School of Management (SOM) Dean's Executive Council

Don Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of Motor Vehicle Software Corp. (MVSC), develops and commercializes cutting edge solutions that act as a bridge between connected car technologies and eGovernment by leveraging blockchain to securely record, track and transfer vehicle titles. Since establishing MVSC in 2005, Don has driven the company’s vision, strategy and growth to secure its place at the forefront of Vehicle-to-Government solutions. His extensive knowledge and experience in technological advancements currently in use by federal, state and local agencies throughout the United States and Canada have been a huge asset to MVSC’s continued growth, and establishes him as a valued member of TechNet, the bipartisan network of tech CEO’s and senior executives advancing public policies and private sector initiatives within all levels of government.

Prior to co-founding MVSC, Don, an alumnus of California Lutheran University, served as Chief Architect at NICUSA, Inc., playing a pivotal role within the top management team working to expand the company’s federal, state and local eGovernment service offerings.

Kristin Caltrider is Chief Financial Officer at Spinal Elements, a leading designer, developer, manufacturer, and marketer of innovative medical devices used in spinal surgical procedures.

Prior to her current role, she was EVP and Chief Financial Officer at Inogen, Inc. (Nasdaq: INGN), a California-based medical technology company offering innovative respiratory products for use in the homecare setting. Kristin has over 30 years of progressive finance experience in roles of increasing scope and responsibilities.

Prior to her current role, she worked at Quidel Corporation, a leading manufacturer of diagnostic solutions at point of care. Ms. Caltrider served as Quidel’s Vice President of Finance, where she oversaw global Finance and Accounting functions.

Prior to joining Quidel, Ms. Caltrider spent almost four years at Life Technologies (now Thermo Fisher Scientific), where she held a number of positions, and prior to that, she was the North America Controller for Pulse Electronics.

Ms. Caltrider graduated from California Lutheran University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and also holds an MBA from the University of San Diego.

Hugh Cassar is a life-long entrepreneur, a Chartered Accountant, and business graduate from The University of Toronto. He is the founder and Chairman of Kretek International, Inc. Corporate offices are located locally in Moorpark, California.  For the past 14 years Hugh has served as the Honorary Consul General of Malta.

Hugh and his wife, Keets, focus their philanthropic efforts in the Conejo Valley where they reside, as well as many other communities.  Local charities include Casa Pacifica, Cancer Support, New West Symphony, Cabrillo Music, and The Alliance for the Arts. Hugh is presently on the Dean's Executive Council for the School of Managment at California Lutheran University as well as the Executive Board of Directors of California State University Channel Islands.  He is a long-time resident of Westlake Village (since 1970), and has been fortunate to raise his 6 children here in the Conejo Valley.

Until 2024, Michael Colleran was Senior Vice President, Nissan U.S. Marketing and Sales, Nissan North America, Inc., responsible for all sales and marketing activities for the Nissan Division in the U.S.

Prior to this role, Colleran was corporate vice president and chairman of INFINITI Motor Company, based at their global headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. He was responsible for managing the brand, business operations, and all marketing and sales for INFINITI globally.

Before that, Colleran was group vice president of INFINITI Americas, overseeing INFINITI’s overall performance in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and leading the brand's strategic direction, planning, retail, and marketing efforts.

Colleran joined Nissan Motor Corporation in 2011 as vice president, Sales, for Nissan Canada and was responsible for Nissan's dealer network operations across Canada. He subsequently worked as regional vice president of the North East U.S. and was responsible for regional sales and marketing, incentive spending, distribution, dealer network development, financial controls, and dealer and customer satisfaction.

Before Nissan, he also held other sales and operations leadership roles in Saab Automobile and Cadillac.

Colleran has a bachelor's degree from California Lutheran University and an MBA from Marymount University in Washington, D.C. He served in the United States Marine Corps for eight years, obtaining the rank of Captain.

Brandon Dietrich is Chief Financial Officer, NativeSeed Group. Native is a vertically integrated specialty seed production and distribution business selling to Government, Landscape contractors, NGO’s, Environmental consulting firms, agricultural dealers and ecommerce direct to consumer. Native is PE backed and headquartered in Carpinteria, California. www.nativeseedgroup.com Before joining Native he was Chief Financial Officer at S&S Seed Companies and Schaff family offices from 2007 – 2022.  During his time with S&S he managed many finance and operations assignments.  Included were multiple acquisitions and divestures of operating businesses in similar markets.  Further was the management of a significant commercial real estate portfolio.  In this role he ultimately led the transaction selling to Private equity resulting in the formation of NativeSeed Group.  Brandon holds an MBA from Pepperdine University with a Finance emphasis and a BA in Economics from University of California at Santa Barbara.

Brian Donahue is Vice-President of Finance at Dole Sunshine Company, a global consumer goods company headquartered in Westlake Village, California. Before joining Dole, he was Chief Financial Officer at Ember, a high-growth consumer electronics company from 2018-2023, and from 2003-2018 he held various Finance functions at Mattel, Inc. Brian also served as an Audit Manager at EY between 1999-2003. Brian holds a B.A. in Accounting and Finance from Washington State University and a credential from Stanford University. He is also a founding member of F-Suite, an independent, invitation-only community of CFOs.

Steven D. Dorfman is the retired Vice Chairman of Hughes Electronics. During his time at Hughes he served as CEO of Hughes Space and Communications Company, the world’s leading builder of communication satellites and a provider of Space Systems for the NASA, NRO, Navy and Air Force; Hughes Communications, a leading owner and operator of communication satellites; and Hughes Telecommunications and Space, a unit responsible for the above businesses plus the international development of DirecTV.

While CEO of Hughes Communications, Dorfman was responsible for the development of the Galaxy System, the leading North American satellite service provider, subsequently merged with Intelsat; the JCSAT system for Japan, in partnership with Mitsui and Itochu; the initiation of the direct to home business at Hughes which ultimately became DirecTV; and several other satellite businesses. After retiring from Hughes, Mr. Dorfman was the Hunsaker Visiting Professor at MIT, the Chairman of ProtoStar Ltd and a member of the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee.

Mr. Dorfman has served on the Boards of Hughes, Raytheon, PanAmSat, American Mobile Satellite, Galaxy Latin America, JCSAT, DirecTV, Galaxy Institute, ProtoStar and HRL Laboratories. He has been a Trustee of the Boys and Girls Club and the Devereux Foundation. He is currently a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), the Tennenbaum Capital Advisory Board, the Thoroughbred Owners of California, and is a Senior Fellow of the California Council for Science and Technology. He has served on advisory committees for NASA, FCC, USIA, Department of Transportation, Air Force, USC School of Engineering, Hughes Network Systems, Boeing Satellite Systems, JPL, Ames Research Center and the National Research Council.

Among Mr. Dorfman’s awards are the Distinguished Public Service Award, NASA’s highest award, for his work on Pioneer Venus; the Society of Satellite Professionals Hall of Fame; and Via Satellite’s Satellite Executive of the Year for 1995.

Alice Galstian is Chief Financial Officer for Philanthropy and Community Health / Health Equity, South Division at Providence.

Prior to her current role, she was Vice President of Finance and Administration and CFO of the Kavli Foundation, an international philanthropic organization supporting and funding research in the scientific fields of astrophysics, nanoscience, neuroscience, and theoretical physics at preeminent universities in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Previously, Alice was the Associate Dean and Chief Financial Officer at the USC Gould School of Law for 15 years. She was part of the leadership team and served on several university-wide teams dealing with finance, strategy, and IT.

Before USC, Alice held management and consulting positions with several organizations ranging in size from multi-billion dollar publicly traded companies to small private companies.

Alice has served as President of the USC Marshall Alumni Association. She has earned an executive certificate from the Yale School of Management’s Women’s Leadership Program, an MBA from the USC Marshall School of Business, and a BBA from Pace University.

Alice started her career at KPMG, where she earned her CPA license.

Nigel Kershaw is currently, Chief Finance Officer at IFS (Individual Food Service). Prior to IFS, Nigel was the Chief Financial Officer of Lucky Brand Jeans. Lucky Brand was established in 1990 and is known for its Americana, rock and roll and motor heritage. In 2014, Lucky Brand was acquired by Leonard Green and Partners (a private equity fund) from Fifth and Pacific. The newly hired management team, with Nigel leading the Finance and Accounting functions, was tasked with establishing the corporate operations in Los Angeles previously consolidated with the former parent company on the East Coast. The new departments were hired and a cloud based ERP system was designed and implemented with completion in 2015. These successful efforts, earned Nigel the honor of LA Business Journal’s coveted CFO of the Year award in 2016.

Prior to Lucky, Nigel spent time as Chief Financial Officer at Cabi, LLC. and seven years at Guess, Inc. where he helped build a multi-billion dollar, global business with sales in over 90 countries.  Before joining Guess, Nigel was Director at The Walt Disney Company overseeing the global reporting and consolidation and transaction support functions.  He started his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, first in the audit division and later in the Transaction Services M&A division. While at PricewaterhouseCoopers, he spent time working in the Los Angeles, London and South African offices.

Mr. Kershaw holds a bachelors degree in Accounting and is a Chartered Accountant and CFA.

Pam Kessler is the Co-President, Chief Financial Officer, and Secretary of LTC Properties (NYSE: LTC), a $2.3 billion publicly traded health care REIT (real estate investment trust) that invests in seniors housing and skilled nursing properties throughout the United States.  With over 25 years of real estate experience, Pam, has demonstrated expertise in developing, leading and executing capital markets and financial planning and analysis activities.  She joined LTC Properties in 2000 as the company’s Controller and has served as the CFO since 2007. 

Prior to joining LTC Properties, Pam was the Corporate Controller for a privately held commercial and multifamily real estate developer.  She was also the Director of Financial Reporting for Irvine Apartment Communities, a Southern California apartment REIT spun out from The Irvine Company.  Pam also served as the Assistant Controller of the Inland Empire division of KB Home (NYSE: KBH), one of the nation’s largest publicly traded homebuilders.  She began her career as a certified public accountant in the real estate group of Ernst and Young LLP.  Pam graduated with honors from the University of California, Irvine with a bachelor’s degree in economics.

Currently, Pam serves as an independent director and member of the audit committee of Physician’s Realty Trust (NYSE: DOC) a $4.5 billion health care REIT that acquires, owns and manages medical office buildings and other healthcare properties that are leased to physicians, hospitals and other healthcare providers throughout the United States.  Pam is also a member of the board of governors, serving on the real estate committee, of the Providence Tarzana Foundation.  Providence Tarzana Medical Center is a 249-bed hospital serving the San Fernando Valley and is part of Providence St. Joseph Health, a national not-for-profit health system comprised of 50 hospitals and 829 clinics throughout the western part of the United States.

Amie Krause is the Chief People Officer at Revance. She is a strategic and agile HR executive with 25 years of experience in talent acquisition, employee relations, compensation, benefits, leadership development, coaching and operations. Prior to her tenure with Atara, Amie held several HR leadership positions at Amgen, including her role as Global HR Lead, Organizational Effectiveness during which she served as the human resources lead for Amgen’s global commercial operations covering the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Additionally, she served the Commercial HR lead standing up Amgen’s cardiovascular franchise launching two products. Amie is passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion and was a founding leader of the Atara Women’s Alliance (AWA). She has been a strong advocate for the LGBTQ community at Atara and is an active member of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA). Amie holds both a B.S. in business management and an MBA from California Lutheran University. She has also completed the UC Berkeley Extension program for Human Resources Officers. Away from the office, Amie doubles as an adjunct professor at the California Lutheran University School of Management.

Marina Lubinsky is Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer at The Cheesecake Factory. Prior to her role at The Cheesecake Factory, she was SVP and CIO at Oakwood Worldwide as well as an information technology consultant. Her background includes IT leadership positions with AIG, Disney and Accenture. Lubinsky holds a Master of Science degree in electrical and computer engineering from the Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen. She also completed an executive management program at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and was named a Kellogg Executive Scholar. Lubinsky is a member of the CIO Executive Council and the National Association of Professional Women.

Kevin Manion is Chief Financial Officer at Sunsweet, an American agricultural marketing cooperative founded in 1917, headquartered in Yuba City, California, USA.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Manion was Chief Financial Officer of Calavo Growers (CVGW), a $1 billion fresh food company with a focus on avocados. Before joining Calavo, Kevin was with the Center for Neuro Skills where he served as the Chief Financial Officer.

Kevin also was the Co-CFO for Green Dot (GDOT), and before that, Chief Financial Officer for Young's Market Company, a $3 billion, 125-year-old family-owned distributor of wine and liquor servicing the happiness needs of the Western United States.

Prior to Young's, Mr. Manion was the CFO for Hostess (sold to Apollo); Bolthouse Farms, a produce and beverage company (sold to Campbell Soup); EBS Dealing Resources, a financial services company (sold to ICAP, Plc); Synapse, a direct marketing company (sold to Time, Inc.); Aimcor, a chemical distributor (sold to KKR); Nestle USA as Corporate Controller and CFO for the ice cream (Dreyer's), water (Arrowhead), and pet food (Alpo) businesses. He has also been with SilverPoint Capital, a $5 billion hedge fund, as a portfolio company advisor, and Entenmann's/Oroweat as a Division Controller.

He started his career at Arthur Andersen in the privately held business consulting group in Milwaukee, WI, and San Francisco. Mr. Manion is a CPA, Certified Treasury Professional, Certified Production and Inventory Control Manager, Certified in Investor Relations, and Certified by the National Association of Corporate Directors. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame and serves on the board of several private equity-backed businesses as well as the Petco Foundation.

David Meline was Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Moderna, Inc., one of the first companies producing a viable COVID-19 vaccine. Mr. Meline joined Moderna in June 2020, coming out of retirement from Amgen where he served as CFO and EVP from 2014 through 2019. At Amgen, Meline was responsible for Amgen’s finance, information systems, global business services, and investor relations.

Prior to Amgen, Meline was senior vice president and chief financial officer at 3M. Before joining 3M, Meline had been at General Motors, serving in various capacities including vice president and chief financial officer for GM North America. He had also held senior-level positions with GM Europe in Switzerland, GM Daewoo in South Korea, GM Brasil, GM Kenya, and at GM’s New York office in the company’s treasurer’s office.

Meline began his career at AT&T Corporation as a product design engineer. Meline is a member of the board of directors of ABB (ASEA Brown Boveri), a Swiss multinational firm, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University, a Master of Science in economics from the London School of Economics, London, United Kingdom, and an MBA in finance from the University of Chicago.

Stefan L. Mund is Corporate Vice President and Regional Head of Henkel Beauty Care Hair Professional in North America. Founded in 1876, Henkel operates globally and holds leading positions with its three business units: Adhesive Technologies, Beauty Care and Laundry Care.

Based in Culver City, California, Stefan steers well-known professional hair care brands such as Alterna, Joico, Zotos Professional, Kenra Professional, #mydentity, Schwarzkopf Professional, and Sexy Hair along with newly acquired Deva Curl. Henkel's Beauty Care Hair Professional growth trajectory in North America is a testament of Stefan's leadership and collaborative work style. With Stefan's extensive experience and vision, he led a major initiative to bring various teams from across the country under one roof to a new state of the art Beauty Care Hair North American headquarters and world class #AcademyofHair, multi-branded learning center.

Stefan has spent much of his career with Henkel and has held a succession of leadership positions in regional and global marketing along with business unit responsibilities for various Henkel brands in Switzerland, Japan, France, Benelux and Australia / New Zealand. His earlier experience includes BMW, Doctor Babor and Pelikan.

Stefan holds a Master's Degree in Economics from FH and RWTH University in Aachen, Germany. He is married and has three sons and is a big fan of German football (soccer).

Mr. Palamountain was appointed as Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Corporate Secretary effective as of January 8, 2018. Previously, he served as the Company's Senior Director of Agricultural Operations since 2014 and has been with the Company since 2012. From 2012 to 2014, Mr. Palamountain served as Director of Business Development and Business Integration at the Company. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Palamountain was the CEO and founder of Perpetual Power LLC, a leading solar integration company specializing in finance and product technology. From 2003 to 2008, he served as a Managing Director, Head of NASDAQ Trading for Broadpoint Securities where he was responsible for all trading desk management functions for a team of 25 traders. Between 2001 and 2003, Mr. Palamountain was a Principal at Thomas Weisel Partners and from 1997 to 2001, he was a trader at JPMorgan Chase. Mr. Palamountain graduated from the University of Colorado, Leeds School of Business, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration.

Marc Rosenmayr is Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Red Bull North America. He has over 25 years of experience in financial management, including four years in auditing and seven years in FP&A in a variety of industries in the United States, Europe, and Asia Pacific. Prior to Red Bull he was with Johnson Controls in the COO office, working on strategic finance projects. He is a board member at the American Beverage Association and holds a MS in Business Administration from Karl-Franzens-Universitaet in Graz, Austria. Marc is married with three children, tri-lingual, and avid skier and mountain biker and has lived and worked in five different countries.

As the founder and CEO of RKS Design, Ravi Sawhney has spent more than thirty-five years at the forefront of product and technology innovation and has grown his industrial design consultancy into a global leader in the fields of strategy, innovation and design.

Mr. Sawhney, a Canadian born designer of Indian descent, was raised in Los Angeles, California where he attended CSU Northridge and Art Center College of Design. Today he leads RKS in Southern California, a firm he started in 1980 after leaving Xerox where he was the lead designer on the first generation of touch screen interfaces. He remarkably alternates between roles as CEO, entrepreneur, lecturer, author, designer and, most importantly, as an advocate of design's ability to help others and make the world a better place.

Mr. Sawhney is a regular columnist/blogger for Fast Company, as well as a popular corporate and academic lecturer. He is also founder and initial jury chair of IDSA's Catalyst Case Study™ program, imbued with showcasing design's power for positive change. While leading RKS, Mr. Sawhney invented the Psycho-Aesthetics® design methodology, which Harvard Business School adopted as a case study before it became the central focus of Predictable Magic—a book authored by Mr. Sawhney and co-authored by Deepa Prahalad, published by Wharton School Publishing in August 2010. Mr. Sawhney was inducted into the IDSA academy of fellows in 2009 and holds a Ph.D. (hon.) from the Academy of Art University.

Shauna Vernal is Special Counsel at Miller Nash LLP. She was previously General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer at Flipt, a company providing a fairer and more transparent alternative to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). She is a seasoned legal executive with over 25 years of experience executing global and domestic transactions including mergers & acquisitions, corporate governance, securities, regulatory compliance, litigation management, financial reporting compliance, and public and shareholder relations management. She has a proven track record as a trusted technology and intellectual property tactician, with broad experience ranging from product development to cloud solutions, online services, and IP protection. Shauna has previously served in Chief Legal and Compliance officer roles for both public and private companies including Microsoft, Falck USA, and Inovalon, among others. She has also served on the board of MSNBC. Shauna has a BA in Business Administration from California Lutheran University and a JD (with honors) from the University of Washington School of Law, and she is an honors graduate of Pacific Coast Banking School.