Board of Trustees

Ronald R. Gastelum has a legacy of bringing stability and strong creative initiatives to the private and public sector organizations he has led in water, waste management, and energy arenas. 

As the Chief Executive Officer of The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California from 1999 until December 2004, Ron was responsible for managing the operations of the world’s largest wholesale water supplier serving the 18 million residents in urban Southern California with assets worth $11 billion with a $1 billion annual operating budget. Under Ron’s leadership MWD was successful in diversifying the region’s water supply with the development of new large water transfer, groundwater banking, reclaimed water, and cutting-edge conservation programs. Ron also led a major restructuring of MWD’s management, adopted a new Strategic Plan with unprecedented public participation, updated its long term resources plan, completed a $2 billion dollar new reservoir, adopted a long term capital improvement and finance plan, and completed a major overhaul of its rate structure. Since leaving Metropolitan Ron served as interim Executive Vice President of the L.A. Area Chamber of Commerce to provide leadership and management during the transition to a new CEO. 

Prior to 1999 Ron served as General Counsel for BKK Corporation, where he managed all environmental compliance matters, including extensive regulatory and legislative affairs in California and at the federal level. 

Ron is a graduate of Whittier College and received his Juris Doctorate at UCLA Law School.

A retired finance executive, Alan Lund ’71 most recently served as interim President and Chief Executive Officer for International Lease Finance Corporation. 

Mr. Lund worked at ILFC for more than 30 years, the entire time as CFO, and served as Vice Chairman and CFO since 2002. Prior to joining ILFC, Mr. Lund worked for the company currently known as Deloitte & Touche as an Audit Manager and for California-World Financial Corporation as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Lund graduated from Whittier College in 1971 with a B.A. in Business Administration. He became a Certified Public Accountant, State of California, in 1973.

Yvonne Romero da Silva is the vice president for enrollment at Rice University in Houston, Texas.

Prior to joining Rice, she earned widespread recognition as vice dean and director of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania, where she set national standards for strategic planning and evaluating applications.

Romero da Silva is well known for her innovation in the field of higher education enrollment management. In her nearly 25 years of experience in college admissions and recruitment, she has impacted higher education initiatives through leadership roles with various organizations and institutions, and through numerous presentations and engagements for the National Association for College Admission Counseling. She has deep knowledge of national educational issues and trends for both the K-12 and higher education markets with particular expertise in enrollment management, admissions and recruitment, secondary and post-secondary assessments, and professional development. In addition to her roles at Rice and University of Pennsylvania, Romero da Silva served on the admissions board at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and headed up strategy for the College Board.

Romero da Silva holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from MIT, a master’s degree in education from Harvard, an MBA from Stanford University, and an Ed.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. She is originally from Riverside, California, where her parents and family still reside.

Harold Allen '84 is the principal owner of Harold Allen Insurance Services which provides a wide variety of insurance coverages for personal and commercial purposes including life, home, auto, health, dental, vision, business, and worker’s compensation, as well as wealth transfer and asset protection services. He is also an account manager at Orkin Pest Control.

Allen is an enthusiastic supporter of Whittier Athletics. He currently serves as chair of the Purple & Gold Hall of Fame committee and regularly attends the annual Purple & Gold Golf Tournament. Most recently, Allen co-founded the new Whittier College Black Alumni Association to help current Black students succeed and graduate from Whittier. Allen is also a member of the Sachsen Society.

Allen has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Whittier College. Originally from San Diego, he and his wife, Allyson, currently reside in Los Angeles, California.

Fred Anderson '66 is a managing director and co-founder of Elevation Partners, a leading private equity firm focused on large-scale investments in media, entertainment, and technology businesses.

Anderson has extensive operating and financial experience as a senior executive in the technology industry. From 1996-2004, he was the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Apple, and made major contributions to Apple’s turnaround and re-emergence as an industry leader, resolving a major liquidity crisis, executing a massive restructuring that returned the company to sustainable profitability, and working with the company’s executive team to re-energize Apple’s revenue and profit growth.

As a senior financial executive of several public companies, Anderson has been involved in numerous acquisitions and a wide range of other corporate finance transactions, including complex equity and debt financings, and recapitalizations. He previously served on the boards of directors of Apple, Move, Palm, Crystal Decisions and 3COM, and on the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council. He currently serves on the boards of directors of eBay, Yelp, and Sonos.

Anderson earned his B.A. in business at Whittier College in 1966. As an undergraduate, he was a member of the Orthogonian Society and played on the baseball team. After graduation, he served as a captain in the United State Air Force before earning his MBA in accounting from UCLA in 1972. He and his wife, Marilyn, reside in Menlo Park.

Christina Queiros Bouchot helps employers grow their workforces along with their businesses in ways that allow them to retain the best talent and maintain a positive company culture. She also provides employment advice on various corporate transactions.

Christina counsels clients on their most critical employment and compliance issues, whether that means addressing founder disputes, drafting employment policies, making recommendations on the use of restrictive covenants, advising on compliance with wage-and-hour laws, or making recommendations on reductions in force. She also handles investigations and complaints involving allegations of sexual harassment, whistleblowing and discrimination. While she has experience representing companies in many industries, she has a particular focus on technology companies and private equity firms, and understands the nuances of their cultures and unique employment challenges.

Christina also has ample experience supporting and advising on corporate transactions. This includes analyzing the impact of employment considerations on deal strategy and structure, drafting and negotiating employment agreements, non-competes and separation agreements and providing advice on post-closing workforce integration.

Christina is very active in the legal community within the Employment Bar and within various Hispanic and Women’s Lawyer’s Associations.

Michael L. Brown '79 is the owner and general manager of Hyundai of Moreno Valley.

Erin Clancy ’07 is a public policy manager on Facebook’s Strategic Response Policy team where she manages high-profile incidents that affect the business and reputational risk of the company.

Prior to joining Facebook, Erin advanced U.S. foreign policy as a career Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. Department of State for 15 years. Her diplomatic assignments included the U.S. Embassies in Syria, Jordan, Oman, the State Department’s Office of UN Political Affairs, special assistant to then Deputy Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York where she was the lead American negotiator in the UN Security Council on Syria and Burma. In 2019, Erin received the State Department’s highest award, the Distinguished Honor Award, for her role in negotiating the successful evacuation and repatriation of over 400 members of the Syrian Civil Defense (the White Helmets) out of Syria. She is currently a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Atlantic Council’s LGBTI fellowship. Outside of her work for the U.S. government, Erin has also advised democratic presidential campaigns on foreign policy and national security issues. She is a graduate of Whittier College and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Tiffany Dean ’97 is a consultant on board governance in the non-profit and higher education sectors.

Arriving from Portland, Oregon, Dean majored in political science at Whittier and was a member of Pi Sigma Alpha honor society, the tennis team, and the Metaphonian Society. Earlier in her career, at AGB Consulting, Dean was responsible for developing and delivering comprehensive programs and services for the boards of public foundations and their CEOs to support their governance responsibilities and fiduciary duties. At Oregon State University Foundation, she served as corporate secretary, maintaining corporate records and advising on policy and procedural matters, governance and communications about the board.

Richard I. Gilchrist currently serves as Chairman of the Board and on the compensation committee of Spirit Realty Capital, Inc. (NYSE: SRC).

He also serves as Director of Blackstone Real Estate Income (NYSE: BREIT) and as Chairman of the Affiliated Transactions Committee and as a member of the Audit Committee.

Gilchrist previously served as Senior Advisor for acquisitions and investments at The Irvine Company, a privately-held real estate investment company, a position he held from July 2011 until July 2018, after having served as President of its Investment Properties Group from 2006 to 2011.

He also served as President and Co-Chief Executive Officer and on the board of directors of Maguire Properties, Inc., a publicly-held REIT, from 2002 to 2006. From 1997 to 2001, Gilchrist served as Chief Executive Officer, President, and member of the board of directors of Commonwealth Atlantic Properties, a privately held real estate company he co-founded. From 1995 to 1997, he served as the Co-Chairman of Managing Partner of Commonwealth Atlantic Properties.

He has previously served as director of Ventas (NYSE: VTR) from 2011 to August 2021 and was Chairman of both its Compensation and Investment committees. He has also previously served as a director of BioMed Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: BMR) from 2007 to 2014, Nationwide Health Properties, Inc. from 2008 to 2011, and TIER REIT, Inc. (NYSE: TIER) from 2013 to August 2019, and as Chairman from 2016 to August 2019 until TIER REIT, Inc. was acquired by Cousins Properties Inc. (NYSE: CUZ).

Gilchrist is a member of the Whittier College Board of Trustees and served as its Chairman from 2003 to 2011 where he received his BA in 1968. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the University of California, Los Angeles Law School, where he earned his JD in 1971.

Yukiyasu Hayashi P’10 is the CEO and President of Osato International Inc., a Japanese health and wellness company established in 2002.

Under Hayashi's leadership, Osato International Inc. has grown into three entities: Osato Laboratory Inc., manufacturing plant; Osato Research Institute (ORI), a non-profit organization dedicated to scientific research and development; and Osato Distribution World Ltd in charge of worldwide distribution. Headquartered in Gifu, Japan, some 250 miles west of Tokyo, Osato International Inc. has distribution centers in the United States, Europe, and French Overseas Territories.

Jascha Kaykas-Wolff '98 serves as president of Portland-based Lytics, a high-profile marketing software firm that helps companies deploy AI to run better marketing programs.

In his role, Kaykas-Wolff oversees the company’s operations including sales, marketing, and product. Lytics’ award-winning Customer Data Platform serves prominent brands such as P&G, Nestlé Purina, Live Nation Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Yamaha, and more.

Kaykas-Wolff previously served as chief marketing officer at Mozilla, where he helped create millions of new customer relationships and grow revenue with its flagship product, Firefox. Prior to Mozilla, he served in leadership roles at BitTorrent, Microsoft, and Yahoo!. In addition, Kaykas-Wolff is the author of Growing Up Fast: How New Agile Practices Can Move Marketing and Innovation Past the Old Business Stalemates and serves as the producer and co-host of the popular podcast This Is Your Life in Silicon Valley.

Kaykas-Wolff has a B.A. in psychology from Whittier College and has been on the Board of Trustees since 2017.

Lila Laviano ’03 has established a knowledge base for streamlining the affordable housing development process, ensuring regulatory compliance, setting outcome-driven project goals, and maximizing cost efficiencies and expediting timelines.

Laviano’s grandmother, Gloria Ancira, was an advocate and community leader whose goal was to demystify homeownership for many Angelenos in marginalized and low-income communities. Since graduating from Whittier, Laviano has built on her grandmother’s legacy with more than 20 years of work in real estate development and asset management focused on affordable housing in California. Laviano has brought more than 25,000 affordable housing units into compliance within the City of Los Angeles and provided executive oversight for over $500 million in assets. In 2010, she started a consulting and private real estate development company and pivoted to a private capital financial model deployed within Housing for Us All and Erna Enterprises.

Laviano also serves as the President of the Board of Directors for Optimist Youth Home and Family Services, a more than 100-year-old organization providing programs for at-risk youth, emancipated foster youth and their families.

Richard Lichtenstein P'16 is a highly regarded political and public policy strategist and a pioneer in public affairs advocacy and strategic communications.

As president and founder of Marathon Communications, he and his team provide these professional specialties to major national corporations, real estate developers, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations, forging paths to achieve their goals. 

Mr. Lichtenstein received a B.A. from Connecticut College, a master’s degree in urban studies from Occidental College, and a J.D. from Loyola University Los Angeles. He currently serves as co-chair of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association board of trustees, sits on the Fuller Avenue Senior Housing Board, and is a board member of the Coro Foundation. He and his wife, Melanie Cotton, are the proud parents of Poet Daniel Lichtenstein ’16. 

Lisabeth Marziello ’87 and her husband, Joe Marziello ’86, are President-Chief Executive Officers of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Philadelphia.

The Marziellos lead an organization that employs over 220 people at 22 locations. Before coming to Philadelphia, the Marziellos managed Club operations in Oregon, Wisconsin, and New York. Since coming to Philadelphia, the Marziellos have raised more than $120 million in revenue to support programming, operations, and capital investment. Their leadership has resulted in improved financial stability and security, innovative new programming, growth of membership and services, and substantial improvements to Club facilities. In addition, they initiated the Call-to-Action Literacy Initiative, which now reaches over 1,400 youth at 15 Clubs throughout Philadelphia, and STEM learning Labs to provide young people with 21st-century skills. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Marziellos’ team served over 350,000 meals at 15 locations to low-income families over 14 months.

Before joining the Boys & Girls Club movement, Lisabeth Marziello worked in marketing and advertising for several Los Angeles companies including Backer Spielvogel Bates; Foote, Cone & Belding; and Eisaman, Johns & Laws.

Francisco Rodriguez is the chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District, the largest community college district in the nation with nine, accredited colleges, over 250,000 students enrolled, and an annual budget of $5.8 billion.

Appointed chancellor of the District in 2014, Rodriguez has worked to raise the District's profile and improve its reputation as the best urban community college district in the nation. To accomplish this, Rodriguez has charted a course that includes well-prepared and innovative faculty, state-of-the-art facilities and instructional equipment, superbly trained and professional support staff, and business and community engagement. During his tenure, Chancellor Rodriguez led the efforts to pass a $3.3 billion local facilities bond in 2016 and the hiring of close to five-hundred full-time faculty.

A noted scholar and education activist, Rodriguez has 30 years of experience as an educator, faculty member, and administrator within California public higher education and has dedicated his career to high quality public education and championing diversity, equity and inclusion, and outreach to underserved communities. In particular, Rodriguez has focused his career on educational policies that expand access to higher education and financial aid, tireless advocacy for undocumented students and student-veterans, and the leadership development of young Latino and African American males. He frequently speaks on the topics of higher education, student access and success, governance and governing boards, workforce development, fundraising and philanthropy, and community.

Rodriguez serves as chair of the National Science Foundation's Advisory Committee for the Directorate of Education and Human Resources; director of the Board of Higher Education and Workforce of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine; president of the California Association of Latino Community College Trustees and Administrators Association (CALCCTA); and is an appointee of California Governor Jerry Brown to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE). He is also the past president of the Cal Aggie Alumni Association (U.C. Davis) and director of the U.C. Davis Foundation Board.

Rodriguez earned a bachelor's degree in Chicano studies and his master's degree in community development from University of California, Davis. He received his Ph.D. in education from Oregon State University and serves as a lecturer in the doctoral education programs at Sacramento State University and at San Diego State University.

Dr. Raquel Torres-Retana ’91 is an educator with over 30 years of experience in various collegiate settings.

A daughter of Mexican immigrants, Torres-Retana has a passion for educational equity and social justice rooted in her experiences raised in a San Gabriel Valley working-class community. A first-generation college student, Torres-Retana graduated with a bachelor’s in sociology and a minor in history from Whittier College. She earned her Master's in Public Administration from CSU-Dominguez Hills. Later, while working in Student Affairs at the University of Southern California, she enrolled in the Ed.D. program at the USC Rossier School of Education and earned her degree in 2007. At USC, she was director of El Centro Chicano (1999-2004) and later an Assistant Dean with the office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards (SJACS).

In 2015, Torres-Retana began her current appointment at  Pasadena City College, where she serves as a dean. She remains an adjunct assistant professor at the USC Rossier School of Education, teaching in graduate programs and serving on dissertation committees. Married with three adult children, she lives in the Los Angeles area.

Vincent E. Vigil '02 is the Associate Vice President (AVP) of Student Affairs and Dean of Students at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF).

Promoted to AVP in 2019, Vigil oversees various departments at CSUF including counseling and psychological services, disability support services, health services, housing and residential engagement, student life and leadership, and Title IX. 
 
Vigil previously served as interim director for CSUF’s Diversity Initiatives and Resource Centers, which includes the five identity-based centers: African American Resource Center, Asian Pacific American Resource Center, Chicana & Chicano Resource Center, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Resource Center, and Titan Dreamers Resource Center. Prior to that role, he worked as the director for student life and leadership at CSUF. 
 
Before beginning his tenure at CSUF, Vigil served as director for campus organizations at the University of California, Irvine as well as the inaugural director for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Resource Center at USC. Under his leadership at USC, the LGBT Resource Center was named among the Top 20 Best of the Best LGBT-Friendly Colleges and Universities, received a “five-star rating” from the Campus Climate Index, and an Achievement Award from the Los Angeles City Pride Heritage Month Celebration.
 
Vigil also has taught several courses in educational counseling and education for the master's and doctoral programs at USC, and the master's of higher education program at CSUF. He is a first-generation college student from Pico Rivera, CA. He received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Whittier College and his master’s degree in postsecondary administration and student affairs from the USC Rossier School of Education. In 2007, Vigil graduated with his doctorate degree in higher education administration from USC. 

Stephanie Wiggins '92 is the CEO of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro).

As Metro’s CEO, Wiggins manages a budget of nearly $7 billion, oversees up to $20 billion in capital construction projects, and oversees an agency with 11,000 employees that transports more than a half-million boarding passengers daily on a fleet of 2,200 buses and six rail lines.

Prior to leading Metro, Wiggins was CEO of Metrolink, an agency that operates a commuter rail network on seven routes across a six-county, 538 route-mile system. Wiggins has held high-level positions at three of the five-member agencies that comprise Metrolink and is well-known as a customer-focused leader who finds solutions from a regional perspective.

Wiggins previously served as Deputy CEO of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) where she assisted the CEO in providing leadership and formulating and achieving strategic public transportation objectives. During her initial tenure at LA Metro, Wiggins also served as the executive director of vendor/contract management and executive officer and project director of the Congestion Reduction/ExpressLanes Program. Prior to Metro, she served as regional programs director for the Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) and oversaw transit, commuter rail, rideshare, goods movement and rail capital projects. Wiggins began her career in transportation at the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority.

Wiggins is the founding president of the Inland Empire Chapter of Women’s Transportation Seminar. She is the recipient of many awards including the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials 2018 Women Who Move the Nation Award. She is a Board Member of the Los Angeles Chapter of Friends of the Children. Wiggins has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Whittier and an MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business.

Kenya L. Williams, Esq. JD'10 is a Los Angeles-based experienced intellectual property attorney who has substantial transactional, litigation, and enforcement expertise in the areas of trademarks, copyrights, licensing, trade secrets, and right of publicity.

She currently serves as the trademark enforcement counsel for Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., a U.S.-based provisioner of scientific instrumentation, reagents and consumables, and software and services to healthcare, life science, and other laboratories in academia, government, and industry, Previously, Williams was trademark attorney for Arent Fox.

Williams is skilled at devising global branding strategies, providing trademark clearance advice, and enforcing trademark and other intellectual property rights worldwide for small, mid-size and large multi-national companies. She also has a considerable amount of transactional experience drafting and negotiating agreements related to intellectual property transactions and other areas of law. 

Williams enjoys mentoring law students and young lawyers and is an active member of the Whittier Law School Alumni Association. She has a B.S. from Stanford University, a master’s degree in public administration, health administration, and planning from Tennessee State University, and a J.D. from Whittier Law School. Williams has been a member of the Whittier Board of Trustees since 2016.