Fortifying L.A.’s Legacy for the 21st Century

Ms. Terri L. Batch is President and CEO of Global LA, a public-private partnership dedicated to promoting the breadth of L.A.’s diverse business climate around the world and highlighting opportunities for foreign investment and international collaboration within the region.

Prior to joining Global LA, Ms. Batch spent two decades with the U.S. Department of Commerce.  Her most recent position was the Director of the Global Diversity Export Initiative (GDEI) of the U.S. Commercial Service, the export promotion arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration (ITA).  Ms. Batch was the inaugural leader of the GDEI program which promotes export opportunities to historically underserved communities including minority-owned, women-owned, LGBTQ+-owned, veteran-owned, and disabled-owned businesses.  In this role, Ms. Batch championed a GDEI trade mission to the African continent and provided expertise and guidance to trade missions, trade events, and programs that expanded the depth and breadth of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s outreach.

Ms. Batch served in many capacities at the U.S. Department of Commerce. She led the Global Design & Construction Team and served as the inaugural Team Leader for the Global China Team.  She also founded B-BOLD (Blacks Building Opportunities to Leverage Diversity), an employee resource group within ITA that focused on creating a more diverse and inclusive organization and prioritizing outreach to minority-and-women-owned businesses.  Terri also served as an Export Advisor to the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce and as the co-lead for the International Affairs Cluster for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Ms. Batch has been recognized with Bronze and Silver Medal Awards for her leadership within the U.S. Department of Commerce and was recently awarded the William E. Morton Memorial award for being a trailblazer within ITA for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Ms. Batch earned a B.S. in Computer Science from Spelman College and a Master of Public Administration from the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. Ms. Batch speaks Mandarin Chinese and trained at institutes in Beijing, China and Taipei, Taiwan. She has guided U.S. businesses throughout China and the Asia Region, Brazil, South Africa, Ghana, and Nigeria.  Terri has a professional designation as a Global Logistics Specialist from California State University Long Beach and is a Certified Global Business Professional from the National Association of Small Business International Trade Educators (NASBITE).

Jaime L. Lee was appointed to the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners by Mayor Eric Garcetti and confirmed by the Los Angeles City Council on April 13, 2018. She was elected president of the Los Angeles Harbor Commission on April 19, 2018. Commissioner Lee served as board president and commissioner on the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System (LACERS) Board of Administration from 2014 to 2018. Previously, she was a commissioner on the Los Angeles City Industrial Development Authority, Los Angeles City Quality and Productivity Commission, and State of California’s Speech-Language Pathology, Audiology & Hearing Aid Dispensers Board. She was appointed to the California Film Commission by Speaker Anthony Rendon in April 2018.

Crystal Nix-Hines is a Partner in the Los Angeles Office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan where she focuses on complex litigation, including shareholder derivative actions, contractual and unfair business practice disputes, and intellectual property litigation. Since returning to the firm in 2017 after her tenure in Paris as U.S. Ambassador to UNESCO, Ambassador Nix-Hines has also spearheaded the firm’s Crisis Law & Strategy Group, which helps companies with crisis management, as well as longer-term strategic issues including diversity and inclusion, compliance and corporate governance issues. She began her career as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall and Sandra Day O’Connor, and to William Norris of the Ninth Circuit.

Erin Bromaghim serves as the Deputy Mayor of International Affairs in the Office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, focused on bringing global opportunities to Angelenos and connecting Los Angeles to economic and cultural partners around the world. She leads a team with deep expertise on international trade and investment, international relations, educational and cultural exchange, the Sustainable Development Goals and the green economy, city diplomacy, gender equity, and major global events including the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Most recently, Erin served as the Director of Olympic and Paralympic Development as part of the Mayor’s International Affairs team, as well as the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation Fellow, using the framework of the United Nations Agenda 2030 toalign, measure, and track the City’s progress toward the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Erin also served as a Visiting Senior Fellow on City and State Diplomacy with the Truman Center for National Policy, exploring the ways in which collaboration between local and federal actors can advance U.S. foreign policy objectives. Erin previously spent 14 years as a senior civilian with the U.S. Department of Defense, where she managed interagency defense, intelligence, special operations, and security reform efforts. Erin entered federal civil service as a Presidential Management Fellow with the U.S. Navy, later working for the U.S. Air Force, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and NATO. She holds degrees from Wake Forest University and Georgetown University, as well as a certificate in advanced project management from Stanford University.

Jason Woo is a serial entrepreneur and executive that has been fortunate to lead and scale organizations in the ecommerce, SaaS, digital media, entertainment and consumer technology spaces to successful exits. Throughout his career, Jason leverages his strategic global network with cross border expansion and strategic partnerships. Jason currently serves as President at Evite, Inc, the world’s innovator, and leader in online digital invitations connecting over 3 billion people to celebrate life’s most important moments.

Danny Acosta has built a career that brings together global public and private sector experience, working on policy and strategic growth initiatives, and organizational transformations, with corporate and government leaders across a range of industries. Now based in his hometown of Los Angeles, Danny has worked heavily in industries ranging from Media & Entertainment to Infrastructure and Economic Development. Building on his background in international development – and having worked across the U.S., Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Middle East, and Southeast Asia – Danny also works with BCG’s Social Impact and Global Advantage Practices, helping companies and governments bridge the gaps between developing and developed markets.

Dr. Sanjeev Khagram is currently Foundation Professor of Global Leadership and CEO, Director-General and Dean of the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, with Global Headquarters in Phoenix and Regional Centers of Excellence in Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Nairobi, Mexico City, Tokyo, Jakarta, Geneva, Dubai, Moscow and elsewhere around the world. Dr. Khagram is widely known as the founder and architect of global, multi-stakeholder partnerships from the Global Initiative on Fiscal Transparency to the International Open Data Charter to the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data. 

Mr. Lawson retired as a partner after 31 years with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. During his tenure with the firm, he was appointed to the Los Angeles Airport Commission, and served as its President. In addition, Mr. Lawson has been a board member of several charitable organizations, Loyola Marymount University and Morehouse College. He served as a U.S. Ambassador in the Obama administration prior to joining the Los Angeles Urban League as its President and CEO in February, 2018.

Hernán Díaz Alonso assumed the role of SCI-Arc director beginning in the 2015 academic year. He has been a distinguished faculty member since 2001, serving in several leadership roles, including coordinator of the graduate thesis program from 2007–10, and graduate programs chair from 2010–15. Díaz Alonso is principal of the Los Angeles–based architecture office HDA-x (formerly Xefirotarch).

Steve Bash is Senior Vice President, leading City National Bank’s international banking, trade and supply chain finance businesses. The group is active in global finance advisory services, negotiating and structuring supply chain, receivables purchase and export finance transactions, offshore risk management and processing services as well as global correspondent banking. Before City National, Mr. Bash led a number of global businesses for Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco, international banking leadership roles at Wachovia Bank in Charlotte, NC., and began his banking career at Philadelphia National Bank.

Ron Frierson serves as Director of Economic Development for the U.S. West Region at Amazon. In his role, Ron leads the team that supports and champions Amazon investment projects across multiple business lines. Before joining Amazon, Ron served as Director of Economic Policy for Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Ron led the Business Team for the Mayor’s Office, which developed business policy affecting the world’s 3rd largest metropolitan economy. Ron’s portfolio included Commercial Real Estate Development, Technology, Sports & Entertainment, Manufacturing (Bioscience), Taxation, Healthcare, and Tourism & Hospitality. He also oversaw the Convention & Tourism Department, Department of Cannabis Regulation and the Economic Workforce & Development Department on behalf of the Mayor’s Office.

Carol Leslie Hamilton is a lawyer in Los Angeles, California, with experience in both private practice and public service.
Ms. Hamilton serves on the UC College of the Law, San Francisco Board of Governors and the boards of Alliance for Justice and Renewables 100 Policy Institute.
Nominated by President Biden as the U.S. Public Diplomat to the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly and by President Obama as the U.S.Alternate Representative to the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, she represented the United States on issues of international security, nuclear nonproliferation, disarmament, security in outer space and human rights. She played a key role in obtaining overwhelming support for two significant U.S. resolutions, one proposing a global ban on destructive anti-satellite missile tests, which laid the foundation for a joint resolution on that issue sponsored by Senator Diane Feinstein and Congressman Ted Lieu,and another calling for global nuclear compliance. She was an interlocutor on the successful initiative to remove Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

With more than 25 years of experience in the media and entertainment industry, Jonathan has held a variety of C-suite global leadership positions with U.S.-based media companies, including CNN, Discovery International, and Eurosport, as they have navigated the strategic, operational, and cultural challenges of a marketplace being transformed by digital technologies. Davies brings the added perspective to the Board of leading the LA growth of a British multinational organization.

Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed Ambassador Nina Hachigian to be the first Deputy Mayor of International Affairs. From 2014 to 2017, Ambassador Hachigian served as the second U.S. Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). During her tenure, the United States established a strategic partnership with ASEAN, held the first Leaders’ Summit in the United States, launched a Presidential initiative on economic cooperation, established the U.S.-ASEAN Women’s Leadership Academy and grew the youth program to over 100,000 members. She was awarded the State Department’s Superior Honor Award for her service. She is also a founder of WASA, Women Ambassadors Serving America, a group of some 200 current and former Ambassadors.

Previously, Neilson served as Co-founder and CEO of i(x) Net Zero, a leading sustainable investing platform which is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange (IX.). In 2006, Neilson co-founded advisory firm Global Philanthropy Group. In that capacity, he has been involved in the creation and implementation of many of the world’s most respected philanthropic initiatives and has worked with over fifty major philanthropists. Neilson’s leadership in business and social change includes time as the Executive Director of the Global Business Coalition (GBC), and founding member of the team that created and launched the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation where he served as the Director of Public Affairs.