programs

publications

reading room

press

support us

Founders Council Members

Norman Blachford and Peter Cooper

Norman Blachford was born in Montreal, Canada where he attended local schools and Universities, obtaining a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry from Sir George University and a Business Degree from McGill University. 

After working for a family company, he moved to Michigan to start a firm manufacturing noise control materials for the transportation industry. His firm was sold about 15 years ago, and he retired to leisure travel and philanthropic activities.  He is a former board member of the Gamma Mu Foundation and the San Diego Human Dignity Foundation, and he currently serves on the boards of  the AIDS Foundation San Diego, the Blachford-Cooper Foundation, and as the Treasurer of Mainly Mozart.

Peter Cooper was born in Los Angeles, California and was raised in San Diego California. He attended University of Redlands, majoring in Business Administration and Management.   

Mr. Cooper worked as an HIV prevention educator for AIDS Foundation San Diego for seven years, under contract for the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta; he is the owner of a commercial/industrial lighting company in San Diego.  Currently he serves as the Secretary of the San Diego Youth Symphony and Conservatory, as a board member of The Old Globe Theatre, and of the Blachford-Cooper Foundation.

Mr. Blachford and Mr. Cooper reside in La Jolla, California.

Brondi Borer
After graduating from Cardozo Law School in Manhattan, Brondi Borer opened a family law and mediation practice. The focus of the practice was on gay family law issues such as donor insemination agreements, child support and co-parenting agreements, domestic partnership and dissolution agreements, and second parent adoptions. She represented many gay clients in litigated and mediated divorce actions. During this period in her professional life, Brondi came to understand some of the enormous challenges individuals and families face when a family member comes out and others are not financially and emotionally supportive. In 2001, Brondi shifted direction in her professional life and served as Vice President of the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), the self-regulatory body for the interactive software industry, until 2006. Since 1997, Brondi has also taught Family Law and Public Speaking in the Critical Thinking Department of Marymount Manhattan College in New York City. 

Brondi is married and is the mother of two college-age children.  

Diane J. Fuchs
Diane Fuchs has over twenty-six years of legal experience in the areas of employee benefits and executive compensation, and is now at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC.  She represents business entities, employers, executives, non-profit organizations and trade associations.  Diane is a recent past President of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel and continues to serve on its Board of Governors.  Diane is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell and has been selected as one of the Best Lawyers in America and as a Super Lawyer in the Washington, DC region.   Her pro bono work has included: Pro Bono Counsel to American Youth Understanding Diabetes Abroad, Inc., 1996-present; Member, Board of Directors, CrossCurrents Foundation, Inc., 2006-present; Member, Board of Directors, Washington Chamber Symphony, 1995-1998.  Diane graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Rutgers University and attended the London School of Economics before receiving her J.D. from Rutgers School of Law.
 

Mike Gleason and David Kettel
Mike Gleason, CIMC, has been in private wealth management for over twenty years, launching his career with Prudential and A.G. Edwards before joining Wells Fargo thirteen years ago, where he currently serves as a Private Client Advisor in the Wealth Management Group and has consistently ranked as one of the group's top twenty financial advisors. Together with his team, Mr. Gleason works with some of Los Angeles and New York's most prominent clients, coordinating and collaborating with other professionals and specialists within Wells Fargo to provide comprehensive solutions for businesses and foundations as well as individuals, with a commitment to maximize returns and minimize risk while preserving legacy and value. In his prior experience as a senior executive for United Parcel Service, Mr. Gleason developed and structured the company's expansion into Asia in the mid-1980s, and negotiated mergers and acquisitions for Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, while also spending five of his twelve years with the company living abroad in Hong Kong and Beijing. Mr. Gleason is professionally affiliated with the Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA) and has served as Vice-Chairman of the Hospice of Orange County.  He lives with his partner David Kettel in Los Angeles.

David A. Kettel, a partner at Venable, LLP, was educated at the University of California at Davis, from which he earned a B.A. degree in Economics in 1982, and Tulane University School of Law, where he was named a Maritime Scholar and from which he received his J.D. degree in 1985.  David practiced civil litigation in Los Angeles from 1985 until 2000, first as an associate and then as a partner at the Los Angeles office of Baker & Hostetler, a firm based in Cleveland, Ohio.  In private practice, David tried many cases to verdict and was the lead trial attorney for Long Beach Housing Development Company (“LBHDC”), wherein LBHDC prevailed at trial and on appeal, proving its tax exempt status, Long Beach Housing Development Company v. County of Los Angeles and State Board of Equalization, NC 019229. 

In 2000, David left private practice and became a Director at LRN, Inc., a leading provider of software solutions for corporate governance, ethics and compliance issues. 

David subsequently returned to the practice of law and, in 2002, joined the Criminal Division of the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.  As a federal prosecutor, David works with various federal agencies, including the FBI, IRS, DEA, ATF, Secret Service, and the Department of Homeland Security, and has investigated, prosecuted and tried numerous criminal cases, including matters involving bank fraud, identity theft, narcotics smuggling, child pornography, illegal alien smuggling, and bank robbery.  In 2003, David assisted the Secret Service in shutting down one of the largest false identification document factories in Los Angeles and prosecuting its principals.  U.S. v. Gary Vazquez, et al., CR 03-1260-SJO.  David has also argued successfully before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.   

David was born in New York and resides in the Hollywood Hills with his partner, Mike Gleason.  

Jeffrey S. Haber
Jeffrey Haber is a partner in the Los Angeles office of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker. Mr. Haber focuses his practice in land use and real estate development.  He has significant experience in all areas of entitlement law, transactional real estate, administrative law and lobbying, construction and architectural law, and political law.  Mr. Haber has represented museums, hospitals and motion picture studios, as well as commercial developers of office, hotel, retail, residential and mixed-use projects.  Mr. Haber is lead land use and real estate counsel for several public and private companies and entities including Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, The J. Paul Getty Trust, DreamWorks Animation, IAC, and Regent Properties.

Mr. Haber has hosted numerous political fund-raisers and is an active contributor to local charities.  He provides pro bono counsel to AIDS Project Los Angeles, and was Chair of the Board of Directors from 2001 through 2004.  He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Equality California.  He is a licensed California real estate broker and a registered lobbyist in the cities of Los Angeles and West Hollywood.  Mr. Haber received his J.D. from Yale Law School in 1987, and his B.A., magna cum laude, in English, from Yale University in 1984.

Laurie F. Hasencamp
Laurie Hasencamp spends most of her time on volunteer community service since she retired from law in 2002. In addition to being a member of the Williams Institute Founders Council and chair of the Williams Institute Legal Council, she is chair of the USC Law School Board of Councilors and a member of the boards of directors of Lambda Legal, GLSEN (effective Jan. 2009), The Serra Project (chair of the board; agency provides housing for homeless people with HIV/AIDS), and the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation. She is a 1985 graduate of USC Law School, and a 1980 graduate of Pomona College.

Laurie clerked for the Honorable Warren J. Ferguson, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit following law school. She then practiced bankruptcy law with Latham & Watkins and Irell & Manella before becoming a Legal Research Director and Director of Network of Legal Experts for LRN, the Legal Knowledge Company. She came out of retirement a few years ago to be the Interim Executive Director of The Serra Project, the Interim Managing Director of the Office of Development and Graduate Relations at USC Law School, and adjunct lecturer for a section of the USC Law School first year legal writing class. Before law school, she was an assistant operations officer at Lloyds Bank California. In 2008 she received a Women of Distinction award from USC as a community leader. She is married to Mike Lurey.  
 

Jim Hooker
Jim Hooker was born in 1937 in Abilene, Texas and graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1958. He co-founded Gibson Distributing Company in Odessa, Texas in 1964 and later co-founded Rendova Oil Company in Midland, Texas in 1972. In 1977, Jim moved to Los Angeles and began supporting Gay and Lesbian causes. Jim discovered the Williams Institute through a Google search in 2004, liked what he saw and became a major donor.

John McDonald and Rob Wright
John McDonald was born in Pennsylvania and raised in Los Angeles.  His education was entirely in California.  He received his BA in Geology from UCLA.  He was awarded a certificate from the Executive Program at the UCLA Graduate School of Business.  His J.D. was awarded by Western States University School of Law, and he is an inactive member of the California State Bar Association. 

In 1967, he joined Mullikin Medical Centers and became CEO of Mullikin Medical Enterprises (MME) during it’s expansion from Southern California to Northern California, Washington and Oregon.  In 1995, he negotiated the sale of MME to Caremark RX, an NYSE publicly traded company.

Rob Wright was born and raised in Denver.  He graduated from the School of Economics at the University of Colorado in Boulder during which time he worked as a ski patrolman in Vail, Colorado.  He joined the microfilm division of 3M Co in 1972 and was transferred to Los Angeles in 1973.  He was a partner at Irwin-Wright Advertising for many years until joining Fred Sands Realtors. 

John and Rob met in 1982 through mutual friends and lived in the Los Feliz area until 1995.  Together, they soon became active in supporting the Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center of Los Angeles.  In 1996, they moved to Beaver Creek, Colorado where they continue to live a very social and active lifestyle of skiing, hiking and biking. 

They are involved in local and national charitable giving and support the Vail Valley performing arts community through various local foundations.  Their primary thrust in philanthropy is seeking full and equal rights for all minorities including the gay and lesbian community.  To this end, they support numerous charitable organizations, but are keenly interested and involved in the work done by the Williams Institute. 
 

Tom is the author of many scholarly and professional articles and a frequent speaker on a variety of environmental law topics. Since 1997, Mr. Mounteer has been an adjunct professor in the masters in environmental law program at George Washington University Law School, where he earned both his law degree and masters in environmental law.

The sixth of seven children born in Albany, New York, Tom moved to Washington in 1982, where he met his life partner, George Farrah, in 1987. Tom also serves on the board of directors of the Federal City Performing Arts Association, the parent organization of the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington.
 

Todd Sears
Todd Sears is a Director and Head of Americas Diversity & Inclusion at Credit Suisse, with responsibility for the firm’s diversity strategy and implementation across investment banking, private banking, asset management, shared services and IT. Todd joined Credit Suisse from Merrill Lynch, where he worked for eight years, having served as Head of Strategic Initiatives and Best Practices and a Divisional Diversity Manager for the Global Wealth Management business. As Head of Strategic Initiatives and Best Practices, he was responsible for implementing US strategies to increase both headcount and revenue from diverse financial advisors, ultimately contributing to revenue growth of 21.2% from those advisors in 2007. He also increased the net diverse financial advisor headcount by 5.6% during the same year. Prior to his role in Diversity, he was a Senior Financial Advisor in Merrill’s Global Wealth Management Group, ranking in First Quintile of ML advisors for 16 consecutive quarters. In addition, Todd established and led a national team of financial advisors focused on the financial planning needs of the LGBT community, the first on Wall Street.

Prior to Merrill Lynch, Todd worked in investment banking at DeSilvia & Phillips LLC, a mergers & acquisitions firm and Schroders & Co, the UK investment bank.

In the LGBT community, Todd has been a member of: the Lambda Legal National Leadership Council, the Williams Institute Founders Council, the NY GLAAD Leadership Council, the Lambda Legal Planned Giving Council, the Out & Equal New York Regional Council and the NY LGBT Center’s Corporate Council. He is also a co-founder and co-chair of Jeffrey FashionCares, which has raised over $1.5mm for LGBT causes. Todd is a graduate of Duke University. Todd and his partner, Chris Garvin, live in Manhattan.
 

Harvey S. Shipley Miller, Esq.
Harvey has a long and distinguished history as scholar, entrepreneur, art collector and philanthropist. Harvey received his BA from Swarthmore College and his JD from Harvard University, where he also pursued graduate coursework in Art History. After founding pharmaceutical companies, Harvey has made philanthropy and foundation participation one of his highest priorities.

Of the many associations Harvey has had with a myriad of foundations, some more recent are: Trustee, The Museum of Modern Art; Trustee, Philadelphia Museum of Modern Art; Treasurer, University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing, The Arcadia Foundation; Secretary, Milton and Sally Avery Arts Foundation; sole Trustee, The Judith Rothschild Foundation; Trustee's Council, National Gallery of Art; Board of Directors, American Patrons of the Tate Gallery, London; Photography Accessions Committee, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Charter Member, The Drawings Group, Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Art; Fellow, The College of Physicians of Philadelphia; Advisory Board, The Highlands Historical Society; Fellow, The Pierpont Morgan Library; Trustee Emeritus, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; Trustee, Arcadia University.

Among his many philanthropic endeavors, Harvey has also published several pieces.  A few selections are Milton Avery: Drawings and Paintings, 1976; Its About Time, 1979; New Spaces: Exploring the Aesthetic Dimensions of Holography, 1979; co-author: Rapid Inactivation of Infectious Pathogens by Chlorexidine-coated Gloves, 1992.

In June of 2002 Harvey became the first non-Russian to receive a "Diploma of Merit" from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation in St. Petersburg.


Stu Walter
Stu Walter has enjoyed two very diverse careers, that of a Contractor and a Controller.  While living in Pennsylvania, he was a contractor involved in numerous distinguished projects.  After his return to California, Stu has served as the Controller of Aids Research Alliance of America. Stu also serves as Secretary/Treasurer of the Big Rock Mesas Property Owners Association.

Stu is an avid sailor and traveler.

 

Charles R. Williams
Mr. Williams is the President of Williams & Associates and received his B.A. and M.B.A. from UCLA. Until 1985, Mr. Williams worked as a senior executive for Sperry Corporation, where he held several positions, including Vice President for Strategic and Business Planning and Vice President and General Manager for Worldwide Operations. Most recently, he has taught business courses in policy and strategy and consults in this area. Mr. Williams is currently a board member of the UCLA Foundation, as well as a member of the Gill Foundation's OutGiving Advisory Committee.

Mr. Williams has been recognized by various LGBT organizations and publications. In 2002, the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association honored him with their Co-President's Award, and OUT magazine named him one of their "Out 100" in the December issue. In October 2003, the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center presented Williams with its Board of Directors Award.

Mr. Williams' inaugural donation of $2.5 million to create the Williams Institute is the largest donation ever given to any academic institution in support of a gay and lesbian academic program in any discipline. As the institute has grown, Mr. Williams has given over $11 million to support the organization's programs. Because of his generosity and support, the Institute has impacted policy throughout the country on important LGBT issues.