WHO WE ARE

Dr. Moore currently serves as a professor of management in the College of Business and Economics and in the College of Education at California State University, Northridge. In 2005, Moore was Fulbright Senior Scholar at Bandung Institute of Technology in Bandung, Indonesia.

A long time resident of Santa Monica and an active volunteer, he has served as a founding board member of Santa Monica Community Corporation and the Pico Neighborhood Association. He was an elected member of the School Improvement Committee at both Edison Language Academy and the John Adams Middle school. He is also a member of the Friends of Sunset Park.

Dr. Moore is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in areas of program evaluation, strategic planning, management development, organizational development and policy analysis, in the public and private sectors. At local level Moore has worked with the City of Los Angeles’ Economic and Workforce Development Department since 2000, evaluating a wide range of public training and employment programs.

Internationally, Moore has consulted for the World Bank in East Timor, Qatar, and Indonesia since 1988. He has evaluated the impact of Indonesia’s largest Micro-finance program Mitra Bisnis Keluarga (MBK).

Dr. Moore is the author of many scholarly and industry publications. He is on the editorial board of two scholarly international journals The Journal of Vocational Education and Training and The International Journal of Human Resource Development. He is an experienced trainer working with managers in both the public and private sectors. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. from UCLA.

JoAnne Yokota is the Founder and Principal of Yokota & Associates, an affordable housing development consulting firm. Ms. Yokota has over 25 years of experience in this field, including work on affordable housing projects in the City of Los Angeles for families, seniors, homeless households, transition age youth and homeless veterans. Prior to that, Ms. Yokota was the Executive Director of Beyond Shelter Housing Development Corporation for 8 years, along with the Housing Manager for the City of Santa Monica and Division Manager for the Century Freeway Housing Program. JoAnne holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Ms. Yokota has served as a Community Corporation Board member for over 20 years.

Natalia Williams brings over 20 years of experience in affordable housing, finance, and strategic asset management. She has led large, multidisciplinary teams and managed complex affordable multifamily portfolios across California, Oregon, and Washington, overseeing more than 10,000 units and $500 million in transactions.

A licensed CPA, Natalia began her career at KPMG and holds an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and a BA in Economics and Public Policy from Stanford University. She is a recipient of the Affordable Housing Finance Young Leader Award and an alumna of the ULI Center for Leadership. She is deeply committed to advancing equitable, transparent, and sustainable housing solutions through thoughtful governance and strategic collaboration.

Patricia Hoffman owned and operated small businesses in Los Angeles and Santa Monica for more than 20 years. A Santa Monica resident continuously since 1979, Ms. Hoffman is passionate about social justice and civil rights, and has served as the Co-Chair of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR) for more than 10 years, along with serving on the Board of Downtown Santa Monica (DTSM), and Chairing from 2013-2015. In addition to her advocacy for renters, Ms. Hoffman cares deeply about education, and served 8 years on the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education, and as President of the Board in 1990 and 1994. Ms. Hoffman has served as a Community Corporation Board member since 2000, and Chair of the Board since 2004.

Paul DeSantis is a long time Santa Monica resident, and has an extensive background in land use law.

Bob Gardner serves as Treasurer of RCLCO Real Estate Advisors’ Los Angeles office, and has over 43 years of experience in providing market and financial feasibility evaluations, and fiscal and economic assessment of commercial and residential real estate projects for both private and public sector clients. Mr. Gardner serves on ULI Los Angeles District Council’s Management Committee and co-leads its Technical Assistance Panel Committee. He is also a 40-year Santa Monica resident of Sunset Park. Mr. Gardner has served as a Community Corporation Board member since 2005 and also serves on its Finance Committee.

Carla Vásquez-Noriega is the Senior Investor Relations Manager at Merritt Community Capital. She is a dedicated affordable housing professional with over experience in development, financing, and policy. Her passion for this work stems from growing up in low-income housing in Los Angeles and a desire to create housing opportunities for all.

Before joining Merritt in 2022, Carla worked on affordable housing technical assistance, capacity building programs, and lending in the Los Angeles office of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation. At LISC, Carla helped launch the Keep It Affordable Academy, a training program for local nonprofits that want to preserve affordable housing assets in vulnerable communities. She also worked in development at the Community Corporation of Santa Monica, where she advanced four affordable communities in a high opportunity area.

Carla has a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA and a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Yale University.

Frances Anderton is the author of Common Ground: Multifamily Housing in Los Angeles, published by Angel City Press and shortlisted for a Foreword Reviews award. She co-produced 40 Years of Building Community, a short film about Community Corporation of Santa Monica. For many years Anderton hosted KCRW’s DnA: Design and Architecture radio show, and produced the current affairs shows Which Way, LA? and To The Point. She writes a regular newsletter for KCRW, and she supports the creation of programming at Helms Bakery District.

Honors include the Esther McCoy Award, from the Architectural Guild of USC School of Architecture, for her work educating the public about architecture and urbanism.

Ralph is an architect with significant experience in affordable housing. He has served on the City’s Planning Commission and Architectural Review Board and is currently a member of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education.

Maggi Phillips is Associate Professor of International Business at the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. She holds a B.A. in psychology from UCLA, an M.S. in administration from the Merage School of Business at UC Irvine, and a Ph.D. in management from the Anderson School at UCLA. In her teaching, research, and consulting, Dr. Phillips focuses on issues of cross-cultural management and organization design. Dr. Phillips and her family have been residents in Santa Monica continuously since 1985, and she has served as a Community Corporation Board member since 2010.

Sandra Strength is a resident of Community Corporation housing, and serves as the voice and perspective of Community Corp’s over 4,000 residents. Ms. Strength is an independent design consultant and worked in advertising for numerous years. Sandra attended Art Center College of Design in Advertising, and graduated from Stanford University with a BA in Psychology. Ms. Strength has served as a Community Corporation Board member since 2009.

Dr. Berenice Onofre is an active community member, a parent advocate, especially for parents whose voices are many times not heard. She also advocates for social justice and equity in education, health care, and economic development. Her two sons attended public schools; she was an active PTA member in her son’s schools and in the district.

Dr. Onofre worked as elementary school teacher and principal in Perú. In the United States she worked as a registered nurse in every specialty of hospital and public health nursing; additionally she has over 30 years experience in nursing administration.

Her education includes: Bachelors of Nursing, Masters of Nursing Administration and Public Administration, and doctorate in Education Leadership all at CSULA. She joined the Community Corp Board of Directors as the Pico Neighborhood representative in 2017.

Javier Guzman has been active in the affordable housing industry for over 18 years, working on the development and financial aspects of housing. His experience ranges from preparing tax credit applications to managing construction through the completion and conversion stages. For the past 13 years Javier has been working mainly on the financial aspect, underwriting special needs, farmworker, section 8 and traditional low income affordable housing in California. Javier has underwritten projects on the west coast with an emphasis on California and Washington with a personal goal of expanding his experience throughout the west coast. Currently Javier is the VP for Community Lending and Investing at CIT Bank and is leading their lending efforts in the affordable housing industry as they break into the market.

Zakiya is a long-time resident of Santa Monica who has worked for Los Angeles Unified School District in various capacities for 20 years. She is an active volunteer in the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and is a past PTA President at Will Rogers Learning Community, past PTSA EVP at John Adams Middle School, past PTSA VP of Parent Education at Santa Monica High School and charted the parent council at Lighthouse Pre-School.

Zakiya founded 4F- FitFlyFreeForever, a wellness community for women and Co-Founded Rooted in Student Excellence (RISE), an educational program that promotes Historically Black Colleges & Universities and college readiness in youth as early as pre-school age. As a community builder and organizer, Zakiya advocates for access to the arts, STEM and relevance and reflection of student demographics in educational systems, veterans and their families having access to affordable housing and vital resources once their enlistment is up and is a huge supporter of affordable housing accessibility and sustainability for families and undeserved populations.

Allie Lee is a communications strategist with 15 years of experience in media relations, entertainment publicity, corporate social responsibility, corporate communications, internal communications and branding.

She is the VP of Public Relations and Entertainment Industry Engagement at Humane Hollywood, which certifies films and TV series with the No Animals Were Harmed® seal.

Prior, Lee was Senior Director of Brand and Communications at Participant, the leading media company dedicated to entertainment that stands at the intersection of art and activism. There, she led corporate communications efforts for the film and series production company, including public relations strategy, corporate partnerships and major event/festival sponsorships.

Preceding Participant, Lee was Publicity Lead at Amazon Studios, where she launched series including the award-winning breakout hit The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, criminal justice documentary series Free Meek, and Emmy® winners All or Nothing and Eat the World with Emeril Lagasse. As part of the women’s affinity group at the studio, Lee was on the team that created the Community Obsession Week, a volunteerism opportunity for Amazon employees. She has also held communications posts at Comedy Central and Chasen & Company.

Lee is a member of the Television Academy, the Communications Network and Social Impact Ladies. A long-serving member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, she continues to lead the group’s work with nonprofits.

She holds an MA in Communication and a BA in German Studies, both from Stanford University.

Scott Rosenberg is a commercial real estate broker at Kidder Mathews with a professional background in affordable housing development across Greater West Los Angeles and the coastal submarkets served by Santa Monica Community Corporation. He has worked closely with respected affordable housing developers to acquire sites and secure public and private funding for projects serving vulnerable populations, including individuals experiencing homelessness and those requiring substantial supportive mental health care.

A former elementary school teacher and licensed general contractor, Scott brings a collaborative, solutions-oriented perspective informed by community service and practical construction insight, aligned with Santa Monica Community Corporation’s mission to preserve and expand access to quality affordable housing.