The San Diego Center for Children Board of Trustees is committed to supporting the Vision, Mission and Strategic Goals of the Center. In this leading volunteer role, members bring their talent, expertise and passion, as they personally invest in the success and well-being of our entire San Diego community.
Lisa Goodman
Lisa Goodman
Lisa Goodman is Regional Vice President with Mercer Advisors. Lisa has been in the financial services industry for over two decades assisting clients with identifying and achieving their financial goals. Lisa is passionate about educating and engaging people on the importance of financial and wealth management so they can feel secure about their financial future.
Prior to joining Mercer Advisors, Lisa worked at another Registered Investment Advisor as Vice President of Wealth Management and as a Client Portfolio Manager for a large investment management firm.
Lisa received her MBA from United States International University and BA from University of California, San Diego. She serves on the Advisory Council of the Barrio Logan College Institute and is a Partner with San Diego Social Venture Partners. Lisa also is a Big Sister for Big Brothers Big Sisters. She is a California native who enjoys being active in her community and spending time with her family.
Stephanie Cone, MD
Stephanie Cone, MD
Stephanie Cone is an MD and Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She has a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and a B.A. in Spanish Literature from the University of Arizona. She earned her MD from the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson, AZ and trained in Pediatrics at the University of California Irvine and Children’s Hospital Orange County (CHOC). She has previously worked as a pediatrician as part of a group of private practice clinics affiliated with Rady Children’s Hospital and provided primary care for children from age 0-18 and newborn hospital care in select Sharp and Scripps hospitals. When not working, Stephanie stays busy by caring for her two young sons, playing in a women’s soccer league, relaxing with crochet or needlepoint projects, or decorating cakes.
Eliot Peters
Eliot Peters
Eliot Peters is a Managing Director with the boutique investment bank RA Capital Advisors. Since joining the firm in 2003, he has played a critical role advising on mergers, acquisitions and financings across a broad range of industries. Eliot helps to lead the firm’s practice of working with privately-held companies and advising their owners through a significant liquidity event. During his career, Eliot has closed over $4 billion in transactions.
Prior to joining RA Capital Advisors, Eliot was a senior auditor specializing in the media, technology and hospitality industries with Ernst & Young, LLP and Arthur Andersen, LLP in Los Angeles. During his time with these two firms, Eliot was in charge of the day-to-day operations of the audits of several medium and large public and private companies.
Eliot graduated with high honors from the University of California at Santa Barbara where he received a bachelor’s degree in business economics with an emphasis in accounting. He is a Certified Public Accountant (inactive) in the State of California and a FINRA-registered securities representative. Eliot also serves on the Advisory Council of the Barrio Logan College Institute and is a Member of the San Diego Leadership Committee for the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Dori Wittman
Dori Wittman
Dori is the Vice President of Employee Benefits at HUB International. Dori began her career in the Employee Benefits industry in 2003 and joined HUB in 2015. She has gained extensive experience in the areas of employee benefits that matter most to employers: cost containment, compliance, employee communication and administrative simplification. Her knowledge is exceeded only by her passion for helping HR leaders and business owners flourish.
Over the years, Dori has devoted time and energy to nonprofits servicing at-risk youth. Dori, a California Native, grew up in Poway. She earned her B.A. from University of Washington in Seattle and then spent 12 years in the Los Angeles area. Dori moved back to San Diego in 2015 and currently resides in San Marcos with her husband and two sons. She enjoys running, traveling and spending time with her family and friends.
Ann Garland, Ph.D.
Ann Garland, Ph.D.
Ann Garland, PhD. is a Professor at USD where she was Founding Chair of the Department of Counseling & Marital and Family Therapy. She is also an Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at UCSD. Her teaching, research, and practice have been devoted to improving mental health care for youth and families. She has trained hundreds of mental health professionals from multiple disciplines.
Throughout her career, Dr. Garland has earned research and training grants totalling over $13 million. She has published more than 120 peer reviewed articles and book chapters and is a widely cited scholar. Her research has identified barriers in mental health care, racial and ethnic disparities in care, and how to deliver evidence-based practices in local and global settings. In 2022, Oxford University Press will publish her book, Pursuing a Career in Mental Health: A Comprehensive Guide for Aspiring Professionals.
Dr. Garland earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Yale University, as well as an M.A. in Human Development from Columbia University, and a B.A. in Psychology from U.C. Berkeley, where she was a proud member of the women’s swim team. Ann is a native San Diegan. She and her husband, Saul, have a daughter at UCSD; she also has three step-sons and daughters-in-law, and seven step-grandchildren living in the U.S. and Canada.
Ann enjoys swimming, hiking, tennis, and gatherings with her bookclub. She also loves visiting family in Canada where she loves to swim in Quebec’s Laurentian lakes.
Ben Gordon
Ben Gordon
Ben Gordon Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer and Chief Digital Officer Ben Gordon is senior vice president, chief information officer and chief digital officer for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), Sempra Energy’s regulated California utilities.
As chief information officer, he develops and executes policy and strategic initiatives for all matters related to information and digital technologies – ranging from cybersecurity and customer experience to big data analytics – to mitigate threats and drive business growth. He oversees an information technology team dedicated to optimizing IT infrastructure performance and decreasing enterprise risk across technology networks, data centers, and end-use devices.
As chief digital officer, Gordon is focused on fostering new ideas to drive corporate innovations, enterprise-wide culture change, and the rapid technology adoption necessary to become leaders of digital transformation in the energy sector.
Gordon joined SoCalGas and SDG&E in August 2018 and previously held the title of vice president, technology operations and infrastructure management.
Prior to joining the utilities, he was vice president of technology for Molina Healthcare in Long Beach, Calif. Gordon’ previous experience also included holding management positions at Three Dimensional Resource Planning, a technology solutions and services company, and at the Apollo Education Group, a provider of higher education programs. Gordon has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Northern Arizona University and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Florida.
Mindy Mattison
Mindy Mattison
Mindy Mattison, M.A., CCC-SLP received her Masters of Arts degree in Communicative Disorders. She worked as a speech-language pathologist at Rady Children’s Hospital in the Speech, Hearing and Neurosensory Center, and subsequently started her private practice. She founded the speech-language therapy program at La Jolla Country Day School and practiced there for over 20 years.
Mindy serves on the Advisory Board of the Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences department at San Diego State University and is actively involved in various organizations and foundations that support children’s well-being. She continues to mentor new speech-language pathologists and volunteers with children on the autism spectrum through Somali Family Services on a weekly basis.
Mindy collaborates with her husband, Dr. John Mattison, on enhancing the bio-psycho-social status of children and their families. Together they thrive on bringing more skills and joy into the lives of all children, supporting both research and practice.
In addition to her passion for children, Mindy loves spending time with her family, including the furry members.
Michael Nelson
Vince Nowicki
Vince Nowicki
Vince Nowicki’s career spans more than 28 years in consumer and residential mortgage lending including retail, wholesale, and bulk acquisitions. Vince started with Mission Fed in April 2011 and is currently Chief Lending Officer, responsible for Mortgage Originations, Loan Servicing, Secondary Marketing, Consumer Lending, Indirect Auto Lending, Auto Leasing, and Insurance Services. Also, through Mission Fed’s subsidiary, Vince helped create, and currently performs as director of operations for LiveSmart Escrow, a captive Escrow Company that serves Mission Fed’s members and partners.
Vince lives in Valley Center with his wife and two daughters. They enjoy travel, especially road trips, and are huge fans of anything Disney related.
James Shira
James Shira
James Shira is PwC’s Network & US Chief Information & Technology Officer, responsible for leading and driving PwC’s goal to technology enable the Network of Firms. In addition, James is PWC Network & US Chief Information Security Officer. He joined PwC in 2015 as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) where he built and continues to lead our US and global information security function, driving the evolution of PwC’s cyber posture.
Over the course of 20 years, James has led various security and technology transformation and modernization programs in large organizations. James is known primarily for his information security experience having won the prestigious RSA Excellence in the Field of Information Security award in 2014. Furthermore, he is known for his approaches to people management and aggressive use of emerging technologies to enable business strategies.
James was one of the inaugural students in Columbia's Executive Technology Management program and has a Bachelor’s degree in Business from Baylor University with concentration in Management Information Systems. He, his wife and 2 children reside in Southern California.
Dustin Sutton
Dustin Sutton
Dustin Sutton is a Real Estate and Business Development Manager with Meissner Jacquet Commercial Real Estate Services. Since joining the firm in 2017, he has played a crucial role in managing commercial real estate and increasing the value of his clients’ real estate portfolios.
Dustin has over 12 years of real estate experience. During his career, Dustin he has managed over $5 billion of commercial and residential real estate assets. Prior to joining Meissner Jacquet, Dustin was a Commercial Real Estate Manager for Realty Income Corporation, a publicly-traded REIT currently included in the S&P 500.
Dustin graduated from the University of Delaware where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Communication. He is originally from Philadelphia, PA, and is a licensed real estate broker in California. He is the co-founder of the Black Commercial Real Estate Network (BCREN), a member of NAIOP, and a member of the Promises2Kids Men’s Leadership Network. In addition to serving the needs of his community, Dustin enjoys basketball, golf, music, the outdoors, and spending time with his family and friends.
Keith Wilson
Keith Wilson
Keith Wilson is a Ph.D. physicist and businessperson who moved from Boston to La Jolla in 2002 to join a biotechnology start-up. Keith thought he would be on the West Coast for a few years and then head back East, but he fell in love with San Diego and has been growing roots ever since.
Keith enjoys helping organizations succeed, and he has served as president and chief science officer for Takeda California; Board Chair for San Diego Center for Children; Board Member San Diego Canyonlands; Board Member Mission Hills Town Council; Board Chair Mission Hills United Methodist Church; and as a Manager and Coach for Tecolote Youth Baseball.
Keith first learned about the Center for Children when he attended a holiday party for residents of the Center in 2002. From there, Keith grew from an interested visitor to become Chair of the Center’s Board of Trustees. In his nine years on the board, Keith helped secure funding to establish a much-needed patient-assessment program for the Family Wellness Center, which provides children and families with psychological evaluations, therapy, support groups, and other services.
Keith has always been impressed by the Center’s inspirational focus to help children overcome big challenges, and he recently re-joined the Board with a goal to leverage his science, HR, legal, fundraising, corporate communications, government affairs, and branding experiences to complement the existing strong team.
Barbara Ybarra
Barbara Ybarra
Ms. Barbara Ybarra comes to the San Diego Center for Children’s Board with 25 year’s experience in non-profit, corporate, and government agencies. She has held a range of titles including Director of Development, Chief Philanthropy Officer and Executive Director for community-based organizations and colleges. Ms. Ybarra recently joined the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as their Regional Advancement Director for Southern California – Hawaii. She is a graduate of University of California, Santa Barbara, and holds an MBA. In her spare time, she likes to play tennis, travel, and read. Ms. Ybarra lives in San Diego, CA, and has a nine-year-old nephew, Rex, who she loves watching Marvel movies and building LEGO sets together.
Moisés Barón, Ph.D.
Moisés Barón, Ph.D.
Dr. Barón, a psychologist with more than 26 years of clinical and administrative experience, joined the San Diego Center for Children as President and CEO in 2014.
Prior to joining the Center, he served for 11 years as the first Assistant Vice President (AVP) Student Wellness at the University of San Diego. Dr. Barón conceptualized and implemented a plan to restructure, expand and integrate health and wellness services, remodel facilities, and established integrated clinical, preventive and educational programs for undergraduate and graduate students. His responsibilities included general oversight of operations, budget and strategic development of the wellness area units, including the Student Health Center (AAAHC Accredited), Counseling Center (APA Accredited Internship Program), Center for Health and Wellness Promotion and Disability Services. He provided ongoing leadership and guidance to university students, faculty and administration on issues related to diversity, inclusion, wellness, health, mental health and crisis response.
Prior to this, Dr. Barón was Director of the Counseling Center from 1997 to 2006 where he managed all of the center’s operations and budget. He has been Adjunct Faculty at the School of Leadership and Education Sciences for over 20 years, and is the Founder of the COMPASS Academic Center at USD where he led a team that developed multidisciplinary and innovative programs to help and support families of children with special needs. He also served as Executive Director of the services arm of COMPASS in the community until 2012.
In addition to his experience at USD, Dr. Barón also worked in private practice as a clinician and in different supervisory and leadership positions in community mental clinics and inpatient facilities in San Diego including: The Center for Counseling at Catholic Charities, Southwood Hospital and Vista Hill Hospital, where he served as Director of Psychology.
Dr. Barón is honored to be part of a team of skilled professionals who are truly committed to serving the behavioral health and educational needs of at-risk and underserved children and youth in our community.