Staff.

Jerold D Kappel, Chief Executive Officer
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Jerold D Kappel, a Certified Fundraising Executive, has over 40 years’ experience in managing and advising nonprofits. He moved to Southern California to be the Producing Director of Opera Pacific. With the closing of that organization, he consulted for a range of nonprofit organizations as well as serving as Interim Executive Director & CEO of Long Beach Opera, the Community Associations Institute of San Diego, the Scleroderma Foundation of Southern California, and Interim Director, Development and Communications, for Share Our Selves.  Prior to moving to California, he was interim President and CEO of the Greater Reston Arts Center, producer of one of the top five juried fine art festivals in America. As Director, Development and Special Initiatives, for the American Association of Museums, he oversaw major national and international projects on cultural tourism, intellectual property, Americans with Disabilities Act, diversity, and museum management. Under contract to the US State Department, he led seminars on managing in a market economy for cultural leadership in the nations of Georgia, Serbia, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia, and for the Russian State Art Museums.  His consulting clients have been as diverse as Cabot’s Pueblo Museum, Pacific Marine Mammal Center, the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, Manassas Museum and Plantations, and the Smithsonian Institution. An active outrigger paddler, he currently serves on the Board of the Southern California Outrigger Racing Association.

Kunga Wangmo-Upshaw, Director of Programs
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Ms. Wangmo-Upshaw graduated from William Smith College in Geneva, New York with a degree in Chemistry and French and Francophone Studies. She was born and raised in northeast of India, in a small town called Gangtok, Sikkim. Her parents are Tibetan and they are semi-retired and happily living in India. Kunga Wangmo-Upshaw worked at World Affairs Council of Orange County, a non-profit as an Operations Manager for two and a half years. The first thing, Kunga did when she went to college was to get a job at the college library and worked there until she graduated.

Shawn Boeker, Office Manager
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Ms. Boeker joined the Foundation team in 2013 and is an experienced administrator. She plays a vital role in keeping all the behind-the-scenes operations running smoothly.