LA OPERA BOARD DIRECTORY

Leslie A. Pam, Ph.D., is a licensed marriage and family therapist. As the president of Conflict Resolution Unlimited, Dr. Pam and his associates provide unique and innovative solutions to dispute resolution in the fields of business, sports and entertainment. President of the Marriage and Family Therapy Association, Dr. Pam was honored with the Distinguished Clinical Member Award. He is a member of the board of governors of Cedars-Sinai Hospital, a former director of the Esper A. Petersen Foundation and a former trustee of the Autry National Center. As a radio talk show host with his wife,  Ann Petersen, M.A., at KMPC in Los Angeles, they appeared on numerous television and radio shows and in national magazines and newspapers. Active in the community, Ann Petersen is on the board of directors of Clare Foundation, the board of directors of the Santa Monica College Foundation and vice president of the Esper A. Petersen Foundation. In his spare time, Dr. Pam has raised champion horses, restored vintage cars and motorcycles, and is a passionate cook and oenophile. 

Linda Pascotto is the Chairman of the board of directors of The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF), an L.A.-based nonprofit organization that addresses the fundamental human needs for food, water and peace. TPRF works to advance world peace based on personal peace and improving the quality of life for those most in need. She is Trustee Emeritus of Viewpoint School in Calabasas. She supports directly and through her private foundation many charitable organizations that promote specific cultural, social and educational work. 

Andrea co-founded video game development studio Ready At Dawn® in 2003 and, until 2020, was the company's Chief Technical Officer, producing technology for all of Ready At Dawn's games to date, from Daxter to The Order 1886 and Lone Echo. He now serves as Head of Research, pursuing special R&D projects.  ​

From 1998 to 2003 Andrea was a Senior Software Engineer with Blizzard Entertainment® where he authored core technologies for several blockbusters in the WarCraft® video game franchise. Before Blizzard, he was a Senior Software Scientist with MetaCreations®, writing a number of seminal graphics applications, including: Kai’s Power Tools®, Kai’s Photo Soap®, Bryce® and Kai’s Power Goo®, for which he received numerous industry accolades, including the 1996 PC Magazine "Graphics Software of the Year" award. ​

A classically trained musician, Andrea studied composition, harmony and music theory, and he is an accomplished pianist and composer. His work on the cinematics for Blizzard’s Diablo II® earned him the 2001 IGDA Game Developers Choice Award for "Excellence in Audio." ​

A native of Italy, Andrea has lived and worked in California since 1990. ​

Linda Pierce graduated from the University of Oregon in 1966 with a degree in general science and a minor in English literature. She spent 25 years in the aerospace industry, designing the software for command and control systems for satellites. She received a degree in landscape architecture from UCLA, and worked for the National Park Service, first as a volunteer, then as a contractor. She earned a law degree in 2005. In addition to LA Opera, she supports the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Santa Fe Opera, the Inner City Education Foundation and the FARES Foundation, which is dedicated to archeological research in Guatemala. She oversees oil interests and is currently writing a novel. 

Harold Ray retired from Southern California Edison as executive vice president in 2006 after more than 36 years with the company and extended his association with Edison under a consulting contract. At the time of his retirement, he was responsible for all electricity production, purchase and sales for Edison. He began working for the company during the early development of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, after receiving a graduate degree in nuclear engineering from the California Institute of Technology. He also holds degrees from UCLA and the Claremont Graduate School. He is past president of the American Nuclear Society.  Following retirement from Edison, he served 12 years in an appointed position at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. He lives in San Marino with his wife of 60 years, Penny. Their two adult daughters live with their families in Southern California. Harold and Penny have long been lovers of opera. They have traveled widely in pursuit of this interest, including throughout Italy. 

Barry Sanders is an adjunct professor at UCLA, in the College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Communications. He teaches public diplomacy, architectural communication, and negotiation. He is the author of American Avatar: The United States in the Global Imagination; The Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games; and Bringing the Olympics Back to Los Angeles: A History of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games, 1984 to 2014 (with Ann Owens).  For over 35 years he practiced law with Latham & Watkins, specializing in international corporate transactions. He founded and chaired the International Law Section of the California State Bar. In 2019 the California State Lawyers Association awarded him its Warren Christopher Award as "International Lawyer of the Year." He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy. He chaired the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games from 2003 to 2016. From 2007 to 2014 he was president of the board of commissioners of Recreation and Parks of the City of Los Angeles and a member of the board of commissioners of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. He is Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Los Angeles Parks Foundation. Sanders is Vice-Chair of the Ojai Music Festival. He was president and chairman of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Public Library Foundation. He has also served on the boards of the Music Center, Music Center Foundation, Walt Disney Concert Hall Corporation, Joffrey Ballet, League of American Orchestras, among others. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Yale Law School. 

Lionel M. Sauvage is the Chairman of the Abraham Path Initiative, a non-profit devoted to the development of trails and the promotion of intercultural connections through walking in Southwest Asia. He is also a board member of the American Friends of the Louvre, the Louvre Endowment, the INSEAD endowment and Master Drawings the leading publication for the study of old master drawings. Mr. Sauvage retired as a partner at Capital Group after more than 28 years there as a global equity portfolio manager. In addition to opera, Mr. Sauvage has a passion for and actively collects French 18th-century paintings and drawings. He and his wife Ariane live in Los Angeles, they have two adult children. 

Heinrich (Heinz) Schelbert, M.D., PhD., is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the department of molecular and medical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. After attending medical school in his native Germany, he trained in internal medicine and cardiology in Philadelphia, San Diego and Düsseldorf. He was invited to join UCLA to develop a research and clinical program for the study of the heart’s blood flow and metabolism with positron emission tomography. He is a two-time recipient of the George von Hevesy Prize by the World Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology, of the George de Hevesy Nuclear Medicine Pioneer Award by the Society of Nuclear Medicine, the Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award by the American Heart Association and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the American College of Cardiology. 

Charlotte Coulombe Schoenmann has been connected to LA Opera since her late parents were involved in its founding. She is thrilled to now join the Board and continue her family’s commitment to the Company and support of opera and young musicians. ​Charlotte was born and raised in the Los Angeles area. After graduating from Stanford and Columbia Universities, she started her management career in New York City. She was later fortunate to combine her passion for the arts with her professional expertise as a Project Manager for the construction of the Getty Center. She continued after completion as Associate Director for Operations and Planning, and then similarly for Finance with a focus on budget management. ​Since retiring, Charlotte has been an active community volunteer. She now resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico where she is currently a Trustee of the Community Foundation, and a Director of the Saranam and the Public Arts Boards. Her husband, Stuart Schoenmann, is CEO of Quantum Design, headquartered in San Diego. The two were introduced by their parents, who were part of the group involved in bringing opera to Los Angeles during the 1984 Olympics Arts Festival.

Carlton Seaver a retired Los Angeles Superior Court judge. Before his appointment to the bench in 2008, he practiced law for 33 years, first with Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton and then as a partner of Seaver & Gill, LLP. He graduated from Princeton in 1968 and Stanford Law School in 1975. After college, he served in the U.S. Navy as an officer on destroyers in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean. He is a trustee of Pomona College and a Governor of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, and a Trustee of the Arcadia Public Library. He is a past president of the Stanford Law Society of Southern California and has served on a variety of Princeton-related alumni and fundraising organizations. He served on the board of trustees of Flintridge Preparatory School, the board of the Bishop W. Bertrand Stevens Foundation and his neighborhood architectural review board. He is a member of the California Club, Valley Hunt Club, Newport Harbor Yacht Club, Economic Round Table and Twilight Club. He lives in Arcadia with his wife, Laura. They have three children, John, Nicholas and Katie, who all attended Princeton. His father, Richard Seaver, was a longtime LA Opera board member, serving several years as chairman. 

Lisa See is the New York Times bestselling author of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Shanghai Girls, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, and The Island of Sea Women. She has also written a mystery series that takes place in China, as well as On Gold Mountain, which became the source material for an opera and a museum exhibition. Her books have been published in 39 languages. Ms. See is a trustee on the Music Center board, serves on the board of The Trusteeship, and is a founding co-chair of the 1871 Chinese Massacre Memorial Foundation. She was honored as National Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese American Women in 2001 and was the recipient of the Chinese American Museum’s History Makers Award in 2003.  

Tina Stein Segel was born and raised in Haverford, Pennsylvania. Her family was very involved with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Eugene Ormandy whom Tina had the privilege of calling “Uncle Eugene”. She attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas Texas majoring in television production. Working at KMIR-TV, the NBC affiliate in Palm Springs, Tina wore multiple hats as reporter, anchor and News Director. She hosted “Coachella Valley Crime Stoppers” assisting local authorities to solve multiple crimes. Married in 1991, she moved to San Francisco and worked in the Corporate Division of Tiffany & Co. until she moved to London where her three children were born and raised. Moving back to the US in 2008, they settled in Pacific Palisades and Malibu. Embracing her Armenian heritage, Tina is a board member of Haigazian University in Beirut Lebanon. The University was founded by her grandfather Stephen Philibosian. She also sits on the committee of the Armenian Missionary Association of America’s Child Care Organization which raises millions of dollars to assist the most destitute of families in Armenia, Syria and beyond. Tina’s love of opera began as a child with the Saturday morning live broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera. 

Joan Seidel is president of Morton Seidel Century City, a financial advisory practice of ameriprise financial services. She is a registered principal and registered investment advisor. Her interest in opera goes back to her high school days in New York City when she attended Metropolitan Opera performances with her mother in standing room. Other volunteer activities include Technion (Israel Institute of Technology, located in Haifa and comparable to MIT and CalTech) where she was national president from 2006 to 2009, chairman of the board since 2009 and where she received an honorary doctorate. On June 5, 2005, she was honored by IIT with an honorary fellowship. She has also been honored by the Los Angeles Free Clinic for community service. Other involvements include treasurer of the Discovery Fund for Eye Research, and the Hebrew College Board of Overseers. She served on the Board of Hebrew Union College and on the Board of Jewish Home for Aging (LAJHealth). She served as treasurer of the City of Beverly Hills from 1990 to 2001, and continues to serve as financial advisor to the city. 

Linda Shaheen is a native of Northern California from the area now known as Silicon Valley.  She matriculated to the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Social Science. Upon graduation, Linda entered the world of retail fashion, first with the iconic fashion retailer Joseph Magnin and later with I Magnin. In 1987, Linda moved to New York to develop private label women’s sportswear for Alcott & Andrews. In 1988, Linda was recruited by Ann Taylor where she became Executive Vice President, General Merchandise Manager and part of the corporate team that took the company public in 1992. Following her retirement, Linda and her husband established The David & Linda Shaheen Foundation, which identifies and initiates numerous education programs for inner city youth. For the last 22 years, the cornerstone of their giving in Los Angeles has provided college scholarships to South Central youth with their mentoring partner, A Place Called Home. The program has sent over 600 students to college and currently has over 80 students enrolled in higher education institutions. Other programs in Los Angeles include nutritional programs through FEAST, coding programs for K-8 through 9DOTS, musical arts through the YOLA program at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Opera Connects program, visual arts through Heart of Los Angeles, and sexual health in LAUSD high schools through the Sex Squad performance art program at UCLA. In 2016, Linda and David endowed a new campus for Alliance College Ready Public Schools which serves 600 high school students in South Los Angeles. Additional programs for youth include the Boston based Harvard MEDScience program which encourages critical thinking and STEM in inner city schools and the Dean’s Scholar Program at the University of Nevada, Reno, which provides individual mentors for students starting in the 3rd grade through high school to ensure successful educational outcomes. Since 2016 Linda and David have funded the Piera Barbaglia Shaheen Next Generation Artist Award at the LA Opera which recognizes talented young singers. In 2021, Linda and David became sponsors of the new Humanities Program at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, bringing programing to communities throughout Los Angeles.

Marilyn Shapiro retired from her position as executive vice president of LA Opera in 2010. Prior to that appointment, she had served as director of institutional resources for the company since 2003. She joined LA Opera after 25 years at the Metropolitan Opera, serving as the executive director/external affairs and directing the Met’s marketing department. She created the Met’s modern development programs, directing two endowment campaigns and a capital improvements campaign. She was chief of staff to Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, a consultant with the noted author Alvin Toffler, and an assistant to Mayor John Lindsay. She served on the staff of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund landmark study on the performing arts, chaired by John Rockefeller II. She graduated from Wellesley College and received a MA in public law and government from Columbia University. 

Marvin Shapiro received his undergraduate (1957) and law degrees (1959) from Columbia University. After two years at the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, D.C., in 1962 he joined Irell & Manella where he remained until his retirement in 1999, having served as managing partner for five years. Marv’s professional activities have included serving on the board of governors of the Beverly Hills Bar Association (1969-1973); president of the Beverly Hills Barristers (1970); lecturer at the University of Southern California and Denver Tax Institutes, California Continuing Education of the Bar and Practicing Law Institute; and the board of directors of Air Cal, Inc. Additionally, he has served as vice president, director and chair of the Legal Committee of the Jewish Federation Council of Los Angeles. Marv’s political activities have included serving as Democratic National Committeeman for California (Chairman of the DNC Credentials Committee) (1972-1976); delegate to the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Democratic National Conventions; and treasurer to Alan Cranston’s 1974, 1980 and 1986 campaigns. He has served the Los Angeles Opera as a director, chair of the Legal Committee, and Secretary. In 2022 he was elected a Life Trustee. 

Susan Shapiro is a retired partner of Ropes & Gray LLP, a Boston-based international law firm where she served as trustee for numerous family trusts, oversaw the firm’s estate settlement practice and advised high net worth individuals and fiduciaries in various aspects of estate planning, estate settlement, trust litigation and trust administration. Susan graduated from University of Michigan where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and from Harvard Law School. Susan has served on several conservation-based boards on Nantucket where she summers. Her late husband, L. Dennis Shapiro, was CEO and chair of Lifeline Systems, Inc. which is now owned by Philips Electronics. She has three children and four grandchildren, all residents of California, which drew her to the west coast.