Directors

	Mary Richert (President) ary Richert has been the Director of General Operations for the Venice Family Clinic, the largest free clinic in the nation, for fourteen years. She has been the President of the Venice Chamber of Commerce since 2001 and helped to develop the business community with direct linkages to government and business resources. Ms. Richert also serves as the Co-Chair of the Pacific Area Community Police Advisory Board and is the Vice President of Membership of the Pacific Area LAPD Boosters. She holds a degree in urban planning from Cleveland State University. Prior to moving to Los Angeles, she was a Commercial Planner for the City of Cleveland, Director of an Economic Development office in Pennsylvania, and Project Manager for a large building and development company in New Hampshire. Ms. Richert is very familiar with new construction and renovation projects and brings this knowledge to the Board of Directors as its new President
	Robert E. Bates, CPA, CFE (Treasurer) obert is a CPA and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).  He is the President of Corporate Sentinel Incorporated, a company that focuses on fraud prevention and detection.   He has 17 years experience as a financial professional at all levels of business: as an executive, consultant, auditor, board member, and educator.  Currently, he is a professor of accounting at Glendale Community College, the treasurer for the LAPD Pacific Area Boosters Association, on the Board of Directors for the Los Angeles Chapter of the Association for Certified Fraud Examiners and an Assistant Scoutmaster for the Boy Scouts of America, Troop 303.
	Sibyl Buchanan (Secretary) ibyl Buchanan has worked for Playa Vista since 1991, serving as the project’s key contact for the local community.  As Director of Community Affairs, Ms. Buchanan is responsible for implementing Playa Vista’s community relations programs, including dealing with residents, businesses and government representatives. Ms. Buchanan previously served as a member of the construction project team for MaguireThomas Partners, where she worked on such projects as Crocker Center (now Wells Fargo Center) and Library Square (now US Bank). Ms. Buchanan is actively involved with several community, service and business Groups, as well as educational institutions, and is a past Honorary Mayor of Westchester.  Currently, Sibyl serves as a Board Member of the Marina Foundation, Positive Alternative Choices Today (PACT), Mar Vista Family Center, Boys and Girls Club of Venice, Rotary Club of Playa Sunrise, Venice Chamber of Commerce, and is a Vice President of the LAX Coastal Area Chamber of Commerce and a Vice President of the Westside Council of Chambers of Commerce.    Sibyl is an elected board member of the Neighborhood Council of Westchester/Playa (NCWP) representing the Business Seat.  She served two years as the Council's Election Committee Co-chair and is currently in her fourth year serving as Chair of the Council's Membership and Marketing Committee.  Additionally, Sibyl serves on the NCWP Planning & Land Use Committee and the Airport Relations Committee. Sibyl serves on the Advisory Board for the LAPD Pacific Area Boosters Association and is a member of the Ocean Park Order of the Eastern Star, Westchester Elks Lodge, and a Life Member of Hadassah.  In addition, Ms. Buchanan serves as an officer of the Board of Directors for PVJOBS (Playa Vista Job Opportunities and Business Services), an innovative program that matches local at-risk youths and adults with quality construction jobs at Playa Vista.  Sibyl oversees the Playa Vista Educational Trust, a community-wide school adoption program that offers student scholarships and several funding opportunities for 15 local schools surrounding Playa Vista.  She is also an officer of PVPAL (Playa Vista Parks and Landscaping), the homeowners master association for the Playa Vista community. Ms. Buchanan received her B.S. degree from Hofstra University in New York and   resides in Playa del Rey with her husband, Mitchell Poris.
	Jim Bickhart (Member) im Bickhart is policy director for the Southern California Transportation and Land Use Coalition. A long-time Venice resident, he previously served as district director for former State Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa and planning and legislative deputy for Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter. During Playa Vista's Phase 1 approval process, he worked with LADOT staff to establish the requirement that led to the development of PVJOBS.
	Brad Carson (Member)   Los Angeles County Deputy Probation Officer, Brad Carson is well acquainted with the problems facing the at-risk and is committed to breaking the cycle of inter-generational gang violence. He received the employee of the year award from CPPCA (Chief Probation and Parole Officers of California) for his involvement in establishing a gang truce between Venice 13 (V13) and the Venice Shoreline Crips (VSLC) in 1994. He also helped broker a gang cease-fire between VSLC and the Culver City Boys (CC) in 1997. Brad is committed to improving the quality of life and the sustained rehabilitation of the ex-gang-affiliated through gainful employment. From the beginning, his guidance has been instrumental in developing program design.
	Cynthia Garvey-Truhan (Member)
	Challis Macpherson (Member) hallis Macpherson has been a long-time community activist in the local area.  Knowledgeable about local issues and committed to serving her community, she has proved to be an invaluable asset. She is a founding member of the original P.V. Jobs Task Force that proceeded PVJOBS.  Challis was on the board of the Venice Town Council, which sued Summa Corp., the original developer that proceeded Playa Capitol, over their excessive project plans.  She is a long-time member of Friends of the Ballona Wetlands, the Sierra Club and Heal the Bay.  She organized her community, the Oxford Triangle, into a responsive Neighborhood Watch with close ties to the LAPD Pacific Division. Challis has been a resident of Venice since 1965, and a member of the Community Planning Advisory Committee (CPAC) which has advised Councilmember Galanter on land use issues in Venice since 1993. She received her BA in Fine Arts from UCLA in 1984.
	Mike Mitchell (member) grew up on a farm about five miles from a rural town in Southwest Wisconsin. The town is Hillsboro, population 1231. Yes…that’s right….just over 1000 people! There were 65 people in my graduating class in High School. I was feeding calves by the time I was five, and driving tractor and milking cows by the age of eight. Needless to say, I learned how to work hard and work long hours at an early age. I guess that’s why I’m not afraid of hard work and long hours today. I just get paid more now to work hard. I was active in some sports and music through high school. I received the school music award and had the lead role in Guys and Dolls my senior year. Although it was fun to be popular, being popular as a farmer in a small town lost its appeal, so I joined the US Navy. I spent the next five and one half years working on and serving aboard submarines. I gained in rank quickly and was in charge of Auxiliary Division. We serviced all air systems from emergency ballast tank blow @ 4500 psig to 100 psig breathing air systems. We serviced all of the hydraulic systems, auxiliary seawater cooling, atmosphere control equipment, potable water, and air conditioning / refrigeration. Guess what? Yes…I had to work hard there too! My job wasn’t fun, but it was interesting and I certainly learned a lot. When I was about to end my enlistment and go back to the farm instead of re-enlisting and going to Japan, I intercepted a phone call that was meant for one of my shipmates. The call was from an HR director for Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., a global industrial gas supplier. Since I ran the oxygen generators on board, and knew what liquid nitrogen was because we used it to store bull semen and freeze brand cattle on the farm, he took an interest in me. He ended up hiring my shipmate, and he also hired me! I spent the next 20 years at Air Products, first operating air separation plants, then managing them. I lived in Washington State, West Virginia, and later here in LA. It was a good career and once again, I worked hard and learned a lot. Over time, I was able to find time to interact with the end users, our customers, of the oxygen, nitrogen, and argon we supplied. I helped them improve their processes and use less of our product. Seemingly this is counter productive from a profitability perspective; however, it was quite the opposite. We formed great partnerships with these customers and I loved working directly with them. We were able to raise prices and sign longer terms because of the relationships we were building. I wanted more of that, so I tried to get into sales. Unfortunately sales and operations don’t mix. Once you are an “ops guy” you can’t get into sales. I was always runner up or two on the hiring ladder, but didn’t make the selection. I needed to make a decision that was very uncomfortable. Remain in my comfort zone at Air Products, or find a different career in sales. It took me a year to leave, but I did it. I had been looking at Insurance, Financial Planning, and Real Estate. I chose Real Estate, and guess what? Now I’m working my butt off again and learning a lot. It paid off because in my first year I was the top producer in my office and rookie of the year for Boardwalk Realty. I am learning from the best minds in real estate, which is expensive, but has resulted in the acquisition of knowledge far superior than my colleagues with years in the business. The learning and application of what I learn is terrific, but not quite as good as my recent delve into spiritualism. I was not in a good place a year ago emotionally despite my success. My life didn’t seem to have enough purpose. Then I met community people in the local chamber of commerce and soon after, Rotary. The owner of Innovative Realtors and a couple other people at Innovative are spiritual people, and they helped me to get my head into a better place as well. This all happened at pretty much the same time. It just came together. Now my wife is infected with this unusual disease (blessing) too! How cool is that?! I’m looking forward to getting to know you all better and helping to make what you have built even better than it already is.
	Jim Moore (Non-voting member) im holds degrees from M.I.T. (Mathematics/ Computer Science) and Carnegie Mellon University (Computer Science/Artificial Intelligence). His research, for USC was in the areas of Cognitive Modeling, Linguistics and Natural Language Understanding. With IBM he expanded his interests to Robotic Vision and Knowledge Engineering. Additionally, Jim consulted widely, within the company, on a variety of topics and also served as IBM's nationwide liaison with colleges for departments of Computer Science and Mathematics. On his "retirement" from IBM, he took up consulting (personal computing and Internet web site design). He is PVJOBS' webmaster. Jim's non-technical interests include leadership in his condominium and the Villa Marina Council, and service on other non-profit boards: Centinela Freeman Regional Medical Center, SOMH (Save Our Marina Hospital) and We CAHRE (Community Action for Healthcare Reform and Education).
	David L. Moring (Member) avid L. Moring is an employment law attorney with more than 30 years of business experience.  He was in-house counsel for General Telephone and Montgomery Ward before starting his own practice. Over his career, David has developed conflict resolution programs and has provided counseling to employers and employees for bettter working relationships.  He has also been very involved in training employees in career transition and job search techniques.  He is recognized for offering sound legal and practical advice regarding  in all phases of employment matters. David has served on the Board of Directors of a many community based social service agencies, including El Nido Family Centers, the Kellogg Training and Consulting Center and the Venice Community Housing Corporation.  He served as an appointed member of the Venice Planning Advisory Committee and was a founding member of the Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council.  He received the 2003 Special Service Award from the ACLU of Southern California.
	Tom Moxley (Member)
	Frank Quiambao (Member)
	Kim Savage (Member) im Kovacs Savage is the Executive Director of Federal Relations at UCLA. In this capacity, she oversees the university's interactions in Washington, D.C. with Congress, executive branch agencies, the White House, and higher education associations. Kim has worked in Government Relations at UCLA for nearly 8 years. Prior to returning to work at her alma mater, Kim worked in Washington, D.C. for the private publishing company, the Bureau of National Affairs. She also served as the Assistant Budget Director of the White House Conference on Small Business. Kim holds a B.A. in History from UCLA. She is a recent graduate of the Southern California Leadership Network's professional development program - Leadership Southern California. Other community activities include serving on the Board of Managers of the North Valley Family YMCA and the Board of Directors of Supporters in Law Enforcement in Devonshire which is an LAPD fundraising organization.
	Timothy Shannon (Non-voting Member) imothy Shannon is a nationally recognized professional, specializing in the design and implementation of Workforce Development and Social Service Programs. He is a senior partner of Shannon and Associates, a limited partnership that provides consultative services under his direction to for-profit corporate entities, community-based-organizations, and the legislative and executive branches of Local, State and Federal Government. Among his many accomplishments was the design and implementation of the National Pilot Project for Centralized Service (One-Stop Centers) in Greater Metropolitan Areas. He has doctoral degrees in psychology and statistical analysis from the University of La Verne and Walden University . Author of Empowerment for Change and The System for Caring, Timothy is a welcome addition to our board of directors.
	Ernest M. Roberts    (Non-voting member, Executive Director) rnest Roberts has over 23 years experience in the technical and construction fields. He was the owner and operator of The House Doctor, a construction and home improvement service business, for 6 years, where he hired the at-risk exclusively. He received his bachelor's in psychology from USC. Ernest is also President of the West Los Angeles College PACE Alumni Association. Personal experiences led him to dedicate his life to uplifting the at-risk. Ernest resides with his wife, Juliette, in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles. He is the proud parent of five children and grandparent to three others. Deeply empathetic and detail oriented, he runs the day-to-day operations of the program.
For more information, contact ERoberts@pvjobs.org This site is ©2002 PVJOBS