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Management
President
Directors & Managers
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Robert Bell
Chief Administrative OfficerDr. Robert (Bob) Bell was a consultant for the Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands prior to joining the senior leadership team as the Chief Administrative Officer. In this role, he oversees the finance, human resources, and information technology departments. He also serves as secretariat to the boards and committees that govern and serve the Trust.
Prior to joining the organization, Bob was managing partner of his own consulting firm providing human resources and organizational development services to public and private organizations. In his professional career, he served as city manager of Redwood City, California, where he oversaw the staff of a full-service municipal organization in one of the fastest growing cities in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has held roles as assistant city manager and human resource director for municipalities in Northern California.
Bob earned a doctorate in organizational leadership from the University of San Francisco. He also holds a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in organizational behavior. In 2005, Bob received recognition as the top human resources director in the state of California from the League of California Cities. He was also awarded the Innovations Award from the International Personnel Management Association for his role in co-creating a multi-agency training consortium to develop the public sector workforce. He is past-president of the Bay Area Employee Relations Service and has served on non-profit boards supporting education and community engagement.
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James Campbell
Retail ManagerJames Campbell is the buyer and manager of the café and gift shop at Sunnylands. Previously, James worked in a variety of positions at Tiffany & Co., Gucci, Gump’s San Francisco, and Ghurka New York. While at Gump’s, James won multiple sales competitions awards, including trips to London and Paris.
James is a fourth generation Californian. Over the years, in addition to roles in civic and community improvement organizations, he has served on the Board of Directors of Keep America Beautiful, Inc., and managed national teams for 4-H Clubs of America.
James has a passion for live theater and has attended over 100 different performances, musicals, and plays in cities around the world. He has lived in the Coachella Valley for more than 17 years with his partner of 31 years.
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Ken Chavez
Director, Community & Media AffairsKen Chavez joined the Sunnylands Department of Communications and Public Affairs in 2014 after working as a newspaper reporter and editor for nearly 30 years.
He launched his career through the Los Angeles Times’ METPRO (Minority Editorial Training Program) in 1986 after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in communication from Stanford University. He then went on to reporting positions at Greenwich Time in Greenwich, Connecticut, and The Sacramento Bee in Sacramento, California.
In his 25 years at The Bee, Ken served in a variety of roles, covering general assignment, state and local government, national politics, and health and business news. He became an editor in 1997 and helped move the paper into the digital era after being named its first assistant managing editor for interactive media in 2005. Ken left the paper as the senior editor in charge of metropolitan coverage, overseeing a staff of roughly 40 reporters and editors.
A Southern California native, Ken plays softball and tennis recreationally and now lives in Palm Springs with his husband, Randy Bissett.
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Ambassador Kathleen Doherty (Ret.)
Chief Strategy & Retreats OfficerAmbassador Kathleen Doherty (Ret.) joined The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands’ senior leadership team in February 2020 as Chief Strategy and Retreats Officer.
She comes to Sunnylands after a distinguished career with the U.S. Department of State, leaving the agency as a dean of the Foreign Service Institute, the State Department’s premier training facility for U.S. diplomats. From September 2015 to February 2019, she was the U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus.
Kathleen has served in senior leadership positions in the U.S. Embassies in Rome, Moscow, and London, and in Washington, DC. Earlier in her career, she served in Brazil and the Dominican Republic. In her career, she has promoted democratic and economic reform, the empowerment of women, and engagement with youth; built strategic partnerships; negotiated international agreements, and led teams in times of major change. When serving as a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe, she received one of the State Department’s highest awards for her work on relations between the United States and the European Union, and has received more than a dozen other State Department awards.
She has a master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, she speaks nearly fluent Italian, and some Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian. Prior to joining the State Department, she worked as a journalist.
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Mike Ellzey
Chief of Estate OperationsMike joined Sunnylands in January 2022 and now serves as Chief of Estate Operations. In this role, Mike supervises the Sunnylands Center & Gardens, education programming, exhibitions and collections, facilities, security, and landscape and grounds divisions. He also oversees Sunnylands’ capital improvement program to design, construct, repurpose, and renovate properties throughout the site.
Prior to joining Sunnylands, Mike had retired from a distinguished career in local, state, and federal government, most recently serving in a federal appointment with the National Archives and Records Administration as the director of the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum. In this capacity, Mike collaborated with the Nixon Foundation to design, construct, and install the museum’s permanent and special exhibit galleries and supervised museum, archives, education and public programs.
Mike also has served as chief executive officer of the Orange County Great Park Corporation; executive director of the Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority; and executive director of the San Jose Arena Authority, home of the NHL San Jose Sharks.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from San Jose State University and a law degree from Lincoln University School of Law. Mike is a Vietnam War–era U.S. Marine veteran.
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Robert Fallon
Director, Global Initiatives and Retreat CommunicationsRobert Fallon is the director of global initiatives and retreat communications at The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands. Prior to joining Sunnylands, Rob was chief of staff at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM, formerly the Broadcasting Board of Governors) where he advised the chief executive officer and board on foreign policy and political strategy, managed agency senior staff, and directed the daily operations of the agency.
Rob joined USAGM in 2015 after eight years at the U.S. Department of State, where he served as a policy advisor and speechwriter to the deputy secretary of state for management and resources, and formerly as a senior advisor to the assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs, where he oversaw Senate confirmation of the Department’s ambassadors and senior officials.
Rob holds a master’s degree in public administration and a certificate in advanced security studies from Syracuse University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in political science from Bates College. He is a proud native of New Hampshire and plays in a D.C.-area band in his spare time.
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John Finkler
Deputy Director, Center & GardensCapping a career in the restaurant, museum, and entertainment industries, John Finkler came to Sunnylands in 2010, first serving as operations manager and then as deputy director of the Center & Gardens.
He is responsible for the oversight of Sunnylands café, gift shop, and tours of the historic house and grounds.
John said hospitality is his No. 1 goal. “I want our guests to have ‘the Annenberg experience.’ They should come in and leave as if they were greeted by the Annenbergs, not visiting a tourist attraction,” he said.
A native of Alpine Township, Michigan, John moved to California after graduating high school. He worked in the banking industry before co-opening a restaurant, the Ocean House Café, in Santa Monica in 1979. A second restaurant by the same name opened a few years later in San Diego.
With his husband Gary, John moved to Palm Desert in 1991 and soon became operations manager of The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies, the Ziegfeld-style dance and musical review featuring performers 55 and older that ran at the historic Plaza Theater in downtown Palm Springs for 25 years.
He moved to the Palm Springs Art Museum in 2000, where he staged special and corporate events, before taking over as director of the museum’s Annenberg Theater. The 400-seat auditorium is one of the Coachella Valley’s premier venues for plays, lectures, concerts, and movies.
John and Gary, who have been together as a couple for more than 40 years, now live in Rancho Mirage.
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Michaeleen Gallagher
Director, Sunnylands Center & GardensMichaeleen joined The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands in 2011, creating the Department of Education and Environmental Programs focusing on public engagement and environmental projects. With a background in science and education, she currently holds a master of science in environmental policy and management from University of Denver; a bachelor of arts in art history from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and certificates in environmental leadership, permaculture landscape design.
Michaeleen has worked in environmental education and research tagging hummingbirds, and in wildlife rescue at the Outer Banks Wildlife Shelter in North Carolina and in Virginia, with an emphasis on birds of prey. She was the education specialist at The Living Desert in Palm Desert, and The Fleet Science Center in San Diego. She spent three years teaching in Japan and served as a key volunteer advisor for the U.S. Marine Corps at Headquarters Battalion, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Active in the cultural sector, Michaeleen is a founding member of the Coachella Valley Days of Los Muertos collaborative. She served as president for the California Association of Museums (CAM), and chair of the Green Museums Initiative. She is currently a member of the CAM Strategic Action Committee, a steering committee member for The Museums Collaborative Network, and former fellow and board member for the International Environmental Communication Association.
Publications and exhibitions include: Flight Plan: The Birds of Sunnylands; Art & Nature: The Gardens at Sunnylands; and two education guides for the IMAX films, Magic of Flight and Everest.
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Mike Garcia
Superintendent of Landscape, Grounds & GolfRaised in the Coachella Valley, Miguel “Mike” Garcia is the superintendent of landscape, grounds, and golf at Sunnylands.
Mike oversees a crew of nearly 30 grounds and other staff workers who are responsible for maintaining the 15 acres of drought-tolerant landscaping at Sunnylands Center & Gardens and the 200-acre Annenberg estate, home to one of the world’s best nine-hole golf courses.
With associates degrees in both horticulture and turf management from College of the Desert, Mike came to Sunnylands in September 2022, after working for more than a dozen years at various Coachella Valley golf clubs, including the Indian Wells Country Club, Eagle Falls Golf Course, and Ironwood Country Club.
A graduate of Desert Mirage High School in Thermal, Mike now lives in Coachella with his wife and their three sons. He’s an avid golfer and enjoys taking camping, fishing, and beach trips to a variety of Southern California locales.
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Dr. Kathleen Hall Jamieson
Program DirectorDr. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Sunnylands Program Director, is the Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication of the University of Pennsylvania and director of its Annenberg Public Policy Center.
She has authored or co-authored 16 books, including Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President, published by Oxford University Press, which won the Association of American Publishers’ 2019 R.R. Hawkins Award. Her other award-winning books include Spiral of Cynicism (with Joseph Cappella) and The Obama Victory: How Media, Money and Message Shaped the 2008 Election (with Kate Kenski and Bruce Hardy).
She is a member of the American Philosophical Society and a Distinguished Scholar of the National Communication Association. She also is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and the International Communication Association.
For her contributions to the study of political communication, she received the American Political Science Association’s Murray Edelman Distinguished Career Award in 1995. In 2016, the American Philosophical Society awarded her its Henry Allen Moe Prize in the Humanities. In 2020, the National Academy of Sciences announced that Jamieson will receive its most prestigious award, the Public Welfare Medal, for her “non-partisan crusade to ensure the integrity of facts in public discourse and development of the science of scientific communication to promote public understanding of complex issues.”
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Ann Hill
Guest Services DirectorAnn Hill joined The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands in September 2022 as Guest Services Director, where she oversees a range of hospitality services that are provided to guests attending Sunnylands retreats.
Previously, Ann served as manager of dining development and partnerships at Aspire Lifestyles, where she curated and negotiated partnerships for a dining collection of top restaurants around the world that has been utilized by Fortune 100 clients. She also designed and implemented the dining collective program’s procedures with a global concierge team. Additionally, Ann managed global projects for Aspire’s sponsorship of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards, managing staff and logistics, and was fortunate to have interviewed 25 of the World’s, Asia’s, and Latin America’s 50 Best Awards recipient chefs.
Ann earned a bachelor of arts degree in European Cultural Studies and philosophy from The American University of Paris. A native of Manhattan Beach, California, Ann has lived in Paris, San Francisco, and New York, and now resides in Palm Springs.
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Giselle Lozano-Pugh
Director, Hospitality & Special EventsGiselle Lozano-Pugh is the director of hospitality and special events at Sunnylands, where she oversees the planning of retreats, community events, and employee functions.
Prior to joining Sunnylands in November 2017, Giselle enjoyed a long career in the hospitality industry. She worked in sales and as director of catering and conference services for the Parker Palm Springs, Westin Hotels and Resorts and, in nine years with InterContinental Hotels Cleveland, she planned everything from weddings, receptions, corporate meetings, and major conventions. Giselle also was on the pre-opening team of the Monona Terrace Convention Center in Madison, Wisconsin, known for being the only convention center in the world designed by the renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
At Sunnylands, Giselle introduced set-up diagrams and standardized group resumes that denote attendees’ arrivals, departures, logistics, and food and beverage preferences. Deliveries and services of outside vendors are also catalogued, providing the organization with an overview of logistics for retreats and events as well as a document for future planning.
Giselle was born in Los Angeles, California and reared in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico. She speaks Spanish fluently, and has lived and worked in a number of cities, including Chicago, Minneapolis, and Cleveland. She now calls La Quinta home.
Giselle is married and enjoys traveling, trying out new restaurants, salsa dancing, and spending time with family.
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Marisa Luzzatto
Director of Strategic Partnerships, Civic and Democratic and Engagement, and Director of Retreat OperationsAfter working as a consultant to The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands, Marisa Luzzatto joined the Retreat Strategy Group as director of retreat operations and special projects full time in September 2018. With a career that has spanned stints in national politics, the White House, and international development, Luzzatto has overseen extensive work in communications and large, multi-faceted project management, both domestically and abroad. At Sunnylands, she manages work in the U.S. civic and democratic engagement portfolio and is charged with oversight of retreats operations.
Prior to her current post, Luzzatto worked as a consultant to The Malala Fund, where she planned and managed travel with Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai to highlight barriers to girls’ education in places such as east Africa, Northern Iraq and Brazil. After serving in the Clinton Administration, Luzzatto worked for nine years as a senior director at the ONE Campaign, the international anti-poverty initiative founded by the activist and singer Bono.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University.
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David Montoya
Director, Facilities Operations & GroundsDavid Montoya is the director of facilities operations and grounds at The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands. Along with Mike Reeske, David oversees the Facilities Department. As director of administrative operations, he oversees the administrative arm of operations and is significantly involved in retreat planning and execution.
Previously, David was a field manager for a local telecommunications and electrical contractor, where he managed commercial construction projects, estimating, and daily operations. In fact, Sunnylands hired David in February 2012 after he successfully managed the telecommunications and electrical aspects of the transition project that prepared the historic house and the cottages for public tours and high-level retreats.
David holds a number of state certifications in the electrical and telecommunications fields, as well as various brand user and installer licenses. He is currently enrolled in the business management program at California State University, San Bernardino, and is expecting to graduate this spring. He has lived in the Coachella Valley for the past 13 years.
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Henk Peeters
Director of SecurityHenk Peeters is the director of security at Sunnylands. Prior to joining Sunnylands, Henk was a captain for the Palm Springs Police Department, overseeing the department’s operations and services divisions. As a captain, Henk was second-in-command and supervised sworn and non-sworn personnel in patrol, traffic, SWAT, investigations bureau, budget, and the personnel and training departments.
Henk joined the Palm Springs Police Department in October 2016 after 22 years with the Indio Police Department. Henk rose to the rank of commander in Indio and was second-in-command for the department. He also held the rank of corporal, sergeant, and lieutenant and worked several special assignments, including the Riverside County Auto-theft Task Force, K9, and SWAT. As a commander, Henk helped oversee public safety at the annual Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals.
Henk holds a bachelor’s degree in leadership from Bellevue University, and he attended the Los Angeles Police Department Leadership Program in 2018. Originally from Wichita, Kansas, he has lived in the Coachella Valley for more than 32 years. Henk and his wife, Kathy, have five grown children and they have been happily married for 32 years. He enjoys hiking, jazz concerts, and watching the Kansas City Chiefs.
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Jeffrey Phillips
Director, Policy and International PartnershipsAs the director of policy and international partnerships at The Annenberg Foundation Trust at Sunnylands, Jeffrey Phillips oversees Sunnylands’ activities that fall within the Trust’s primary areas of focus, including U.S.-China relations, global cooperation, and strengthening democratic institutions. He identifies and builds relationships with partner organizations and strategically designs results-oriented programs that convene thought leaders and influencers to find solutions to pressing domestic and global challenges. In addition, Phillips is charged with designing and implementing the Trust’s evaluations program.
Prior to joining Sunnylands, Phillips held various leadership positions with the International Republican Institute (IRI), a nonprofit dedicated to advancing democracy and good governance around the world. Phillips spent nearly three years based in Hong Kong directing IRI’s China programs and other activities in Asia. Upon his return to Washington, DC, Phillips served as deputy director of IRI’s Asia Division. He was also IRI’s congressional and government affairs director, leading IRI’s outreach strategy to Capitol Hill and other governmental stakeholders.
Prior to his tenure at IRI, Phillips worked for nearly four years as a legislative aide to former Senator Mark Kirk. Phillips earned a master’s degree in international relations and economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan. He completed an internship at the United Nations Development Programme in Bogotá, Colombia and currently serves on the board of directors of Village Focus International, a nonprofit organization headquartered in Vientiane, Laos with the mission to eradicate poverty, strengthen land rights, and end human trafficking.
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Mike Reeske
Director, Facilities Planning & ManagementMike Reeske is director of facilities planning and management at Sunnylands. Mike joined the Sunnylands team in October 2010 after more than twenty years as a general building contractor. He studied construction management at Cal Poly Pomona and has worked primarily in the residential construction market.
Mike first came to Sunnylands in the late 1990s, working with his father-in-law under contract with the Annenbergs. He worked on construction of the mausoleum and the Inwood Room, among many other projects.
In February 2010, Mike worked with MATT Construction as superintendent during the Sunnylands transition project. During that time, the historic house underwent a seismic retrofit and a remodel to prepare it for public tours and high-level retreats. Since then, Mike has helped to oversee construction of the Retreat Pavilion and the new operations, archives, and administration buildings.
The fifth of six children, Mike moved to the Coachella Valley with his parents and siblings in 1969. He has been happily married to his wife, Julie, for 29 years and is the proud father of two children. Mike and Julie welcomed their first grandchild in the spring of 2020.
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Anne Rowe
Director of HeritageAnne Rowe joined Sunnylands in 2009 as the director of collections and exhibitions and, as of 2022, serves as the director of heritage. She oversaw the formation, organization, and cataloguing of the archives, library, and museum collections and created the exhibition program, serving as the primary curator. Previous museum and art association experience includes president of the Board of Trustees for the Copley Society of Boston; The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University; and as a research associate at Harvard University, museum studies program.
Her publications include The Pleasure of Your Company: Entertaining at Sunnylands, 2014; Treasures at Sunnylands: Selections from the Gift Collection of Walter & Leonore Annenberg, 2015; Carved Narrative: Los Hermanos Chávez Morado, 2017; Reach for the Sky: Tradition + Inspiration, 2019; and A Place at the Table: Dining at Sunnylands, 2022.
Anne is a past president of the Board of Governors for the Western Museums Association and serves on the Board of Trustees for Modernism Week, America’s largest celebration of the modern architectural movement.
Anne is a proud California native from the San Francisco Bay Area and avid mahjong enthusiast, who lives in a midcentury modern home in Palm Springs. She has two children, a daughter working in the tech sector in Austin, Texas, and a son who is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and an aspiring PhD candidate at the University of Virginia in Buddhist studies.
Anne received her master’s degree in organizational development from the University of San Francisco and a master’s degree in museum studies from Harvard University.
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Danielle Sombati
Center & Gardens SupervisorDanielle Sombati joined Sunnylands as a member of the first class of tour guides when the estate and the Center & Gardens opened to the public in 2012. For nine years, Danielle served as education programs coordinator and is currently the Center & Gardens supervisor. She has served on the Sunnylands Safety and Wellness Committees and participated in numerous California Association of Museum conferences. Danielle also contributed to the Accessibility Learning Collaborative through the California Networks for Collaboration, which provided guidance to California museums on accessibility and becoming more inclusive institutions. Danielle earned a Bachelor of Arts in public and oral history from California State University, San Bernardino.
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