The LGBTQ Center Long Beach recently announced its new executive team to lead the organization’s 2020 Board of Directors.
Stella Ursua has been elected Board Chair, John Newell has been elected to the position of Vice Chair, Ron Nelson will continue serving as Secretary, and Jay Hong will continue on as the agency’s Treasurer. Additionally, local residents and community leaders Tiffany Brown, Richard Lewis, Tyler Leshney, and Julie McCall have been elected to join The Center’s governing Board of Directors.
“I am thrilled to serve as the new Chair on the Center’s Board of Directors, Stella Ursua said in a press release. “It is an honor to serve alongside such a distinguished group of leaders who are all steadfastly committed to advancing equity for the LGBTQ community.”
Ursua serves as outreach and partnerships manager at GRID Alternatives-Greater Los Angeles and is president of Green Education, Inc. Both companies are local non-profits focused on connecting disadvantaged communities to clean energy, healthy homes, and sustainable neighborhoods. Ursua is the founder of Southern California’s largest Earth Day event, the Green Prize Festival. She brings over 25 years of organizational development, leadership development, human resources, and organizational management experience to The Center.
Newell is a public schoolteacher with the Pasadena Unified School District and served for many years on the Board of Directors for the AIDS Food Store. He is also the organization’s immediate past president.
Brown currently serves as assistant superintendent for School Support Services for the Long Beach Unified School District and also serves as a board member for The Guidance Center.
Leshney, a Harvard-educated business leader, is co-founder and chief operating officer for Dabble & Dollop. He also serves on the board of drectors for Young President’s Organization Los Angeles Chapter.
Lewis serves as chair of the City of Long Beach’s Planning Commission and is co-founder of Urbana Development, a commercial real-estate development company.
McCall is a public schoolteacher with the LBUSD, past board member of the AIDS Food Store, and is founding CEO of One Wish One Need, an organization which assists children and families with essential needs.
The new executive committee, along with the full Board of Directors, will provide strategic oversight and fundraising support to an organization experiencing unprecedented growth, staff tenure, and financial health. The organization’s annual budget, now exceeding $2,000,000, is the largest in the Center’s history and now places them in the top 25 percent of the more than 250 LGBTQ centers in the United States.
For more information on The Center’s work in the community visit www.centerlb.org.
