Seven New Trustees Join the UC San Diego Foundation Board

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Proactive stewards, higher education advocates and expert financial strategists, UC San Diego Foundation trustees play an important role in cultivating community partnerships and garnering resources to support UC San Diego research, teaching and public service initiatives. Trustees govern the Foundation, including managing net assets totaling $715 million, including an endowment of approximately $513 million, and help advance the university’s fundraising efforts. Seven trustees join the 2014-15 Foundation board this year, three new and four returning, including regional business executives, philanthropists, law professionals and alumni.

UC San Diego raised approximately $148 million in private support during fiscal year 2014, including gift and private grants made to both the Foundation and the campus directly.

“Our UC San Diego Foundation trustees are a driving force behind the strategic and sustainable flow of private support to UC San Diego,” said Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla. “We are proud to welcome this year’s new trustees, whose devoted engagement enables us to expand opportunities, strengthen programming and ensure our campus continues to grow.”

With the addition of the new trustees, more than a third of the 41-member board is now comprised of UC San Diego alumni, including Peter Preuss, ’67, the first alumni chair of the Foundation who is serving a third year as Chair of the Board. Vice Chancellor of Advancement Steve Gamer is the ongoing President.

“I look forward to partnering with our dedicated volunteer leaders whose expertise will strengthen UC San Diego’s fundraising initiatives as we begin to prepare for the next comprehensive campaign,” said Gamer. “It is heartening to see the active role our alumni are taking in shaping the future of UC San Diego as committed campus leaders.”

This year’s incoming trustees include:

• Darcy Bingham, Co-Founder of San Diego Social Venture Partners and SVP International

Returning to the board this year, Darcy Bingham has been actively involved at UC San Diego nearly two decades. A former staff member and honorary alumna, Bingham has served as chair of the system-wide Council of UC Staff Assemblies and president of the UC San Diego Staff Association; has co-chaired the Triton 5K for over 15 years; and is a member of UC San Diego Town & Gown—a campus community engagement group that supports student scholarships. A Chancellor’s Associate, Bingham and her husband have established several undergraduate scholarships to support UC San Diego students who are working their way through college.

• Jerrilyn Malana, ’86, Employment Law Attorney and Shareholder, Littler Mendelson, P.C.

President of the UC San Diego Alumni Association, Jerrilyn Malana joins the UC San Diego Foundation board this year. “I am proud to serve in this dual capacity and represent our 160,000 alumni around the world,” said Malana, a UC San Diego Marshall College alumna who studied psychology. An attorney specializing in employment-related litigation, Malana has served as president of the San Diego County Bar Association—the region's oldest and largest law-related organization. She also volunteers in the community and mentors students and young professionals.

• Matt Newsome, ’91, Vice President and Regional Director of Cubic Transportation Systems

A UC San Diego Alumni Board of Directors executive committee member and immediate past President of the Alumni Association, Matt Newsome returns to the UC San Diego Foundation Board this year. A UC San Diego Revelle College mechanical engineering alumnus, Newsome has fostered a partnership between Cubic Transportations Systems and the Jacobs School of Engineering and works to strengthen connections between the university and alumni. “I had some of the best times of my life as a student at UC San Diego,” said Newsome. “I have continued to be engaged for many reasons—the students, the faculty, the research, the cause and the thrill.”

• Matthew Peterson, Attorney, Peterson & Price

Born and raised in San Diego, Matthew Peterson specializes in land use and municipal development law. He has lectured at UC San Diego and other regional universities as well as taught courses on urban planning law at UC San Diego Extension. An active advocate for children’s rights issues, he regularly supports Rady Children’s Hospital and volunteers weekly in the acute care division. Peterson has also served as co-chair of the Metro San Diego Political Policies Committee and currently is a member of the board of the La Jolla Community Foundation.

• Leo Spiegel, ’83, Managing Partner at Mission Ventures and Senior Vice President of Strategy and Corporate Development at Pivotal

Leo Spiegel launched his first company, LAN Systems, as an undergraduate at UC San Diego. A UC San Diego Revelle College management science alumnus, Spiegel is a member of the Rady School of Management’s Dean’s Advisory Council and returns this year to the UC San Diego Foundation Board as the Chair of the Development Committee. “When I think back 20-plus years, I am in awe of what this university has been able to accomplish,” said Spiegel. “UC San Diego is never willing to accept being average. I respect and admire that.”

• Jerome Swartz, Co-Founder and Former Chairman and Chief Scientist of Symbol Technologies, Inc.

A leading expert in electro-optics, laser systems and optical design, Jerome Swartz, Ph.D., returns to the UC San Diego Foundation Board this year. Swartz is credited with more than 200 U.S. patents, including the first handheld barcode laser scanner and the development of the portable shopper self-checkout system. A generous university benefactor, he funded the Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience at UC San Diego to investigate how the brain functionally supports human awareness, interaction and creativity.

• Sandra Timmons, ’81, former producer at KPBS-TV

Sandra Timmons and her husband have supported UC San Diego for more than 25 years—from setting up an endowed graduate fellowship fund to regularly supporting the Chancellor’s Associates Scholars program. “We truly believe access to UC San Diego gives access to the American dream,” said Timmons, a UC San Diego Revelle College psychology alumna. “We support this process by helping those who are qualified but don’t have the means to attend this world-class university.”