Board of Directors

Roberta Bennett

Roberta Bennett is a Certified Family Law Specialist in private practice in the Los Angeles area for the last twenty-five years.  She is an expert on the legal rights and obligations of same sex couples and lectures extensively on these matters as they pertain to family law and estate planning. She is frequently a speaker for the California State Bar, Los Angeles County Bar Association and Beverly Hills Bar Association, as well as making many radio and television appearances and publishing numerous articles.  Currently a member of the Los Angeles County Bar Association's Family Law Executive Committee, she received recognition in 2004 and 2005 as one Southern California's foremost divorce attorneys in the "Super Lawyers" survey jointly conducted by Law & Politics and Los Angeles Magazine(s).

 

Jerry cade

Originally from the West Texas town of Kermit, Dr. Jerry Cade graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. He received his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas.  Dr. Cade is the co-founder and current director of the HIV/AIDS program at University Medical Center in Clark County (Las Vegas), Nevada. In addition, Dr. Cade is the founder and senior physician of Lambda Health Care, Ltd. –the largest private provider of HIV/AIDS care in Southern Nevada.  Dr. Cade is the co-Founder and co-director of the Nevada AIDS Research and Education Society and the Nevada Access to Research and Education Society (NARES2). He  has been a principle investigator or co-investigator for over 100 clinical trials, which include HIV/AIDS therapies and vaccines, other medical therapies and social and behavioral research. Dr. Cade is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University Of Nevada School Of Medicine as well as a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the Touro University Nevada College of Medicine. Dr. Cade is an HIV specialist certified by the American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM).  From 1995-1998, Dr. Cade served as a member of President Clinton’s Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. From 1996-1998, he was a member of the national board of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. From 2000-2004, Dr. Cade was a founding member of the national board for the American Academy of HIV Medicine (AAHIVM).  Dr. Cade is a lifelong activist who has been involved with many local and national groups that affect the LGBT community, HIV/AIDS, the environment, health care, poverty and human rights. Currently, he lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with his compañero del alma, Islagar Labrada Espinoza.

 

Jamie Lee Curtis

Jamie Lee Curtis is a film actress with starring roles in such acclaimed films as Freaky Friday, True Lies, Trading Places and A Fish Called Wanda. In television, Ms. Curtis co-starred opposite Richard Lewis in the sitcom Anything But Love, as well as the title role in TNT’s adaptation of Wendy Wasserstein’s play, The Heidi Chronicles, and the CBS telefilm, Nicholas’ Gift. Ms. Curtis is also an author of best-selling children’s books with net sales of all editions exceeding 4.6 million units.  In addition to her most recent and seventh book, the New York Times Bestseller, Is There Really A Human Race?, she is the author of It’s Hard To Be Five, Learning How To Work My Control Panel,  I'm Gonna Like Me, Letting Off A Little Self Esteem, Where Do Balloons Go? An Uplifting Mystery, Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day, Tell Me Again About The Night I Was Born, and When I Was Little, A Four-Year-Old’s Memoir of Her Youth. Ms. Curtis is also an AIDS activist and has a deep and active connection to many children’s charities including, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles as well as being the official spokesperson for CAAF (The Children Affected by Aids Foundation) and on whose Executive Advisory Board she is a serving member and The Starlight/Starbright Foundation.   Ms. Curtis is a recovering alcoholic/addict and is honored to serve on the Board of Directors of CASA (The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University).  She is the mother of Annie, age 20 and Thomas, age 11 and has been married for twenty-two years to actor/director Christopher Guest.

Cary Davidson

Cary Davidson is an attorney in private practice, specializing in political, initiative, referendum and election law.  He has served as treasurer and/or legal counsel for hundreds of campaign committees. Currently, Cary serves on the Board of Overseers for the Los Angeles Campus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.  He also serves on the Board of Directors of Equality California.  Mr. Davidson is a past president of the California Political Attorneys Association, past president of Congregation Kol Ami, past president of the Claremont McKenna College Alumni Association, a former member of the Board of Trustees of Claremont McKenna College, and a former member of the Board of Governors of the Rose Institute of State and Local Government.  Also, Cary served as General Counsel and Treasurer of the host committee for the 2000 Democratic National Convention, held in Los Angeles.

Alex Koleszar

Alex Koleszar is an artist in Los Angeles who works primarily with oil on canvas.  He has had exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and in Florence, Italy at the Biennale.  Prior to his change in careers to create art, Mr. Koleszar owned a small business that focused on systems development, Information Design Resources.  His clients included ARCO Marine, the Los Angeles Times, Pennzoil Motor Oil Company, Hawaiian Electric, and numerous other mid-size companies.  His work enabled these companies to successfully implement organization-wide systems in accounting, order-entry, sales, collections, oil transfer and crude oil production operations, and customer file maintenance.  He started the company in 1986, after graduating with honors from USC’s MBA program.  Mr. Koleszar holds two additional degrees, a Bachelor of Science in Production Operations from Arizona State University, and a Bachelor of Science in Geosciences from University of Arizona.

Shumway Marshall

Shumway Marshall is the eCommunications and Graphics Manager of Equality California (EQCA), the civil rights, advocacy and educational organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Californians. He develops and implements the organization’s electronic communications and advocacy strategy.  Additionally, Shumway helps organize the annual Queer Youth Lobby Day where students from across the state go to Sacramento to speak to their legislators about legislation that affect LGBT youth. Prior to joining EQCA, Shumway interned with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s media field strategy team. At GLAAD, Shumway developed materials, exercises and power point presentations to train spokespeople about a variety of issues including marriage, HIV/AIDS, faith and youth. Shumway graduated with a degree in French from Occidental College in 2005 where he was heavily involved in student government, both as the Chief of Staff, as a co-founder of Students for an Ethical Student Government, where he lead a student recall of the Vice President of Policy and as member of the Constitution Revision Committee that sought to rewrite the student government constitution.  He was honored with the Cynthia Cox Memorial Award for his work creating OxyOUT, the college’s gay-straight alliance, and organizing White Ribbon Week to end domestic violence and sexual assault as part of his involvement with the group Sons and Brothers.

Daniel Montoya

Daniel C. Montoya is Senior Vice President and Director of U.S. Health Policy at Hill & Knowlton where he is responsible for providing strategic direction to further the success of clients in an ever changing healthcare environment.  He serves as a member of the worldwide healthcare leadership team and will be based in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining Hill & Knowlton, Daniel was Senior Policy Advisor at the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine(HJF) working with the Division of AIDS(DAIDS) at the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health(NIH).  Prior to joining HJF, Daniel was Director of Government Affairs at AIDS Project Los Angeles(APLA) where he was responsible for HIV/AIDS policies at the City, County, State, and Federal levels.  Prior to working at APLA, Daniel held a Presidential appointment from former President Clinton and served as the Executive Director of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS(Council) at the White House.   Daniel, in working with members of the Council, provided policy advice to the President and Administration, including developing an annual healthcare report evaluating the nation's efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.   Daniel received his Bachelors of Business Administration in Finance at the University of Texas at Austin(UT) and has finished his coursework at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT and will be working on finalizing his Professional Report to receive his Masters in Public Affairs in the coming year.

Susan Van Horn

Susan Van Horn has been active with both LGBT and Student/Education issues/opportunities for the past thirty years. Most recently serving a two year post as FSA president at UCLA's Seeds Elementary School. Susan is passionate about education being an opportunity to open doors and make enlightened changes in the world. A corporate photographer at agency Hershey|Cause, Susan has built a steady portfolio of social justice/cause-related photography. Clients include the Liberty Hill Foundation, the California Endowment and the California Wellness Foundation. In addition, Susan is an accomplished RE investor. She and her partner Chris have developed ten properties over the past twenty years. Susan has served on numerous boards as well as been involved with many fundraising and development campaigns. From the long ago Proposition 64 to Seeds UES to the Southern California Breastcancer.org Giving Circle. The daughter of American diplomats, Susan was born in Uruguay and has also lived in Colombia, Mexico and Cuba. She is a native Spanish speaker. Susan and her partner of twenty-seven years, R. Christine Hershey, have two children, Christopher, 17 and Katie, 12 going on 16.

Jim Weinstein

Jim Weinstein attended Wesleyan University where he majored in political science and graduated Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude.  He then went on to Harvard Business School where he earned a masters "with distinction" in marketing in 1971.  After an almost twenty year career as an advertising executive, Jim began volunteering at AIDS Research Alliance where he served as President. He then enrolled at Antioch University - Los Angeles, earning a masters in psychology.  After completing the program in 1996 and the internships required for state licensure, Jim entered private practice. A little less than a decade later, Jim decided to relocate to Washington D.C. where he now practices as both a therapist and life consultant specializing in career and relationship work, while still maintaining a practice in Beverly Hills.

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Scott Hitt - OUR FOUNDER

September 28, 1958 - November 8, 2007

R. Scott Hitt MD served as a medical practice and association management consultant based in Los Angeles. He served on the board of ANGLE, the Equality California Institute (VP) and the ANGLE Foundation. He was the founder and Executive Director of the American Academy of HIV Medicine. He served as Chair of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, from 1995–2000. He was a managing partner of one of the largest private practice providers of HIV/AIDS healthcare in the nation.  Dr. Hitt has served on the Board of Directors of numerous organizations including: AIDS Project Los Angeles, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, where he was the Co-Chair for four years.