Advisory Board
Kafi Blumenfield
Discovery Cube
Kafi Blumenfield
Discovery Cube
Since joining Liberty Hill in 2004, she has focused on expanding Liberty Hill's impact by strengthening the Foundation's investment in community leaders on the frontlines of change. During her tenure, Blumenfield has overseen several critical aspects of the Foundation's work in Los Angeles including the launch of the Wally Marks Leadership Institute for Change, an intensive on-the-job training for local community organizers; initiatives to increase donor diversity in social justice philanthropy including Change L.A., which is building millennial-generation giving; and a strategic refocusing of Liberty Hill's nearly $5 million annual grant investments. Blumenfield has direct experience working on an array of issues with which Liberty Hill is associated, including civic engagement, environmental justice, human rights and housing. Prior to joining Liberty Hill, she was Deputy Director of Neighbor to Neighbor, a national organization dedicated to grassroots political empowerment of working families. She also served as Director of Programs for the Fair Housing Council of San Gabriel Valley and worked for the Natural Resources Defense Council on urban air issues. Blumenfield is a board member of the Southern California Grantmakers and an advisory board member of Mayor Antonio Villariagosa’s Office of Strategic Partnerships and the Draper Center for Community Partnerships at Pomona College. Blumenfield is a member of the selection committee for the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards. Her opinions have been featured in national and local media outlets including The Tavis Smiley Show, The Los Angeles Times and Which Way L.A. She holds a law degree from UCLA and a B.A. from Pomona College. Blumenfield is married to Bob Blumenfield, the state representative from the 40th Assembly District in California. They live in Woodland Hills with their two young children.
Cecilia Estolano
ELA Advisors
Cecilia Estolano
ELA Advisors
Cecilia V. Estolano is an expert in sustainable economic development and urban revitalization. The many projects she has directed as co-founder of ELA Advisors include advising local governments, non-profits and foundations on redevelopment dissolution and economic revitalization; overseeing research on green infrastructure and job creation in Philadelphia; and managing complex multi-stakeholder processes, including the creation of economic development implementation plans and the LA 2050 visioning project for the Goldhirsh Foundation.
Cecilia Estolano is a graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law and holds an M.A. in Urban Planning from UCLA. She received her undergraduate degree in Social Studies with honors from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges.
Ben Goldhirsh
GOOD
Ben Goldhirsh
GOOD
Active in both regional and international philanthropic endeavors, Ben is one of the Directors of The Goldhirsh Foundation, which supports dynamic social programs, environmental initiatives, innovative medical research, and leading cultural institutions. Ben serves on the Board of Millennium Promise, an organization guided by the UN’s Millennium Development goals to end extreme global poverty by 2025, as well as the Los Angeles Board of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship and the board of City Year Los Angeles.
Richard Jackson
UCLA
Richard Jackson
UCLA
He also served in the highest California Public Health position where he advanced the state’s disease preparedness efforts and public health effort to reverse the obesity epidemic. He was instrumental in the re-creation of the California Department of Public Health, separated from the insurance functions from the former Department of Health Services.
René Jones
United Talent Agency Foundation
René Jones
United Talent Agency Foundation
An expert in corporate philanthropy, CSR and Social Innovation, Jones is the founding Director of the UTA Foundation at United Talent Agency (UTA), a premier global talent and literary agency representing many of the world's most acclaimed figures in entertainment and media. Her professional background includes establishing a highly successful corporate foundation with expertise in management, communications, and building successful initiatives and effective partnerships. Seasoned leader in the Corporate Social Responsibility space having strong relationships with influencers in entertainment, NGO/non-profit, tech, and corporate sectors. She provides strategic guidance for UTA clients, executives, and employees in their philanthropic engagement. She also heads up Enrichment for the agency focusing on employee education and UTA’s corporate culture. As innovator in the Corporate Social Responsibiity space, she has created signature intitiatives such as Live Inspired and Project Impact. Jones also speaks regularly on Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Innovation. In addition, she advises non-profit organizations on best practices for effective entertainment industry engagement.
Timothy Karsten
TDKA Group & Karsten Family Foundation
Timothy Karsten
TDKA Group & Karsten Family Foundation
Karsten guides his clients to challenge inhibiting beliefs in their roles as cultural and civic leaders and stewards of wealth, especially related to business, philanthropy, economic, and environmental sustainability. For over 20 years, Karsten has overseen family trusts, investment strategies, and asset managers. Since 2000, he has managed the investment portfolio of the Karsten Family Foundation and driven its mission through grant making focused on the environment, education, housing, and empowering girls and women. Karsten has pursued diverse paths of formal and informal study and exploration. Beyond graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in Political Economics and International Relations and earning a law degree from USC Law Center, Karsten's travels and interest in diversity of culture and customs have taken him around the world. He has immersed himself in the study of philosophy as well as the most recent advances in physics and brain science to better understand the complex interaction of human potential. He happily shares his home in Pacific Palisades, California with his wife, Karinna, and their Jack Russell Terrier, Sparky. When Karsten is not busy raising the bar of expectation and performance for his clients, you can find him entertaining friends and family, playing music, discovering unknown roads and mountain trails around the world, and bringing magic to his organic gardens.
Donald Spivack
Former Deputy Chief of Operations, CRA LA
Donald Spivack
Former Deputy Chief of Operations, CRA LA
He served as Deputy Chief of Operations for the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA/LA) for six years prior to retiring in December 2010; in that capacity he oversaw the CRA/LA’s strategic planning, policy development and professional services units, which included policy planning, resource development, housing, environmental planning, engineering, cultural arts and other professional and technical units of the CRA/LA. Previously he held positions at CRA/LA as Deputy Administrator for Community Development for four years; Director of Operations for eight years; Senior Project Manager for the Central Business District for over four years; and Transportation Manager for eight months. In these capacities he was responsible for overseeing formation and implementation activities in several redevelopment projects in Los Angeles, including those in and around the Downtown Core, Hollywood, the East Side and portions of the San Fernando Valley, and for coordinating redevelopment planning with the emerging rapid transit network in Los Angeles.
Prior to coming to the CRA/LA, Mr. Spivack was Chief of Community Planning in the Montgomery County Planning Department of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission in Silver Spring, MD, for close to ten years, as well as Transportation Coordinator there for one year. Before that he was Director of Physical Planning at the Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority in Detroit, MI, for two years and Assistant Professor of Architecture and Planning at Ohio University, in Athens, OH, for three years. Mr. Spivack retired from the CRA/LA in December 2010. Since then he has served as a consultant to several not-for-profit organizations including the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust and the Los Angeles Collaborative for Environmental Health and Justice, advising on a variety of environmental justice issues. He is also an adjunct instructor in the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California.
Michael Strautmanis
The Barack Obama Foundation
Michael Strautmanis
The Barack Obama Foundation
Before this position, he was the Vice President, Citizenship Strategic Programs at the Walt Disney Company after serving as the Deputy Assistant to the President and Counselor for Strategic Engagement to the Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett. In this role, Michael was responsible for coordinating communication and engagement strategies.
Daphne Zuniga
Actress
Daphne Zuniga
Actress
She produced a short film for the nonprofit, Communities for a Better Environment, highlighting the environmental justice problems in Los Angeles’ Hispanic communities, where childhood asthma is an epidemic. Zuniga has also written for Oprah's O Magazine on environmental mercury poisoning.