Orange County Auto Legend Donnie Crevier One of Five to Join the THINK Together Board of Directors

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Apr 03, 2012, 03:58 ET

Experts in the dental, technology and retail food industries also come aboard to provide leadership to Orange County's fastest growing non-profit organization.

SANTA ANA, Calif., April 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Non-profit extended-learning provider THINK Together bolstered the leadership of its Board of Directors this week with the addition of five new members, including Orange County auto dealership legend Donnie Crevier, as well as executives in the dental, technology and retail food industries.

Also joining the board is the President and CEO of Smile Brands Inc. Steve Bilt, technology executive Doug Antone, Ralphs Grocery Co. executive Kendra Doyel, and Paolo Leon, a THINK Together alumni and USC graduate who is an architect with Taylor Architects, Planning & Design. Leon will help bring the student and alumni voice to the board.

"THINK Together's growth continues to accelerate as demand for our learning support systems increases to unparalleled levels," said Fran Inman, THINK Together's Board Chair. "We need to continue to evolve the Board of Directors so that it can govern, guide and help to adequately resource the organization as it scales up, while at the same time remaining connected to the communities that we serve."

Crevier's career in automotive sales spans 40 years, getting his start in 1966 as a salesman at Theodore Robins Ford in Orange County. Today, Crevier BMW is consistently one of the largest volume BMW Centers in the Americas. It is ranked first in sales in the Western U.S. The dealership was sold to the Penske Automotive Group in June 2011.

Crevier, a Laguna Beach resident, and his father have been recipients of the Time Magazine Quality Dealer Award for Exceptional Performance and Distinguished Community Service. He currently owns and operates Crevier Classic Cars and Crevier Sales & Leasing in Costa Mesa. A longtime philanthropist, Crevier serves on the Board of the Boy's Girl's Club's in Laguna Beach and Santa Ana, the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce and as an Ambassador for the Laguna Beach Community Foundation. He has been a financial donor to THINK Together as well as donating cars to be auctioned at THINK Together events.

Under Bilt's leadership, Smile Brands has grown to a $450 million per year provider of support services to general and multi-specialty dental groups across the U.S. Its services support more than 1,100 dentists and hygienists practicing in nearly 400 offices nationally. As a co-founder of Smile Brands Inc., he also served as the company's chief financial officer from its inception in May 1998 through March 2000 and chairman of the Smiles For Everyone Foundation since its inception.

In 2003, Bilt was named Entrepreneur of the Year in an international program honoring business leaders who have created and sustained successful companies; he also became a member of the Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame and Academy and served on the judges' committee from 2004 to 2007. Founded by $20 billion professional services firm Ernst & Young, the prestigious Entrepreneur of the Year program is co-sponsored nationally by SAP and the Kauffman Foundation. He was also honored in 2011 with the Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award from the Orange County Business Journal for his role in founding and developing Smile Brands Inc. into the largest dental support company in the country.

He is a founding member and serves on the Executive Board of the Dental Group Practice Association and is also on the Pepperdine University Board of Visitors. In addition, Bilt is a member of the Young Presidents Organization, an international association for chief executives Antone has had a long and successful career in executive, sales and marketing positions primarily in the technology industry.

Antone was CEO of Networks in Motion (NIM), which he led from pre-revenue stage to more than $75 million in revenue before engineering the successful sale of the company to Telecommunications Systems (TCS) a small cap public company based in Annapolis Maryland. Previously, Antone held a variety of key executive positions for large organizations. He was the president of Ingram Alliance, a division of Ingram Micro, which he founded, and led from inception through $3 billion annual revenue levels Antone's philanthropic work includes serving on the boards of the Monterey Institute of Technology and Education, Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Orange County and Access Executive Network, a nonprofit organization focused on helping entrepreneurs with early stage company planning and execution.

Doyel is vice president of public relations for Ralphs Supermarkets. She joined Ralphs parent company Kroger in 1998 as a pharmacist and later was named the director of public relations of Kroger's Fry's Food Stores division in Phoenix, Arizona. Progressive Grocer recognized Doyel with the Top Women in Grocery "Rising Star" award, and she also received the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation "Power of One" award for her work in raising awareness for breast cancer and early detection.

The Newport Beach resident's extensive community service work includes board membership in the Los Angeles Central City Association, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, the Government Relations Board for the California Grocers Association, Los Angeles Summer Night Lights Advisory Board, the California Retailers Association, and the Discovery Science Center in Orange County. She also works to promote women in business and the community by cochairing the Southern California Network of Executive Women. With a strong passion and connection for gang reduction in our inner cities, Doyel works with the Homeboy organization to develop creative and sustainable ways to support their programs that provide jobs and education.

Leon is one of THINK Together's star alumni. He started with THINK Together as a fifth-grader at the Shalimar Learning Center in Costa Mesa. Through the help of THINK Together, he received a scholarship to Sage Hill High School, an elite prep school in Newport Coast. The Tustin resident became Student Body President at Sage Hill and earned an academic full-ride to USC. At Taylor Architects, Planning & Design, he works with hospitals "to promote wellness through architecture." He is also pursuing an MBA at Chapman University.

About THINK Together
THINK Together is one of the leading and largest nonprofit providers of extended-learning time programs (early literacy, after-school, small group tutoring, summer learning, etc.) in the U.S., serving 100,000 students at more than 400 locations across 30 school districts and more than 30 cities across a five-county footprint of Southern California (Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego) plus greater Sacramento. Partnering with school administrators and teachers, its academically oriented programs and dedicated team of 2,000 employees are helping students close the achievement gap. THINK is an acronym: Teaching, Helping, Inspiring & Nurturing Kids. For more information, call (888) 485-THINK or visit www.THINKtogether.org or www.facebook.com/THINKtogether.

SOURCE THINK Together