Celebrating Citizen - International Visitors Council of Los Angeles

A publication of the International Visitors Council of Los Angeles
Winter/Spring 2008
Volume 25 Number 1
From the
DIRECTOR’S CHAIR
Celebrating Citizen
IVCLA Honors
City National Bank
2008 moves from the winter
A smonths
into spring, there is no
doubt this is a year of change.
Elections show how we peacefully
change from one president to
another, one senator to another, one
mayor to another. From the national
to the local level IVCLA will be busy
this year arranging programming to
share our election process with
emerging leaders from all over the
world.
This is also a year of change for the
IVCLA board of directors who are
implementing new plans to inform
more people and organizations about
our work and raising much needed
capital to continue our important
programs.
With our vision to create a world of
peace and prosperity - we work for
change in the world through Citizen
Diplomacy. The cultural, educational
and professional programs we
arrange facilitate dialogue between
emerging international leaders and
the people of Los Angeles. Visit
www.ivcla.org to see how your
contributions will help us keep the
communication flowing.
Janet Elliott
Executive Director
The International Visitors Council of
Los Angeles was pleased to host its
Annual Citizen Diplomacy Celebration
at the home of Larry and Clara Yust in
Hancock Park. The beautiful garden of
the Tuscan-inspired villa was the
perfect setting for the afternoon
luncheon and award ceremony.
Elga Sharpe, City of Los Angeles Chief of
Protocol honors Dick Dommes with a
commendation for his Outstanding Citizen
Diplomacy.
IVCLA Board Chair Wafa Hoballah
presents the Outstanding Citizen
Diplomat Award for Community Outreach
to Jane E. Arellano.
City National Bank was recognized as
the 2007 Outstanding Resource.
IVCLA was proud to acknowledge their
outstanding role in the L.A. business
community. IVCLA Board Member
Eileen Sanchez, Vice President City
National Bank’s International Banking
Services, and other senior bank
officials have taken time during the
year to share their expertise with
IVCLA International Visitors on such
important topics as safe and secure
business practices. Mark Mayers, Sr.
Vice President and Manager of
International Banking Services,
accepted the award.
Dommes and
Arellano Receive
IVCLA Citizen
D i p l o m a t Aw a r d s
IVCLA was proud to honor long-time
IVCLA volunteer Dick Dommes with
the 2007 Outstanding Citizen
Diplomat Award. Dick began
volunteering with IVCLA more than
twenty years ago and has been a
valuable part of the organization ever
since. Each week he comes to the
Mark Mayers of City National Bank accepts
commendation for outstanding program
support from Lourdes Saab, County of Los
Angeles Deputy Chief of Protocol.
INTERNATIONAL VISITOR
Page 2
Winter 2008
Citizen Diplomacy Celebration
WELCOME - IVCLA board members Alan Kumamoto and Kevin Roach welcome participants of the International Visitor Leadership
Program from Southeast Asia to the afternoon festivities. While in Los Angeles the visitors met with their professional counterparts at
USC Center on Public Diplomacy, UCLA Burke Center for International Relations, and the Council on American Islamic
Relations to discuss U.S. Foreign Policy. Participants were individually selected by the U.S. Embassies in their home countries of
Australia, Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and
“Friendship is the only cement that
will ever hold the world together.”
- President
Woodrow Wilson
(l to r) IVCLA Members Debbie & Paul
Supnik , IVCLA Board Member Rodney
Punt, and Ruth Punt share the beautiful
Retiring board member Lanie Denslow
and newly elected board member
Dwayne Gathers enjoy the afternoon
festivities. The Annual Citizen
Diplomacy Celebration is the official
time when new directors are elected to
the board and those who have served
their maximum term retire. Sandra
Jones Anderson, Ruben Arenas and
Mike Navarro also retired from the
board. John Richardson and Hud
Warren were also elected to the board
at the celebration (see page six.)
Eileen Sanchez, IVCLA Board Member
and City National Bank V.P. International
Banking Dept. (standing left) enjoys the
sunny afternoon with colleagues Mike
Mayers, V.P. and Mgr International
Banking Services (center); Tom Burr,
Senior V.P. and other International
Banking Dept. representatives
Norman Arikawa with the Port of L.A. (left)
and IVCLA Board Member Bruce Ishimatsu
(center) welcome Takashi Kohwo from
Japan.
Page 3
INTERNATIONAL VISITOR
Winter 2008
Citizen Diplomacy
in Action
Thank you to the following donors for making IVCLA’s 2007 Citizen Diplomacy
Celebration a great success! Their generosity enables the continuation of our
work to increase international understanding and cooperation.
Antelope Valley Winery
Arthur Murray Dance Studio
Aquarium of the Pacific
Be Present
Bed Bath & Beyond
Chronicle Books
Consulate General of Belgium
Consulate General of Croatia
Consulate General of Germany
Consulate General of Italy
Consulate General of Portugal
Consulate General of The Netherlands
Courtyard by Marriot - Old Pasadena
Doubletree Guest Suites - Santa Monica
Dwayne Gathers
Exhale MindBodySpa
Fogo de Chao
Ford Amphitheater
Georgeanne Irvine
Ginger & John Barnard
Hilton Checkers Los Angeles
Industry Hills Golf Club
Jale Kutay
Janet Elliott
Jerry Silva
JetBlue Airways
John Cassese “The Dance Doctor”
LACMA – Los Angeles County
Museum of Art
LA Inc, the Convention and Visitors
Bureau
LA Opera
Laugh Factory
Lobster Restaurant
Long Beach Museum of Art
Madre’s Restaurant
Malibu Paragliding
Manduka, Inc.
Mattel, Inc.
MOCA – Museum of Contemporary Art
Omni Los Angeles Hotel
Ontario Int’l Marketing Centre
Palm Restaurant
Pacific Asia Museum
Pacific Park
Paradise Cove Beach Cafe
Paramount Pictures
Pasadena Playhouse
Pasadena Symphony Orchestra
Perry’s Café & Rentals
Port of Los Angeles
Queen Mary /Russian Scorpion
Submarine
Rodney Punt
Sandra Jones Anderson
Santa Anita Park
Starbuck’s
Sunset Ranch Hollywood
The Huntington Library, Art Collection
& Botanical Gardens
Toby & Mike Navarro
Tommy Bahama Rum
Universal Studios
Warner Bros.
Wicked
YogaWorks
African Studies scholars from China join
their IVCLA home hospitality host Sheldon
Shapiro (center) donning his gift of UCLA
caps. In order to remain completely nonpartisan, he makes sure the Trojans are
also aptly represented.
“You welcomed a stranger and
sent home a friend.”
- Madura M. Chatrapathy,
IVLP alumna from India
Thank you to the following restaurants for their generous donations to the
Year of International Dining Drawing.
ASIA LOS FELIZ
Atwater Village
LOCANDA DEL LAGO
Santa Monica
CAFÉ DU VILLAGE
Larchmont Village
MESSOB
CHAN DARA
Larchmont Village
SUNNIN
CHEZ MIMI
Santa Monica
TIBET NEPAL HOUSE
Pasadena
CRYSTAL
West Hollywood
TROPICALIA
Los Feliz
ELECTRIC KARMA
West Los Angeles
YE OLDE KING’S HEAD
Santa Monica
Fairfax District
Long Beach
U.K. visitor Mohammad Abdi Danbarani
(left) joins David Palmer with Paramount
Pictures who showed him around the Los
Angeles area. Mr. Danbarani is a freelance
film critic for BBC Persian in London. He
was participating in the International Visitor
Leadership Program on a project
examining the role of arts and culture in
American society.
Page 4
IVCLA Welcomes
New Staff Members
(l to r) Helen Paul, Membership & Special
Events Coordinator; Kim Ngoc Le,
Program Officer and Afia Khan, Program
Assistant joined the IVCLA team in 2007.
A New Generation
of
IVCLA held a well attended Summit on
The Role of Youth in Citizen Diplomacy in
collaboration with the USC Center on
Public Diplomacy and Manual Arts High
School Global Studies Program.
Panelists Dr. Condessa Curley, Director
of Project Global Africa; Peter Kovach,
U.S. Diplomat in Residence at UCLA;
Carrie Walters, Pickering Fellow & USC
Master of Public Diplomacy Candidate;
and Zunaid Mansoor, Fulbright student
from South Africa addressed the
importance of cultural exchange in
creating a more peaceful world.
The purpose of the summit was to
encourage youth to be more interested,
aware and involved in international issues.
INVOLVOING YOUTH - Project Global
Africa Director Dr. Condessa Curley
receives a check representing the funds
raised by Hamilton High School students
to purchase a cow for an orphanage in
Swaziland, Africa.
INTERNATIONAL VISITOR
Winter 2008
KEEPING
IVCLA is committed to creating a
world of peace and prosperity
through the exchange of ideas
between the people of L.A. and
people of other nations. This work
would not be possible without the
dedication of L.A. professionals who
take time to meet with IVCLA
International Visitors and share their
wealth of knowledge. During these
exchanges the visitors gain an
understanding about the issues L.A.
area organizations and businesses
are tackling. Local participants learn
first-hand about issues in the visitors’
countries. Hopefully the connections
do not end with the initial meeting,
but continue to form beneficial
collaborations.
THE
The Institute on
Religion and
Civic Values
(IRCV) is a
valuable resource
for IVCLA . Since
1993, IVCLA has
arranged
meetings for
nearly 900 visitors from over 120
countries with IRVC.
A group of six Korean visitors came
to L.A. in October 2007 on an U. S.
Dept. of State sponsored
International Visitor Leadership
Program to examine Civic Education
in the U.S. One of their meetings
was with Dan Alba, Director of
Facing History and Ourselves. Not
long after their meeting Mr. Alba
received an email from one of the
visitors indicating future plans to
connect with his organization. He
writes to IVCLA “they are very
excited to send some of their
[Korean] educators to our summer
seminars.” The visitors shared with
the Public Affairs staff at the U.S.
Embassy in Seoul that the program
was “far beyond their expectations.”
Their position as a recognized
national leader conducting nonpartisan research on the role of
religion in contemporary society has
served as a change agent for many
visitors’ ideas on religion in the U.S.
Such was the case when Mohammed
Abdul Aziz from the U.K., then CEO of
the British Muslim Research Centre
visited the Institute. Mr. Aziz
appreciated IRCV's non-advocacy
approach to policy change, and
expertise on religious freedom for
Muslims in the U.S. context. When
Shabbir Mansuri, Founding Director
of IRCV, traveled to England in Nov.
2007 Mr. Aziz facilitated meetings
with British government-supported
agencies, think tanks, independent
organizations, and community groups.
Collectively these meetings provided
a solid understanding of British
Muslim experiences, governmental
practices, and related issues. IRCV is
planning future collaborative efforts to
dramatically improve dialogue around
the world.
In April 2006 IVCLA arranged
professional meetings for Jose Luis
Scotto, President of Junior Chamber
International in Bolivia for his
program on Drug Control Policy in
the U.S. He became inspired when
he met with the BEST Foundation,
and learned about their Project Alert
program, a substance abuse
prevention curriculum for middle
school students. Upon returning to
Bolivia, he decided to launch a pilot
Project Alert in Santa Cruz de la
Sierra in Eastern Bolivia modeled
after the program in L.A.
Qobol Mohammed Almutawakel from
Yemen, who came to L.A. in 2004 to
discuss Youth Leadership recently
crossed paths with former Kansas
City International Visitors Council
Program Officer Natalie Patrick while
studying at the London School of
Economics. Ms. Almutawakel writes
"the program was the turning point in
my career and it has framed
everything I have done since then.”
She was especially taken with the
volunteerism and community activities
in the U.S.
INTERNATIONAL VISITOR
Winter 2008
Page 5
18th Annual Fulbright Luncheon
For the 18th year Dr. and Mrs. Amarjit
Marwah graciously hosted over 100
IVCLA members and guests at their
Malibu ranch home for the Annual
Fulbright Luncheon. The guests of
honor were the Fulbright Scholarship
students, who come from all over the
world to attend universities throughout
the Los Angeles area. The students
were welcomed by IVCLA members,
guests and Consular Corps officials.
Guests enjoyed traditional Indian fare
while they made new friends and
connections. We were thankful the wild
fires spreading throughout Malibu and
other parts of southern California
spared the Marwah’s beautiful home.
We thank them for their continued
dedication to Citizen Diplomacy
Outstanding Citizen
Diplomats
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
AT FULBRIGHT EVENT — (l to r) IVCLA Board Member Dwayne Gathers; Jennifer Gardner,
Personal Assistant to the British Consul General; Dr. Amarjit Marwah; IVCLA Board Chair Wafa
Hoballah; IVCLA Board Member John Richardson; IVCLA Executive Director Janet Elliott; Jan
Ippolito; and Andrew Ippolito, Honorary Consul General of Liberia enjoy the afternoon festivities.
BUILDING PROFESSIONAL
R E L AT I O N S H I P S W I T H E M E R G I N G
IVCLA office to arrange home
hospitality opportunities for them with
visitors from around the world.
Jane E. Arellano, District Director, U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services,
received the 2007 IVCLA Outstanding
Citizen Diplomat Award for Community
Outreach.
Her tireless work in spearheading
outreach activities into immigrant
communities has made her highly
accessible and respected. IVCLA was
proud to recognize an individual who
truly goes far beyond the call of duty.
Guests enjoyed the eclectic sounds of
live jazz as they sipped mojitos from the
Tommy Bahama Rum bar and
international wines donated by the
Consuls General of Germany, Italy,
New Zealand, Argentina, France,
Portugal, Romania, Ontario International Marketing Centre and Rio
Joe’s Wines of Brazil. They also bid
on a wide variety of silent auction items
donated by friends of IVCLA (see page 3).
Participants from Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, Pakistan and Qatar met
with IVCLA Board Member Dr. Haifa
Azawi (second from left) at New
Woman Medical Center as part of
their program to explore Women’s
Health Issues in the United States.
Tom LaBonge, Councilman for the 4th
Dist. (center) greets IVCLA Visitors
from Korea in L.A. City Hall Council
Chambers. The visitors were
participants in the International Visitor
Leadership Program on Journalism in
the United States.
INCLUDE IVCLA IN YOUR PLANNED GIVING
Although many of the international visitors for whom IVCLA provides
programming are sponsored by the U.S. Dept of State, only a small part of our
budget comes from federal government grants. IVCLA relies on funding from
our local sponsors and members to continue our work. Please consider
including IVCLA in your estate planning and ask your accountant about the taxfree direct IRA charitable contribution provision. IVCLA is a 501 (c) 3
organization, all donations are tax deductible.
INTERNATIONAL VISITOR
Page 6
Winter 2008
NEW DIRECTORS JOIN 2008 BOARD
IVCLA is honored to welcome the newly elected directors to the Board
Dwayne Gathers serves
as Regional Manager for
the Los Angeles Economic
Development Corporation
(LAEDC). Prior to joining
the LAEDC, Dwayne
developed an extensive
background in
international business
development, trade and investment
facilitation, and foreign affairs. He opened
and managed the State of California’s Office
of Trade and Investment in Johannesburg,
South Africa from 1995 to 2000. Previously,
he was a senior staff member at the US
Department of State in Washington, DC
having served as Special Assistant to the
Assistant Secretary for African Affairs.
Dr. John V. Richardson
Jr. is Professor of
Information Studies at
UCLA and from 20022007 served a five-year
term as Associate Dean
in UCLA’s Graduate
Division. He received his
B.A. from Ohio State
University, his M.L.S from Vanderbilt
University and his PhD. from Indiana
University. During his time at UCLA he
has served as Chair of the Graduate
Council and Chair of the Privilege and
Tenure Committee. He serves on the
National Postdoctoral Association’s
International Postdoc Committee and
consults with the U.S. Department of State
matters of national security with developing
Hud Warren is cofounder of China West
LLC, providing services
facilitating international
trade and cultural
ventures. The mission of
China West is to bring
together businesses and
cultural opportunities to
and from Asia, the United States and the
world. Mr. Warren has more than 30 years
experience in the international logistics
arena. He previously served as Vice
President of Global Distribution &
Transportation at a multi-billion dollar
multinational corporation where he
successfully built a global network to serve
the company’s distributors in over 60
countries.
RECOGNINZING DEDICATED SERVICE
During the Annual Citizen Diplomacy Celebration IVCLA recognized Sandra Jones Anderson, Ruben Arenas, Lanie Denslow and
Mike Navarro as they retired from the board after serving two three-year terms. Their dedication to IVCLA’s mission is greatly
appreciated and we look forward to our continuing relationship with these outstanding individuals.
IVCLA Board of Directors
Honorary Chairs
Antonio Villaraigosa
Mayor, City of Los Angeles
Treasurer
Kevin Roach
Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP
Zev Yaroslavsky
Chairman,
L.A. County Board of
Supervisors
Ginger Barnard
Protocol Officers Association
Chair
Wafa Hoballah
WJH Law Offices
Dr. Mathias Fobi
Center for Surgical Treatment
of Obesity
Tri-City Regional Medical
Center
President
Andrew Leeka
Good Samaritan Hospital
Joshua S. Fouts
USC Center on Public
Diplomacy
Vice Presidents
Alan Kumamoto
Kumamoto Associates
Dwayne Gathers
Los Angeles Economic
Development Corporation
Cecile V. Munoz
U.S. Executive Search
Bruce Ishimatsu
Loeb & Loeb LLP
William Jerry Silva
Southern California Edison
Cyrus K. Mostofi
Cyrus K. Mostofi Financial and
Taxation Services
Secretary
Dr. Haifa Azawi
New Woman Medical Care
John Richardson Jr.
UCLA
Graduate School of Education
& Information Studies
INTERNATIONAL VISITORS
NON-PROFIT ORG.
COUNCIL OF LOS ANGELES
U.S. POSTAGE
520 South Grand Avenue, Suite 680
Los Angeles, CA 90071
Lourdes Saab
Los Angeles Office of Protocol
PAID
LOS ANGELES,CA
Eileen Sanchez
City National Bank
Madeline D. Valencia Sell
Wells Fargo Bank
Elga A. Sharpe
Office of the Mayor
Robert James Skousen
Skousen & Skousen
Sasha Talbert
CT Corsearch
Hud Warren
ChinaWest LLC
Rodney Lee Punt
Pacific Arts — L.A.
Ambassadors
Marie Tesoro-Fermin
Mark Liberman
Marc Soloman
Ontario International Airport
L.A. Inc.
Warner Bros.
Janet Elliott
Executive Director
Kim Ngoc Le
Program Officer
Ho Lo
Accounting Manager
Los Angeles, CA 90071. IVCLA is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization. Partial funding
comes from the U.S. Dept. of State, the County of Los Angeles and the City of Los Angeles.
Helen Paul
Membership & Special
Events Coordinator
Afia Khan
Program Assistant
Svetlana Romashkova
Community Connections
Consultant
IVCLA is a member of the National Council of International Visitors (NCIV).
Staff
Published by the International Visitors Council of Los Angeles, 520 South Grand Ave., Suite 680,
Phone: 213-622-6835 Fax: 213-622-1342 E-mail: [email protected] Web site: www.ivcla.org