Our Team
TGR Foundation is a team of dedicated individuals who are passionate about empowering students to thrive. We are deeply committed to every student who comes through our programs, and believe that the power of education, coupled with the right resources, will ensure lifelong success.
BOARD OF GOVERNORS
COUNCIL OF ADVISORS
- Avery Brown, Automobile Club of Southern California
- Dennis Kuhl, Angels Baseball
- Jason S. Mooneyham, AMD
- Thomas A. Parham, Ph.D., California State University, Dominguez Hills
- Sudhakar V. Shenoy, Alyx Technologies, Inc.
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Executive Leadership
Jin Thatcher
Chief Operating Officer
“Every cloud has a silver lining, find hope in every bad situation. Silver line it!” John Milton
Michelle Bemis
President of TGR Live
“THE BEST WAY TO PREDICT YOUR FUTURE IS TO CREATE IT.” ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Michelle S. Kim
Senior Vice President, Advancement
“Our visit to this planet is short, so we should use our time meaningfully, which we can do so by helping others wherever possible.” Dalai Lama
Mike Antolini
Senior Vice President, TGR Live
“LIFE MOVES FAST. AS MUCH AS YOU CAN LEARN FROM YOUR HISTORY, YOU HAVE TO MOVE FORWARD. ” EDDIE VEDDER
John Lee
Senior Vice President, Programs & Education
“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” Jackie Robinson
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TGR Learning Lab
Gyla Bell
Vice President, Programs, TGR Learning Lab
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” Benjamin Franklin
Eric Moore
Vice President, Programs
“Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen.” Robert Bresson
Holly Dennard
Director, Professional Learning
“Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” Robert Louis Stevenson
Doug Luong
Director, Programs
“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” Confucius
Hope Enyart
Senior Manager, TGR Learning Lab
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Trinh Tran
Senior Manager, TGR Learning Lab
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. ” Viktor Frankl
Orlando Medina
Learning Facilitator, TGR Learning Lab
“You have the power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” Marcus Aurelius
Maria Torres
Learning Facilitator, Professional Learning
“Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others for their sakes and for our own.” Cesar Chavez
Shawna Snow
Learning Facilitator, Professional Learning
“I don't have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness - it's right in front of me if I'm paying attention and practicing gratitude.” Brené Brown
Man Luong
Learning Facilitator, TGR Learning Lab
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” Joseph Campbell
Crystal Tran
Learning Facilitator, TGR Learning Lab
“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” Aesop
Asya Wilbon
Learning Facilitator, TGR Learning Lab
“Take a chance, because you never know how perfect something can turn out.” Jermaine L. Cole
Susan Prendergast
Learning Facilitator, TGR Learning Lab
“What you can do is often simply a matter of what you will do.” Norton Juster, The Phantom Tollbooth
Don Bell
Learning Facilitator, TGR Learning Lab
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Lao Tzu
Kristen Shiraki
Learning Facilitator, TGR Learning Lab
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Viktor Frankl
Stefan Amzaroiu
Facilities Manager
“If you’re searching for that one person that will change your life, take a look in the mirror.” Roman Price
Carmen Gonzalez
Manager, Administrative
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Wayne Gretzky
Noemi Franco
Receptionist
“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the COURAGE TO CONTINUE that counts.” WINSTON CHURCHCHILL
Christine Perez
Coordinator, Golf and Recreation
“Having fun is the best way to learn." ” Albert Einstein
Ashley Cortez
Volunteer Coordinator
“You’re braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” A.A. Milne
Kevin Tran
Academic & Front Desk Support
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Mahatma Gandhi
Gabriela Ruiz
Academic & Front Desk Support
“Live with no excuses and love with no regrets. Laugh a lot and leave this life with nothing left unsaid.” Dan Dean
Ethan Chen
Academic & Front Desk Support
“The secret to happiness is freedom... And the secret to freedom is courage.” Thucydides
Andrick Sauno
Academic & Front Desk Support
“You’re suffering from self-doubt while others are intimidated by your full potential. If you’re past self could see where you’re at today think about how impressed they would be.” Anonymous
Alexis Medina
Receptionist
“As long as you live keep smiling because it brightens everybody’s day.” Vin Scully
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Earl Woods Scholar Program
Cristina Fernández
Vice President, Programs
“In one soul, in your soul, there are resources for the world.” Emerson
Alma Gutierrez
Director, Programs
“The most important thing is to enjoy your life - to be happy - it's all that matters.” Audrey Hepburn
Juan Carlos Villanueva
Manager, Programs
“The most important thing is to try and inspire people so that they can be great in whatever they want to do.” Kobe Bryant
Andres Cuamani
Program Coordinator
“It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.” Gabriel García Márquez
Kaitlyn Diaz
Program Coordinator
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall.” Nelson Mandela
Izabel Magaña
Administrative Assistant
“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.” Mother Teresa
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Finance & Administration
Joe Hsu
Senior Director, IT
“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” Oscar Wilde
Mike Stevens
Senior Director, Financial Anaylst
“It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.” John Wooden
Yvonne Tello
Director, Human Resources
“It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up.” Vince Lombardi
Logan Lamson
Director, Executive Assistant
“As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him...we need not wait to see what others do.” Mahatma Gandhi
Vanessa Topete
Business Administration Coordinator
“The problems we face today eventually turn into blessings in the rearview mirror of life. In time, yesterday’s red light leads us to a greenlight.” Matthew McConaughey
Norma Partida
Administrative Assistant
“Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” Maya Angelou
Brandon Medina
IT Support Specialist
“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.” Tommy Lasorda
Andrew Katnic
Operations Manager
“Strength does not make one capable of rule; it makes one capable of service.” Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings
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Advancement
Elizabeth Hopkins
Director, Advancement Relations
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead
Katie Vazquez
Advancement Manager
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill
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Marketing
Dan Scali
Senior Director, Marketing
““PAY IT FORWARD.” ” WOODY HAYES
Dana Mariotti
Director, Marketing
“Vulnerability is not knowing victory or defeat, it’s understanding the necessity of both; it’s engaging. It’s being all in.” Brené Brown
Amber Fuller
Art Director
“Design is so simple, that's why it's so complicated.” Paul Rand
Jasmine C. Tate
Senior Manager, Marketing & Communications
“Work hard, pray hard and when the door opens walk through it.” Dr. John E. Forde
Duy Mai
Graphic Designer
“I found that I could say things with color and shapes, that I couldn't say in any other way—things that I had no words for.” Georgia O'Keeffe
Madeline Moreen
Digital Marketing Coordinator
“A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.” Amelia Earhart
