Advisory Council

Lisa Boren has worked as a ghost writer for numerous professionals across a myriad of industries. She received her BA in comparative literature from Colorado College, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa Honors Society. She earned an MA in Professional Writing from USC. She has also completed the Intensive Practice Program at UCLA’s Mindfulness Awareness Research Center and has facilitated councils and life skills circles across Los Angeles.  

Dr. Richard S. Cheung currently serves as the Vice Chair for the Advisory Board. Richard has been involved with LA’s BEST for almost 15 years. He was one of the original founding members of BEST Friends. One of Richard’s favorite activities with LA’s BEST is helping students with their homework at Castelar Elementary in Chinatown. He also has had the honor of being a judge at an LA’s BEST regional science fair. Richard lives and works in Pasadena, where he maintains a chiropractic practice.

Bill Coggins has worked as a psychiatric social worker for the Veterans Administration and the State of California. He also worked as a psychotherapist in private practice in outpatient psychiatric clinics, including the LA Suicide Prevention Center. From 1965 to 1966, Coggins studied and worked as a psychotherapist at Tavistock Psychiatric Clinic in London as a Fulbright Scholar. In November 1966, he was hired to develop the Kaiser Permanente Watts Counseling & Learning Center, a community service program funded by Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Inc. In 1967, the Center opened with Coggins as founding director, with the goal to bring much-needed counseling and educational programs to the Watts community. What began with three people in one room in a prefabricated building has grown to a 30-member staff in a facility of more than 9,000 square feet, now located at the corner of 103rd and Success. Coggins has been a member with the LA’s BEST Advisory Board since 1988.

Jennifer Cowan currently serves as the Executive Director of Connections for Children—an early childhood resource and referral agency serving children, families, and communities in West L.A. and the South Bay. Previously, Jennifer led the development of strategic partnerships at First 5 LA. She has also designed, managed, and funded education programs at The After-School Corporation and Brooklyn Children’s Museum in New York City, and the Charles & Helen Schwab Foundation. Jennifer has held various board positions, including the Santa Monica Family YMCA and LA’s BEST, and is a member of the Santa Monica Social Services Commission. She received her M.A. in Education from the Stanford Graduate School of Education and B.A. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Deidre Lind is an award-winning philanthropic leader with effective, impact-driven results. She has advised nonprofit, corporate and private foundations on social impact, strategic grant making, partnerships, fundraising, governance, measurement and long-term results.

A lifelong Angeleno via Peru, where she was born and raised until age 7 when her family immigrated to Los Angeles, Rosa Navas is proud to bring more than 15 years of experience in community development and relations to the LA’s BEST board. As the Director for Community Well-Being for Adventist Health White Memorial, Rosa organizes several summits and educational programs throughout the city of Los Angeles. Past projects have included raising awareness of heavy metal contamination in the Boyle Heights and East LA area, which involved securing partnerships among environmental organizations, hospitals, academic institutions, and community leaders to strategize and expedite cleanup efforts. Rosa has also worked directly with LA’s BEST via organizing its garden education program at two East LA elementary schools. These efforts not only taught health education to children in grades two through six through various community partnerships, but provided local pediatric departments with a communication pathway to some of LA’s most under-served residents. Previously, Rosa worked as the Marketing and Strategic Partnership Manager for La Opinion, one of LA’s most well-known and highly regarded Spanish-language newspapers. When she is not working to bring the city together, Rosa can be found at the LA Opera or spending time with her two pit bull rescues and Siamese cat.

Pedro Noguera is a sociologist, education researcher and former public school teacher, Noguera specializes in how social, economic and demographic factors influence schools and student achievement. He is the Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean at USC Rossier Professor of Education. Previously, Pedro was at the Graduate School of
Education and Information Studies at UCLA.  A sociologist, Noguera’s research
focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic
conditions, as well as by demographic trends in local, regional and global
contexts.  He is the author, co-author and editor of thirteen books.  His most recent
books are The Crisis of Connection with Niobe Way, Carol Gilligan and Aisha Ali (NYU
Press) and Race, Equity and Education: The Pursuit of Equality in Education 60 Years
After Brown (Springer Press), and he has published over 250 research articles, book
chapters, research reports and editorials. He serves on the boards of numerous
national and local organizations, including the Economic Policy Institute, the
National Equity Institute and The Nation Magazine.  Noguera appears as a regular
commentator on educational issues on several national media outlets, and his
editorials on educational issues have appeared in the New York Times, Washington
Post, Wall Street Journal, Dallas Morning News and Los Angeles Times.  Prior to
joining the faculty at UCLA he served as a tenured professor and holder of endowed
chairs at New York University (2003 – 2015) Harvard University (2000 – 2003) and
the University of California, Berkeley (1990 – 2000).  Noguera was recently
appointed to serve as a special advisor to the Governor of New Mexico on education
policy. He also advises the state departments of education in Washington, Oregon
and Nevada, and from 2009 – 2012 he served as a Trustee for the State University of
New York (SUNY) as an appointee of the Governor.  In 2014 he was elected to the
National Academy of Education and Phi Delta Kappa honor society.  Noguera has
received seven honorary doctorates from American universities, and he recently
received awards from the Center for the Advanced Study of the Behavioral Sciences
at Stanford University, from the National Association of Secondary Principals,
and from the McSilver Institute at NYU for his research and advocacy efforts aimed
at fighting poverty.

Laura C. Romero is founding President of her consulting firm, Brillante Strategies, where she advises organizations on education, mentoring, public-private partnerships, government & community relations, and strategic planning. Prior to Brillante Strategies, Laura C. Romero worked at Los Angeles Universal Preschool focusing on corporate relations. During her UCLA tenure, Romero promoted the University’s mission of research, teaching and public service by working with elected officials, corporate and community leaders, university administrators, faculty and alumni. She worked in the Office of Government & Community Relations, the Higher Education Research Institute’s Cooperative Institutional Research Program, the Extramural Programs and Opportunities Center, and taught the new “Civic Engagement in Los Angeles” seminar. Before UCLA, Laura worked as Acting Director of Public Affairs at Univision Los Angeles and National Mentoring Coordinator of the award-winning Communities In Schools, Inc./Univision Mentoring Initiative. Dr. Romero received her Bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral degrees from UCLA, and is honored to have been appointed to the LA’s BEST Advisory Board.

June Sale is the former Director of UCLA Child Care Services.  Sale is an active child care advocate, author and consultant with a special interest in public policy issues concerning children and their families. Sale has served on many national, state and local committees and panels, and serves as a CASA volunteer in the family court program for children.  Sale is also a member of Stone Soup, Samuel Goldwyn Child Care Advisory Boards, and has been on the LA’s BEST Advisory Board since 1988.