Board and Staff 2022 - Palos Verdes Peninsula Village

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Monique Sugimoto, Chair

Monique Leahy Sugimoto grew up mostly in El Paso Texas and lives in Palos Verdes Estates with her husband Haru. She studied at the University of Texas at Austin. After teaching French in Texas and English in Japan, she was involved with research and software development in natural language. She continued graduate school at UCLA. Since 2012 she has been the archivist and Local History librarian with the Palos Verdes Library District. She learned about PVP Village at the initial information meeting that was held at the Library and has been following the progress ever since.

Maria Ashla, Vice-Chair

Maria Ashla moved to the Peninsula in 1994 to be near her children and grandchildren. She had recently retired from Children's Hospital Los Angeles where she held the position of Clinical Laboratories Administrative Director. Maria has a bachelor's degree in Biology from Immaculate Heart College and two Master's Degrees in Educations and Health Care Management. Upon arriving in the Peninsula, she became active in the Palos Verdes branch of AAUW and assumed several leadership positions including two terms as Chair. In 2014 Sherry May, the Village Founder, introduced the Village Concept as a potential AAUW project and Maria joined the effort. She has been involved in the PVP Village ever since.

Francine Hwang, Director

Francine Hwang, a native of Boston, Massachusetts, moved to the South Bay in 2004. After two decades of experience in sales and marketing, Francine in 2020 discovered her true passion: elder care.
As the former Director of Community Outreach for a local in-home care agency, Francine established a strong network of professionals and aided countless families. Motivated by the need to address staffing shortages, she founded FrannyCares, a modern solution that matches caregivers and employers.

Through FrannyCares, Francine has facilitated efficient hiring for various organizations, including assisted living facilities, in-home care agencies and skilled nursing facilities. She is a respected speaker dedicated to making a difference in the elder care industry.

Beyond her professional endeavors, Francine finds joy in hiking, cooking, traveling with her husband, and tackling the latest New York Times Crossword puzzles.

Larry Vanden Bos, Treasurer

As a longtime resident of the Peninsula Larry has assumed high level civil responsibilities. He was a Governing Member of the PVP Unified School District and Planning Commissioner and Parks & Activities Commissioner of the city of Rolling Hills Estates. He was also AYSO Coach, Referee and Regional Commissioner.
Larry attended PVP schools from the elementary level thorough High School, graduated from UC San Diego and obtained Juris Doctor and MBA degrees from USC. He began his career at O'Melveny & Meyers and moved on to Air America where he was VP of Sales and Marketing and General Counsel. He then assumed control of a family-run business. Currently, he is Vice President and General Manager at Rose & Shore where he manages sales, marketing, strategic planning and production.

Ann Steiner, Secretary

Ann is a native southern Californian who moved to PVE in 1956. After attending Palos Verdes schools, she attended UC Davis, where she earned BS and MS degrees. She then earned a DMD degree at the University of Florida and spent 10 years in private practice in Central Florida, where she met her husband, Tom.
Ann’s interest in Gerontology and desire to be closer to her parents led to her move back to California in 1990. She completed a Fellowship program in Geriatrics for Dentists at the VA Medical Center in Loma Linda, and an MPH from Loma Linda University. She stayed with the VA until she retired.
Following the deaths of her husband and mother, Ann returned to PVE to live with her father. When he died, she and her sister remodeled their childhood home. Eventually the plan to live there and “thrive gracefully in place.”

Judy Bayer, Director

Judy Bayer has resided in Rolling Hills Estates for over fifty years. She began her career as director of the Palos Verdes Hills Cooperative Nursery School. In 1983, she graduated from Southwestern University School of Law and was employed as a Principal Deputy County Counsel for Los Angeles County. Assigned to the Dependency Division, she served on The Interagency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect. She has been a member of the Parks and Activities and Planning Commissions for the City of Rolling Hills Estates and on the City's Equestrian and Environmental Committees. She has served on the H.E.L.P. Board of Directors and as Academic Vice President of Omnilore, a peer teaching/learning organization affiliated with Cal State Dominguez Hills. Currently she is the Chair of the Rollingwood Homeowners Association and a member of the Rolling Hills Estates General Plan Action Committee.

Anne Herron, Director

Anne Herron is a native southern Californian. She has lived in Rancho Palos Verdes since 1974. She worked as a classroom teacher and administrator with LAUSD. Anne holds a BA in Spanish from UCLA, a BS in Human Resources and Marketing from CSULB, and a Masters Degree in Educational Administration from CSUDH. Before retirement she was a faculty member of the UCLA School Management Program which focused on improving school leadership and student performance. Her volunteer experiences include facilitation of one of the Village book clubs, Village Program Committee and she is a Village driver.

Terry McGovern, Director

Terry was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois and has resided in Rancho Palos Verdes since 1997. He has had a 35-year career in advertising sales with Verizon, AT&T and the Los Angeles Times. After his own experience seeking quality care for his parents, Terry recognized the need for trusted care in the local community and founded A Peace of Mind Home Care Solutions in 2016, a very successful and well-regarded local home care agency. For several years, Terry has enjoyed being a volunteer driver for the Village.
Terry lives with his three children Josue, Ciara and Ava and enjoys attending their soccer games, track meets and bike rides at the beach.

Harriet Servis, Director

Harriet began started her career as an elementary school teacher. She and her husband Ken raised their three children in the Rolling Hills Estates home where they currently reside. She had many volunteer roles during that time including President of the Board of Directors of the Palos Verdes Hills Cooperative Nursery School and President of Friends of the Peninsula Symphony Association. She then began a career at USC where she was President of the USC Staff Retirement Association along with Program Chair of the USC Emeriti Center Board. From the beginning of PVP Village, Harriet has been an active member and volunteer, including organizing the very well received Guided Autobiography Class.

Laura Diepenbrock, Executive Director

Laura Diepenbrock joined the Village as our Executive Director on August 15, 2022. With nearly 15 years of experience working in social services, Laura is a seasoned social worker and nonprofit leader skilled in program development, management, and community building. Prior to joining the PVP Village, Laura worked at Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles, serving in several leadership roles including Director of Health & Wellness for Older Adult Services and Director of Volunteer & Training Services. Before JFS, Laura co-launched a kids literacy start up brand focusing on World War II and worked as an elementary school teacher through Teach For America. She holds a BA from the University of Virginia and a Master’s in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley.

Laura lives in Palos Verdes Estates with her husband and daughter.

Pat Sneller, Administrative Coordinator

Pat Sneller began volunteering for the Village in 2016 and became its Administrative Coordinator in April, 2018. She is a native of Los Angeles and has lived in California her entire life, except for 8 years in the Dallas area. She has a B.S. in Business Administration from Cal State Long Beach, which she pursued after the youngest of her 3 children started school in 1981. Her professional career has been spent in a variety of fields, always in a customer service capacity. Prior to joining the Village staff, she worked with 2 different referral agencies, assisting families who were searching for long-term residential care facilities for their loved ones. She loves being a part of the Village and getting to know about the fascinating lives that our members and volunteers have enjoyed.

Sherry May, In Memorium:
Sherry May, Ph.D., Founder and Director

Sherry May was a long time resident in Palos Verdes and had deep professional and volunteer ties to southern California. Dr. May chaired the Palos Verdes Peninsula branch of the American Association of University Women in 2012-2014 and, among other awards, received the Helen Thomas Award from the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles for her volunteer work. May taught in the Religious Studies Department at California State University Northridge for many years before going to USC. At USC she had responsibilities for alumni relations, was Dean of the College of Continuing Education and Vice Provost, Continuing Studies. After retiring she consulted with non-profit and educational institutions in areas of policy development and project implementation. Clients included California State University Northridge/Partnerships Empowering Youth To Serve, University of Southern California's Center for Religion and Civic Culture, YWCA of Greater Los Angeles, Adolescent Pregnancy Child-Watch, Girls Inc, First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, and The Children's Defense Fund.