Advisory Council
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.
James Johnson
Board Member
James Johnson
Board Member
A Los Angeles native, James Johnson most recently served as Chief Political Coordinator of the 92,000 member SEIU Local 721 and as a member of the union’s staff leadership team. He has had an impressive 30-year career with SEIU starting in 1985, when he became a Project Organizer and worked with a team that recruited thousands of workers and new leaders into the union.
In 1987, at the urging of Gilbert Cedillo and Kent Wong (both on SEIU Local 660 staff at the time), he joined the local staff as a union representative, with responsibilities from organizing breaks to helping negotiate Los Angeles County Clerical and Supervising Clerical Contracts covering more than 19,000 workers for Los Angeles County’s largest bargaining unit.
In 1996, James joined the staff of SEIU Local 535, where he served as a Senior Field Representative, Southern Political Director, and Program Director. It was there that James was instrumental in passing landmark legislation approving the first State Workload study for Child Welfare Social Workers in 15 years and increased funding for the state’s major human services programs.
After the realignment of SEIU public sector locals in California, James became the principal liaison for SEIU Local 721 at the LA City Council and played a key role in fighting for increased public services in the aftermath of the 2008-09 recession.
James is the Political Director for the California League of Conservation Voters and currently serves on the Board of the SCLC of Southern California. From 2002-04 he served on the Liberty Hill Foundation Fund for a New LA Funding Board. James was recognized by Congresswoman Judy Chu as the 27th Congressional District 2013 Community Activist of the Year.
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.
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.