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.”

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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.”