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Board of Directors & Leadership

Board of Directors

Judith G. Brandlin Founder/President of Stone Soup Child Care Programs
Shizuki Akasaki Early childhood education consultant, former assistant superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District for child development division and compensatory instructional programs
Scott Bice, Esq. Dean of the University of Southern California Law School from 1980-2000
Shari Leinwand, Esq. Former partner at Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher
Kevin Martin Senior Vice President of Organizational Performance and Strategic Planning for SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union.
Gregory A. Mitchell President/CEO, First Technology Credit Union
June S. Sale Child care consultant, former director of child care at UCLA
Jesse Torres Small business expert, banker, author

Leadership

Founder / President – Judith G. Brandlin

Judith G. Brandlin

Founder / President

Founder / President – Judith G. Brandlin

As a volunteer and United Way Board Member for 20 years, Judith Brandlin was very aware of the problems and needs of unsupervised children after school. Co-chairing a child care committee for United Way provided the impetus for starting Stone Soup Child Care Programs in public schools.

Prior to founding Stone Soup in 1986, Ms. Brandlin co-founded ADESTE, the after school programs in the Los Angeles Catholic Schools. She is a board member of the MUSES of the California Science Center and a former member of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee for Children, Los Angeles Roundtable for Children, LEARN and California School-Age Child Care Consortium and served as a guest speaker at California State University, Long Beach. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Iowa State University and worked in New York and San Francisco prior to moving to Southern California. Credited with opening more than 150 child care programs in low-to-moderate income areas, Ms. Brandlin has reached out to tens of thousands of children in California.

Honors for Ms. Brandlin include a Silver Achievement Award in Education from the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles, Iowa State University Alumni Merit Award and a Carrie Chapman Catt Award, a Leadership Award from the Volunteer Center of Los Angeles, a Spirit of Southern California Award from Channel 4 KNBC-TV and Community Service Award from the Franciscan Health Center.

Executive Director – Renee Valencia-Aranda

Renee Valencia-Aranda

Executive Director

Executive Director – Renee Valencia-Aranda

Ms. Valencia-Aranda began her career with Stone Soup in the Norwalk area in 2000, then supervised the growth from one Stone Soup Program in the El Monte City School District to 13 sites serving as the District Manager in El Monte for three years. For five years she served as Director of Staff Development and was responsible for the interviewing, recommending for hire and training of more than 360 Stone Soup staff. She worked directly with the President organizing workshops and directing program operations in Southern California for which her bilingual management skills are utilized. As Executive Director she coordinates programs and staffing with principals and school district administrators and assures compliance with Ed Code requirements.

Ms. Valencia-Aranda has a degree in liberal studies and a child development background. She also taught cultural dance and managed group activities and scheduling for cruise companies. Active in her own community, Renee has been a dedicated volunteer for children’s hospitals and hospice care for cancer patients.

She is a member of the National Association of Young Children and the California School Age Child Care Consortium. Further studies include Yoga for children with special needs, children with Autism and Asperger Syndrome, Nutrition, Child Abuse Prevention and Detection and Move for Thought.

Chief Financial Officer – Cindy Pham-Le

Cindy Pham-Le

Chief Financial Officer

Chief Financial Officer – Cindy Pham-Le

As Chief Financial Officer for Stone Soup since 1991, Ms. Pham-Le has overseen the financial growth of the corporation from serving children at 28 schools to more than 80 school sites. Stone Soup’s demonstrated fiscal responsibility is directly related to her accurate monitoring of operational and financial affairs, payroll and cash flow.

She came to Los Angeles following high school graduation in Nha Trang, Vietnam. She attended California State University at Pomona where she also tutored college students in math and accounting while earning her own degree in accounting.

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