Winnick Family Foundation Scholarship Awarded to Alia Jones at Cornell University

Student Alia Jones wins prestigious scholarship award for fourth time and has already made her mark in contributions to a unique Smithsonian Institute traveling exhibit highlighting the shared history of Native and African Americans.

Cornell University has awarded the Winnick Family Foundation Scholarship for 2009-2010 to student Alia Jones, Class of 2010. This is the fourth award received by Ms. Jones from the Foundation.

Said David J. Skorton, president of Cornell: “Scholarship support is critical to ensuring that Cornell’s doors remain open to bright and deserving students regardless of their financial circumstances. It is the dedication of friends like the Winnick Family that allow students like Alia Jones to continue their studies at Cornell.”

Said Foundation founder Gary Winnick: “We are delighted to support Alia as she moves through Cornell. She is majoring in cultural anthropology and worked this year as a museum intern with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. She is already ‘making history’ as a contributor to the Smithsonian’s traveling exhibit “IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas. This unique historical exhibit, booked by regional museums across the country in a schedule that extends well into 2012, presents historical and contemporary stories of peoples and communities in U.S., the Caribbean, Central America, and the northern coast of South America.”

Pacific Capital Group’s Gary Winnick Hosts Dinner Honoring David Gergen, Director of Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was among the Los Angeles political and financial leaders who attended. Founded in 2000, the Center has a distinguished alumni list of international leaders and scholars who are “daily advancing and elevating the management and standards of the public sector worldwide.”

(L-R) David Gergen, Adam Winnick, Gary Winnick, Karen Winnick, Alex Winnick, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

Financier and philanthropist Gary Winnick hosted a dinner at his Bel Air home on Wednesday, November 19, honoring David Gergen, Director of The Center for Public Leadership at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was among the West Coast political and financial leaders who attended the dinner and an off-the-record briefing from Mr. Gergen on the Obama presidency and America’s current global position.

 Said Gary Winnick, founder and CEO of Pacific Capital Group: “The Center for Public Leadership, initiated and run by David Gergen, was established at Harvard in 2000. The Center provides vital cutting-edge teaching and research as well as hands-on training in the practical skills of leadership for people in government, not-for-profits, and business. Approaching its tenth anniversary, the Center already has a distinguished alumni list of international leaders and scholars who are daily advancing and elevating the management and standards of the public sector worldwide.”

Earlier this year, David Gergen, an advisor to four American Presidents, invited Mr. Winnick to speak at a seminar featuring current global leaders from the worlds of business, government, and philanthropy discussing their personal “leadership journeys” in the context of current issues and events.

Added Gary Winnick: “I was honored to be invited to the Center on the Harvard campus in May by my friend David Gergen and happy to have a chance to expose the mission of the Center to West Coast political and financial leaders. In Cambridge, David assembles a group of brilliant young thinkers and public agency administrators, and I hope more of California’s own best leaders make the trip East to engage and debate issues of public policy at the Center.”

Winnick Gallery To Feature Contemporary Interpretations of Genesis at Center for Jewish History

In the Beginning: Artists Respond to Genesis will open November 18 in light-filled, spacious Winnick Gallery housed at the Manhattan-based Center for Jewish History. The exhibition is uniquely designed to create a dialogue between new installations by contemporary artists and historical representations of the ancient story of creation.

Winnick Hall, the principal exhibition gallery at the Manhattan Center for Jewish History, will feature an extraordinary collection of historical, modern and contemporary artworks exploring the continuing relevance of the story of creation.

In the Beginning: Artists Respond to Genesis will include works ranging from multi-media and sound installations to computer animations, projections, and wall drawings. The exhibition is uniquely designed to create a lively dialogue between new installations by contemporary artists and historical representations of the story of creation.

Gary Winnick said, “We are pleased that the images included in this exhibit will be presented with a compelling array of historical images and artifacts, some rarely seen in public. Our hope for Winnick Hall was that museum curators would use the space in thought-provoking ways to exhibit the extraordinary richness of Jewish cultural life. This new display certainly fits that goal and serves the broader mission of the Center for Jewish History to bring together under one roof significant collections of art, craft and literature that celebrate the Jewish contribution to society.”

Added Gary Winnick: “Genesis, which proclaims the origins of the universe and humanity, has informed centuries of art and scholarship in religion, language, and ancient literature – even contemporary inquiries into physics and the environment. This collection of word, image, and artifact gives visitors and their families a renewed incentive to consider the classic story of creation through a fresh, contemporary lens.”

Winnick Hall at Skirball Center Will Host Photo Exhibit Honoring Civil Rights Movement

The “Road to Freedom” exhibit will open in Winnick Hall at the Skirball Cultural Center on November 19 and remain on view through March 7, 2010. Among the local events portrayed are the picketing of the Kress Store in Pasadena in 1960, the march on Pershing Square on March 14, 1965, and the conflict in Watts in 1965.

Winnick Hall, the largest exhibition space at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, will feature “Road to Freedom,” the grandest presentation in decades of photography from the Civil Rights Movement.

Said Gary Winnick, founder and CEO of Pacific Capital Group: “Our family’s hope in funding the construction of Winnick Hall was to provide a permanent venue large enough to feature major national exhibits on Jewish heritage and American democratic ideals. This is an ideal exhibition for that space. Jewish activists were committed to the Civil Rights movement from its very earliest days. It is absolutely fitting that the Hall now feature this splendid remembrance of the sacrifices and the heroism, black and white together, that made Martin Luther King’s dream a reality and American society infinitely richer.”

Pacific Capital Group Sponsors Global Forestry Solutions Session at 2009 Governors’ Global Climate Summit

Panel includes four state governors from Brazil, the leader of Indonesia’s northern-most province and conservation directors from two of the world’s largest environmental NGOs. The Global Climate Summit is the second assembly of regional leaders invited by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to address international conservation issues.

Pacific Capital Group will sponsor an international panel on global forestry solutions at the 2009 Governors’ Global Climate Summit. The Summit is the second environmental assembly of leaders invited by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger from the largest states and provinces in the world to discuss conservation issues and global climate change.

Said green-tech pioneer and philanthropist Gary Winnick: “Forests are the lungs of our Earth. But deforestation and degradation of forest productivity now account for nearly a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions. We are pleased to support this panel which is an important step toward building an international consensus to reverse that dismal record.”

The Global Forestry Solutions panel will meet on Friday, October 2, the third and last day of the Summit which will be held this year at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.

Added Gary Winnick, who is Pacific Capital Group Chairman and Founder: “This is a unique and critically important panel that brings together four of Brazil’s most powerful governors, the leader of Indonesia’s northern-most province and conservation directors from two of the world’s largest environmental NGOs to explore consensus on reducing deforestation emissions and land degradation.”

Winnick Family Scholarship Awarded to Ramona Davoudpour at UCLA School of Medicine

Student Ramona Davoudpour wins prestigious award for second year, based on superior academic performance and record of community service. Born in Iran, Davoudpour and her family overcame hardship to establish a new home and succeed in Southern California.

The David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA has awarded the Winnick Family Scholarship for 2009-2010 to student Ramona Davoudpour. This is the second year that Davoudpour, Class of 2010, has won this prestigious honor.

Said Dr. Gerald Levey, Vice Chancellor and Dean of the School of Medicine: “Ramona continues to exhibit strong academic achievement and an active dedication to community service. She was outstanding in her third-year clinical rotations.”

 Said Foundation founder Gary Winnick: “We are pleased that the scholarship has been again awarded to Ramona Davoudpour. Ramona was born in Iran but left the country with her parents. Despite financial hardship, her family endured and Ramona graduated from the University of Southern California in 2006, majoring in Biological Sciences and taking her minor in Fine Arts.

Added Gary Winnick: “Our family is particularly proud of Ramona because of her life-long passion for volunteer work that has continued despite her own adversities. Because of that fierce dedication, she was awarded the Order of Troy at USC for her extraordinary undergraduate service at an urgent care center in Hollywood. Her compassion and patient empathy were very evidently behind the letters of distinction she has already won at UCLA for her superior performance in Pediatics and Psychiatry.”

Winnick Family Foundation Renews Support for Special Needs Program at Jerusalem Zoo

The children served by the program represent a cultural and ethnic cross-section of Israel, but all have special needs like autism, deafness, learning disabilities or mental problems. Special needs children like these are enrolled in the Jerusalem zoo program to learn concentration and self-discipline by forming a connection with the animal.

The Winnick Family Foundation announced today its continuing support for a unique program serving special-needs children at the Tisch Family Zoological Gardens in Jerusalem. The Animal Assisted Therapy Program, begun in 1998, matches children in safe and organized sessions with animals living at the zoo.

Stanford University Commends Winnick Family Foundation For Support to Graduate Business School

Dr. Lawrence Wein, operations management and homeland security expert, is named The Winnick Faculty Fellow of 2009-2010 at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. “The Winnick Family Foundation’s investment in faculty excellence is vital to keeping the School at the frontiers of knowledge,” said new GSB Dean Dr. Garth Saloner.

Dr. Lawrence M. Wein has been named The Winnick Faculty Fellow of 2009-2010 at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business (GSB). The fellowship is funded by an annual grant from the Winnick Family Foundation in support of teaching excellence at the School.

Said GSB Dean Dr. Garth Saloner: “The Winnick Family Foundation’s investment in faculty excellence at GSB is vital to keeping us at the frontiers of knowledge and world-class teaching by originators of the latest ideas in management such as Professor Lawrence Wein.”

Added Saloner in a letter to the Foundation’s Executive Director: “Thank you for the Foundation’s generosity and your demonstrated commitment to faculty as a key priority for GSB.”

Professor Lawrence Wein, who also holds the Paul E. Holden chair in management at the School, is a recognized expert in operational logistics and homeland security. In a recent and strongly worded article in the New York Times, he forcefully argued that America immediately needs to do more to provide detection measures at vital ‘nodes’ such as seaports, airports and border stations.

Said Foundation founder Gary Winnick: “The Graduate School of Business at Stanford is in the top tier of the finest management schools in the world and one of the very few to have three Nobel laureates on its faculty. We are pleased to provide support to the School’s new Dean, Garth Saloner, and to the world-class scholars on the faculty at GSB such as Lawrence Wein who was recently elected to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering by his peers.”

Winnick Family Foundation Supports New Gettysburg Video Production and Broadcast for Children

The Gettysburg Foundation will be filming a new educational film later this month that will be broadcast nationwide to an expected audience of 10 million school children. The new production, “Big Deal at Gettysburg – The Value of Historical Places,” is funded in part by the Winnick Family Foundation.

Said Foundation founder Gary Winnick: “This is a unique script with a strong, contemporary female lead that highlights for children how conflicts between land development interests and the cause of historical preservation can be negotiated and resolved. The main character, Elizabeth Grayburn, is presented as a current-day business executive who comes to Gettysburg with her young son in tow to negotiate a land deal important to her own career advancement. She leaves understanding that historic value sometimes trumps property value.”

Winnick Family Foundation Commend Bloomfield Science Museum Work with Israel’s Youth

Three Israeli teenagers – 17-year-olds Shira Ahissar and Yadid Algavi, along with 16-year-old Shahar Gvirtz – became international celebrities in Israel earlier this summer when they brought home top prizes in the “World Series” of science fairs, the prestigious Intel International Science and Engineering Fair competition. 

The three science stars won the right to represent Israel by first scoring top awards in Israel’s national competition sponsored by Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem – an institution supported the past five years by the Winnick Family Foundation.  The Bloomfield Science Museum is one of the flagship projects of the Jerusalem Foundation which has an unmatched, 40-year track record in nurturing philanthropy projects in Israel.

Said Foundation founder Gary Winnick: “In a conflicted world hungry for peace, science and technology are the great levelers. The constant goal of the Bloomfield Science Museum is to arouse curiosity among all, without distinction, who visit there and to deepen their understanding of a natural world and human technological capabilities – shared by all who share this planet.”

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