Board Of Directors

Board of Directors

Ronne Froman
President of the Board

Ronne served in the United States Navy for 31 years, and retired a 2-star Admiral. In her last Navy job, she was the director of Ashore Readiness for the Chief of Naval Operations, responsible for nearly 90 Navy stations and bases around the world with a $7 billion dollar budget. After retirement, she joined the San Diego Unified School District as the chief of business operations. Serving as the CEO of the San Diego Imperial Counties Chapter of the American Red Cross, she was instrumental in restoring the confidence in the floundering Chapter during and after the horrendous Southern California wildfires. In 2005, Ronne became the first chief operating officer for the City of San Diego at a time when the City was facing both financial and leadership challenges.

After that she was senior vice president for the energy group of General Atomics, managing 300 scientists and engineers who are industry leaders in advanced energy research and development. Since 2010, Ronne has been working on a Veterans Program called REBOOT. REBOOT provides the necessary behavioral training to help VETs in transition. She also serves on the USS Midway Museum Board.

She has received numerous awards, including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, 2011 Woman of the Year in California 76th Assembly District, Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania, San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce Spirit of San Diego, San Diego Magazine Woman of the Year, Women’s International Center Living Legacy, Girls Scouts Cool Woman, and San Diego Business Journal Woman Who Mean Business, to name a few.  

Debra Molyneux
Vice President

(In Progress)

Ron Araujo
Treasure, Chief Financial Officer Mission Federal Credit Union

(In Progress)

Denise Bowman
Secretary, Community Advocate

Denise and her husband Jeff moved to San Diego in 2002.  Spending over 10 years as an executive director for a private family foundation in Orange County Denise changed direction and became a community volunteer with a focus on helping raise funds for various projects and events.   Introduced to Monarch over eight years ago by her husband (San Diego’s former fire chief), Denise continues to work in the classroom weekly and has had a board position for six years.  She also served on San Diego’s Family Justice Center board and is actively involved in her church.  Moving to North County a few years ago, Denise and her husband planted a vineyard; enjoy their four grandchildren, family and friends.  She also enjoys cooking, live theatre and golf.  

Debra Molyneux
Vice President

(In Progress)

Ryan Belmer

Mr. Belmer earned a bachelor of arts degree in economics from San Diego State University and since 2000 has been with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney as Vice-President, Senior Investment Management Specialist. He also serves on the board of Meals on Wheels, San Diego. Mr. Belmer lives in San Diego with his wife and children.

Tom Blair

A San Diego resident since his youth, and a household name in his adopted home town, Tom Blair is one of Southern California’s best-known and most-productive journalists. A veteran of newspapers, radio, television and magazines, he began his career in 1972 as a reporter for The Evening Tribune. And, for some two decades, he was The San Diego Union-Tribune’s best-read columnist. In 1995, Blair left the newspaper to assume the duties of editor-in-chief of San Diego Magazine. After 15 years, Blair recently left the magazine to return to his Union-Tribune column. Tom is graduate of San Diego State University. He has served on the boards of more than a dozen charitable organizations and foundations, including the Scripps Cancer Center and the San Diego Film Commission. Blair has also pursued a side career in music, and is currently the male vocalist with the Bill Green Orchestra, “Society Beat.” 

David Boatwright

Mr. Boatwright received his bachelor of science degree in accounting from Northern Arizona University in 1978 and a juris doctor degree from Pepperdine University in 1981, where he was co-valedictorian and a member of the Pepperdine Law Review. Currently with Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP, Mr. Boatwright has been recognized by numerous publications as one of the top transactional and tax lawyers in San Diego (San Diego Magazine’s annual “Best Lawyers” issue since 2005), and one of the best lawyers in America (11th-18th editions of Best Lawyers in America.) He was selected for inclusion in the San Diego Super Lawyers list for Real Estate from 2007 through 2010.

Mr. Boatwright is a past board chair of the Monarch School Project, and is a member of the Board of Visitors for Pepperdine University School of Law. He and his wife Camille live in Coronado with their three children.

Bryant Burke

(In Progress)

Blair Cannon
Vice President, Bernstein Global Wealth Managment

(In Progress)

Charles Dabelgott

(In Progress)

Julie Dillon
CEO of Dillon Development

Julie Dillon has been involved in the real estate development business for over 30 years, as a residential land developer, builder, and industrial real estate investor.  She graduated from San Diego State University with a business major, emphasis in real estate.   In addition to being a past Chairman of the Monarch School Project Board of Directors, Ms. Dillon is active in various civic and philanthropic work.  Some of her activities include: President of the San Diego County Building Industry; Centre City Development Board Member;  Century Club Board Member; University of San Diego Burnham Moores Real Estate Centre Executive Committee.  She was introduced to Monarch School in 1998, and has been an active supporter ever since.  She lives in Pt. Loma with her husband, Jim Roberts, a mediator.  They enjoy spending lots of time with their grandchildren and with any remaining time Julie enjoys golf, reading, skiing, and hiking. 

Phil Gibbs
Treasurer, Vice President Private Banking

Mr. Gibbs brings ten years of banking and financial management experience to San Diego Private Bank. He most recently served as Vice President for San Diego National Bank, managing its headquarters office in downtown San Diego. There he managed many of the bank’s most sophisticated relationships in addition to the full-service retail branch operations. Mr. Gibbs earned a master’s degree in business administration with a finance emphasis from Abilene Christian University and a bachelor of science degree in aviation management from Southern Illinois at Carbondale. He is adjunct faculty for University of Phoenix, teaching undergraduate and graduate level business, finance and economics. He is a founding member of the Escondido Charitable Foundation and is a regular speaker for SCORE San Diego. His past community leadership has included board positions for the Palomar YMCA, Escondido Rotary Club (Paul Harris Fellow), and the National Society of Hispanic MBAs.

Bennet Greenwald

Mr. Greenwald has been actively involved in real estate development since 1966. In that year he received a master’s degree in city planning from the University of Pennsylvania and joined Metropolitan Structures of Chicago, where his activities included planning, management, and construction of a variety of major urban projects including high-rise office apartments and hotels. From 1973 to 1978, Mr. Greenwald was associated with the Devinvest Corporation of Tucson, Arizona and La Jolla, California as Vice President. His responsibilities included the development and management of an extensive portfolio of existing property as well as new projects including a variety of industrial parks, shopping centers, garden apartments and tracts of vacant land. In San Diego, operating The Greenwald Company since 1979, Mr. Greenwald and his partners have developed projects worth over $300 million including 1 million square feet of office and industrial space, 1 million square feet of retail space and over 600 apartment units.

Mr. Greenwald has lectured about the real estate profession at the University of Illinois, Chicago and UCSD. He has served as a board member of the Monarch School Project for 10 years and as a board member of Second Chance, a social agency aiding homeless people to secure and keep jobs.

Larry Hartigan

Mr. Hartigan is Senior Vice President, International Operations for Qualcomm Enterprise Services (QES). He has been with Qualcomm since 1987, holding a diverse array of management responsibilities including operations, business development, and international marketing and sales as well as serving as corporate regional vice president for Russia, China and Northern Asia. Prior to joining QES, Hartigan held leadership positions at Silicon Wave, Raytheon, and Xerox. Mr. Hartigan earned a bachelor of science degree in finance from Northeastern University and a master of science degree in economics from The London School of Economics.

Brian A. Luscomb

Mr. Luscomb is Division Vice President of Corporate Communications for Jack in the Box Inc., a $2.3 billion restaurant company based in San Diego. He is responsible for media relations as well as internal communications for the company, which operates or franchises more than 2,200 Jack in the Box restaurants in 19 states. Through a wholly owned subsidiary, the company also operates or franchises more than 500 Qdoba Mexican Grill restaurants in the U.S.

Mr. Luscomb also serves as President of The Jack in the Box Foundation, a nonprofit affiliation of Jack in the Box Inc. funded by donations from the company, its employees, franchisees and vendors. Through its support of charitable organizations that primarily serve at-risk youth, such as Monarch School, The Jack in the Box Foundation focuses the company’s charitable giving to make a greater impact in its restaurant communities.

Prior to joining Jack in the Box Inc. in 2000, Mr. Luscomb served for seven years as Director of Corporate Communications for Jenny Craig, Inc., a weight-management company that operated or franchised more than 650 Jenny Craig Centres in five countries. From 1985 to 1993 he held various positions in corporate communications at Great American Bank, most recently as Vice President of the department. Luscomb is a graduate of San Diego State University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

Brian Malk

(In Progress)

Mark McLaren

Mr. McLaren, a San Diego native, is a commercial real estate investor and has given his time and expertise to the Downtown San Diego Rotary Club, Junior Achievement, San Diego Taxpayers Association, and has served as a youth baseball and soccer coach. He graduated from San Diego State University as an economics major with a minor in marketing and business administration. He and his wife Kathy live in Rancho Santa Fe.

Mr. McLaren lends his professional knowledge to the school. He explains, “Monarch School is a wonderful cause serving San Diego’s most disadvantaged youth. I’m very excited about the opportunity to apply my real estate development background toward making this new and expanded campus a reality for Monarch.”

James L. McMillan
Chairman/C0-Founder OliverMcMillan

Mr. McMillan is the Chairman of the Board of Directors for OliverMcMillan. He and his lifelong friend Dene Oliver founded the company in 1978. Over the years, OliverMcMillan has designed, developed and/or managed office, commercial, industrial, multi-residential, retail, research and development and mixed-use projects. A native San Diegan, Mr. McMillan graduated from the University of California at Berkeley where he received a bachelor of science degree in real estate and urban land economics from the School of Business Administration in 1973. At the University of Southern California he earned a master of business administration degree in finance. From 1973 to the present, he has been the managing partner for private investment entities which have included properties located in California, North Carolina, Florida and Hawaii. Mr. McMillan is director of the Schoenith Foundation which benefits educational entities, medical services for the underserved, and scientific research. He is a former trustee of La Jolla Country Day School and served as a board member of the Child Abuse Prevention Foundation. Mr. McMillan enjoys an active lifestyle with his family. He and his wife, Kris, enjoy their four children as often as they can see them. Jim is active with running, cycling, sailing, and snow skiing.

Lauren Matricardi

(In Progress) 

Ken Olson

(In Progress)

Jen Roche

Jen Roche, a seasoned PR professional, specializes in creating and implementing strategic media campaigns for clients in the culinary, entertainment, lifestyle, nonprofit and travel industries. With years of experience representing some of New York and San Diego’s most recognizable brands and businesses, Jen brings a sophisticated and savvy approach to each client she represents.Jen earned her PR stripes in New York with two of the nation’s top PR agencies. Starting out in the political and nonprofit division of Dan Klores Communications, she quickly moved through the ranks, transitioning into media and entertainment.After making the move to San Diego in 2008, Jen developed her expertise working as an Account Supervisor for one of San Diego’s leading PR agencies. Today Jen owns her own boutique PR firm; Jen Roche PR.  Jen holds a Bachelor’s Degree from New York University in Journalism and Political Science. Committed to giving back, Jen serves on the Fundraising & Outreach Committee for Monarch School and is a three-time participant and fundraiser for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. 

Liz Tice
President and CEO, Ashford University

(In Progress)

Jim Tiffany

Mr. Tiffany spent 30 years in the travel business, planning special events and board meetings for Fortune 100 companies around the world. He was a board member, conference leader and guest lecturer for the Society of Incentive Travel Executives. Today his company develops motivational and performance improvement programs for companies.

Prior to entering business, Mr. Tiffany served in the United States Army in a variety of command and staff positions as an infantry officer. He believes that leaders have four characteristics: courage, perseverance, communication skills and the ability to inspire teamwork. He is delighted to be a weekly volunteer at Monarch as well as a board member.

Steve Przesmicki (Board Counsel)

Mr. Przesmicki received his law degree cum laude from the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as an associate editor of the Wisconsin Law Review. In 1989 he received a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Prior to attending law school, he served as an officer in the United States Navy.
Mr. Przesmicki is a partner in the Cooley Business department and a member of the Securities Regulation, Mergers
and Acquisitions, Public Offerings and Debt Securities Transactions practice groups. He joined the firm in 1995
and is resident in the San Diego office. He is a member of the State Bar of California and the State Bar of
Wisconsin. He was recognized in the 2011 edition of The Best Lawyers in America in the area of Corporate Law.