President, Boyd Communications

After graduating from Art Center with a major in Transportation Design, Douglas C. Boyd went to work at Ford Motor Company’s Lincoln Mercury studio. He was part of the five-man team that created the exterior and interior designs for the nameplate’s full product line.

During the Vietnam War, Boyd enlisted in the Air Force as an illustrator, finishing his tour in the reserves with an honorable discharge. Several of his aircraft paintings completed while in the service have been displayed at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington.

Back in Los Angeles, Boyd began freelancing, and then created a studio focused on the real estate, petroleum, technology and automobile industries. As the business grew, the studio expanded into a full service design, advertising and online agency for music, television, gaming and film. Clients have included Apple, CBS, Warner Bros, Paramount, Fox, Universal, Harrah’s, Nissan and Honda.

For over 30 years the agency has adapted to the changing marketplace and developed expertise in marketing, research and integrated strategies for health insurance, medical devices and hospitals.

Clients have included Kaiser Permanente, Baxter, CIGNA Healthplan, Health Net, Anthem Blue Cross, WellPoint, Children’s Hospital of Central California, Allergan, Edwards, CryoLife, Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital, Motion Picture and Television Fund and Torrance Memorial Hospital. Boyd says that “being perpetually curious” has driven him to learn new approaches in business and remain passionate about how creative thinking can produce successful results for people and companies.

He has been involved for many years with Art Center alumni groups and joined the Board of Trustees in 2010. Boyd is active in supporting a number of organizations involved with finding cures for diabetes. He is married, has a daughter and a Jack Russell Terrier named Daisy.

President and CEO, Art Center College of Design

Dr. Lorne M. Buchman began his tenure as President of Art Center College of Design in October 2009.

Prior to coming to Art Center, he served as president of Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center in San Francisco, where he led the institution in a plan to transform from a graduate school to a multidisciplinary university.

Buchman previously served as provost, then president, of California College of Arts and Crafts, now known as the California College of the Arts (CCA). There he spearheaded the 1994 strategic plan that led to the creation of its renowned San Francisco campus, and he was instrumental in the success of the capital campaign that made the new facility possible. At CCA, he also oversaw significant enrollment growth, launched a major public programs initiative, engaged in bold community service initiatives, and diversified the faculty.

A trained theater director and scholar, Buchman has held a number of faculty and administrative positions at the University of California, Berkeley. He has also authored a book on filmic adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays.

Buchman serves as principal and founder of Buchman Associates, a private consulting firm established in 2000 whose focus is identifying philanthropic and private investment sources to develop facilities for nonprofit organizations. A principal project of Buchman Associates included his work as executive director of the highly acclaimed Ed Roberts Campus in Berkeley, an international center dedicated to disability rights and universal access that will be a home for people with disabilities to live independently and without discrimination.

In addition to his work in higher education, Buchman is actively involved in community service. He has served on the board of over a dozen organizations including Haifa University, Youth Enrichment Strategies, San Francisco Art Institute, Redwood Day School, The San Francisco Jewish Museum and the Berkeley Shakespeare Festival.

Buchman earned his Ph.D. from Stanford University and a B.A. from the University of Toronto. He is married to Rochelle Shapell, an attorney and professor of law. They have four children.

Robert C. Davidson Jr. is the retired chairman and CEO of Surface Protection Industries, Inc.; the president of R. Davidson and Associates, LLC; and Chairman of the Board for Art Center College of Design.

Davidson formed Surface Protection Industries, Inc. (SPI) in 1978. Under his leadership, SPI has become one of the largest African American-owned manufacturing companies in California, ranking in the top 100 on the Black Enterprise list of America’s top black-owned industrial/service companies.

Davidson has a strong entrepreneurial résumé. In the early 1970s, he headed his management consulting firm and, prior to that served as CEO of Avant Garde Enterprises, a Los Angeles-based entertainment holding company.

In Boston, Davidson co-founded and served as vice president of the Urban National Corporation, a private venture capital company that was established to increase mainstream industry’s investment in minority-controlled businesses. The organization raised $10 million in capital from many Fortune 500 companies.

The entrepreneurial spirit of Davidson’s career path is reflected in his commitment to community involvement. Davidson currently sits on the board of directors for the following organizations: Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia (vice chairman); Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc. (NYSE); Broadway Federal Bank (NASDAQ); Fulcrum Venture Capital Corporation; Childrens Hospital Los Angeles (chairman of the audit committee); the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business Advisory Council; and the SCAWMD Brain Tumor and Air Pollution Foundation (vice chairman).

Morehouse College honored Davidson, one of its most distinguished alumni, by naming its executive center Davidson House in 1998. Davidson was the 1997 recipient of the Ronald H. Brown Award, and the 1990 recipient of the Raoul Wallenberg Save the Children Award from the Shaare Zedek Medical Center Jerusalem. He has been named Black Businessman of the Year by the Los Angeles Chapter of the Black MBA Association, and Outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year by the National Association of Investment Companies.

Davidson earned his Bachelor of Arts from Morehouse College, and his MBA from the University of Chicago. He also is a recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from Morehouse College. He and his wife, Faye, are parents of three sons, one of whom is an Art Center M.F.A. candidate. The Davidsons are avid art collectors, and Faye is a member of the Pasadena Art Alliance. Davidson joined Art Center’s Board of Trustees in 2004, and was elected Chairman of the Board in February 2010.

Chairman and CEO, Idealab, Inc.

Bill Gross is chairman and CEO of Idealab, which he founded in 1996 to create and operate pioneering companies. Since that time, Gross and his team at Idealab have created more than 50 companies in the areas of the Internet, communications, automation and clean energy.

Prior to Idealab, Gross founded and operated an educational software company called Knowledge Adventure. Between 1991 and 1995, Knowledge Adventure created numerous award-winning titles such as “Jumpstart Kindergarten,” “Jumpstart First Grade” and “Jumpstart Second Grade,” selling more than 20 million copies worldwide.

After graduating from Caltech with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1981, Gross created a company, GNP (Gross National Products), which he sold to Lotus Development in 1985. He then worked for Lotus for six years, creating the Lotus HAL and Lotus Magellan software products.

A Pasadena resident, Gross has served as a trustee of the California Institute of Technology since 1995, and an Art Center trustee since 2001. He is passionate about helping the world create sustainable, renewable energy, and spreading the power of design and entrepreneurship to others.

Partner and Creative Director, Pentagram Design Inc., San Francisco

Kit Hinrichs is a 1963 graduate of Art Center College of Design. He served as principal in numerous design offices in New York and San Francisco before joining international consultancy Pentagram in 1986. Hinrichs’ design experience incorporates a wide range of projects including corporate communications, promotion, packaging, editorial and exhibition design.

In addition to teaching at the School of Visual Arts in New York, the California College of Arts and Crafts in San Francisco, and the Academy of Art in San Francisco, Hinrichs has been a guest lecturer at the Stanford Design Conference, AIGA National Conferences, the How Conference and numerous other design associations and universities worldwide. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Library of Congress. He is co-author of five books including Typewise, Long May She Wave and The Pentagram Papers.

Hinrichs’ list of design clients includes United Airlines, Sappi Fine Papers, Design Within Reach, Muzak, Gymboree, University of Southern California, Safeco, Museum of Glass, Symantec, KQED, San Francisco Zoo, Restoration Hardware and many more.

During his career he founded @Issue: The Journal of Business and Design, was chair of the AIGA California Show (the first regional show in AIGA’s 85-year history), co-chaired the Alliance Graphique Internationale San Francisco Congress, chaired the AIGA Business Conference and San Francisco Design Lecture Series and launched the @Issue Design Conference. Hinrichs is a recipient of the prestigious AIGA medal in recognition of his exceptional achievements in the field of graphic design and visual communication.

Hinrichs is a past executive board member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale. He has been an Art Center trustee since 1996.

Senior Partner, Lucas, Horsfall, Murphy & Pindroh, LLP

William D. Horsfall has 37 years of experience in the accounting profession. He provides accounting, audit, tax and business advisory services to closely held corporations and high net worth individuals. His clients’ industries include construction, real estate development, manufacturing, distribution and nonprofit organizations.

Shortly after receiving his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, Horsfall became a certified public accountant. He is a qualified peer reviewer for the American Institute of CPAs and a member of the California Society of CPAs, the American Society of Appraisers, and the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts.

Horsfall is involved with a number of civic and business associations. He is a board member and chairman of the audit committee for Southern California Presbyterian Homes, a member of the Economic Round Table, and past president and chairman of a $3.5 million capital campaign for the Cresenta/Canada YMCA. Horsfall has served on the Art Center Board of Trustees since 2003.

President, Talwood Corporation and the Knapp Foundation

Cleon T. “Bud” Knapp, former chairman and CEO of Knapp Communications Corporation (which he founded in 1977) has been recognized throughout the publishing and business worlds as an innovative, entrepreneurial and dynamic leader. Knapp Communications Corporation formerly published Architectural Digest and Bon Appétit, both of which were sold in April 1993 to The Conde Nast Publications, Inc.

Knapp entered the publishing industry in the 1950s, working for his grandfather and founder of Architectural Digest, John C. Brasfield. Following his grandfather’s death in 1965, Knapp, then 27 years old, purchased the John C. Brasfield Publishing Corp. Under his leadership, Architectural Digest’s charge became that of serving the high-income national consumer market with editorial dedicated to the concept of the home as a work of art and personal expression.

In 1977, Knapp founded The Knapp Press, a book-publishing subsidiary that has sold 11 million copies, including best seller Italy: The Beautiful Cookbook. He also established Wilshire Marketing Corporation, a subsidiary that marketed merchandise designed to appeal to the readers of Architectural Digest and Bon Appétit. That same year, Knapp renamed the company Knapp Communications Corporation in order to reflect its ownership and diversity.

Following the sale of Knapp Communications in 1993, Knapp founded—and still serves as president of—Talwood Corporation, which functions as a family office for administrative, investment and tax planning, and business management activity; and for the Knapp Foundation. The foundation awards grants in three program areas: arts and design, education and medical research.

Active in numerous professional, philanthropic and civic organizations, Knapp presided from 1992 to 1994 as chairman of the board of the Cancer Research Fund of the Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Foundation in New York; member of the board of governors of the Fulfillment Fund; member of the board of visitors of the John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA; member of the UCLA executive board for the Medical Sciences; member of the UCLA foundation board of councillors; member of the UCLA/Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies board of advisors; member of the coach’s roundtable at UCLA; and former member of the board of trustees of the Santa Fe Opera.

Knapp is married to Elizabeth Wood Knapp, founder and CEO of BigPicture Investors LLC, which provides private capital and management expertise to start-up and early-stage companies. Knapp is a Chairman Emeritus of the Art Center Board of Trustees, and has served on the Board since 1993.

Founding Partner, Principal and Design Director for Eight, Inc.

Timothy Kobe graduated with honors from Art Center in 1982 with a B.F.A. in Environmental Design.

Kobe worked in Los Angeles for Herb Rosenthal and Associates and at the American Broadcasting Companies. Following graduation, he was employed in New York by Murray Gelberg. In 1982, he took a position with The Burdick Group in San Francisco. He worked there until 1987, when he became a founding partner of West Office Design Associates focusing on museum and exhibition design and responsible for the master planning of several museum exhibitions through out the U.S. and Asia.

In 1989, Kobe co-founded Kobeou Associates with Joy Ou. This company later became Eight, Inc. As founding partner, principal for Eight, Inc. (with offices in San Francisco, New York and Honolulu), he has developed a design studio based on a transdisciplinary approach including architecture (both residential and commercial), exhibitions, interior, product and graphic design. Clients include Apple, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Coach, Knoll and Swatch among others. Many projects have received international design awards and have been published in Asia, Europe and the United States.

Eight, Inc. awards include: 2003 NAIOP Award; Project of the Year (2100 Kalakaua); 2003 Malama Learning Center competition winner; 2002 IDSA; IDEA Gold Winner for Environments (Apple Retail Stores); 2002, 2000 and 1999 IDSA; IDEA Gold and Silver Winners for Environments (Apple Worldwide Exhibitions); 2001 IIDA Interior Design Award; IDSA IDEA Silver Award and FX International Interior Design Awards (Virgin Atlantic Airways Lounge); 1997 ID Magazine International Design Review, Environments (Swatch Olympic Pavilion for the 1996 Olympic Games); 1994 Chicago Athenaeum Good Design Award (Liisa flatware); 1994 ID Magazine International Design Review, Environments (Architects and Heroes, Bush Street); 1994 Chicago Athenaeum Good Design Award (Laguna lounge Chair); 1994 Cooper Hewitt permanent collection (Liisa flatware); 1993 NEOCON Best of Show Gold Metal Award (Laguna seating); 1993 ID Magazine International Design Review, Concepts (Portable Navigation Unit); and 1991 ID Magazine International Design Review (Environments Architects and Heroes Fillmore Street Annex).

Eight Inc. employs Art Center alumni from the fields of product and environmental design and has employed Art Center students as interns. Kobe created a $50,000 scholarship in memory of an Art Center alumnus in 2000. Kobe, a native of northern California, lives in Hillsborough with his wife Jil. He has served as Art Center Trustee since 2005.

Managing Director, Jones Lang LaSalle

With more than 20 years relevant real estate experience, George Ladyman is managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle in New York, a global financial and professional services firm specializing in real estate. There he heads the project and development practice for the Northeast region, which includes more than 250 professionals and projects totaling an estimated construction value in excess of $3.1 billion.

Prior to joining Jones Lang LaSalle, Ladyman was an executive with Time Warner, overseeing many of the company’s special real estate projects including Columbus Circle in New York, where he also served as the executive producer of the Prow Sculpture, “a piece of technological art” meant to complement the architecture of the building and its surroundings. Ladyman has directed, within Time Warner, projects for People Magazine Experience, Inside CNN, and CNN and Time Life Studios.

Prior to Time Warner, Ladyman was a principal with CUH2A Inc. and managing director of its entertainment and hospitality group. Previously he served as vice president of design and development for Six Flags Theme Parks, overseeing development, architecture, planning and ride and show design for its properties throughout the U.S. as well as consulting to Warner Bros. Movie World Theme Parks.

Ladyman is a former instructor and lecturer at Pratt Institute, Urban Land Institute, CIDA and other conferences/forums focused on architecture, strategic/ experiential marketing and design management. His designs and contributions have been featured in Power Boat and Motor Yacht, At The Park, Car Styling, Parkworld, Funworld, Cinefex, Urban Entertainment Graphics, USA Today, The New York Times, Mondo arc, Signs of the Times, The Discovery Channel, Interior Design and Bloomberg Television. Film credits include executive producer for the production of The Right Stuff, Mach One Adventure and Space Shuttle America, The Next Century 70mm ride films and pre-production of a 3-D animated film with Warner Bros. Classic Animation; Arctic Adventure. Ladyman holds patents for ride system/concepts and industrial products, which he has co-designed and developed.

Ladyman received a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from Art Center and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Arkansas. He received a master’s degree in business administration from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. Ladyman is a member of the Apollo Theater’s real estate advisory board in New York City and the Chapin School board of trustees in Princeton, N.J. He and his wife, Stacy, have a daughter, Sarah, and a son, Trey.

Sam Mann received his education in industrial design from the University of Cincinnati. He went on to work for the prestigious design and architectural firm Eliot Noyes and Associates, where he came in contact with some of the inspired designers of the era. He then developed a line of tabletop and decorative accessories and set up a manufacturing and distribution company. After five years, the company was sold and Mann opened an industrial design consulting firm specializing in product design, engineering and prototype development as well as packaging and graphic design. The firm, Samuel J. Mann and Associates, was the recipient of numerous design awards for its consumer products and technical instrumentation and exhibit design.

In 1974, after 13 years, Mann sold his design firm to again pursue the design, manufacturing and marketing of his own product ideas. He developed several innovative appliance designs for personal care, skin care products and, most importantly, a state of the art ear piercing system which revolutionized the process of ear piercing to enable simple, safe use by minimally trained personnel in retail stores worldwide.

Mann also designed much of the automated manufacturing to enable competitive production in the U.S. The company, Inverness Corporation, maintained offices in several countries and distribution in over 50 countries. He is the recipient of over 75 utility patents and several design patents.

He has a world-renowned collection of vintage automobiles, having won Best of Show at the prestigious Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance four times. He also races vintage racecars and is an avid skier and sailor. Now retired, he served until recently on the Board of the College of Engineering at Tufts University and several Boards of Directors in his home community of Englewood, N.J., including the hospital and regional Performing Arts Center.

His wife, Emily, enjoyed a long career as interior architect and exhibit designer. They have three sons, one of whom has recently completed a degree in Art Center’s Graduate Film program. Mann became a Trustee at Art Center in 2005.

Chief Investment Officer, Wentworth, Hauser and Violich

Reiner Triltsch began his career in 1975 with a management traineeship at Ford Motor Company in Cologne, Germany, after which he received the designation of “Indus¬triekaufmann” (Industrial Businessman), which equates to a nationally recognized training/vocational degree. In 1977 he moved to the United States.

After receiving an MBA, Triltsch began his investment career with two small investment boutiques in Fort Worth, Tex., in 1980. In 1984, he joined the Teacher Retirement System of Texas in Austin as an investment analyst. He went to work as a vice president, portfolio manager for the LTV Corporation’s investment subsidiary, Western Reserve Capital Management, Inc. in 1987, where he co-managed both domestic and international portfolios in Dallas.

In 1990, he co-founded and became managing director, senior portfolio manager for Gulfstream Global Investors, Ltd, an investment management firm specializing in international equity management for institutional clients. Gulfstream was acquired by the German bank WestLB and became part of its WestAM subsidiary in 2001. There, Triltsch continued to manage the investment function as chief investment officer and senior portfolio manager for global portfolios until 2004.

Moving to New York City, he became managing director, head of international investments for US Trust through 2007. Triltsch eventually assumed the position of head of international equities, senior portfolio manager for New York-based Federated Global Investment Management Corp. before joining Wentworth, Hauser and Violich in 2009, where he is now part of a five-member team of portfolio managers.

He received his BA (1979) MBA (1980) and MA (1982) from Texas Christian University. In 1987 he was awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

President, Paul A. Violich, Inc.

A fourth-generation Californian, Paul Violich was raised in Berkeley and earned a bachelor’s degree in history and economics from Stanford University. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Navy attached to the UDT/SEAL team in Little Creek, Va. Following his discharge, he entered Stanford Business School, where he majored in finance and economics. After receiving his MBA from Stanford in 1962, Violich began his investment management career with Brundage, Story and Rose in New York. He joined the investment counseling firm of Wentworth, Hauser and Violich in 1966, where he was a partner until early 2005, when he formed Paul A. Violich, Inc.

Violich devotes his time to economic and corporate research and portfolio management. He was awarded the Chartered Investment Counsel designation by the Investment Counsel Association in 1976 and became a Chartered Financial Analyst in 1979. His professional affiliations include: member and past Director of the Security Analysts of San Francisco, member of the New York Society of Security Analysts, member of the CFA Institute and member of the National Association of Business Economists.

 

Through the Violich Family Foundation, Violich supports a number of nonprofit organizations. He serves on the boards of trustees of the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums as vice president, finance; and of the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums Foundation as treasurer. He has been an Art Center Trustee since 1999.

President, Lothrop Ventures, Inc.

Judy C. Webb founded Lothrop Ventures, Inc. in 1987, and presides as president and CEO of the residential construction company that builds homes, remodels existing buildings and manages property in the Northern California area.

Webb’s active community involvement includes holding trustee positions with numerous institutions including the University of California Berkeley Foundation and the National Tropical Botanical Gardens in Kauai, Hawaii.

In addition, in 1986 Webb founded the Acacia Foundation, a nonprofit organization that primarily funds educational projects.

Webb has been a Trustee at Art Center College of Design since 1991, and was the first woman to serve as Chairman of the Board, a position she held from 2004 to 2007.

She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a B.A. in history.

Philanthropist and Volunteer Leader

Alyce de Roulet Williamson has long been dedicated to the visual and performing arts communities of Los Angeles. Her involvement in arts philanthropy includes serving as board member of the Music Center, the Los Angeles Opera, the Center Dance Association and the Blue Ribbon, chairman of the heritage of the Music Center; and as past board member of the Pasadena Symphony. She also serves on the National Advisory Council of the School of American Ballet in New York.

Additionally, Williamson has served on the overseers board of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens since 1996, as well as its art collections committee, fellows membership committee and art collectors council.

Williamson is also a trustee emeritus of Scripps College, a member of the board of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, and a past board member of the Pasadena Guild of Childrens Hospital and Las Madrinas. She is a board member and past chairman of First Century Families, and also serves on the board of governors for the County Arboreta and Botanical Gardens.

Williamson attended the Marlborough School, graduated from Dominican Convent Sal Rafael and received a B.A. from Scripps College in 1952.

Williamson is a founding Chairman of Art Center 100, the College’s major community support group for student scholarships. Her husband, Warren “Spud” Williamson, is a Trustee Emeritus and was an active Trustee from 1989 through 1995, including serving as Chairman in the early ’90s. Alyce has been a Trustee since 1985.

Richard N. Frank
Edward Hanak
Donald R. Kubly (ADVT ’49)
Frederick M. Nicholas
Kyhl S. Smeby (posthumously)
Warren B. Williamson, Chairman Emeritus

Wallis Annenberg
David Baltimore
Heinrich Baumann-Steiner
Susan Caldwell
Bettina Chandler
Otis Chandler
Leland Clow
Kenji Ekuan (PROD ’57)
Adelaide Hixon
Jerry V. Johnson (ADVT ’59)
Nobuhiko Kawamoto
Jon and Lillian Lovelace
Kazuo Okamoto
Peggy Phelps