Southern California Grantmakers Announces New Board Officers

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Southern California Grantmakers (SCG), a regional membership association of private-sector grantmakers, today announced the election of its new board officers, effective November 1, 2011. The 2012 board officers will be introduced at SCG's Annual Conference and Members' Meeting at The Center for Healthy Communities in Los Angeles, California, November 14-15, 2011.

The SCG Board's 2012 officers are: Chair Latonya Slack, Senior Program Officer, California Democracy Program, The James Irvine Foundation; Vice Chair Kafi Blumenfield, President and CEO, Liberty Hill Foundation; Treasurer William H. Ahmanson, President, The Ahmanson Foundation; Secretary Jennifer M. Lynch, Director, STAPLES Center Foundation; and Sushma Raman, President of SCG.

"I am both pleased and honored that my colleagues have selected such an outstanding leadership team," says Latonya Slack. "I'm looking forward to ensuring that, together, we continue to steer SCG toward new heights in service to our membership."

Latonya Slack is Senior Program Officer, California Democracy Program, for The James Irvine Foundation. She previously served as Executive Director of California Black Women's Health Project, Inc., where she established a mental health initiative and a health policy advocate training program for lay community members. Slack worked for the Service Employees International Union, Local 399, and has served on a number of boards and committees committed to issues of equity and access. She was a participant in the Council on Foundations' inaugural 2010-11 Career Pathways Program. Slack previously served as Vice Chair of SCG's Board of Directors and currently Co-chairs SCG's Public Policy Committee and serves on the Finance Committee.

Kafi Blumenfield is President and CEO of Liberty Hill Foundation. Since 2007 she has led the organization in its mission of bringing about change in Los Angeles through support of community and grassroots organizations. Before taking the helm at the Foundation Blumenfield was involved in its LibertyVote! program, which is nonpartisan and increases turnout among low-income neighborhoods and disenfranchised groups.

William H. Ahmanson, President of The Ahmanson Foundation, continues as SCG Board Treasurer. Ahmanson oversees The Ahmanson Foundation's grantmaking, which serves Los Angeles County by funding cultural projects in the arts and humanities, education at all levels, health care, programs related to homelessness and underserved populations as well as a wide range of human services. Prior to joining the Foundation, Ahmanson was in the banking industry. He also serves on the boards of several major cultural and charitable institutions.

Jennifer Lynch is Director of STAPLES Center Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works with the local community to improve the quality of life in the neighborhoods surrounding the arena and L.A. LIVE campus. Previously, Lynch served as Senior Director for the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. She is Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at the Eisner Pediatric & Family Medical Center and an advisory board member of Peace Over Violence.

Sushma Raman, President of SCG, sets the organization's strategic direction and priorities, communications, member services and public policy, as well as overseeing programming for the organization. Raman joined SCG as President in January 2007. She previously served with The Ford Foundation as Program Manager of the International Initiative to Strengthen Philanthropy and with the Open Society Institute in Los Angeles. Raman currently serves as a juror at the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, a fellow at UCLA's School of Public Affairs and a member of the National Center for Family Philanthropy's Board of Directors.

SCG's full slate of 2012 board members includes: Carl A. Ballton, Senior Vice President & Deputy Group Head of the Corporate Social Responsibility Group of Union Bank, President and Chief Operating Officer Union Bank Foundation; Magdalena Beltran-del Olmo, Vice President of Communications, The California Wellness Foundation; Edmund J. Cain, Vice President, Grant Programs, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation; R. Christine Hershey, President and Founder Hershey|Cause; Cathy Hession, President and Executive Director, The Carol and James Collins Foundation; Rachel Levin, Associate Director, Righteous Persons Foundation; Deborah Marrow, Director, The Getty Foundation; Sylia Obagi, Director of Operations, The Annenberg Foundation; Mary Odell, President, UniHealth Foundation; Hugh J. Ralston, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ventura County Community Foundation; and Trent Stamp, Executive Director, The Eisner Foundation.

About Southern California Grantmakers

Founded in 1973, Southern California Grantmakers, www.socalgrantmakers.org, is a membership association comprised of private sector grantmakers including: independent foundations, family foundations, corporate foundations and giving programs, community foundations, public foundations, privately operating foundations and individual philanthropists.

SOURCE Southern California Grantmakers