Leadership
The Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center has a distinguished Board of Directors and Advisory Council drawn from across the Tri-Valley. These individuals and the LVPAC staff, working with the Livermore City Council and City staff, have given their time and resources to help the Valley flourish both culturally and economically.
Board of Directors
Philip R. Wente: Chairman
Mr. Wente is President of the Wente Land and Cattle Company, Vice Chairman of Wente Vineyards, Chairman of the Tri-Valley Business Council and a current member of the Wine Institute, Agricultural Water Task Force, California Community College Foundation, and the Alameda County Agricultural Advisory Committee. He has held many positions throughout the California wine industry, as well as the Tri-Valley business community. Mr. Wente’s invaluable expertise in the agri-tourism industry facilitates the merging of wine event tourism with the arts, strengthens Livermore’s positioning as a tourist destination, and brings stellar leadership to our project.
Joan K. Seppala: President
Ms. Seppala is founder and publisher of The Independent, a Livermore and Pleasanton weekly newspaper established in 1963. She serves on the Board of Directors and Governance and Audit Committees of Chicago-based Intermatic, an integrated manufacturer of consumer and industrial energy control products. Ms. Seppala has participated in several Alameda County public bodies, including the Altamont Settlement Committee. She is an active member of three Tri-Valley Business Council Committees that develop policy on housing and the environment, and also serves on the Livermore Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Committee. As early as 1986, she envisioned a performing arts center in downtown Livermore to enrich the cultural life of the community.
Tom Reitter: Secretary
Mr. Reitter is a former member of the Livermore City Council (1989-2007) and a retired mechanical engineer from Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. As a council member he was particularly concerned with preserving agriculture and open space around Livermore and in preserving the city's individual character and sense of place. He helped focus the city on downtown re-vitalization. He sees the Bankhead Theater and the proposed regional performing arts theater as major economic drivers of the new downtown that will make Livermore a center for arts and entertainment.
Michael Bocchicchio: Treasurer
Mr. Bocchicchio is an architect and currently serves as the Assistant Vice President – Facilities Administration, for the University of California System. He was twice appointed State Architect under Governor Deukmeijian, was employed as the Regional Director of Planning and Facilities for Southern California for Kaiser Permanente and served as University Architect and Executive Director for the University of Southern California. He and his wife are impresarios and have produced grand opera in the Bay Area. Mr. Bocchicchio, chair of the Performing Arts Center Architectural and Construction Committee, has extensive experience and knowledge of large-scale construction project management.
Patrick Kernan: Director
Patrick Kernan opened the Hoge, Fenton, Jones & Appel's Pleasanton law office and was chosen to become its managing partner from 1998 until June of 2004. From 2004 to 2005 he was employed as the Vice President & General Counsel of Valley Care Health Systems. Mr. Kernan founded the Law Offices of Patrick J. Kernan in 2007. Mr. Kernan is a past member of the Hospital & Pacific Care Boards and is now on the Pacific Symphony Chamber Board and the Las Positas Foundation Board. Mr. Kernan was appointed to the Pleasanton Unified School District Board in 1997 and was elected to the Performing Arts Center board in November 2001.
Mortimer L. Mendelsohn: Director
Dr. Mendelsohn is a recently retired Senior Scientist and former Associate Director at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where for 20 years he headed the Biomedical and Environmental Research Program specializing in radiology, cytogenetics and analytical cytology. He recently spent three years as Vice Chairman of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Hiroshima, Japan. Long active in the arts, he currently serves on the Board of Del Valle Fine Arts. Dr. Mendelsohn brings extensive connections in the arts community and high-level managerial expertise to the board’s endeavors.
Joseph Madden: Director
Joe Madden serves as President of Goal Line Productions, a Pleasanton based production studio, where he has produced numerous commercials and industrials for clients including AT&T, Microsoft, Clorox, Ace Hardware, Shapell Homes and PeopleSoft. His company is credited for numerous Public Service Announcements which include The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Pacific Vascular Research Foundation, and the Salvation Army. His company also produces feature films. He is executive producer of the 2004 Academy Award™ nominated feature film "The Cooler," starring Alec Baldwin and William H. Macy, and the comedy-horror "Dead and Breakfast," which was filmed entirely on location in Livermore. Joe also serves as director for the San Ramon headquartered Tri-Valley Bank. Joe lives in Livermore with his wife, Wendy, and their three children, Sam, Aidan and Makenna.
Michael Madden: Director
Since 1990, Mr. Madden has been President of Red Bear Property management. The firm’s real estate portfolio includes single-family homes, senior-housing projects, office buildings, hotels and historical downtown properties in both Pleasanton and Livermore. For the past twelve years Mr. Madden has volunteered his time as head freshmen football coach at Foothill High School. He also serves on the Board of the Pleasanton Downtown Association, the George A Spiliotopoulos Golf Tournament, and the Executive Committee for the Easter Seals Kaleidoscope Activity Center. His knowledge of the land use and development process and close ties throughout the community are assets to the Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center.
Charles Smith: Director
Mr. Smith is the principal of CHS Ventures, a private investment and consulting firm, and an advisor and consultant to several venture capital firms and emerging companies. He serves on the Board of Directors at NeoScale Systems and SiliconStor, Inc. and is a member of the Business Advisory Board of Mellanox Corporation and Monosphere Inc. Mr. Smith was the founding Vice President of Worldwide Sales for Brocade Communications, Inc (BRCD) through 2002. Prior to Brocade, he held executive positions with IBM Storage Systems Division, Parallel Technology, and NEC Corporation. As Chairman of the Board at Persist Technologies, he led the company to a successful acquisition by Hewlett Packard in 2003. Mr. Smith lends his business acumen, energy and understanding of fundraising to the project.
Donald Tishman: Director
Mr. Tishman has been in real estate development as an attorney, developer and educator for more than forty years. He has developed real estate in more than 35 major metropolitan areas throughout the United States. His companies have developed more than 40,000 multi-family dwellings. In addition, Mr. Tishman’s companies have extensively developed shopping centers, office buildings and industrial parks. Mr. Tishman is presently the Director of the Real Estate Development Center at the University of New Mexico where he has been teaching a graduate seminar on real estate since 1991. Mr. Tishman lives in Pleasanton and is still developing.
Denise Watkins: Director
Ms. Watkins is President of the Pleasanton Schools Educational Enrichment Foundation, a non-profit corporation which supports arts, science and other enrichment learning programs that benefit all Pleasanton Unified School District students. Ms. Watkins has served on numerous committees for the Pleasanton School District including co-chairing the recent district-wide Excellence Committee. Ms Watkins and her husband Bill, CEO of Seagate Technologies, are major owners of the San Jose Stealth, Professional Lacrosse team. Before her involvement in non-profit endeavors, Ms. Watkins worked for 18 years in the telecommunications field developing network management and control systems for satellite and wireless communications.
Donna Wilcox: Director
Donna Wilcox is a financial and marketing consultant for the California Wine Industry. Currently she is CEO of one brand, on the Board of Directors for four others and marketing consultant for two other brands. Her long career in the wine business included General Manager of Concannon Vineyard and Wente Sparkling Wine Cellars in Livermore, as well as Vice President, Marketing and Sales, for Wente Vineyards. During her employment at Wente, she opened the Sparkling Wine Cellars new restaurant, conference center and concert series. She also was responsible for starting several local events including Art in the Vineyard and the Livermore Valley Wine Festival. In addition, she has been instructor for wine appreciation and service at many national universities and has conducted several national and international seminars on wine.
Phillip N. Dean: Director Emeritus
Mr. Dean retired as a physicist from the University of California in1993, having spent 32 years working in the fields of radiological physics and analytical cytology at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He was President of the Livermore Cultural Arts Council for 10 years and is currently in his sixth year as Delegate at Large. Mr. Dean is a distinguished, longstanding builder of the project who has made organization, administrative, management and sound fiscal practice a cornerstone of the organization.
Advisory Council
Scott Haggerty, Alameda County Supervisor
Ellen Tauscher, U.S. House of Representatives - California 10th District
Elaine Taylor, Co-founder, Taylor Family Foundation
Staff
David Dial, Executive Director
Mr. Dial has over 25 years of experience in cultural organizations, including the design, construction, and day-to-day operations of a number of major Bay-area cultural projects, including the Computer History Museum, Zeum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Cal Performances. Recently, David led a consulting practice serving non-profit and governmental organizations with program development, operational planning, technology integration, and project management. Past projects include the new San José City Hall; the Mexican Heritage Plaza and Gardens; New Performing Arts Complex, City College San Francisco; and the Weeksville Education Center, Brooklyn. He has also served as Interim Executive Director for Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.
Kimberly Moore, Development Director
Ms. Moore has more than 15 years of experience in sales, marketing and development with a background in a variety of fields including business services, high-tech, real estate, multi-media, and entertainment. She is also an independent contractor with Valley Properties and oversees the marketing and transactional aspects of properties that she and her partner represent. As a member of several industry associations on a local, state and national level, Kimberly is known for her committee work and dedication. She currently is an Ambassador for the Livermore Chamber of Commerce and is the Public Relations Officer on the Board of Directors for the Livermore Marketing Association.
Ms. Ryan is a professional artist and an active member of the local arts community. She started the Tri-Valley Artists Guild (TVAG) ArtWalk Livermore in 2002, and directed three of the past four annual ArtWalks. She is President of TVAG, an Arts Commissioner for the City of Livermore, and a past Board Member of Livermore Downtown, Inc. She has curated and hung over 50 art exhibitions, taught painting and organized workshops, critique and painting groups. She has been active in a variety of the arts, from theater to vocal performance groups to literary arts, and has worked as a Studio Program Director, Marketing Director, and as an editor. She has studied cultural arts in four Bay Area colleges.
Len Alexander, LVPAC Presents Advisor
Mr. Alexander is a partner in Management Consultants for the Arts, Inc. and has worked with a wide variety of performing arts-based clients in executive search, planning and organizational development. He has particular expertise in the areas of labor relations, facility operations, fiscal management and strategic planning. Originally trained as a lighting designer in the School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University, Mr. Alexander has held senior management positions in both not-for-profit and commercial performing arts companies, including the New York Pro Musica Antiqua, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Indiana Repertory Theatre and The Shubert Organization. From 1973 to 1976, Mr. Alexander served as Director of Programs for Philadelphia's celebration of the U.S. Bicentennial. In addition, he has produced music, theatre and dance events in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.