Michael Dawson | Board President
Michael is a private dealer and appraiser specializing in rare books and fine art photography, including historical photographs of California and the Southwest. Michael has written widely on photography and has owned and operated his own gallery as well as the celebrated Dawson's Books Shop in Los Angeles–a business established by his grandfather in 1905. He is a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America, the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, and the Association of International Photography Art Dealers.
Sharon Graves | Board Vice President
Sharon is the founder/proprietor of two noted culinary ventures, BLVD Kitchen and Mom in the Mail. Before taking the leap into the world of virtual cookies and local shop-keeping, Sharon was VP of Operations at Phorus, the wireless audio division of DTS, Inc. Prior to the formation of Phorus and its sale to DTS, Sharon was a Venture Partner with Ascend Ventures. Sharon also served as CEO of PhatNoise, a digital audio company, where she was instrumental in raising $6 million of venture capital and successfully selling the company to Harman International. She was a Principal at the boutique merchant-banking firm Metier Capital Group, working directly on investments with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and GEICO Insurance, among others. She began her career working with Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York. Sharon has served on the boards of several not-for-profit organizations in Los Angeles, where she currently lives with her husband.
Michael Hawley | Board Secretary
Michael has a background in the fields of publishing, film and online media. He has been creating content for the Internet since the mid-1990s, from People Magazine Online to e-commerce sites. He currently creates websites for major studio films. Michael was raised outside the United States in Australia, Asia, Europe, South America and the Middle East and is a graduate of Stanford University. His eclectic photography collection has been growing since the early 1990s. Currently, Michael is the head of the Photographs Council at the J. Paul Getty Museum.
Jeanne McConnell | Board Treasurer
Jeanne has been a business lawyer with an emphasis on finance for over 25 years. She has volunteered and held leadership positions at various non-profits in Los Angeles. She and her husband Mack are enthusiastic members of PAC and its photographic arts programming.
Alex Fierro
Alex is a fine art specialist and auctioneer at Los Angeles Modern Auctions. Prior to joining LAMA, she was the Director of Robert Berman Gallery and Santa Monica Auctions. Over the past year, she has proudly developed the first photo-based auctions for her company, which is now expanding from its LAMA home base to also being offered via Rago. Concurrent with the photo-based auctions, she also fostered their first LGBTQ+ sale titled “LOUD + PROUD: LGBTQ+ Art.” Her professional focus is to elevate, celebrate and share discoveries with anyone – art should be shared and available for all to enjoy.
Arpad Kovacs
Arpad (Arpi) is an Assistant Curator of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum. His exhibitions have focused on 20th-century and contemporary photography, with a specific interest in conceptual practices and time-based media. A graduate of Queen's University and York University, Arpad arrived at the Getty Museum in 2011. He organized the monographic exhibitions Hiroshi Sugimoto: Past Tense (2014), Werner Herzog: Hearsay of the Soul (2014), and Richard Learoyd: In the Studio (2016). His thematic shows include In Focus: Play (2014), In Focus: Animalia (2015), Breaking News: Turning the Lens on Mass Media (2016), Mapping Space: Recent Acquisitions in Focus (2019), Encore: Reenactment in Contemporary Photography (2019), and In Focus: Platinum Photographs (2020).
Eveleen Samayoa
Eveleen has close to 15 years of fundraising experience for arts institutions throughout Southern California including the Music Center and the California Museum of Photography. She has a passion for visual and performing arts with a special interest in photography. She currently oversees major gift fundraising for the arts at the University of California, Riverside.
Leslie Rubinoff
Leslie has been advising art collectors for the past 12 years. Paying particular attention to the personalized nature of art acquisition, she has helped build collections from the ground up as well as supplemented the collections of more seasoned collectors. Leslie has also worked with galleries, websites and magazines in various creative capacities. Throughout her career she has been an ardent supporter of the arts as well as numerous charitable organizations. Leslie and her husband have been focusing their recent efforts on expanding their collection of sculptural and emerging art.
Molly Morgan
Molly grew up in Michigan and has called Santa Monica home for the past sixteen years. She and her husband, Jaison Morgan have two children – Coco and Bodhi.
Molly is a twenty-five year veteran of JPMorgan and a Managing Director in JPMorgan’s Los Angeles Private Bank. Prior to joining the Private Bank in Los Angeles thirteen years ago, she spent twelve years in corporate banking in Chicago and Los Angeles and four years with a marketing communications firm in Paris. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and French from Duke University and a master’s degree with a concentration in finance from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Molly is a board member of Blue Ribbon and a former trustee of the Art Center College of Design and the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation.
Ruth Berliner
Ruth is a Greek-American who was raised in Los Angeles. Berliner began her working life in the field of interior design. However, she later transitioned to CFO of Berliner Photography and BE Images, which she co-owned and operated with her husband, Alan. The firm primarily serviced the entertainment industry by specializing in all facets of celebrity and event photography.
Ruth and Alan have been collecting photography since the early 1980's.
Past Board Members
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