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David Almaraz

David M. Almaraz has over 20-years of legal experience.  David is a seasoned trial attorney with expertise in real estate (including landlord-tenant law) and business litigation and trade secret litigation. He is a problem solver who uses all tools and remedies available under the law to develop resolution strategies that would best achieve his clients’ objectives.
 
With extensive experience in federal and state courts throughout California, David expertly guides his clients through all phases of law and litigation.  While he understands and emphasizes the importance and value of pre-litigation counseling and settlement negotiations, David is adept at effectively steering matters through mediations, arbitrations, jury trials, bench trials, and appeals before the California Court of Appeal, should it be necessary.

He is currently a Partner at Alpert, Barr and Grant in Los Angeles, CA
 

Sean Andrade

Well known for being an aggressive, creative, and experienced litigator, Sean Andrade is often called upon to handle the most sensitive, critical, and complex of matters. For the nation’s second largest school district, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), Sean played a critical role in defending LAUSD through its most difficult chapter, successfully resolving an unprecedented number of extremely complex and high-profile multi-plaintiff tort matters. Sean also led the subsequent insurance recovery efforts, fighting the world’s largest insurers for more than $300 million in insurance coverage in multiple high-stakes matters.
 
Sean has also helped numerous other clients achieve victories in cases involving breach of contract, fraud, intellectual property and real estate disputes, products liability, employment discrimination, wage and hour, and entertainment disputes.
 
Sean is also active in the community. He is a Board Member (2021-2023) of the California Minority Counsel Program, and Co-Chairs the Law Firm Cross Marketing Committee for the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms. Locally, he served three terms on the Board for the Mexican American Bar Association (as Trustee and Secretary), and supports numerous youth and community-focused non-profit organizations.
 

Rosario Bobadilla-Farias

Rosario began her career in public accounting at HCVT over 15 years ago. She provides audit services to clients primarily in the manufacturing, retail, and distribution industries, focusing on the food and beverage, aerospace and defense, consumer goods, and grocery sectors. She also serves companies in media & entertainment, including companies in film finance, production, and distribution. In addition to audit and assurance services, Rosario provides mergers and acquisition services for both sell-side and buy-side transactions, including quality of earnings analysis, working capital analysis, and post-closing price adjustments related to earn-outs and working capital.
 
Rosario received a degree in accountancy from Pepperdine University. She is a Certified Public Accountant in California, a member of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. She is also a member of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG), ProVisors, and the Latino Deal Makers. Active in her community, Rosario is a board member and treasurer of The Children’s Clinic in Long Beach and participates as a guest speaker at various accounting programs. Rosario co-leads HCVT’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee and is a member of the firm’s women’s initiative, Women@HCVT.
 

Jack R. Cline, Jr.

Jack R. Cline, Jr., along with his partners, has more than 35 years of firsthand knowledge of B quality buildings. He owns/has owned properties in partnerships exceeding 1,000,000 square feet. He has executed sales/leasebacks, leased investments, landlord and tenant representation assignments, land developments, build-to-suits, redevelopment agency work, eminent domain action defenses, foreclosure sales, short sales, bankruptcy sales, and partnership partitions. Jack has developed a strong working knowledge of environmental, legal, and tax matters affecting real property disposition. His integrity has enabled him to work with brokers from all brokerage companies and agencies. Jack’s geographic focus has been industrial real estate from the Greater Los Angeles area to the Inland Empire for the last 35 years. He has extensive knowledge and experience working with specialized industries from textile, food processing, transportation, and logistics and has worked with most of the local Class B and C industrial property investors. Jack maintains a thriving, inbound referral business based on his long-term efforts in the market and the trust instilled in him by competing agents.
 
In 1996, Jack, along with two others, founded the Lee & Associates® office in the City of Commerce and co-managed the office for 5 years, overseeing the office’s growth from a startup to a market leader in terms of transaction volume, number of brokers, and square feet listed.
 
Founded in 1979, Lee & Associates® Commercial Real Estate Services is the largest regional commercial brokerage firm in the West. Lee & Associates® has offices throughout Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Riverside Counties.
 

Bernice Maldonado

Bernice is a consultant and researcher. Through her consulting practice, Catalyst Era, she advises organizations on how to implement people-centered change and talent management practices. She uses her background in consulting, change management, performance improvement, communications, and human-centered design to drive practical and inclusive organizational transformation. 

She founded First Gen Talent to lead research on socioeconomic class impacts in the workplace focused on First-Gen Professionals, or professionals who come from working-class backgrounds. Her goal is to provide data-driven insights to influence inclusive change and talent management.

Bernice holds a Master's in Business Administration from UC Irvine and is active on boards and committees including the UCLA Extension Board of Advisors, the Association of Change Management Professionals (ACMP), and the National Resume Writers Association (NRWA).

Curtis R. Natham

Mr. Natham has extensive experience in managing CPA firms, performing audits (public and private companies), reviews, and compilations. For more than 25 years, has guided corporations through complex audits, restructurings, international expansion and capital markets transactions. Strong SEC expertise and background in mergers and acquisitions, knowledgeable of SOX requirements. Proven expertise in reporting / auditing standards and generally accepted accounting principles, including employee benefit plan accounting (DOL requirements) and financial statement specifics.

Extensive experience with a variety of accountants’ reports and financial statements, including participating/leading on-site peer review/internal inspection teams. Proven leader with a track record of excellent organizational, communication and interpersonal skills.

He is currently Director of Assurance at HKG, LLP in Pasadena, CA.
 

Michael Nishi

Michael is a strategic and financial advisor to emerging growth brands in the food & beverage sector.  He has worked as CFO for notable brands including Wetzel's Pretzels, Tocaya Organica, Lemonade and Tartine Bakery.   Michael is currently interim-CFO for three companies including: Lil Woody's, a multi-unit burger chain based in Seattle, Go Get Em Tiger Coffee, a third wave coffee brand based in Los Angeles and Capsule Manufacturing, a prefab manufacturer of restrooms and kitchens for the foodservice and residential real estate industries based in Anaheim.  

Michael is a CPA who began his career at Deloitte & Touche servicing large Japanese companies in the automotive and real estate industries.
 

Pedro Ramos

Pedro is the CEO and Founder of Somar Capital Management, a global long/short equities firm focusing on discovering emerging businesses that sustainably provide customers a significantly superior value proposition and are still materially underpenetrated in their market opportunity. Mr. Ramos employs a rigorous investment process in which he conducts an in-depth analysis of organization strength and incentives, including management track record, corporate governance, management incentives and capital stewardship. As part of Somar’s proprietary investment process, Mr. Ramos also analyzes the entire ecosystem of a potential investment, including private market competitors, suppliers, and customers to fully understand the market opportunity and potential risks. 

Prior to starting Somar, Mr. Ramos was a Managing Director of Tremblant Capital from 2007 through 2015, during which time he oversaw the investment of a portion of Tremblant’s assets under management. Prior to Tremblant, Mr. Ramos was a Vice-President, Private Equity at Kildare Enterprises from 2006 to 2007, where he negotiated and closed two private equity acquisitions and led a lean manufacturing initiative, saving a portfolio company a material portion of its labor costs. Before his tenure in private equity, Mr. Ramos was a Junior Engagement Manager with McKinsey & Company in London from 2004 to 2006 and a Consultant with The Boston Consulting Group in Lisbon and Madrid from 2000 to 2002. He led a European engagement team at McKinsey evaluating the acquisitions of a major European retailer. At BCG he estimated the cost-synergies for a significant pan-European merger. Mr. Ramos started his career at Banco Portugues de Investimento, Portugal, as an Investment Banker from 1998 to 2000, where he focused on M&A and debt and equity financing for clients in TMT, industrials, tourism and real estate. Mr. Ramos received an MBA with High Distinction, Baker Scholar, from Harvard Business School in 2004 and his degree in Economics, coming in first in class, from the Economics School of Universidade do Porto, Porto.
 

Vanessa Terzian

An adjunct professor of Wills and Trusts at Southwestern Law School, recently named a top attorney in Pasadena Magazine, and a Rising Star™ selected by Super Lawyers®, Vanessa Terzian began her legal career as a trust officer for Wells Fargo, N.A.
 
Her experience at Wells Fargo – working closely with clients, portfolio managers, beneficiaries, and other attorneys – shed light on how a poor estate plan can ruin a family’s fortune and more importantly, their relationships. 


After witnessing firsthand the importance of proper planning, Vanessa pursued her own practice, helping countless families through her expertise in estate and tax planning, probate, and trust administration. What sets Vanessa apart is her understanding of the needs of growing families, her ability to relate to working parents who desire a better life for themselves and their families, and her know-how in implementing strategic estate-planning tools in the most cost-efficient and seamless manner. Vanessa also draws on her real estate and business background in crafting comprehensive plans for her clients.


In May 2018, Vanessa merged her practice with a Pasadena-based estate-planning firm, Primuth and Driskell, LLP, now known as Primuth, Driskell, and Terzian, LLP, which later merged with Lagerlof, LLP.
As a family woman, Vanessa understands the importance of protecting assets, planning for the future, and building your own legacy. She takes pride in providing her clients with the sense of comfort and security that comes along with having an effective and comprehensive estate plan in place.