Who We Are

Armstrong is an entrepreneur and former chief executive officer with extensive experience managing a full-service independent insurance agency offering insurance and financial solutions including Commercial Property and Casualty, Workers’ Compensation, Employee Benefits, Retirement Plans, Life Insurance and Human Resource Consulting. A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, Armstrong has provided more than 12 years of experience providing clients with trusted advisors who save time and provides quality, reliable service and cost-effective risk management solutions.

Susan Long Crockett is a principal in the firm. Working with high technology clients, Ms. Crockett prosecutes patent applications in many diverse areas of technology. 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 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.

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, the Assistance League of Anaheim and others.

Madison S. Spach Jr., Esq. is a partner of Spach, Capaldi & Waggaman, LLP. He
received his J.D. degree from the Duke University School of Law in 1980. He has
extensive experience handling complex, often multiforum, business litigation
matters involving contract and interactive entertainment/new media assets, as
well as real estate matters focusing on land use and construction issues. He has
tried or arbitrated a large number of business disputes and handled an extensive
number of appeals. In 2019, Mr. Spach was named to a special advisory
committee for the Department of Commerce focusing on International trade
finance. He is a frequent speaker on technology developments and electronic
discovery.

Hogiadi Kurniawan, CPA, is a senior manager in the Audit and Business
Advisory Services Department. He has over 13 years in public accounting,
including experience as an audit manager for a Big Four firm, working with
both public and private companies headquartered in the U.S. and abroad.
Hogi specializes in certain complex transaction and technical matters
including debt restructuring and refinancing, merger and acquisition
transactions (buy side / sell side), revenue recognition, going concern issues,
consolidation and foreign currency matters.
Throughout his career in public accounting, Hogi has worked closely with
foreign subsidiaries and professional audit service firms (affiliates) located
throughout Europe, United Kingdom, Australia, and Asia with consolidated
revenues ranging from $10 million to $1.1 billion annually. Hogi has
experience with international audit engagements performed in accordance
with auditing standards under US GAAS, PCAOB standards, and International
Standards on Auditing (ISA). Hogi manages the majority of the international
clients at the Firm for both private and public companies that prepare
financial statements on various financial reporting framework including the
US GAAP, UK GAAP, and IFRS.
Hogi currently serves as a Board Co-Chair and the Audit Committee Chair for
the Child Abuse Prevention Center of Orange County, a nonprofit that
directly serves at-risk children and families in crisis to prevent and break the
generational cycle of child abuse. Hogi has also led various accounting
seminars for the Firm and professional groups (such as ASC 606 – revenue
recognition workshop for clients and prospects) and for professionals
maintaining their CPA licensure.
Industry Leadership:
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
California Society of Certified Public Accountants (CalCPA)
Community Involvement:
Asian American Alliance, Inc. – Board Member (fmr)

Don Kennedy is the Regional Vice President of Direct Operations for the Southern California and Arizona Region of First American Title Insurance Company. Most recently, Kennedy served as Vice President, Area Manager for Direct Title Operations in Southern California. Previously, he acted as Division Counsel for the company’s Database Solutions & Home Warranty divisions. Prior to joining First American in 2011, Kennedy served as an attorney in the litigation department of SNR Denton, a global law firm. After earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science from Stanford University, Kennedy went on to receive his juris doctorate from McGeorge School of Law at University of the Pacific. A California resident, Kennedy is a member of the California Land Title Association Board of Governors. Kennedy also serves on the Board of Governors for the American Land Title Association, where he is also an active member of the Underwriter Section Executive Committee. Kennedy resides in Southern California with his wife and their two children.

Partner, Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher
Thomas Manakides is an experienced litigator known for developing innovative strategies to tackle large and
complex litigation matters with an emphasis on environmental and transnational issues. He represents
multinational corporations across several industries, including food and agricultural, real estate, aerospace, and
waste. Mr. Manakides has extensive courtroom experience in both trial and appellate courts and often advises
clients on matters involving mass tort, environmental laws and enforcement and cost recovery actions.

has over twenty
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 domestic violence and safety
first.
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 and in Curriculum Design.
She is trained as a Domestic Violence Advocate and as a Human
Trafficking and Domestic Violence Instructor 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 for the Gang Resistance Education Training
(GREAT) and the National Association of School Resource Officers
(NASRO).
Currently, Ms. Dixon is a Professor at the California State University
Long Beach, where she teaches Sociology and Criminal Justice. In 2012
Vanessa was awarded the National Faculty Member for Outstanding
Excellence in Academia from Westwood College Anaheim, CA.
Ms. Dixon also consults with various educational institutions, police
and probation departments, including the Los Angeles Unified School
District, Orange County Department of Education, the Los Angeles
Police Department, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, and the
New Haven Connecticut Police Department.
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.

Ed Inal is AIVITA’s Chief Operating Officer where he is
responsible for overseeing the expansion of the clinical
pipeline along with the commercialization of AIVITA’s
skincare products.
Ed has extensive experience in both medical and commercial
line of skincare products in Operations, Customer Relationship Management, Supply Chain,
Logistics and Call Center Management in highly competitive and rapidly changing Medical
Device and Consumer Electronics markets.
Prior to AIVITA, Ed was the Vice President of Operations and Customer Care at ALPHAEON,
a lifestyle healthcare company that partnered with board-certified physicians to bring to
market products and services that promote patient wellness, beauty and performance,
where he directed the launch and the commercialization efforts of the company’s
operations, implemented US based distribution, supply chain, logistics and customer care
operations and directed implementation of the ERP systems for ALPHAEON.
Prior joining ALPHAEON, Ed was Nobel Biocare’s Vice President of Customer Service and
Support where he was responsible for North America Customer Service and Technical
Services supporting Dental Professionals with their dental and digital dentistry needs.
Previously to Nobel Biocare, Ed was the Sr. Director of Global Customer Service and
Technical Support for Western Digital where he was responsible for Global Service
Operations, Customer Service and Support, including all Web-based service initiatives and
technology implementations.
Ed is actively involved in the Orange County community, past Board President and
continues to serve on the Board of Directors of the Orange County Child Abuse Prevention
Center, founding Board Member of Access Executive Network and also volunteers with the
OC Sheriff’s organization.
Ed and his wife Laura, and two children Nicole and Spencer, reside in Laguna Niguel.

Marc is the managing partner of Reich Radcliffe & Hoover LLP, a Newport Beach law firm.  Marc has received an individual AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell, its highest rating, and has been named a Southern California Rising Star and a Southern California Super Lawyer by the Publishers of Los Angeles Magazine and Law & Politics, a distinction reserved for only 5 percent of lawyers practicing in Southern California.  Marc has also been listed as one of the top attorneys in Orange County, California by Orange Coast Magazine.  Marc is licensed to practice before all the State Courts in California, before all the Federal Courts in the Southern, Central and Northern Districts of California and before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  His practice emphasizes business litigation, business law and class actions.  He has litigated hundreds of cases, and has had fifteen trials, including four jury trials.  Recently, Marc obtained a defense verdict in a premises liability case in which the plaintiff sought more than $1 million in compensatory and punitive damages and was part of a trial team that obtained a verdict that would have resulted in more than a $100 million recovery to a class of California consumers (the case settled after appeal).  Marc has also taught continuing education seminars on deposition taking skills. Marc graduated from UC Davis Law School in 1991, where he finished in the top 15% of his class.  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.  Marc is a past treasurer of the Melinda Heights Elementary School PTA, is president of his homeowners’ association, is the treasurer of the United Futbol Club and is on the Board of Directors of the Orange County Child Abuse Prevention Center.  Marc resides in Rancho Santa Margarita with his wife and three children.

Paul Godby leads the corporate finance team for a division of the Capital Group
Companies. Within this division Paul oversees business and strategic planning, financial
reporting and analysis for the American Funds Services Company and Capital Bank and
Trust, subsidiaries of the Capital Group. Paul has been with The Capital Group for the
last seven years.
Prior to joining Capital Group, Paul spent thirteen years in the wireless
telecommunications industry where he held a variety of positions in accounting, finance
and business / strategic planning. His most recent position was with AT&T Wireless
where he served as Director of Strategic Planning and Competitive Analysis.
Paul has an MBA from the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of
California, Irvine (UCI). He also earned BA degrees in economics and political science
from UCI.
Paul and his wife Kristin reside in Irvine with their two daughters.

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.

Athena Wong joined Agility in 2017 as Vice President – Human Resources. Ms. Wong is responsible for creating innovative ways to establish and grow our culture, engage all employees, and build global, scalable people systems that support a dynamic, fast growing company. Prior to Agility, she served as Vice President, Human Resources at Sunny Delight Beverages Co. where she quickly established global HR systems in less than 4 months and guided the company through multiple acquisitions and divestures. She began her career at Procter & Gamble with increasing responsibility through a number of roles in manufacturing operations, logistics, and supply chain which gave her a deep understanding of high-performance work systems and Lean Manufacturing. Athena holds a Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering from Kansas State University.

Partner, Gokal Law Offices
Abbas specializes in representing clients in complex trust litigation and probate matters. Abbas has been
recognized by Super Lawyers and Orange Coast Magazine among the Top 25 Rising Star attorneys in Orange
County, and among the Top 100 Rising Star attorneys in Southern California. He has successfully recovered millions
of dollars in settlements, trial verdicts, and arbitration for his clients.

Colleen is proud to Chair the 20th Annual Bright Futures Celebration for the
Orange County Child Abuse Prevention Center. Colleen brings years of
philanthropy and event experience to the committee, and has a demonstrated heart
for children.
As an inspiring panelist for our Women in Balance event, and a host to more than
60 mothers, Colleen has brought her life and business lessons to the Child Abuse
Prevention Center’s families.
This year’s Bright Futures Ball will take place at the Balboa Bay Club on March
10th, 2018 and build off of the successes of past years.
Colleen’s Success in Business – Colleen graduated from the University of Central
Florida with a degree in Business Management and a focus in Accounting. Not
long after graduation, she moved to Southern California to follow her passion to
create a highly successful career in the business world. Within days of arriving in
California Colleen had her first day at Keller Williams Realty and has never looked
back! She has held many positions within the Keller Williams in the last 13 years,
ranging from Office Operations Management, Support Analyst for HQ, Coach for
other Office Operations Managers, to her present positions as Area Director and
Franchise owner of multiple locations. Colleen’s experience includes 8 years of
event planning, hosting and organizing over 75 events including Inspirational
Brunches and charity events.
Colleen Gives Back To Stay in Balance – Colleen has a true passion for helping
others succeed at the highest levels possible while continuing to grow herself.
Giving back to the community is very important to Colleen. Most recently she has
volunteered her time to support the American Red Cross in disaster relief in South
Texas for those affected by Hurricane Harvey and also supporting Keller Williams
associates affected by raising much needed funds. Some additional ways she has
given back is through the following:
• Hosting monthly fundraisers for Keller Williams Cares to benefit KW
associates nationally, locally and also other local charities.
• Repeat volunteer at the Second Harvest Food Bank
• Annually holds Toys for Tots drives at her KW offices
• Participates in Keller Williams annual RED (Renew Energize Donate) Day
since the 2009 inaugural company-wide event, helping local families rehab
homes by raising funds and providing labor and making homeless kits for
Rescue Mission Tustin
• An avid American Red Cross blood donor in addition to hosting blood
drives at her KW offices
• Ran multiple 5k races to benefit Stand up to Cancer, Run for the Water, Be
the Match, CURE, Breast Cancer Fund, Joyful Heart Foundation and many
more!
• Participating in Khloe Kares bags for distribution to local homeless woman
Please welcome Colleen as she brings much needed attention and resources to our
cause of Child Abuse Prevention!

Kimberly Valley is a native Californian born and raised in Orange County. She has two grown children and two small chihuahua mix rescues. She enjoys wine tasting, game nights with close friends and serving her community through volunteer work. Kimberly is a Compliance officer for a well-known commercial bank in Southern California and has been in the banking industry for over 30 years. Although not currently part of her professional role; Kimberly has been involved in community-based organizations professionally as a Community Reinvestment Act Officer for the past ten years. She has worked as a Partner with community-based organizations creating, facilitating, coordinating and teaching financial education programs for low to moderate income individuals. Kimberly is excited about her new role with The Priority Center and looks forward to building on its current and future initiatives.

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). Greg lives in Laguna Beach and La Quinta most of the year. An interesting fact about him is that he
recently climbed Kilimanjaro with his twin boys and was for two years ranked #1 in the
USTA for 45’s doubles. Greg also loves the podcast on NPR called How I Built This.

Mr. Chowdhury is the president and an investment consultant at Canterbury Consulting. He serves on
the Board of Directors, and is a shareholder of the firm. In his role as president, Mr. Chowdhury is
responsible for firm strategy, consulting, investment research, and business development. He consults
directly to institutions and private clients in the key areas of investment policy, asset allocation, and
portfolio construction. Mr. Chowdhury is a member of the ESG, Global Equity, and Hedge Funds
Manager Research Committees.
Prior to Canterbury, he was part of the advanced advisory services division of American Express in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was also a contributor to the Human Genome Project while working in the
Department of Pharmacology at the University of Minnesota. While there, he was lead author of a paper
published in the Journal of Neuroscience Letters in 1995, Synaptotagmin I and 1B4 are identical:
implications for Synaptotagmin distribution in the primate brain.
He presently serves on the board of the Child Abuse Prevention Center of Orange County and the
Mission Hospital Foundation. Mr. Chowdhury received his Bachelor of Science degree in management
and economics from the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota and is a CFA®
charterholder.

Jeffrey Shepard has focused 25 years of his career on tenant advocacy, having exclusively represented tenants since 1989 in their lease and purchase transactions for commercial space across the United States.

Jeff’s transaction experience includes managing and negotiating large office industrial leases, building sales/purchases, early renegotiations, expansion and contraction negotiations, build-to-suit projects, and land sales/purchases. He has negotiated and structured over 8 million square feet of transactions valued at more than $2.1 billion for a number of national, regional and local companies. Jeff has also developed more than 2 million square feet of industrial space.

His experience as a real estate professional and developer gives Jeff’s clients a unique and valuable insight into the motivation, objectives, and areas of financial exploitation typically employed by owners and developers. His thorough understanding of the entire real estate process, landlord/owner motivations and the intricacies of effective leveraging have allowed Jeff and his team to deliver extraordinary savings to their clients while protecting them in the commitments they make.

Clients include Pacific Life (31,000, 27,000 and 22,000 SF); D-Link Systems (120,000 SF – twice); Glumac Engineers (18,000, 12,000 and 10,000 SF); Johnson & Johnson (13,000 SF); Hero Nutritionals (61,000 and 16,000 SF); Paper Mart (225,000 SF); The Child Abuse Prevention Center (11,000 SF); The Girl Scout Council (24,000 SF); and VHA (42,000 and 17,000 SF). In addition, Jeff has had many national assignments, including nearly a decade serving as the Account Director for Test America’s national portfolio, comprising over 100 facilities ranging from 1,000 to 65,000 SF.

Jeff is a recognized commercial real estate expert throughout Orange County and is deeply immersed in the fabric of the Orange County business and non-profit communities.

Alex Musetti is a California native and vice president of Hughes Marino in Orange County. He has leveraged his business acumen and background in finance to passionately represent commercial tenants of office and industrial space throughout Southern California as a licensed broker. His clients range from small and medium-sized enterprises to large multi-national corporations.

Alex provides multi-disciplined real estate advisory services to his clients and offers them comprehensive and singular representation for a variety of real estate requirements. His extensive knowledge of the market combined with his experience and problem-solving skills make him a strong ally when representing tenants in lease negotiations, site selection analysis, investment acquisitions, financial modeling, and portfolio management.

Before joining Hughes Marino, Alex was a senior advisor at Cresa where he represented tenants of all sizes, and advised both tenants and investors on office and industrial acquisitions and lease transactions. Prior to that, Alex was a financial analyst at Grubb & Ellis where he was responsible for furnishing a range of financial models and analyses to the company’s diverse clients and senior brokers.

Alex earned his MBA with an emphasis in finance from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He completed his undergraduate studies at Saint Mary’s College of California in the Bay Area where he graduated cum laude with a B.S. in economics.

Alex lives in Newport Beach where he enjoys spending time with his family and staying involved with his alumni association. Alex has a natural affinity for experiencing new countries and cultures and spent much of his early life visiting new places and learning new languages.

Former board member, Beth Jaeger is making a return to The Priority Center’s Board of Directors. Jaeger brings with her years of knowledge and experience having served on the board previously from 2015-2017. As a veteran of the nonprofit world and charitable work, Jaeger adds a unique passion and experience to the board’s diverse group of Orange County leaders. Along with her background in nonprofit work, Jaeger is a professional real estate broker who has been formally recognized for her achievements in sales and client care.