Five philanthropic and business leaders have been appointed to The UCLA Foundation board of directors, which oversees assets donated to the university.
The new members, all UCLA alumni and long-time supporters, joined the 30-member board on July 1. They will serve two-year terms.
William Mitchell, an information technology executive and founding director of Sequel Capital Management, will continue to lead The UCLA Foundation as board chair through June 2016. Succeeding him will be Shirley Wang, founder and chief executive officer of Plastpro Inc., a leading manufacturer and distributor of fiberglass doors, who was named chair-elect.
“The new members of The UCLA Foundation board of directors bring a wealth of experience and varied skills that serve our shared commitment — helping UCLA ensure its excellence for generations to come,” Mitchell said. “We are partnering with university leaders and the philanthropic community to raise $4.2 billion through The Centennial Campaign for UCLA, which will stabilize resources and make the university more financially self-reliant.”
The UCLA Foundation receives contributions made to the university, disburses them according to the wishes of donors, oversees an approximately $1.75 billion endowment managed by the nonprofit UCLA Investment Company and actively promotes philanthropy.
The new members of The UCLA Foundation board of directors are:
- Craig Ehrlich, chair of Novare Technologies, Inc., a Hong Kong-based software development company that serves the banking, telecom and retail industries. A former UCLA student body president, Ehrlich founded a mobile phone and services provider and has served in leadership positions with several companies in the cable and satellite television and telecommunications industries in Asia. Ehrlich is a member of the UCLA/Peking University Joint Research Institute Advisory Committee and founding chairman of the Center for Global Management at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science.
- Alicia Miñana de Lovelace, a Los Angeles attorney who works in multiple arenas, including the formation and dissolution of corporations and partnerships; licensing, production, distribution and management agreements with artists, managers and recording labels; low-income housing; and employment law. As a community advocate, she was the founding chairperson of The Learning Rights Law Center, a nonprofit formed by UCLA School of Law graduates to help low-income families advocate for children with learning disabilities and support children in the foster care and juvenile justice systems. She also is a founding trustee of Vistamar School in Hermosa Beach. In 2013, Miñana de Lovelace received a UCLA School of Law alumna of the year award for public and community service. She holds a UCLA law degree.
- Linda Gach Ray, a partner and co-founder of the Los Angeles law firm Owens & Gach Ray, where the focus of her practice is business and real estate litigation, probate, trust and conservatorship advice and litigation, as well as fiduciary work. Gach Ray also was an owner and operator of a minor league baseball team, serving as the team’s chief operating officer and board member. Among her varied philanthropic work, Gach Ray serves on the board of Stop Cancer, which raises money for promising, cutting-edge research scientists at UCLA as well as two other comprehensive cancer institutes in Los Angeles. She co-founded a longstanding memorial fund benefitting Special Olympics Southern California, and was a founding member of a group that raised funds for therapeutic programs for children diagnosed with learning and developmental disabilities. Gach Ray earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a law degree from UCLA.
- John Mapes, managing partner of Aurora Capital Group, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm with more than $2 billion in assets under management. Aurora has acquired controlling interests in companies in aerospace, energy, health care, transportation and logistics, manufacturing and distribution, and other sectors. A former UCLA tennis player, he and his wife have endowed scholarships for UCLA student-athletes. Mapes was awarded a bachelor’s degree in economics/business from UCLA.
- Victor Zhang, senior vice president and co-chief investment officer of American Century Investments, which manages approximately $150 billion in investments for individual and institutional clients. Based in Kansas City, Missouri, the firm has about 150 investment professionals and offices in four U.S. cities and in London. Prior to joining American Century in 2014, Zhang was president and chief investment officer of Wilshire Funds Management in Santa Monica and held other positions in the investment management industry. He is an immigrant who followed his physician parents from China to Los Angeles and forged a deep connection to UCLA. Zhang holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from UCLA.
Wang will become the first Asian-American woman to lead The UCLA Foundation when she becomes chair in July 2016. She has served on the board since 2008 and is a member of the executive committee for the Centennial Campaign for UCLA. A leading campaign and UCLA Foundation board priority is to raise money for student scholarships and fellowships, and Wang and her husband, Walter, donated $1 million to establish an endowment to support students from middle-income families and students studying abroad. They also have endowed a professorship in the UCLA Asian American Studies Center for a national program focused on U.S.–China relations. Her company, Plastpro, and the couple’s foundation also have supported Habitat for Humanity, Doctors Without Borders, the surgical needs of underprivileged children and attorneys providing pro bono services to domestic violence survivors, among other causes. Wang received her bachelor’s degree in communications from UCLA.