Family Philanthropy Conference: Navigating Transitions, Redefining Traditions

Carmela Castellano-Garcia, Esq., is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of the California Primary Care Association (CPCA), where she oversaw a membership association of more than 1,370 nonprofit, community clinics and health centers (CCHCs) which serve nearly 7.4 million patients a year. Ms. Castellano-Garcia has been committed to advancing multi-cultural health policy issues for nearly 30 years, focusing on areas such as cultural and linguistic competency in health care delivery, ensuring the viability of safety net providers, health care reform, and access to care for vulnerable populations.

Ms. Castellano-Garcia currently serves as the President of the Board of Trustees of the Castellano Family Foundation. Prior to that she served as the Board’s Vice President since 2012. Founded by Alcario and Carmen Castellano in 2001, the Castellano Family Foundation has donated more than $7 million in grants to Santa Clara County nonprofits supporting Latino education, arts and culture, leadership and diversity. The Castellano Family Foundation also continually supports these local organizations guided by the values of community, family, social change, empathy and integrity. Related, she serves on the Board of National Center for Family Philanthropy.

Prior to joining CPCA, Ms. Castellano-Garcia served as the Founder and Executive Director of the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California (LCHC), a health care policy and advocacy organization seeking to improve access to health and human services for California's Latino population. Ms. Castellano-Garcia’s legal background includes six years as a Staff Attorney and Managing Attorney with Public Advocates, Inc., a public interest law firm in San Francisco, she currently serves on the board of the Greenlining Institute.

Ms. Castellano-Garcia is a graduate of Yale Law School and was recognized with the 2018 Yale Law School Merit Award. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University

Christine Essel joined SCG as President and CEO on February 1, 2013. As president, she sets the strategic direction and priorities for the organization, overseeing programming, communications, member services and public policy. Prior to joining SCG, Essel held leadership roles in the government, corporate, philanthropic and nonprofit sectors, where she has shaped legislation and public and corporate policy. She brings a wealth of experience to SCG including a deep knowledge of the region and a passion for forging creative solutions to complex community challenges, along with extensive relationships and expertise in corporate philanthropy, finance, real estate development, government and community relations. For over three decades, she worked at Paramount Pictures, serving as Senior Vice President, Government and Community Affairs, a department she built from the ground up. In that role, she was responsible for the studio’s philanthropic efforts and for shaping Paramount’s civic presence while managing all political and legislative activity, corporate social responsibility and fundraising activities. During her tenure she was also responsible for overseeing in excess of $500 million in real estate development projects on the studio lot.

Most recently, she served as CEO for the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (CRA/LA), with an annual budget exceeding $600 million, a staff of 260 employees and 32 project areas throughout the City of Los Angeles. In response to a statewide call by the legislature, Essel's leadership helped lay a critical foundation for the dissolution of the agency, leading to a successful redistribution of resources for schools and local governments, while ensuring the completion of many crucial affordable housing projects and other developments vitally important to the economic growth of the region.

She has been named to numerous Boards and Commissions over the years, serving as chair of the California Film Commission, the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, the Hollywood Community Advisory Council, Alternative Living for the Aging and Central City Association. She also served as Vice‐Chair of the California Workforce Investment Board and FilmLA and was a member of the powerful Los Angeles World Airports Commission, Grand Avenue Project Joint Powers Authority and Los Angeles Development Fund. Essel has been honored by esteemed organizations such as City of Hope, National Women’s Political Committee, Alternative Living for the Aging, Weingart Center Partners, Central City Association and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. In 2016, she received the Leader of the Year Award from the Southern California Leadership Network. She has been named to the Non‐Profit Times “Power and Influence Top 50” for the past two years (2016 and 2017).

As Vice President, Professional Learning & Family Philanthropy, Kameron plays a significant leadership role in developing and implementing SCG’s Professional Learning strategy and programs for members. This includes managing the day-to-day operations of SCG’s Professional Development portfolio, Family Philanthropy offerings, and relationships with peer and affinity groups. Kameron is also responsible for ensuring high quality professional learning experiences are made available to enable SCG members to continually increase their knowledge, skills, competencies, career development and networks.

Kameron is a member of The Prytanean Women's Honor Society, the Alliance for Women in Media, and is a member of the Board of Directors for Central City Neighborhood Partners (CCNP), a leading non-profit organization committed to advancing systemic change to benefit low-income communities through collaborations. Kameron graduated from The University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor's Degree in Mass Media Communications.

Leslie A. Ito is Executive Director of the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena. Prior to this position, she was President & CEO of the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center and also held the position of Program Director for Arts and Health at the California Community Foundation, and Director of Grant Programs at the Los Angeles County Arts Commission. Earlier in her career, she served as Executive Director of Visual Communications and as Program Associate in the Media, Arts Culture Division at the Ford Foundation in New York. Ms. Ito currently serves as a Community Trustee for the Durfee Foundation. A native of Pasadena and a Yonsei, fourth-generation Japanese American, Ms. Ito attended Stanford University Graduate School of Business’ Executive Program for Non Profit Leaders. She received a M.A. in Asian American Studies from UCLA and a B.A. in American Studies from Mount Holyoke College. Leslie & her partner, Steven Wong have two teens and a timid doberman.

June Wilson, Executive Director of the Compton Foundation, is a dedicated cultural and community organizer who has engaged performing arts and neighborhood-based organizations as well as executive leaders and family foundations in designing and implementing approaches that cultivate racially just spaces, free from all forms of supremacy. A celebrated philanthropic leader in the practices of racial justice and alternative approaches to legacy and perpetuity, June previously stewarded the Quixote Foundation in Seattle, Washington through its “Spend Up” and sunset. Bring the same affirmative approach to fulfill the Compton Foundation’s mission and purpose, June will guide Compton Foundation’s Spend Up by 2025 using strategies grounded in relational repair, return of assets, and reparative actions. This initiative will expand philanthropic foundation’s typical redistribution of resources beyond grantmaking and impact investing to include a new model of reparative action that extends backwards and forwards in time, affecting individuals, communities, and the land that sustains them. Compton Foundation’s emergent and evolving Reparative Action Institute springs from June’s deep knowledge of the interplay between philanthropic practice and community engagement intended to transform supremacist systems into liberatory, life-affirming ones.