LOS ANGELES – Loyola Marymount University welcomes 15 new members to its Board of Trustees and Board of Regents, tapping into the collective experience and wisdom of business executives, philanthropic leaders, policy makers, educators, attorneys and innovators from a wide range of industries.
The new board members will provide guidance and leadership during a pivotal time for LMU, which has embarked upon the boldest comprehensive fundraising campaign in university history and continues to pursue strategic plan initiatives to combat racism, advance interdisciplinary innovation, and elevate the university’s reputation, renown, and impact.
“Our new trustees and regents are visionary leaders who uplift and embolden us as we seek to create the world we want to live in,” said LMU President Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D. “Their dedication to our university mission and community is essential to our success, positioning LMU for our ambitious future.”
The eight new members of the Board of Trustees and seven new members of the Board of Regents are:
TRUSTEES
Aaron Banks ’95, M.D. is a pediatric cardiologist and president of the Pediatric Heart Center, a community-oriented medical practice delivering subspecialty health care to the Central and Southern California regions. He is also medical director of Pediatric Cardiology for Bakersfield Memorial Hospital. He previously served as associate medical director for Kern Health Systems and was a pediatric cardiologist at Children’s Heart Institute in the Washington, D.C. suburbs of Virginia and Maryland. After graduating from UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, he completed a residency at East Carolina University and a fellowship in pediatric cardiology at UCLA.
Tom Beck ’73, J.D. ’77, P ’08, ’17, has served as an Arcadia City Council member since 2014 and is currently mayor. He is a founding partner of Thon, Beck, Vanni, Callahan & Powell, a Pasadena-based law firm. He retired from the practice of law in 2013, and is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and received numerous awards as a trial lawyer. He is also a volunteer and mentor to children in the Watts area of Los Angeles.
Stuart Liner J.D. ’87, develops multifamily and student housing projects through his company, CTI Housing. He is the former co-managing partner of DLA Piper’s Los Angeles offices, where he advocated on behalf of entertainment industry clients and real estate owners and developers and achieved several eight-figure settlements at the multinational law firm. He also was the managing partner of the boutique firm Liner LLP from its formation in 1996 to its merger with DLA Piper in 2017. He was on the Los Angeles Business Journal’s L.A. 500 list in 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022; was recognized among the Top 10 Southern California Super Lawyers in 2007 and 2008; and was named Litigator of the Year by Century City Bar Association in 2008. He received the Help for Child Humanitarian Award from The Help Group in 2007.
Tom McGee ’89, is president and CEO of ICSC, the global organization of the marketplaces industry that promotes the places and spaces where people shop, dine, work, play and gather. Previously, McGee served as vice chair of Deloitte, the world’s largest professional services organization. In his 26 years with Deloitte, he held global and U.S. leadership roles, including deputy CEO, national managing partner of mergers and acquisitions services, and global chief of staff. He is a noted business speaker often featured in national media outlets such as Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and CNBC. He is active in the community and recently served as chairman of Covenant House International, the largest privately funded agency supporting homeless youth in the Americas.
Susan Frances Moley ’85, graduated from LMU in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a minor in economics; she subsequently earned her C.P.A. degree and then her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. She served on LMU’s Board of Trustees from 2000 to 2012 and has been a board member of several other institutions and organizations, including Marymount High School in Los Angeles, Verbum Dei Jesuit High School in Watts, Brophy College Preparatory in Phoenix, Arizona, and the Catholic Schools Collaborative of Los Angeles.
Travis Russell, S.J., is the president of Verbum Dei Jesuit High School in Los Angeles, where he previously served as a teacher and director of Adult Faith Formation and worked in Mission Advancement. Father Russell was also a senior policy advisor for the Jesuit Conference Office of Justice and Ecology in Washington D.C., and an associate pastor at St. Ignatius Church in San Francisco. Additionally, he served as a pastoral associate stationed at the Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi for the Jesuit Refugee Service.
Gilbert Sunghera, S.J., is an associate professor of architecture at the University of Detroit Mercy and serves as Superior of the Detroit Jesuit Community. Father Sunghera directs the Liturgical Space Consulting Service, based in the School of Architecture and Community Development, that works with congregations and designers to “inspire sacred space in contemporary times.” He worked as an architectural designer for several Southern California firms before entering the Society of Jesus in 1991. A Southern California native, Father Sunghera completed his undergraduate studies at UC Irvine. He earned his architectural degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a post-profession degree at Yale University in the area of sacred architecture. Prior to joining the Detroit Mercy faculty, Father Sunghera was director of liturgy and associate pastor of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church in San Jose, California.
Briana Zelaya ’98, is a partner and the head of marketing and investor relations of ValueActCapital, as well as a member of the firm’s Management Committee. She oversees all business development and investor relations activities globally. Since joining the firm at its inception in 2000, she has served in various investor relations and business development roles. Prior to ValueAct Capital, she was in marketing at Blum Capital Partners, a private investment firm focused on strategic block and control investments. She serves on the national board for the Posse Foundation. She previously served as a member of the Board of Regents for Loyola Marymount University from 2020 to 2022. Ms. Zelaya holds a bachelor’s degree from LMU and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
REGENTS
Scott Brown ’88, P ‘20, most recently served as chief customer officer with SecureAuth Corp., an identity security company that enables secure and flexible authentication for employees, partners and customers globally. Previously, he served as executive vice president and chief customer officer with FaceFirst and as vice president of worldwide services at Resolve Systems. He was formerly practice director for Oracle and vice president of professional services and support for InQuira (prior to its acquisition by Oracle). Earlier, he held managerial roles with Parinbus, Syncata, Cambridge Technology Partners, and KPMG.
Carlos Cruz-Aedo ’86, M.B.A. ’92, is executive director of Tennis Lovers for Charity, a nonprofit that strives to connect roughly 25 million tennis players in the United States with charitable causes. He is also on the board of several other nonprofit and corporate organizations. He previously worked as a program manager in IT security and global strategic planning for American Honda. He served as a longtime adjunct MBA professor of business and IT strategic planning at LMU, and was a partner with marchFIRST. Previously, he worked as a senior director with Oracle Corp. and a consultant with Accenture. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from LMU.
Lysandra Sapp Donigian ’00, has spent more than 15 years at Google focused on building a more representative tech industry. As head of Global Talent Development, she manages a team that is responsible for building student-centered programming focused on increasing retention and persistence, particularly in computer science. She creates experiences that connect historically excluded students with the skills, confidence, and agency to thrive in the tech industry. She served previously as Google’s manager of technical student outreach for North America and manager of industry programs in North America. She also worked as director of special projects with the Churchill Club in San Jose and as senior associate director of stewardship, events and board programs with Santa Clara University.
Gabriella Gomez ’95, is deputy director of policy and finance for the North America team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She gained extensive experience in higher education policy and federal legislative issues at the U.S. Department of Education as acting assistant secretary for the office in charge of the agency’s overall budget and policy efforts, and as assistant secretary for legislation and congressional affairs, advising the secretary of education on legislative matters pending before Congress. She also served on Capitol Hill for the U.S. House of Representative’s Committee for Education and Labor.
Rob Klausner ’93, is chief operating officer at Capital Group, where he oversees a broad set of global operations responsibilities focused on helping the asset management firm deliver superior long-term investment results, provide exceptional client experiences, and expand growth to new markets and investors. He also serves on the Capital Group Management Committee. He has nearly three decades of industry experience, including 11 years with Capital Group. He began his career as a management consultant for the information technology services and consulting firm Accenture, and later became a partner with the company.
Quinn O’Donnell ’90, is co-founder and executive vice president of client services for EdgeSkills, a consulting and software development firm focused on designing and building software for finance, entertainment, and technology companies. EdgeSkills was established by former employees of iRise Technology Services, for which he previously served as director of client services. Earlier, he held business development roles with AEG, the Los Angeles Galaxy professional soccer team, and the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is also a member of the Catholic Community Foundation of Los Angeles’ Development Committee.
Raul Salinas ’82, P ’24, is the Los Angeles managing shareholder at the law firm of AlvaradoSmith, where he represents clients in business, employment, health care, government, and international affairs. He represents Fortune 500 companies, multi-national corporations, government agencies and small businesses in state and federal courts, and administrative regulatory disputes. He serves in a general counsel capacity for private, nonprofit, and public entity clients for the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and on numerous community boards, including Adventist Health While Memorial, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, and Catholic Community Foundation of Los Angeles. He is married to Maria Salinas, past LMU Board of Regents chair and president/CEO of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
