Six members have submitted verified petitions to be on the ballot for the 2020 PVHA Board Election. They are incumbents are Marlene Breene, Richard Fay and Charles Tang and also Gayne Brenneman, John Harbison and Reid Schott. All five seats on the PVHA Board are up for election. Ballots will be mailed in the fall and the results announced at the PVHA annual meeting on January 14, 2020.
Meet the Candidates:
DICK FAY, Incumbent
After retiring from ARCO, he and a partner started a web site development business which they ran for 15 years and sold in 2015. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Dick has a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Duke University and a master’s degree in Applied Statistics from Villanova University.
Now fully retired Dick and his wife live in Montemalaga. He enjoys traveling, photography, golf and following his favorite sports teams.
MARLENE BREENE, Incumbent
Special studies on the Olmsted firm, both at Parsons and through symposia by the National Association of Olmsted Parks, instilled a deeper insight into the history of our community and sparked inspiration for the future. Marlene is currently a member of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers, the Mediterranean Garden Society, the California Native Plant Society, and the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy. Extensive volunteer efforts past and present include board member for the Lunada Bay Homeowners Association, steering committee for Beautify Lunada Bay, Committee Chairperson for PTA, and docent activities for the Palos Verdes Art Center and the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy.
Seeking good schools and the best climate in Los Angeles, Marlene and her husband Patrick first arrived in Lunada Bay with 2 preschoolers in tow and a ‘dream fixer’ property. After many busy years, the 3 daughters are grown, Patrick is now retired and the house needs another ’fix’. Everything circles back. Marlene continues to enjoy working in our extraordinary community and is enthusiastic about contributing to the Palos Verdes legacy.
GAYNE BRENNEMAN, MD
Goal: In seeking election to the PVHA Board, Gayne
would be honored to continue her community service by contributing to the
happiness, and tranquility found in PVE, and maintaining Olmsted’s vision: “…PRESERVE, INCREASE, ENHANCE, AND PROTECT,
the homeowners property values, views, trees and plants.”
Personal: A Board-certified
cardiac anesthesiologist, Gayne has been a resident of Palos Verdes Estates
since 2000 and has been married to Bob Slay MD, an ER doctor, for 43
years. Gayne and Bob moved to bucolic
Palos Verdes Estates to raise their family their 2 grown children, both of
whom, attended PV schools, USC Business School, and live nearby.
Gayne has
been in private practice in Texas and San Diego, VA hospital, Richmond VA, and
HMO practice at Kaiser Sunset, until retiring in 2016. She is currently a freelance
anesthesiologist on a part-time basis for a variety of local hospitals.
Relevant
Experience: As HOA President of her vacation condo in
Idaho, she has successfully fought against high density re-zoning,
supported sunlight and view protections, improved transparency and digitalized
communication, and CC&R adherence and enforcement.
Elected
Positions:
- President of HOA for her Sun Valley, Idaho condo for 27 years
- Class Agent for her medical school class, for the past 37 years
- Anesthesiologists of California Representative, District #13, from
1999 – 2002, and Alternate Delegate from 2002 – 2005
Additional
Accomplishments:
- Contributing author to numerous cardiac anesthesia literature and
books
- Editor – Kaiser Permanente Journal
- Who’s Who of American Women,
1996 and 2019
- “A.M.A.”
Physician’s Recognition Award 1985, 88, 97, 00, 02
- Who’s Who in American Business, 1998
- America’s
Top Physicians, Consumer Affairs 2005
- U.S.
News & World Reports ‘TOP DOCTOR’S” 2015
- Contributor, and featured on the cover of The Battle Buddy Diet
on nutrition
Education:
- UCSB, political science, 1973
- Medical school, internship, and residency, at UTHSC, 1977-1984
- Fellowship at UAB in 1988
- Harvard Business School, graduate courses with a focus on “Complex
Negotiations and Strategic Planning”
Additional
Appointments/Guest Lecturing/Community Involvement:
- Lecturer – Cardiac anesthesia to the Kaiser School of Anesthesia for
12 years, and the
- Lecturer – American Association of Operating Room Efficiency “Use of
Palm Pilots
- Appointed assistant professor at U.S.C., M.C.V., and U.C.S.D.
- Developed the #1 mobile app for Cardiac echo diagnostics, worldwide
for 3 years, 2003-06.
- Guest lecturer for ‘Grand Rounds’, at Kaiser Sunset, and Cottage Hospital,
Santa Barbara.
- Most interestingly, she lectured on ‘open heart’ an esthesia to the Queen Alia Institute, in
Jordan, at the request of his majesty, King Hussain, and President Reagan’s
consultant for the state department.
Personal Interests: Gayne travels extensively both domestically and internationally. She loves downhill skiing, bicycling, and computer programming – particularly custom macros.
CHARLES TANG, Incumbent
Charles Tang has been a resident of Palos Verdes Estates since 1995. After a successful 35 year career at The Aerospace Corporation, he became a serial entrepreneur and created several companies including a technology venture capital firm, a real estate investment company, and a nonprofit educational company to help disadvantaged people become financially literate. In addition, he continues to teach system architectures, technology startups, and managing engineering innovation at Loyola Marymount University and the University of Southern California.
His educational background includes a MBA from Pepperdine University and PhD/MS/BS degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California. All three of his now grown children attended PV schools from Lunada Bay elementary to PV High and Peninsula High. In his spare time, he enjoys driving and working on his cars and motorcycles. Charles and his family love Palos Verdes Estates and he is looking forward to ensuring that the beauty and unique quality of life in Palos Verdes will endure for the enjoyment of future generations.
L. RIED SCHOTT
Ried has had successful careers in commercial real estate and investment banking. In conjunction with work he has lived in Cincinnati, Denver, Chicago, Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles, before settling in PVE 15-years ago. He has remained active with property management through his own firm and has been an angel investor with Tech Coast Angels for two decades, investing in nearly a score of start-up companies. Ried presently serves as a Director of a non-profit Housing Corporation and recently established a charitable foundation. He also serves on the Board of a Home Owners Association with a budget and issues that are similar to those involving PVHA. Ried’s formal education includes liberal arts studies at Ohio Wesleyan and a business degree from the University of Denver. His education was supplemented with graduate school studies and extension courses (at NYU and UCLA).
Ried has resided in Malaga Cove for 15-years. He has been engaged in local and area
activities, which include being a Volunteer Parkland Ranger, a member of the PV
Golf Club, a former Advisory Board Member of the Malaga Homeowners Association
and is a member of the Manhattan Country Club.
In making improvements to his home in PVE, Ried needed to
submit applications to the Art Jury and the PVHA for; 1) changes to building’s
exterior, 2) rebuilding a porch, 3) installing solar panels and 4) view
restoration. This personal experience
has provided Ried with important insight on the processes and issues involving
the Art Jury and PVHA, and ways they can be simplified and improved.
JOHN
HARBISON
He has lived in Palos Verdes Estates and been
a member of PVHA since 1992. In the
recent Panorama parklands litigation, he fought for the protection of our
CC&Rs and Deed Restrictions, which is integral to the stewardship
responsibilities of the PVHA. Now that the lawsuit is settled, John looks
forward to the potential opportunity to channel his deep understanding of the
CC&Rs and PVHA by-laws into protecting and implementing the vision set by
the founders of our community.
John Harbison
is Chairman Emeritus of Tech Coast Angels – the largest Angel investor group in
the US, where he has invested in over 60 startups. He has served as a Director
on Boards of many early stage companies and enjoys mentoring and helping those
companies succeed. Previously he co-founded Next Autoworks, a disruptive new
American car company, backed by investors such as Kleiner Perkins and Google Ventures.
Before that he served as CEO of SilentRunner Inc., a network security software
company, and as President of Raytheon Commercial Ventures Inc. where he
launched four businesses in two years leading to two successful exits and a
third company which introduced the first automotive blind spot radar and grew
to $700 M in sales in 8 years. Earlier in his career, he was a strategy
consultant and partner at Booz•Allen Hamilton where he led the firm’s
Aerospace/Defense Practice and its Strategic Alliances functional practice — both to global pre-eminence — and opened its
Los Angeles office. He has an BA from Harvard College, an MS in accounting from
NYU Stern (resulting in a CPA) and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
His two sons
grew up in the PV schools, attending Montemalaga, PVIS and Peninsula High. He
has served on the Board of the Greater Los Angeles Council for the Boy Scouts
of America since 1994 and was Chairman for two terms from 2000-2001.
This year’s ballot will also include an advisory question on reducing the quorum requirement to 35% from the current 50%. PVHA has not achieved the 50% quorum since 2009.
