Our Board

Board Chair

Board Chair

Company: Keller Williams

Colleen has worked in real estate for more than 18 years. She says, “If you ask those who know me in current times they would say I’m a workaholic, but I would rebut in saying I’m working on that right now. I am a dedicated person who finds it extremely difficult to give up. My top 5 strengths are: Competition, Analytical, Achiever, Futuristic and Relator – if I use them correctly I never look backwards.”

Colleen has served as Board Secretary, Gala Chair, and Fund Development committee.

Board Co–Chair

Company: Retired from Capital Group

Godby served as a vice president in the Irvine office of The Capital Group Companies, an American financial services company. It ranks among the world’s oldest and largest investment management organizations, with over $2 trillion in assets under management. He is a graduate of UCI and resides in Irvine with his family. Paul has served as a past Board Chair and was recently named the Champion of Change for the Gala.

Secretary

Company: Reich Radcliffe & Hoover LLP

Upon graduation, Marc clerked for the Honorable Justice Warren Matthews of the Supreme Court of Alaska. After his clerkship, Marc entered private practice as an associate at Irell & Manella. Before law school, Marc worked as an accountant for Ernst & Whinney, where Marc passed the CPA Examination. Marc is involved in his community and in local bar functions. Marc is a past treasurer of the Melinda Heights Elementary School PTA, is past president of his homeowners’ association and is a member of the Orange County Bar Association. Marc resides in Rancho Santa Margarita with his wife and three young children.

Marc has served as Board Chair, Fund Development Chair, Ragnar Chair, and has served on the Pickleball Committee, Audit and Finance committees.

Treasurer

Retired Attorney, Community Leader

Richard Swinney is a retired attorney at law with 34 years of experience working in the financial institutions industry. Swinney is a longtime community activist with board leadership positions at The Priority Center, the Exchange Club of Newport Harbor, California State Parks/Crystal Cove Conservancy and the Million Kids nonprofit group, among others. He is a veteran of the United States Air Force having served in the Air National Guard. Swinney lives in Newport Beach.

Richard represents The Priority Center within the Exchange Club and has served on the Finance committee.

Member at Large

Company: American Business Bank

Kimberly Valley is the SVP, Risk and Compliance Manager for American Business Bank in Southern California and has been in the banking industry for over 30 years. Kimberly has been involved in community-based organizations professionally throughout her career. She has actively partnered, created, facilitated, coordinated, and taught financial education programs for low to moderate income individuals. Kimberly is active in her role as a board member with The Priority Center building on its current and future initiatives.

Entrepreneur

Armstrong is a businessman and entrepreneur. He has been a chief executive officer in the insurance agency for more than a decade. Roger is a graduate of UC Santa Barbara, providing clients with trusted advisors who save time and provides quality, reliable service and cost-effective risk management solutions.

In his free time, Roger is a baseball coach and elder in his church. He has held many leadership roles with The Priority Center and currently holds the position as Board Chair.

Company: President, Canterbury Consulting

Canterbury Consulting is an independent investment advisory firm providing consulting services to tax-exempt organizations, including community foundations, educational endowments, religious organizations, arts and cultural foundations and health care organizations, as well as individuals and family offices. The firm currently oversees $44 billion for clients in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Debashis has served as Board Chair and various other committee roles at the Priority Center since 2010.

Company: Crockett & Crockett

Susan Long Crockett is a principal in the firm. Working with high technology clients, Ms. Crockett prosecutes patent applications in diverse areas of technology, including: Software, Internet communication and Medical Devices. As an experienced intellectual property lawyer, she counsels on trademark issues, infringement and validity issues and patent infringement litigation. She also has broad experience in international patent and trademark prosecution. Susan brings a unique perspective to intellectual property issues, drawing on years of engineering, managerial and marketing experience.

Before becoming an Orange County intellectual property lawyer, Susan spent nine years as an engineer in widely diverse areas of practice dealing with hardware design, software design, integration and technical marketing. She started her career at General Dynamics, designing Automatic Test Equipment for the Cruise Missile Program. She then moved on to lead teams of engineers designing and integrating flight software for the Atlas Centaur rocket system, launching telecommunication and government satellites. Susan also performed product development in addition to creating and executing marketing strategies for computer systems during her work at Teledyne Systems Company.

While at Southwestern University School of Law, Susan was actively involved in their Moot Court Honors program, achieving a Finalist Oralist award in the 1994 Intramural Moot Court Competition, winning First Place Team in the 1995 Florida State Bar National Tax Competition and serving on the Moot Court Board of Governors. She was also an editor of the Southwestern Journal of Law and Trade in the Americas. Susan lives in Mission Viejo, California, with husband and fellow intellectual property attorney David Crockett along with their two sons. She is an avid runner and has run in numerous marathons. Susan still finds time to remain active in the Boston University Alumni Schools Committee and judge at the annual Southwestern Intramural Moot Court Competition.

California State University, Long Beach

Vanessa E. Dixon, M.A., has over eighteen years of experience in both policing and academia. Beginning her career as a police officer in the City of Lowell, MA, she served as a patrol officer, firearms licensing administrator, school resource officer, and as a detective. In 2004 Vanessa Dixon transitioned to a teaching career serving as a Professor of Criminal Justice at Middlesex Community College attaining tenure in 2010. Additionally, Professor Dixon holds a level III instructor certification from the State of California P.O.S.T. as an Academy Instructor, Domestic Violence Advocate and in Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence from the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. Vanessa Dixon has also served as the past Criminal Justice Chair of the Computer Forensics Advanced Technology Education Program, was trained as an advanced instructor with the Ford Foundation, and is a certified instructor with both Gang Resistance Education Training (GREAT) and the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO).

Currently, Ms. Dixon is an Adjunct Professor of Sociology at California State University of Long Beach and a Professor of Criminal Justice at Westwood College in Anaheim, CA. While at Westwood College she was awarded the National Faculty Member of the year 2012 for Outstanding Excellence in Academia. She is also consulting with various police and probation departments, and educational institutions, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Las Vegas Police Department, the New Haven Connecticut Police Department and the Standard Training for Corrections of California. Vanessa Dixon has dual Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology and Criminal Justice from American International College, Springfield, MA, and a Master of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from Anna Maria College, Paxton, MA.

Company: Milestone Risk Management

John is the President of Milestone Risk Management. He leads a team of professionals who provide insurance, risk management, and workplace safety solutions for middle market companies in Southern California. John is also the Founder of the Brewery Insurance Program, which provides insurance services to breweries nationwide. John has spoken at numerous brewing industry conferences educating this young industry on proper risk management and workplace safety practices.

Prior to joining Milestone, John performed commercial real estate appraisals for private and institutional investors.

John is a Graduated Boston College with a BS in Finance. He lives in Lake Forest with his wife, Erin Hoefer, and his son, Thomas Hoefer.

Company: Crown Holdings

Twenty-five years of executive experience in global sales, operations and customer relationship management in the highly competitive and rapidly changing Medical Device and Consumer-Electronics markets. Extensive engineering, marketing, sales, and sales operations management experience along with managing global world-class contact center operations. Employed proven methodologies and processes and delivered year-over-year industry leading customer satisfaction programs. In-depth understanding of customer and product lifecycle management. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills honed managing multinational clients, third party suppliers and global operations teams. Elevated customer loyalty to a level where its bearing on bottom line profitability was substantial and measurable.

Ed has served as Board Chair in the past and Golf Event Chair as well.

Company: Haskell & White LLP

Hogiadi Kurniawan, CPA, joined the firm as a senior manager in the Audit and Business Advisory Services Department. Hogi was an audit manager for a Big Four firm, and as an audit manager for over eight years at one of the largest public accounting, consulting, and technology firms in the U.S., working with both public and private companies. Hogi graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Hogi has served as past Board Chair and has been very active with The Priority Center the past few years.

Company: McDermott + Bull

Mark is Sr. Managing Director at McDermott + Bull, a retained executive search firm in Southern California with offices nationwide. He leads the firm’s interim executives practice, providing on-demand C-level talent to support companies through transition, transformation, and transactions. His clients are typically lower and middle-market companies, private equity firms, and family offices operating across all industries.

Mark’s career in management consulting spans over 25 years, and he has held numerous leadership roles, successfully driving business across territories and verticals for notable firms. Mark was raised in Texas and graduated from Texas Tech with a degree in English. He lives in Newport Beach with his wife, Jamie, and two daughters, Sophie and Taylor.

Company: The Capital Group Companies

Rachel Ng is a Vice President at the Capital Group Companies where she leads and facilitates strategic business planning and forecasting for Retirement Plans Services. Rachel has been with the Capital Group for sixteen years and has gained experience across different business areas.

Rachel was born and raised in Singapore and came over to UC Irvine for college. She is currently residing in Irvine with her husband and fur baby.

Company: The Phillips Group, Inc.

For over a decade, Andrew Phillips worked as the Business Manager for his father’s well-established dental-CPA firm, Phillips Accountancy Corporation. In September 2021, he and his wife Laura co-founded their own firm, The Phillips Group, and acquired Phillips Accountancy. The Phillips Group is perhaps one of the state’s last remaining truly boutique healthcare-focused accounting firms. They have decades of experience serving dentists and physicians nationwide, but what sets them apart is their technology-focused, proactive, endlessly communicative mindset. As Chief Growth Officer, Andrew’s role is to ensure that the firm is always moving forward, whether it’s by developing new strategic partnerships, enhancing the client or employee experiences, or implementing new technologies or processes.
Before entering the accounting industry, Andrew served as a medic in the Army. After leaving the Army, he worked for Emergency Ambulance Service as an ambulance attendant/emergency medical technician. Finding the 24-hour shift schedules difficult, Andrew switched fields to find a profession that was better suited to starting a family, but never lost his love for working “in the field” with new people each day. As the former Director of Interns & Volunteers with the Newport Beach Film Festival, he also brings a wealth of management and leadership skills to any organization he joins.
Andrew is a past treasurer of his homeowners’ association and currently supports the following organizations:

• P.A.T.H. (People Assisting The Homeless)
• Fostering Unity
• Second Harvest Food Bank
• The Little Red Dog
• American Red Cross

When he’s not working or volunteering, he can often be found riding his motorcycle, on a golf course, at a shooting range (he used to compete with the USPSA, although he rarely finds the time now), or enjoying some fine wine. Andrew resides in Yorba Linda with his wife and 2 dogs.

Company: Casey Roberts Cisco Systems, Inc.

Casey Roberts is a 2012 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he studied French and Systems Engineering. He served 7 year in the US Army afterwards, with overseas service including a combat tour in Afghanistan and an operational deployment to the DMZ area in South Korea. After the Army, Casey attended the University of Texas at Austin’s Master of Business Administration and Master of Public Affairs full time graduate programs before being hired by Cisco Systems, Inc where he is employed as an Engineering Project Manager, affecting the creation and deployment of a Cisco software portfolio valued at $1.2B.

Community Leader/Philanthropist

Orange County philanthropist Catherine Sorensen, a resident of Newport Beach, has years of experience working with family foundations and other nonprofit organizations. Sorensen played a board leadership role with the Lloyd E. and Elizabeth H. Klein Family Foundation, the Community Foundation of Orange, the Center for Investment and Wealth Management at the University of California, Irvine, and the Assistance League of Anaheim.

Catherine founded The Priority Center’s Women of Priority group and events. She has also chaired the annual Families Helping Families holiday event which secured over 350 gifts for children and their parents—which made it the most successful event ever, even during a global pandemic! Catherine also has co-chaired the Pillars of Priority campaign and raised nearly $100,000 to name the board rooms at the Center in our new location.

Company: Spach, Capaldi & Waggaman, LLP

Madison S. Spach, Jr. is a founding member of the firm. A 35-year litigation veteran, Mr. Spach concentrates on complex and multi-forum business, construction, and real-estate litigation. He has represented owners, developers, lenders, borrowers, guarantors, general contractors, partners, officers, and directors in a wide variety of litigation, bankruptcy, and loan-workout matters, including internal owner disputes and accountings. Mr. Spach has been a frequent panelist for programs addressing electronic discovery and digital evidence issues and the preservation and production of electronically-stored information. Mr. Spach is a 1980 graduate of Duke University School of Law. His undergraduate degree is also from Duke (1974), and he received a Masters of Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Slavic Languages and Literatures (1977). Madison has served as The Priority Center’s Board Development chairperson.

Greg Washer has been a serial entrepreneur since childhood growing up in Corona del Mar. He has created, licensed, or bought many businesses including: Prolite, New Era Cap, Quiksilver Performance, Roxy Athletix, Cabinets Plus, Clean Fun Promotional Marketing, UFC Merchandise, Kidpoets, OC Chopper, Jane Fonda Workout Tape. He has been involved in the marketing of most of the top films of all time in his 30+ year career working with every major studio as an outside marketing company. This also led to founding the Movie Benefit Screening for the then, OC Child Abuse Prevention Center.

For over 25 years this event has been the top fundraiser for the Exchange Club of Newport Harbor that started this charity. Greg received The Book of Golden Deeds from the National Exchange Club some 10 years ago for these efforts. He retired in 2017 from “day to day work” to focus on his three amazing children (ages 16, 21, 21), his elderly parents (ages 96, 90), personal travel, and personal investments primarily in real estate. He also sits on two other boards, a public company (Consumer Portfolio Services) and a top children’s charity (Variety). Gregory has expressed interest in getting the Exchange Club Movie Night up and running again.

Company: Jeremy Webb Webb’s Grainworks

Jeremy Webb began learning about distillation processes from his father at the age of 8; the proud Scotch-Irish tradition having become a part of Webb family heritage, by way of the rolling hills of West Virginia, many generations past. Born in Long Beach California, Jeremy always felt a deep connection to his Appalachian roots and followed his heart back to his parent’s birth state to graduate from West Virginia University. During his time in West Virginia, his interest in distillation grew. Eventually his desire to know more about whiskey production and the special relationship between the distillate and the barrel led him to Kentucky, where he fell in love with Bourbon. In Louisville, Jeremy studied distilling, distillery operations, barrel aging and the art of blending. He was mentored by Master Distillers having worked for companies like Brown Forman and Jim Beam. In 2019 Jeremy set out on the journey to use his collected knowledge to build a state-of-the-art distillery in Orange County, producing California Straight Bourbon Whiskey distilled in a Vendome Pot-still and aged in new Appalachian White Oak barrels coopered exclusively by West Virginia Great Barrel Company.

Owner/Cook/Head-Distiller Jeremy Webb has spent a lifetime traveling, eating and cooking, cultivating a style of cuisine we are calling Fast Casual Global Fusion Comfort Food. (Say that 10 times fast) His cuisine is heavily influenced by the South; South America, Southeast Asia and the American South. Noodles, dumplings, soups and stews with rich, savory broths, flavors of chili, cilantro, lemon grass, along with large house-smoked cuts of meat like bacon and pastrami will be the foundation of our menu. Our kitchen is crewed by an amazing staff of career cooks flawlessly executing Jeremy’s recipes. It’s like a band, and Jeremy writes all the music.

Company: Hexagon Agility

Athena Wong is the Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Hexagon Agility, a company that converts commercial diesel vehicles into clean fuel vehicles. She is responsible for creating innovative ways to grow the culture, engage all employees, and build global, scalable people systems that support a dynamic, growing company. Prior to Hexagon Agility, she served as Vice President of Human Resources at Sunny Delight Beverages Co. after spending over a decade managing manufacturing operations and supply chains with Procter & Gamble. Athena holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Kansas State University.