BOARD TRANSITION IN PROGRESS. INQUIRE IF INTERESTED.


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Doug Forbes

 

Doug’s daughter Roxie was the air in his lungs, the beat of his heart, the stars in the sky. He will stop at nothing to honor her in her death as he did in her life.

Doug recently earned his master’s in journalism from Harvard University where he achieved a 3.95 GPA and won the Director’s Prize for his capstone. He previously earned a BA in English/Creative Writing from Wittenberg University, voted One of America's Best 384 Colleges (Princeton Review 2019) and America's Top Colleges (Forbes 2018).

In his role as MMF President, Doug regularly interacts with federal, state and local government employees, health and safety experts, business leaders and other community stakeholders. He delivers educational presentations, interacts with media and spearheads the organization’s strategic planning.

Doug has worked in a variety of marketing communications roles. He spent a decade consulting for global tech giants including Intel, Motorola, Avaya, Fortinet as well as regional tech dealers throughout the U.S. Doug also supported a variety of non-tech small business clients , including hospitality and entertainment operations, educational institutions, municipal agencies and, more recently, social service nonprofits. He has also co-owned and operated businesses and produced high-profile events for popular destination cities in New Jersey.

Doug now splits his time between the foundation, investigative reporting and a feature documentary he is directing. He was inspired to pursue grad studies in journalism after he discovered that the $25 billion summer camp industry is rife with safety issues, some of which led to his daughter’s death. He has authored pieces on gender-based employment inequities, the dearth of black journalists working in the nation’s second largest media market (Los Angeles), a First and Second Amendment dustup at a local high school and dwindling enrollment and resources in a public school district. Doug recently broke the story of the famous $70K Seattle CEO Dan Price accused of rape and and abuse and who defrauded the financial services industry. He is also about to break the shocking national story about the American Red Cross.


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Elena Matyas (in absentia)

 

Elena earned a BA in political science from Providence College and a JD from St. John’s University School of Law. Her early legal career was marked by terms at Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Fried Frank, two of the nation’s leading real estate law practices. Clients included world-renowned developers, mortgage lenders and investment banks.

In 2006, Elena became Principal Counsel at The Walt Disney Company, the world’s third largest media conglomerate. She is part of a team which manages the company’s worldwide real estate portfolio estimated at 30 million square feet. She has regularly communicated with the company’s top officials, including its CFO, and negotiates projects around the world.

Elena has also owned and operated a retail operation where she learned the very essence of entrepreneurship. She volunteers with Disney Legal’s signature pro bono projects in conjunction with Public Counsel where she represents parents who adopt children placed in the L.A. foster care system due to abuse or neglect. Elena was also an active volunteer at San Rafael Spanish Immersion Elementary School where here daughter Roxie attended.

Elena was in college when she earned her lifeguard credential. She served as a beach guard in New Jersey’s bustling Ocean Beach tourist area. After Roxie’s birth, she has also undertaken CPR training. Meow Meow Foundation will allow her to honor Roxie’s life by making the world and the water a better, safer place for children.


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Liliana Coronado

Liliana is currently Vice President of Brimley Group, a government relations firm that navigates Washington D.C. with in-depth policy knowledge. Brimley has earned its reputation as one of the most effective boutique government affairs shops in Washington, D.C. working with nonprofits, businesses and state and local governments.

She graduated from Stanford Law School, and Mills College, where she studied government and ethnic studies.  Ms. Coronado was raised in Watsonville, California and is the daughter of Mexican immigrant farm workers.

She previously served as the Supervising Deputy Federal Public Defender with the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Central District of California, in Los Angeles.  She joined the Federal Public Defender's Office in 2003, after spending a year as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Warren J. Ferguson on the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  As part of her responsibilities, Liliana served as one of the representatives in the Convictions and Sentence Alternatives Program (CASA), an innovative post-guilty plea diversion program that is the first of its kind in federal court.

Liliana re-joined the Federal Public Defender's Office after serving as counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. for two years.


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Charles Brown

Charles was born and raised in Pasadena, California, where he has lifelong community ties. He graduated from John Muir High School in 1986 and was a team captain on the school’s first CIF Championship football team. His parents were teachers and administrators in the Pasadena Unified School District.

Charles graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 1991 with a degree in Political Science and International Relations. He received a law degree in 1994 from the University of Southern California. He is also an alumnus of the Trial Lawyer’s College in Dubois, Wyoming.

For two decades, Charles has been a Deputy Federal Public Defender in the Central District of California.  A highly skilled advocate committed to social justice, he has litigated over 60 federal criminal trials

Charles was also a Red Cross Certified water safety instructor, lifeguard and pool manager for the City of Pasadena, experience that melds directly with the primary mission of this foundation.


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Katherine Mattey

Katherine is Chief Merchandising Officer at UncommonGoods, a visionary online retailer that offers unique designs by independent makers while also being devoted to making a positive impact on both people and planet.

Katherine has more than 20 years in high-level roles leading omni-channel brands to their fullest sales and profit potential, designing and sourcing teams, implementing change management, building new brands and proprietary products from concept to delivery, managing P&L for large and small volume businesses and helping set trends.

She graduated from Providence College with supplemental education at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Katherine's first job at age 16 was a CIT at a camp in Maine where she received her lifeguarding certification. She worked at pools, lakes and beaches for the next 8 summers. As a parent of three young boys who attend day camps, she realizes the critical need for vigilance around all bodies of water.


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Cristina Alvarado

Cristina was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. From an early age, she had an unbridled passion for all things water. Cristina spent a year in Hawaii training and caring for Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins and California Sea Lions.  She was equally interested in behavioral sciences and graduated from California State University, Los Angeles with a B.A. in Psychology. 

For the past 13 years, Cristina has worked at all levels of the world-class Rose Bowl Aquatics Center, including customer service, lifeguard, swim instructor, swim department coordinator, and now as director of swim lessons. The Aquatics Center has become her second home and an arena where she further developed a particular interest in water safety.

Cristina’s program teaches thousands of people on an annual basis. She has personally taught hundreds of children— including students in the Pasadena Unified School District—how to swim and was recently recognized by the Positive Coaching Alliance as a National Double-Goal Coach Award winner.

Her water safety advocacy not only helps children gain the swimming skills they need to stay safe but also ensures that every child has the opportunity to learn how to swim overall.