leadership at California Youth Connection, an advocacy group for Youth Overcoming Homelessness.  Adam graduated from Cal State University Fullerton with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice & sociology.  He lives in Santa Monica with his husband Karl.

Ryne Posey

Counsel – Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Ryne is a counsel at Skadden, Arps, specializing in advising clients across a broad range of industries on the full spectrum of labor and employment matters, including compliance and counseling, litigation and alternative dispute resolution, and transactional matters. Prior to his legal career, Ryne was a middle school math teacher and high school football coach. Ryne serves on the board of various organizations, including Covenant House California, Teach For America Los Angeles, and KIPP SoCal Public Schools. Ryne lives in Los Angeles with his wife and beautiful daughter. He has been on the board of Covenant House California since April 2022.

James Rossiter

Founder and CEO, Whimstay Inc. (retired)
Jim Rossiter is a veteran of the Healthcare Information Technology industry. Mr. Rossiter has held a variety of leadership roles with technology companies such as IBM, Siemens, NextGen Healthcare, CyberPlus, Velos and CurData Solutions. Mr. Rossiter was the co-founder and CEO of Whimstay, Inc. and provides advisory and board management services to nCoup, Lionrock Behavioral Health, Medcurio and LifeData Systems. He and his family were introduced to the Covenant House in 1974 in New York City. He has been on the board of Covenant House California since March 2016.

Subash Samuels

Partner, KPMG
As a lead engagement partner, at KPMG, Subash brings more than 20 years of IT internal and external audit as well as advisory experience in various industries. She has substantial experience leading and coordinating IT audit and advisory engagements across global companies in the financial services, automotive, technology, and telecom sectors. She has served as the lead Specialist for all Japanese and Korean practice external audit clients for Pacific Southwest. I am also the leader overseeing Automotive industry external audit clients. I love to take a collaborative approach with key executives across the business and the IT organization to address entity-level and IT-level risks and controls. Personally, Subash and her husband run an orphanage in South Africa, which her husband founded over 20 years ago. Subash has served on the Board of Directors of the Exceptional Women Foundation, until 2021.

Steve Wilcox

President of the Wilcox Family Foundation
Mr. Wilcox is President of the Wilcox Family Foundation. The Foundation is a non-profit dedicated to collaborating with other non-profits to find and promote sustainable solutions to the issues affecting poor, underserved and underrepresented communities. The solutions currently funded are in the areas of health, education and employment. The Foundation’s goal is to improve the lives of individuals and families living in marginalized communities. Stephen Wilcox is the former Chancellor of the Diocese of Oakland. He was responsible for all “outward facing” ministries within the Diocese. He also served as the Victim Assistance Coordinator responsible for the care of the survivors of child sexual abuse. Mr. Wilcox also served as the Bishop’s Liaison to the Catholic Schools’ Department and one of three Bishop’s appointees to a Catholic network of elementary schools known as the Lumen Christi Academies. Prior to his time as Chancellor, Mr. Wilcox was senior executive of Accenture, LLP. He spent 28 years with Accenture, the technology and outsourcing company. Steve has received numerous awards and recognition for his leadership in philanthropy.

Shantel Williams

Covenant House California Alumni, Youth Advocate
Shantel is an alumni of Covenant House. She first went through our 30-day emergency shelter before staying in our supportive apartment program for two years then successfully exiting the program. Shantel is now on our board sharing her experience and perspective to help make our programs even better for our youth. She is currently in school pursing her degree in nursing. During her free time she enjoys writing, cycling with her husband Joshua and running after her son Josiah at beautiful parks. She has been a board member of Covenant House California since 2018.

Associate Board of Directors

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATE BOARD FOR YOUNG PROFESSIONALS

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATE BOARD FOR YOUNG PROFESSIONALS