Ramses Rashidi, Board of Directors, Executive Director

Ramses is an innovator, artist and educator who has been exploring innovative development models for a more balanced and sustainable future for the past 30 years. He has done extensive research on social & economic development trends worldwide and throughout history. He lived in China for more than 15 years where he studied the development trend in the 90's while contributing as an educator and consultant. Inspired by the Baha'i vision of "World Unity", Ramses has written numerous articles on “The framework for a balanced development model”, which have been published in various newspapers and websites in English, Chinese and Farsi. He founded the Center for Balanced Development in 2007 in California which was subsequently approved as a nonprofit organization in the United States. Since 2011, Ramses has been developing the "Innovation Club: Path of Success for Innovators of Tomorrow" program for empowering children and youth to innovate and build a better world. He currently lives in Irvine, California. 

 
Randolph Dobbs, Board of Directors
Randolph Dobbs was born in Oakland, California, and raised in Salinas near Monterey, where he attended Hartnell College. He studied political science at King's College in London and is an amateur historian. Mr. Dobbs served as the editor of the Los Angeles Bahá’í Journal for over ten years and has been the secretary of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Los Angeles since 1996. He is very active in the interfaith community, serving on the Advisory Board of the Valley Interfaith Council, the Executive Board of the Inter-Religious Council of Southern California and as Religious Director in the Office of Religious Life at the University of Southern California. He and his wife, Chris, with their two grown children live in Southern California.

  

Wei Wu, Board of Directors

Wei Wu is a Certified Public Accountant with over 20 years of experience in financial accounting, consulting and international business field. She was born and raised in China and has been living in the U.S. since 1992 where she received her master degree in Accountancy. She has worked on many projects throughout her career such as IPO service, financial audit, and financial reorganization for both U.S. fortune 500 companies and Chinese companies. Previously, she worked for one of the big 5 public accounting firm-Arthur Andersen, LLP. She was also the controller and senior management member for US public trade company as well as private owned company. Wei is also an educator. She received her bachelor's in education in China.

  

Adrienne Jackson Wright, Board of Directors

Adrienne Jackson Wright has been an educator for over 30 years in public and private institutions, teaching all ages - from preschoolers to graduate students.  Born and raised in Southern California, Adrienne holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice and a Master’s Degree in Education from Chapman University and a Doctorate Degree from the University of Southern California in Organizational Leadership/Educational Administration.  Creating responsive programs to improve the education of students has been the guiding force in all of Adrienne’s work.  She currently guides vocational school owners in opening new schools and becoming nationally accredited.  Adrienne serves on the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Huntington Beach where she and her husband live.

 

Mark Currie, Board of Directors

Mark is the founder and CEO of Gold Star International and has been an entrepreneur for over 20 years operating the manufacturing and distribution of pharmacy vials and containers nationwide.  Mark also serves as President of Overseas Manufacturing helping businesses with custom manufacturing.  A graduate from the University of Phoenix in business management, Mark is originally from Dayton, Ohio and moved to California in 1979. Mark is active in the local community serving as Chairman of the Local Spiritual Assembly of Baha’is of Huntington Beach and past president of the Greater Huntington Beach Interfaith Council.  His leadership in the community is devoted to bringing about better understanding among faith-based organizations. 

 

Ridvan Bruss, Board of Advisors, Program Consultant

For over 15 years, Ridvan has helped spearhead a social action initiative that seeks to help youth navigate the social forces in their lives and to see their group of peers as protagonists in their community's development. He has advanced the program and empowered young people of various backgrounds in Colorado, New York and California. In 2017, Ridvan earned his professional Bachelor of Architecture degree from Syracuse University, he currently works for an architectural firm in Irvine, California, and is an active member of the National Association for Office and Industrial Properties.

 

Rose Arghavan, Board of Advisors, Program Consultant

Rose Arghavan is a graduate from California State University of Fullerton with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a minor in Child and Adolescent development. She has extensive experience in working with young children through her work as a Community Service Project Director at Pathways of Hope Homeless Shelter and teaching moral education classes through the Ruhi Institute. She is currently a research assistant in the Family Research Lab at the Child and Adolescent Development Department at CSUF for a study called ‘Stress Reduction Techniques for Enhancing Parenting Skills’ performing video coding. She has a strong passion for serving diverse communities and facilitating groups with youth and junior youth addressing social issues and consulting ways in which she can give rise to their desire and independent passion to contribute to the well-being and growth of their community and the global community. She aims to continue her education in Clinical Psychology with an Emphasis on Child and Family. 

 

Trav Williams, Board of Advisors

Trav Williams is a business professor at both Hartnell College and Capella University.  He is a former executive and now has a financial advisory practice in Carmel, California.  Trav has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations, focusing on interfaith, environmental, and social justice causes.  He is currently the board secretary of Interfaith Outreach of Carmel.  

 

Chitra Golestani Maghzi, Board of Advisors

Chitra Golestani Maghzi is an adjunct faculty at Antioch University in Los Angeles. She is an educational consultant, qualitative researcher, and a co-founder of the Paulo Freire Institute (PFI) at UCLA an organization committed to social justice education locally and globally. While at UCLA, Chitra worked as a researcher at the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) on a nationwide study exploring 'student engagement’ and ‘professional development’ in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Oregon, and California public elementary schools. She has conducted research on social economic development projects in Latin America and Africa. Her dissertation, "Teaching for Social Justice and Global Citizenship," conducted in Los Angeles, explored how teachers employ best practices to effectively engage students in learning about social justice through dialogue in an integrative way. Currently, Chitra is writing grants with the Center for International Development and Education (CIDE) at UCLA for project development, teacher development, and research on peace and social justice, education, human rights, and global citizenship.

 

Susan Conforti, Board of Advisors

Rabbi Susan Conforti is a Board Certified Chaplain.  After studying at the University of California, Berkeley, and Purdue University, she attended seminary in Jerusalem and Cincinnati.  Her chaplaincy training and experience includes Trauma I centers and adult and pediatric hospitals and hospices.  She is trained in perinatal loss and compassionate care of the dying.  She also facilitates bereavement groups and provides individual pastoral counseling, and presents Judaism and End of Life seminars at conferences related to Ethics, Palliative Care, and Hospice.  Susan has been a member of interdisciplinary palliative care and hospice teams, and is responsible for spiritual and religious care for those at the end of life.  As lead chaplain at Hoag Hospital and as a board member of the Newport Mesa Irvine Interfaith Council, she is active in promoting cooperation and celebrating diversity.

 

Michael Heinrich, Board of Advisors

Michael Heinrich was born and grew up in New York. He graduated from Fordham University in New York City and has tremendous experience in management, organizational development and marketing. He has worked with major US companies such as RCA records and Revlon. Michael has traveled throughout Africa, Europe, and Lived in Russia for a year during the reform period in the early 90’s. He is a veteran of the U.S. armed forces. Michael is currently working on water purification systems and innovative water filters for impoverished areas of the world. He has 3 daughters and currently lives in Los Angeles.

 

Sean Sanchez, Board of Advisors

Sean Sanchez has worked in the nonprofit field for 10 years mainly as a Fundraiser, Development Officer, Development Associate, and Outreach Director.  He has worked with a variety of nonprofits including the ACLU of Southern California, the American Liver Foundation, and the Parents Television Council.  He has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in his 10 years of experience and specializes in fundraising and fund development. Sean is currently in his 2nd year of a Master’s in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from Capella University.  He has experience with strategic development, grant writing, major gifts fundraising, special event coordination, volunteer management, budgeting, and business planning.  Sean is also skilled in conflict resolution and mediation and is a certified mediator with 75 hours of training from Centinela Youth Services. 

 

Bridgette Schnider, Artist, Mentor, Associate

Bridgette Schnider is an ornamental designer / artist who grew up in Idaho. She has studied industrial design and has live in China where she taught English and worked on a variety of projects including a project for teaching children virtues and high ideals through music, visuals and skits. She currently lives in Chicago where she runs her art & design studio.

 

Wu Qianying, Mentor, Translator, Associate

Wu Qianying has many years of experience in education, translation and marketing. She worked as an English teacher in Shanghai University and translated a book which was published in China. She has translated many articles about education and development. These articles were published in Chinese and overseas media. She also worked in a Fortune 500 company as marketing specialist in Shanghai，conducting market survey and analysis for investment decision making. During 2002-2004, she worked in Canada as a specialist making marketing programs for world famous companies such as Western Union and P&G. Wu Qianying holds a Advanced Interpreter Certificate and currently lives in Shanghai.

 

Lee Au, Mentor, Associate

Lee is a researcher, an environmental chemist, and an educator. He was born and raised in Westminster, California and received his Bachelors in Chemistry and Environmental Science from University of California - Irvine in 2009. He has done research in implementing microwave plasma torch to detect metal-containing aerosols and reconstructing past variations in rainfall and temperature as well as working as an environmental chemist analyzing water samples in accordance to EPA regulations. Lee is the founder and director of KNOW free public tutoring program for kids of all ages.

  

For more information about our team, please contact: info@cbdus.org

  

©2008 Center for Balanced Development