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About Us
| Meet Our Board of Directors |
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Jorge Quintero, President, jquintero@charter.net Jorge joined the LBNF Board in 2023. He enjoys running and traveling to local and distant places. He has serviced in various local community groups, such as the Wrigley Association, Burbank Community Team, and Sierra Club Long Beach. Jorge has worked in education for the past 24 years. He taught at Los Angeles Harbor College and currently teaches at an elementary school in Long Beach. Jorge brings experience in community and event organizing. He is married to his wife, Lillian, of over 23 years and has two daughters at Poly PACE.
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Margarita Roque, Secretary, roquemargarita@yahoo.com Margarita has been a proud resident of Long Beach for over 30 years, deeply involved in community events and dedicated to supporting various nonprofit organizations that serve diverse communities both within and outside of Long Beach. Her commitment to the city is reflected in her participation in local running events since 2012, including the Wrigley River Run since 2018. With a career in property management spanning over a decade, she has grown professionally while remaining passionate about making a positive impact in the community. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, hiking, and spending quality time with family. |
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Biljana Ivanova, Treasurer, atfsolutionsinc@gmail.com
Biljana is an accountant, tax preparer, bookkeeper, and payroll manager with ATF Solutions tax consultants. She is a dedicated volunteer whose previous board experience was as Treasurer for The Daughters of Penelopy in Stockton. She was invited to join the LBNF Board by Danny Amat, one of the founders of the LBNF, and she is very enthusiastic about helping the LBNF achieve its goal to support youth in LB.
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Danny Amat, Co Founder, danny_amat2@yahoo.com
Danny serves on several nonprofit boards and was the Director of operations for the Los Angeles Marathon. He was also the Director of Operations and Special Events Manager for the Olympic Velodrome and Festival Field at CSU Domingues Hills. Danny is an entrepreneur with businesses is logistics, fulfillment, public storage, luxury car storage, events management, property services, farming and retail products.
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Gavin McKiernan, Co Founder, gavin@wrigleyriverrun.com
Gavin co-founded the LBNF and served as board President for thirteen years. He has also volunteered extensively with local nonprofits including the Neighborhood Advisory Group, the Newcomb Academy Foundation, the Wrigley Association, and the Georgetown Alumni Club of Orange County. In 2016, Gavin established Mercury Events, a full-service event promotion and production company that manages dozens of run/walk events a year. Each year these events raise more than a million dollars and bring together tens of thousands of people to benefit a diverse group of charities in California, Nevada and Arizona.
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Paula Kendrick, paula@claimsmp.com
Paula is the owner/operator of CMP, an Outsource Risk Management firm servicing large, $1 Million plus entities; she also testifies as an expert insurance witness. She did her first marathon during the 1997 El Nino and she was hooked. She’s done six full marathons since, but the half-marathon is her perfect distance. Paula’s favorite part of racing is coordinating her outfits with the event themes. She handles social media, prizes and awards for the Wrigley River Run and loves that the race supports Long Beach kids.
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Carlos Romero, liteberer@gmail.com Carlos is serving his third year as the LBNF Board President and he is honored to have the trust of the Board and to be able to serve them, and the community. He has worked in the payroll industry for over 25 years and his experience with entrepreneurs has made him realize how many business owners are dedicated to serving their communities. He feels his work directly connects with the goals of the LBNF to build community, encourage fitness, and give back through grants and scholarships. He began running and swimming in 2013 and when he was bitten by the “adult-onset ironman bug.” He has completed several ironman events and marathons.
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Karen Hester, Khester94@msn.com Karen has served as LBNF board secretary for 12 years. She is an avid runner and brings knowledge about race logistics that is instrumental for planning of the annual Wrigley River Run. She has completed more than a dozen marathons, including Long Beach, LA and Boston; several half-Ironman events; as well as many half marathons. In 2013 Karen retired from her position as Executive Assistant to the City Attorney of Long Beach after 30 years of service. She is married to the former City of LB, Director of Parks, Recreation and Marine and has two married sons.
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Bernie Valdez, bernyv21@gmail.com
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The Long Beach Neighborhood Foundation (LBNF) was originally founded in 2008 by Long Beach residents, Gavin Mc Kiernan and Danny Amat. Gavin and Danny, who met as a result of their leadership roles in through the Wrigley Association, not only share a commitment to community activism, but also have a mutual interest in running. At the time Gavin is a regular racer, including Gavin had ran in events regularly including a couple marathons a year and Danny had previously worked overseeing race operations for the Los Angeles Marathon so they . Gavin and Danny felt that together they had the skills and experience to organize a great race event. Rather than try to organize a race in downtown Long Beach or Belmont Shore, where most such events take place, Gavin and Danny wanted to hold the race in a historically underserved underserved neighborhood of Long Beach.
By January 2008, Gavin and Danny had recruited others to join their cause, and the LBNF Board began to meet regularly. Soon, the LBNF was officially established as a 501 c3 non-profit corporation with the mission to organize and sponsor programs in historically underserved parts of Long Beach that promote community involvement, education, tolerance, and a healthy non-violent lifestyle. All funds generated are used to benefit Long Beach through awarding scholarships and grants to local programs, particularly among disadvantaged youth.. Together, the Board members developed LBNF’s mission: to organize and sponsor athletic events and programs in Long Beach that promote community involvement, education, tolerance, and a healthy non-violent lifestyle, particularly among our city’s at risk youth. The idea was to organize athletic events that would have a positive impact on the local community, in particular youth, and in turn reinvest all proceeds from those events back into programs serving at-risk youth in Long Beach.
LBNF’s flagship event program, the Wrigley River Run 5K and 10K and Kids’ Tadpole Trot, gets rave reviews from runners and the community at large and has earned the distinction of being the premier 5/10K in Long Beach. The event, which started with fewer than 200 participants but expects to grows every year. to more than 2500 in 2016. The local business community continues to support the event, with race sponsors including Buono’s Pizzeria, Toyota, Altus Realty, Westin Long Beach, United Agencies Insurance and many others. Go to www.wrigleyriverrun.com for more information. on this growing event.
Board
members left to right: Danny Amat, Dr. Jennifer Broadman, Carlos Romero, Karen
Hester, Jorge Quintero, Paula Kendrick, Gavin McKiernan, Biljana Ivanova
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