Our People

A strategic thinker, focused on both relationship building and the bottom line, Halina Avery has long served nonprofits with arts and educational missions. As a professional opera singer for many years, navigating gig work, while separately and simultaneously serving as a trustee at the Durfee Foundation, Halina developed experience sitting on “either side of the table” in the nonprofit world. At decision making tables she advocates drawing upon diverse perspectives in the service of finding best solutions. She has seen especially, how artists and the arts offer insights to unearth and tackle problems and wants to see arts representatives involved in more decision making conversations, specifically in non-arts focused fields.

Most recently, Halina became a Founding Donor of Angel City Impact (the giving initiative of LA’s National Women’s Soccer League team, Angel City Football Club). In 2018, along with two brothers, she launched the Under the Sun Foundation and Candlewood Arts Festival. Halina sits on the Advisory Board of the Yale School of Music, is a founding member of Columbia Business School’s Women’s Circle and serves on the board of Opera on the Avalon, a woman founded and led company focused on developing new works both live and recorded.

Halina holds a Master of Music from the Yale School of Music and an MBA from Columbia Business School. She resides in Santa Monica, CA with her wife, Kim, and their teen daughter.

Michael Newkirk is an alumnus of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts and the Ph.D. program in Applied Physics from the California Institute of Technology. He resides in Pasadena with his wife, Olivia Garfield, and three children.

Michael’s previous work in physics includes a two-year postdoctoral position in the Optoelectronics Research Department at AT&T Bell Laboratories (now Nokia Bell Labs) in New Jersey. His most recent work is at Emcore Corporation in Alhambra, California, where he is Senior Staff Scientist in the Advanced Development Department.

Paula Daniels is Co-founder, Chief of What’s Next, and Founding Chair of the Center for Good Food Purchasing, a social enterprise non-profit founded in July of 2015 as a national spin-off from the Los Angeles Food Policy Council, which Paula founded in 2011. After decades as a successful private-sector attorney, Paula transitioned to a full-time role in the public and social sectors. Her areas of leadership are in environmental food and water policy. Paula served as Senior Advisor on Food Policy to Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles; as a Los Angeles Public Works Commissioner (a full-time executive position overseeing a  large city department); a commissioner with the California Coastal Commission; board member of the California Bay-Delta Authority (overseeing the California State Water  Project); and as a commissioner with the California Water Commission.

Saundra Bryant is the former Executive Director of All Peoples Community Center, a position she held for forty years. All Peoples is a multi-service non-profit serving children, youth, and families in South Central Los Angeles since 1942. Her first experience with All Peoples was as a two-year-old in their daycare facility. Saundra attended Cal Poly Pomona and received her BS in Social Work. She attained her Master’s Degree in Social Work Administration and Planning from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. She retired in 2023 and looks forward to spending more time with her husband and grandchildren. Saundra enjoys reading, cooking, and traveling.

Doug Newkirk represents the fourth generation of trustees. He holds an English degree from Colby College and is putting his writing and communication skills to use as an elementary teacher. He lives in the SF Bay Area with his lovely wife Thais and their many pets.

Debra Suh has worked for nonprofit organizations for over three decades to build a safer and more equitable society. As the executive director of the Center for the Pacific Asian Family (CPAF), an organization founded to support survivors of domestic and sexual violence in the immigrant Asian/Pacific Islander community, she addressed the intersections of gender and racial/ethnic inequity for over 23 years. In November 2024, she became the CEO of the YWCA of Glendale and Pasadena, cities where she raised her two children and grew up, respectively. Debra also serves on the board of the Asian Pacific Institute on Gender Based Violence and Sequoyah School.